Ishq Hua’s young love story is right out of a paperback romance!

By Maliha Rehman

Stolen glances, shared smiles, a play of music and the beginning of a romance.

True to its name, Ishq Hua is a love story and it comes with all the trappings of a modern-day fairytale. There’s a wide-eyed damsel in distress and her savior, a devil-may-care rugged young vagabond who had been impervious to love until he set eyes on her. There is a mean goon who wants the girl for himself and is willing to lie in order to trap her. There’s the other woman, who the hero doesn’t care about, but who is madly in love with him and will try her best to make trouble. There is the hero’s best friend making quips while also secretly watching the romance unfold. There is an entire band of hoodlums likely to present obstacles in the path to true love.

There are romantic interludes, murderous threats, heroic declarations, temper, tears and tantrums.

From a long train journey to a late night dinner to a drive down to the beach, our hero and heroine are slowly awakening to the fact that they are in love. Music, light, shadow and the detailed sets add to the magic. And even though you know that their path ahead – in successive episodes, since the drama’s only just started – is going to be a difficult one, you’re looking forward to the romance play out. You’re also anticipating the point where the hero is going to be beating up the bad guy, save the heroine and then, of course, they’ll live happily ever after.

Haroon Kadwani plays Tabrez and Komal Meer is Minsa and it would be fair to say that this is probably both actors’ best on-screen pairing yet. They are both young, good-looking and even at this initial point in the story – when the two characters have only just realized their feelings for each other – their chemistry is crackling.

Credit for this goes to how well the actors are performing. The shy half smiles and nervous confessions of love are very believable and very sweet. Also, this is a story where the characters and the plot has been developed very well. Nooran Makhdoom – of Tere Bin fame – has written the script and her penchant for dramatic twists and filmy storylines is very evident.

A case in point is Tabrez and Minsa’s very first meeting, where he saves her from a thief who has snuck into her house and is possibly about to rape her. She recognizes him from a photograph that she has seen, assuming that he is her cousin – he is not, but he lets her believe so – and runs to him, collapsing against him in a hug. It’s delicious and dramatic, right out of a Mills and Boon paperback!

It is in this first meeting that perhaps Tabrez gets struck by lightning. He had come to convince Minsa and her family to agree to a marriage with Bahaar Bhai – Minsa’s actual cousin, a seasoned criminal, but also the man who has raised Tabrez like an elder brother. Now, he’s fallen for the girl himself.

Minsa, also, is smitten with Tabrez. Very soon, she begins to perceive him as her protector and friend. He tells her to stop crying on the train ride to Karachi, convincing her that she has much to live for. He orders food for her in the middle of the night when she is hungry, tells her that he will answer to her call and she, in turn, hints at him that she likes ‘Karachi’s Tabraiz’. And as he gazes at Minsa running about the beach in a scene, Tabrez tells his friend Zulfi that he was going to make sure that she would always be smiling and never cry. That’s as good as a confession of love.

It would all be hunky dory but Bahaar Bhai goes on and puts a spanner in the works. While earlier he had professed that he did not want to marry at all, he decides that Minsa is the girl for him as soon as he sees her. Evidently, she resembles someone that he had loved in the past. And so, even though he observes Tabrez and Minsa’s bond and although Minsa recoils from him whenever he comes near him, Bahaar is intent on having his way. It’s obvious that while he may have raised Tabrez, he is not beyond threatening him. He openly warns him to not get interested in Minsa and comes up with an evil plan. Tabrez can ask Minsa to marry him and once she agrees – which she does – on the day of the wedding, the groom would get changed.

Like a true villain, Bahaar lets out an evil laugh after declaring this plan. In the most recent episode, he has proceeded to threaten Tabrez by showing him ammunition, telling him that he wouldn’t deter from murder and tricking him so that he could take Minsa out on his own.

One can tell, of course, that Tabrez isn’t going to back down from protecting Minsa. Furthermore, he might finally realize the meaning of a nightmare that plagues him constantly and figure out that Bahaar had once murdered his parents. This may lead to a final fiery clash between our hero and the villain.

Sohail Sameer does a great job of adding the flesh and bones to Bahaar. The character has a sinister charm; he stalks and sneers, threatens and murders with abandon, has a soft side which surfaces rarely and which you view with skepticism because it quickly gets replaced by anger. He looks great too: hair slicked back, bespectacled, wearing shalwar kameez paired with coats; quite the savvy, handsome villain. In fact, Sohail Sameer’s magnetism as Bahaar makes one lament over how he often gets wasted in roles of uncles and lackluster father figures in dramas. Give him a nuanced, malevolent Bahaar and see him shine!

Yet another riveting element is Zulfi, Tabrez’s friend, enacted by actor Rameez Siddiqui. Zulfi may be a thug but beneath the rough exterior, he’s really just a good guy. He moans and groans and carries Minsa’s heavy luggage. And he makes a few sarcastic comments before he brings food in the middle of the night for Tabrez and Minsa. Time and again, he advices Tabrez to set aside his feelings for Minsa and allow Bahaar Bhai to continue with his evil plans. He may joke about but Zulfi is also worried for his friend. Rameez Siddiqui’s coming timing is brilliant – making candid observations and quips that are proving to be one of the drama’s highlights. The story may revolve around the romance between Tabrez and Minsa and the machinations of Bahaar and the other woman, Rukhsar – played by Sahar Hashmi – but you also end up waiting for the next time Zulfi cracks a one-liner.

The one weak link in the story so far is Sahar Hashmi. She plays Rukhsar, the neighborhood girl who has been in love with Tabrez since childhood. She flies into an angry fit when she finds out that Tabrez and Minsa are getting married, trying to throttle Minsa and only calming down once Bahaar Bhai reveals his plan to her. It’s an interesting role that requires a display of emotions and unfortunately, so far, Sahar’s stilted dialogues are not doing justice to it.

Then again, perhaps we aren’t supposed to like Minsa anyway? She is the other woman, after all, making overt moves on Tabrez, declaring her love for him even when he says that he isn’t interested, even plopping down next to him on his pillow when she comes to meet him at night. Rukhar’s flirtations are cringey and her actions even more so. Just the fact that this young girl can stalk right into a thug’s home doesn’t really add up. Even if she has been their neighbor for years, Bahaar still has a dangerous reputation. All these reasons may be why one finds it difficult to connect with Sahar’s performance.

What certainly adds to the viewing experience is the team helming the project. Ishq Hua is produced by Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi, the power duo behind 7^th Sky Entertainment, and their footprint is evident throughout the project. Very evidently, Ishq Hua has come to fruition after the investment of much time, effort and finances.

Also, the narrative is helped along by its pace. There have been no drags, no slow motion sequences so far. It makes the story more interesting. Maybe all dramas could adopt similar styles rather than rely on long drawn-out sequences in order to increase the viewership time?

And of course, steering the story along is director Wajahat Hussain, who is in his element, looking into even the small details, adding in chutzpah with the aid of some filmy action, building every character so expertly that he or she shines, letting the camera widen to capture expansive scenes that raise the bar for TV dramas.

Minsa’s parents’ home, for instance, is beautiful, the porch bordered by greenery and the walls inside lined with the spools of thread that would be used to run the family business. Similarly, Tabrez’s home, which he shares with Bahaar and his band of thugs, is bare and quite basic but interesting elements are added in: a mural of an angry Sultan Rahi on a wall, a brightly colored door adding vibrancy.

Love stories in TV dramas are, of course, a dime a dozen. But not every love story is a success. not every on-screen couple catches your interest and makes you smile. But Ishq Hua has so much going for it: gorgeous imagery, fine performances, a melodious, very hummable OST, action and romance.

And you fall in love with it.