Mann Mayal () is a Pakistani romantic drama television series that originally aired on Hum TV on 25 January 2016 to 5 September 2016, and was digitally released on Amazon Prime and Iflix. It is co-produced by Momina Duraid of MD Productions and Samina Humayun Saeed of Next Level Entertainment, written by Samira Fazal and directed by Haseeb Hassan. Mann Mayal starred Hamza Ali Abbasi as Salahhudin and Maya Ali as Manahil in leading roles.
The series chronicles the lives of Manahil and Salahuddin. They fall in love with each other but cannot meet due to the differences in their social class.
Mann Mayal received largely negative reviews, with critics praising Abbasi's performance and the soundtrack, but intensely criticising the script for clichéd plot, poor portrayal of women, and perpetuation of harmful norms. Despite this, the series was 2016's highest rated drama serial in Pakistan. At the 16th Lux Style Awards, it won two awards out of five nominations.
Premise Manahil (Maya Ali) lives in a joint family in Hyderabad. Her neighbour, Salahuddin (Hamza Ali Abbasi) is an ambitious and intelligent man. Manahil's father asks Salahuddin to tutor Manahil seeing her low grades in college. Manahil and Salahuddin fall in love with each other. Still, Salahuddin doesn't marry Manahil due to differences in their social-class status and fear of rejection from her family. Manahil's parents accept Mikaeel's (Gohar Rasheed) wedding proposal, who, unbeknownst to Manahil's family, is a spoiled alcoholic and gambler. Salahuddin says goodbye to Manahil for the last time before her marriage, only to be accused of attempting to run away with her. Salahuddin clears the misunderstanding and leaves for Karachi to work at his friend Ifti's (Vasay Chaudhry) firm. In Karachi, he meets Ifti's sick father, Rehman (Talat Hussain). Rehman is treated poorly by Ifti's wife, Cookie (Arjumand Rahim), and the housekeeper Jameel (Saleem Mairaj). Salahuddin and Rehman develop a close bond and confide in each other.
Salahuddin starts to take care of Rehman while Manahil marries Mikaeel, who proves to be an abusive husband and a gambling addict. Tensions rise between Salahuddin and Ifti when Cookie accuses Salahuddin of conspiring against her to gain Rehman's favour with an eye on the latter's wealth. After a heated confrontation with Ifti and Cookie, Salahuddin decides to leave their house. When Salahuddin finds out Rehman is terminally ill, he begs Ifti to let him stay. Salahuddin agrees to Cookie's condition that he must care for Rehman instead of Jameel. Eventually, Ifti comes to terms with the truth and repents allowing his father to be mistreated. Rehman later dies of his cancer while Salahuddin is visiting his home. Salahuddin is devastated to learn of Rehman's death on his return. Jameel asks Salahuddin for forgiveness and requests to stay with him in his service. Jameel also hands him a sealed package from Rehman, which contains the papers of a high-value plot of land left in Salahuddin's name as a gift. A year later, Salahuddin becomes a successful and wealthy businessman while Manahil becomes a baby boy's mother. Mikaeel's behaviour towards Manahil and their child worsens, and he views them as obstacles to his lifestyle.
After three years, Salahuddin hires a new employee Jeena (Ayesha Khan). Jeena secretly falls in love with him and starts to place herself into his life by preparing meals for him and arranging his clothes despite being discouraged by Salahuddin. Manahil gives birth to her second child (a daughter). All this while, Salahuddin has been secretly keeping tabs on Manahil's life via Jameel, now his employee, friend, and trusted confidante. Mikaeel's gambling addiction continues to worsen. After his parents' death, he severs ties with Manahil and his children and abandons them. Manahil and Salahuddin come face to face. Salahuddin is devastated to see a ruined and broken Manahil. He realizes how his mistakes have led to her suffering. His care and concern for Manahil make her the target of Jeena's jealousy and insecurities. Salahuddin feels helpless as he tries to repair the harm he has done, realizing that the passage of time has left indelible scars on Manahil's soul.
Cast
Main cast Hamza Ali Abbasi as Salahuddin Shahid Maya Ali as Manahil "Mannu" Javed Gohar Rasheed as Mikaeel Shahaab Ayesha Khan as Jeena
Recurring cast Saba Hameed as - Manahil's mother Naeem Tahir as Javed; Manahil's father Saleem Mairaj as Jameel; Salahuddin's assistant Lubna Aslam as Saliha; Manahil's aunt Hajra Khan as Manahil's aunt, Javed's sister Aiman Khan as Raabiya "Biya" Shahid; Salahuddin's sister and Mannu's best friend Shehryar Zaidi as Shahid; Salahuddin and Biya's father Ismat Zaidi as Durdana Shahid; Salahuddin and Biya's mother Mehmood Aslam as Shahaab; Mikaeel's father (died in an accident) Laila Zuberi as Rahila; Mikaeel's mother(died in an accident) Ayesha Khan as Mikaeel's grandmother Vasay Chaudhry as Ifti Rehman; Salahuddin's friend Arjumand Rahim as Cookie; Ifti's wife Talat Hussain as Rehman; Ifti's father Faizan Haque as Mikaeel's friend Haris Waheed as Mikaeel's gambling partner Haseeb Hassan as Receptionist (Guest appearance) Minal Khan as Cookie's friend Faakhir Mehmood as Aasim
Episodes
Production Development
Man Mayal was originally conceived by Hum TV's senior producer Momina Duraid and fashion-stylist Sana Shahnawaz as Tera Ghum Aur Hum in late July 2015, with Duraid's hiring Haseeb Hassan for direction, who was the director of channel's then running serial Diyar-e-Dil that ended in October 2015. Haseeb returns to direct third year in a row since his first project for channel in 2013. The screenplay for the serial is written by Lux Style Award-winning writer Samira Fazal who, previously wrote the screenplays of channel's critically acclaimed serials such as Dastaan, Bari Aapa, Mera Naseeb and most recently Alvida, it also marked the writer's first collaboration with Hassan.
In August 2015, Samina Humayun Saeed and Tariq Shah came on board as a co-producers, both Samina and Tariq previously produced cult followed-drama serial Sadqay Tumhare that aired between 2014 and 2015 television season. While Sana marked her production debut with this serial, she explained, "I'm thrilled to get a chance to work with such an amazing team so early on in my career. I couldn’t have found a better project than Mann Mayal to kick-start this new phase in my creative journey. It’s always a blast working with a team who are not only talented artists but also very dear friends. I’m confident the audiences are going to love this serial."
Writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar initially wrote the lyrics for the series soundtrack and helped producer Sana coined then series name Tera Ghum Aur Hum. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt sends regards to Shahnawaz for her production venture. Series music and background score is composed by Hamza Jafri of MAD music, while title track composition and lyrics is written by Shuja Haider and Momina hired Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch to perform the song making her second collaboration with Duraid since 2011, for drama series Humsafar.
Casting
Creative head and producers Momina Duraid, Sana Shahnawaz and writer Sameera Fazal mutually choose the cast, which includes Maya Ali, Hamza Ali Abbasi to play the leading roles of Manahil, Salah-ul-Din and Gohar Rasheed, Ayesha Khan Meekail and Jeena played negative roles. None of the leading actors have appeared together on television except Hamza and Ayesha who worked together in a 2013 film Waar and Jawani Phir Nahi Ani, and Maya Ali, Ismat Zaidi and Shehryar Zaidi who have previously worked together in Geo TV's, Meri Zindagi Hai Tu. Saba Hameed and Hamza Ali Abbasi have previously worked together in ARY Digital's Pyaray Afzal. Speaking about her character Khan said, "my role is the surprise element in the drama. She is the game changer of the play. I opted for this role because she is not a typical damsel in distress which I think I have done umpteen times; instead she is needy for love. She gives unconditional love to others and expects the same for herself,". This is Mayal Ali second consecutive collaboration with director having previously worked in Diyar-e-Dil. Stating about her character Hamza said, "my character will create magic in this serial". Hamza who plays Afzal as his feature television debut in Piyaray Afzal in 2014, returns to play Salahuddin on the request of Sana. Hamza described his character "is close to who I am." In an interview Hamza explained that, "I have done this serial after giving a hit film because I don’t want to leave television and it is my moral commitment to myself to do one serial a year. Other than this, the story is not a typical saazishi aurto wali kahani and has room for me to come out as a better actor." Gohar who have worked with Abbasi in theater and films said about his character, "Mikail is rich and a little bit spoiled; he has his own set of insecurities which he tries to overcome in his own way."
Veteran Actors Mehmood Aslam and Laila Zuberi were cast to portray the role of Mikael's parents, this roles were initially offered to actors Javed Sheikh and Atiqa Odho. Veteran actors' Saba Hameed and Naeem Tahir were cast for the role Manahil's parents and Shehryar Zaidi and Ismat Zaidi were cast for the role of Salah-ul-Din's parents, popular soap actress Aiman Khan plays the role of Rabiya as Salah-ul-Din younger sister and Manahil's friend. The series also cast Arjumand Rahim, Vasay Chaudhry and National award-winning actor Talat Hussain for the roles of Ifti, Cookie and Rehman.
Filming and locations
Principal photography commenced on early June 2015 and was completed in September 2015, with a total of thirty-three episodes. Director Haseeb Hassan and production house delayed the ongoing shoot of their series Sanam which was under-production to film ‘’Mann Mayal’’. During the shoot the title of Tera Gham Or Hum was used. Shooting was extensively done in remote areas of Hyderabad, Sindh and in Clifton in Karachi, Sindh.
Several sets-locations were real including Salahuddin's home, which was a 'hundred-year' Haveli, director Hassan said, "The haveli we chose as Hamza’s house was almost 100 hundreds year old. I am glad we shot there because it has been demolished by government now,". Shooting locations were overseen by art director Zeeshan. In an interview Haseeb said, "The wonderful artwork you will notice in the drama has been done by Zeeshan. Whenever I take up any project I always have some period in mind; and this serial the props and accessories we have used would represent the old era and it has been done in a way that everything looks relatable,". Cinematographer Zeb Rao and editor Mehmood Ali return as director of photography and chief editing respectively as both previously worked with Duraid's Diyar-e-Dil that earned them critical praise and acclaim.
Music
The title song of Mann Mayal was composed by musician Shuja Haider, who also penned down the lyrics while the background score for the series is done by Mad Music. The OST was performed by Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch '"QB". with Shuja Hyder as being in the chorous. It marks the return of QB to Hum TV, since she performed the OST of Roshan Sitara in 2012 and earlier it she performed the OST of channel's blockbuster drama series Humsafars title song "Woh Humsafar Tha" in 2012.
The soundtrack was praised for its lyrics and composition and vocals, QB and co-singer Shuja Hyder received much appraisal for their singing as well as enthusiastic reviews for Hyder composing, particularly Hyder being praised for "his vocals add depth and variety to the proceedings." Popularity of "Tere Naal Mein laiyan" led an online competition where on 9 February Hum Network announced on its Facebook page to "record the soundtrack and inbox to series official page, to win a title of Voice of Art and gifts hampers."
Track listing