A review on Pakistani Drama TV Serial, Mann Mayal (2016). Its Production House is Momina Duraid Productions while its Distributor is Hum Entertainment.
+ Crew
- Directed by Haseeb Hassan
- Director of Photography is Zeb Rao
- Written by Samira Fazal
- Music by Shuja Hyder
- Produced by Momina Duraid & Sana Shahnawaz
+ Note
Mann Mayal was aired on Hum TV from 25th Jan 2016 to 5th Sep 2016. It consists of total 33 episodes.
There may be some SPOILERS ahead!
+ Main Cast
- Maya Ali as Manahil Javed / Mannu
- Hamza Ali Abbasi as Salahuddin
- Gohar Rasheed as Mikaeel
- Ayesha Khan as Jeena
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+ Supporting Cast
- Saleem Mairaj as Jameel
- Saba Hameed as Manahil’s mother
- Naeem Tahir as Javed / Manahil’s father
- Shehryar Zaidi as Shahid / Salahuddin’s father
- Ismat Zaidi as Durdana / Salahuddin’s mother
- Mehmood Aslam as Shahaab / Mikaeel’s father
- Laila Zuberi as Rahila / Mikaeel’s mother
- Aiman Khan as Beeya / Salahuddin’s Sister
- Arjumand Rahim as Cookie
- Vasay Chaudhry as Ifti
- Talat Hussain as Rehman
- Lubna Aslam as Saliha / Manahil’s aunt
- Faizan Haque as Mikaeel’s friend
- Haris Waheed as Mikaeel’s Gambling Partner
+ Plot
The childhood friends, Mannu & Salauddin accept their love in their adulthood for each other. But their families have their differences mainly due to social class issues. Hence, Mannu receives a high-class marriage proposal while Salauddin goes to city for search of job.
+ High Points
i – I watched this TV serial till the end only because of Hamza Ali Abbasi.
ii – Talat Hussain’s character as well as his performance is praise worthy. Other Honorable Mentions: Aiman Khan, Naeem Tahir, Saleem Mairaj, Mehmood Aslam and Lubna Aslam.
iii – The first 10 episodes are very well written. It is not a typical ‘Saas – Bahu‘ (Mother & Daughter-in-Law) story where our Pakistani / Indian TV dramas are usually based on.
iv – The cinematography is pretty decent, not your average standards of our TV industry.
v – Nice work behind makeup & hair styling. The stars looked elegant on silver screen.
vi – The soundtrack “Tere Naal Mein Laiyan” by Quratulain Balouch and Shuja Haider is flourishing to listen to.
+ Low Points
i – The story climbs on the peak point and ends with a decline. It eventually becomes a drag, which is really a shame. This TV serial is a high-budgeted, A-star cast and yet the viewers lost interest in this ‘Rona Dhona’ (hue & cry) TV drama very soon. Many of my friends and relatives warned me not to watch this TV serial. Still, I had to watch it for review sake. Now I know why they warned me.
It seems the writer must have said ‘Since I made this drama good and interesting for the viewers. So, now I am accepting the challenge to make the same drama serial as bad & boring as possible. I don’t care what people say, I just want to ruin the story and the characters I have written where viewers don’t give a heed to their bad happenings. Let the ratings have the downfall, I just don’t care’!
ii – Maya Ali’s character in later episodes becomes absolute rubbish and annoying. Always crying and crying. Her tears up till now have made a huge wave of sea. No one likes to watch characters in Damsel in Distress anymore. The time has moved on. People prefer strong female characters that don’t waste their time in crying and tolerating harsh behavior but rather work out on coming up with solutions.
Her character has two responsibilities which are to cry and tolerate all the wrong doings surrounding her presence. ‘Wa, Bhai, Wa’! Someone should slap on the writer’s bottoms with a steel bat. Her character is written as the worst of them all. The worst!
iii – Although, Gohar Rasheed’s performance as one of the antagonists is properly handled but he is stuck in the limbo of being ‘Type Cast’. At first, I was pleased to see him in the role of ‘Mikael’ as good, loving son. But then later his true nature is revealed. His sudden change of character in the last few episodes doesn’t make any sense! How the hell his character changes??
No hints were shown for character about to shift. As if the team behind drama serial said ‘Guys, the ratings are dropping and producer has refused to further finance this project. So, it’s better to end the drama quickly. I don’t care how you do it, just do it! Quick! Quick! The audience is stupid. They would not ask for logical reasoning behind the character’s change. I just want this to end it now, please‘!
iv – Jeena, wo hai, jis k maa baap nahi hai. Aur Aiesha Khan wo hai, jis k paas is k ilawa aur koyi dialogue nahi hai (Jeena is the character who does not have her parents and Aiesha Khan is the one who does not have any other dialogues). Aiesha Khan keep repeating her two dialogues on & on, ‘Mere maa baap nahi hai’ & ‘Mujhe Salauddin se shadi karni hai’. It becomes so annoying to listen. And due to lame reason, her character comes to an end. Pathetic!
v – ‘Jameel’ character was played superbly by Saleem Mairaj. But the writer did not want this to happen. No. He wanted to ruin his character as well by forcing his character story with Aiesha Khan’s character ‘Jeena’. If this decision lasted for a couple of episodes then it was acceptable or that Jameel to remain faithful in secrecy would had turned out to be a great twist. But no! The writer took this idiotically move of ruining ‘Jameel’ character for many episodes. Till the point the viewers shout on top of their lungs, Enough Already!
The writer turned this loving character of Jameel into ‘Manhoos’ (Dull). The eyes of the viewers must be burst out open to see one of their favorite character as no longer delightful to watch. The viewers started hating him as well along with characters of Maya Ali, Aiesha Khan and Gohar Rasheed’s.
vi – There was no story left for the Mann Mayal team. They just dragged it till the point where the viewers gained indeed strong hatred for it. Shame on the team of Mann Mayal. I truly loved your work in first 10 episodes. But slowly and gradually most of the main cast turned out to be dud in the end. Not even the good performances, editing or direction could save this TV serial as the story was going nowhere.
The kind of story they have given, this TV serial should have ended by 15th episode. After that it is just a big black hole.
+ Overall
There is no engagement or contrasting the story to grab viewers’ attention. It is filled with weakly written characters and unnecessary 20+ episodes to a very limited story, have made Mann Mayal a very forgettable TV serial and should held in the ranks of shame.
Rate: 1.0 out of 5 stars
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