Pakistani series 'Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum' captures modern marriage dysfunction adeptly

Fahad Mustafa and Hania Aamir's TV show on ARY Digital comes to a close next week with plenty of important lessons

By Mahwash Ajaz

Published: Wed 30 Oct 2024, 12:52 PM

It's love versus ambition. Material wealth versus emotional availability. Greed versus honesty. It's all that and more: Fahad Mustafa and Hania Aamir's modern tale of love and loss, Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum, airing Mondays and Tuesdays on ARY Digital, has captured an entire cross-section of society because of its sharp grasp on relevant themes for today. Written by Farhat Ishtiaq (Humsafar, Yaqeen Ka Safar) and directed by Badar Mehmood (Cheekh, Mujhe Pyaar Hua Tha), the series began its run a few months ago, with no one realising what a blockbuster it would turn out to be.

Mustafa (Mustafa) is a listless genius sailing through life without aim, care, or worry. His elder brother, Adeel (Emmad Irfani), is the perfect son who is not only financially stable but also all set to marry the beautiful over-achiever Sharjeena (Aamir) before Adeel's boss, Rubab (Naeema Butt), confesses her love for him. Adeel sees the perfect career growth opportunity as he decides to ditch Sharjeena and marry Rubab, even if it means being ex-communicado with his entire family. Adeel's father (Javed Sheikh) throws him out of the house and Sharjeena, in a state of crisis, asks Mustafa to marry her. Mustafa agrees and thus begins a saga of finding love in friendship, discovering oneself, sacrifice, betrayal and so much more.

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In an age of formulaic content creation that most channels and production houses rely on to get ratings, Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum proves that with dedicated attention to detail, even a simple story like this can create immense success. Armed with Mustafa's irrepressible charm and Ishtiaq's modern style of writing and character progression, Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum has captured the zeitgeist like nobody's business. Memes, videos, ratings, what form of love has this TV show not garnered as it now comes to a close? The last episode is all set to be screened in cinemas in Karachi.

What stands out specifically in Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum is how it captures the modern marriage dysfunction perfectly. Mustafa, in his race to be financially stable, despite his wife's constant pleas that what she truly needs is his time and attention, encapsulates the male conflict of tying financial success with personal satisfaction. Mustafa grew up in a household where Adeel was favoured, preferred, lauded, and appreciated far more than 'loser' Mustafa whose genius and intelligence were never truly appreciated or tended to. He has, therefore, placed an unprecedented amount of attention on 'making it' financially so he can give his children the life he believes they deserve. Sharjeena, simply happy with being around Mustafa and his ability to enjoy the simple things in life, doesn't want any of this. She just wants him to be around.

This is where Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum becomes a chartbuster. It carefully and keenly taps into the key conflicts young couples face as they try and navigate through their relationships. Social media was rife with debate as "Musjeena" (a beloved portmanteau for Mustafa and Sharjeena used by the internet) went through troubled times. Who is truly at fault here? The man who is simply trying to provide for his child? Or the woman who doesn't want castles or diamonds, but simply her beloved to be around her as much as possible?

Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum also comes filled with satisfying moments and lessons for the audiences: the cheating husband gets humiliated by his wife. The greedy mother realises she was wrong to constantly prefer Adeel over Mustafa. It also comes filled with beautiful and hilarious moments that easily get that iconic status: Mustafa and Sharjeena worrying about a mouse in their rackety old home. Sharjeena giving Rubab a talking down to about her money and status. Mustafa telling his brother off and throwing money back at his face. The audiences live through their most visceral and cathartic moments via Mustafa and Sharjeena; don't we all wish we could snap with perfect comebacks to the people who have wronged us?

At the end of it, Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum's success is rooted in its ability to tell a tale of dysfunction without clear villains: between Mustafa and Sharjeena, you understand both their points of view and sympathise with both instead of villainising one or the other. The show's genius lies in a combination of factors: Mustafa's sheer brilliance as an actor, the painstaking detail with which Badar Mehmood uses even the smallest effects in the backgrounds or sets, Ishtiaq's crafting of a modern heroine who doesn't break down at the drop of a hat (a done and dusted formula which many audiences have been tired of) have all combined to give the audiences a treat that has kept them hooked for the past four months. And in this age of forgettable 'hits' and 30-second reels that you can easily scroll past, keeping audiences engaged for that long, with each episode being almost an hour long -- is not short of a miracle itself.

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