Sanam (; lit: Beloved) is a 2016 Pakistani television series that premiered on Hum TV on 12 September 2016. It is written by Mona Haseeb, directed by Haseeb Hassan and produced by Momina Duraid. The story, told in a heavily serialized manner, follows a love triangle and focuses on mental disorder. It revolves around the journey of Harib, a successful businessman, as he discovers the difference between a life partner and a soulmate. The show first aired on Hum TV, as a part of night programming under Duraid's production company.
Sanam has an ensemble cast with Osman Khalid Butt as Harib, Maya Ali as Aan, and Hareem Farooq as Ayla in leading roles,> with the supporting cast Hina Khawaja Bayat, Gul-e-Rana, Abid Ali, Asad Ali, Shermeen Ali and Akbar Islam. The show is set in Karachi, Sindh.
Sanam was the first series to highlight mental health issues in 2016.
The series received generally positive reviews in its premier, however throughout its broadcast, it received mixed to negative reviews where viewers and critics declaring it a drag.
Premise
Sanam is a story of love, friendship, jealousy and relationships. It depicts Harib's (Osman Khalid Butt) journey where he found out the difference between a life partner and a soulmate after he went through relationships with Sara (Shermeen Ali), Ayla (Hareem Farooq) and Aan (Maya Ali). Simultaneously it highlights Ayla's bipolar disorder which is later discovered by Harib.
Harib lost his parents at a very young age and struggled to become a rich businessman. He marries his colleague and girlfriend Ayla (Hareem Farooq) and later reveals to her his former relationship with Sara (Shermeen Ali) who had left him long ago due to his low financial status. Simultaneously, Aan (Maya Ali) is a hardworking independent woman who moves next to Harib's house with her mother Shabnam (Hina Khawaja Bayat) after her father's death. In Shabnam's in-laws, Shama Qureshi (Gul-e-Rana) her sister-in-law wants Aan to marry her son Khurram. From the day of her wedding, Ayla reacts to things in a way that gradually reveals to Harib her bipolar disorder, which she has been suffering from after her mother's second marriage and her parents' abusive relationship. She assumes Aan is Sara and that Harib and Aan are in a relationship. She finally takes a divorce from Harib after a long fight and moves to her parents' home.
After his divorce, a broken Harib is consoled by Aan and her mother who treats him as her son. With time, Aan and Harib become best friends. Sara (Harib's ex-girlfriend) moves in Harib's housing society. After meeting him, she realizes that Harib is now a successful person. She tells him about her separation from her husband Faisal. Aan bonds with Sara's stubborn daughter Fatima (Mariyam Khalif). Sara begins to develop feelings for Harib again, looking to Harib and Aan's strong bonding, Sara's jealousy increases and she decides to separate them. She brings a proposal of her cousin Farhan (Asad Siddiqui) for Aan, which Shabnam accepts. Aan and Farhan get engaged which makes Harib devastated and he confesses his feelings to Aan.
Ayla (who has also moved in the same housing society) snaps a picture of Aan and Harib together and gets it photoshopped into an obscene photograph that gets circulated around social media. As a result, Aan loses her job at the bank. She confronts Harib who files a lawsuit against the bank. However, when Shabnam finds out about Aan's job, she suffers from a heart attack. While she's hospitalized, Farhan and his mother see Harib consoling Aan and tell her off about it. Harib and Shehroze overhear Farhan talking about his past of him being a divorcee and father of two kids. His mother is interested in Aan only because she thinks Aan is a rich heiress. Harib and Shehroze realize that this was Sara's doing. After seeing firsthand the stark difference between Farhan and Harib in the way they help her out in her tough time, Aan also begins to develop feelings for Harib. Eventually both Aan and Harib confess that they love each other but because of Shabnam's frail health, they remain quiet. Farhan finds out the truth about Aan's humble background and her feelings for Harib and secretly escapes to Dubai with his mother. After facing public humiliation of Farhan's reality, Shabnam suffers from a heart attack again and dies. At her funeral, Aan loses her consciousness and her phuppo (Shama) takes her away. Aan's Taya takes charge and tells everyone Aan will only marry whoever she wants. Ayla is institutionalized for rehabilitation in a psychiatric hospital. Ayla ran away from the hospital and reach Harib to tell that she can't do these things alone, she told him that she was prescribed antipsychotics, antidepressants and lithium (a mood stablizer) and doctors has diagnosed that she will never be cured permanently. Ayla was crying and feeling guilt because of her doings against Aan and Harib and she apologizes of what she has done, her depressive episode made her suicidal and she took decision to take her life. Harib apologizes to her for not doing enough to save their marriage and not realizing that she needed proper treatment and tell her that he's always here for Ayla. He visits her weekly and monitors her progress. After 6 months Aan returns to her own house, Harib and Aan get married and she gets her job back at the bank. After some time, Aan also joins Harib in his weekly visits to Ayla. Ayla showed her guilt in front of Aan and told Harib that she can't face Aan after what she has done but Aan truly understand her condition that it wasn't her fault but the effects of bipolar disorder. At the end Aan and Harib start living a happy life together with their family expanding as at the end Aan is revealed to be pregnant where Harib assures her to be by her side throughout everything and even after. And Ayla continued taking her treatment for her bipolar disorder and she was making a good progress.
Cast Osman Khalid Butt as Harib : Aan's husband; Ayla's former husband. Maya Ali as Aan Harib (nee Qureshi) : Shaukat and Shabnam's daughter; Harib's wife. Hareem Farooq as Ayla Salman : Salman and Ayesh's daughter; Harib's former wife. Emmad Irfani as Shehroze : Harib's friend. Shermeen Ali as Sara : Harib's ex girlfriend; Faisal's ex wife; Fatima's mother. Mariyam Khalif as Fatima : Faisal and Sara's daughter. Kanwar Nafees as Faisal : Sara's ex husband; Fatima's father. Hina Khawaja Bayat as Shabnam Qureshi : Shaukat's wife; Aan's mother. Abid Ali as Shaukat Ali Qureshi : Aan's father; Shabnam's husband Shama and Sharafat's brother. Asad Siddiqui as Farhan : Sara's cousin; Aan's ex fiancé. Sabahat Ali Bukhari as Farhan's mother. Munawar Saeed as Sharafat Qureshi : Shaukat and Shama's brother. Gul-e-Rana as Shama Qureshi : Shaukat and Sharafat's sister; Khurram's mother; Mehboob's wife. Akbar Islam as Mehboob Shama's husband; Khurram's mother. Muhammad Asad as Khurram Mehboob : Shama and Mehboob's son. Lubna Aslam as Ayesha : Salman's wife; Ayla's mother. Sajeer-ud-din Khalifa as Salman : Ayesha's husband; Ayla's father.
Production
Development
Sanam was developed by Hum TV's senior producer Momina Duraid of MD Productions, with director Haseeb Hassan, who was the director of channel's hit series Mann Mayal and Diyar-e-Dil. Sanam is known to be the first drama to highlight a mental issue in Pakistani entertainment industry. Haseeb returns to direct fourth year in a row since his first project for channel in 2013. Screenplay was done by director's wife Mona Haseeb while script composing is done by Muhammad Wasi-ul-Din who previously scripted Diyar-e-Dil. The show approximately airs weekly episode for 35–40 minutes (minus commercials) every Monday.
Casting
Creative head Momina Duraid and director Haseeb Hassan mutually choose the cast, which includes Osman Khalid Butt, Maya Ali and Hareem Farooq to play the leading roles of Harib, Aan and Ayla respectively. Osman Khalid Butt and Maya Ali marked their fourth appearance together as a couple having previously acted in Aik Nayee Cinderella, Aunn Zara and Diyar-e-Dil, all of which were commercially and critically successful. Hareem Farooq marked her second appearance with Maya Ali after Diyar-e-Dil.
Sanam was Hareem Farooq's third collaboration project with Osman Khalid Butt after Diyar-e-Dil where the two shared leading roles and Film Janaan where she holds producer credits.
Speaking about her character Farooq said, "My character addresses a very serious mental illness which many people fail to diagnose. In fact, it's a global issue in which one who is suffering and the people around them are unable to figure out what is wrong with them."
Sanam is Mayal Ali's third consecutive collaboration with the director having previously worked in Diyar-e-Dil and Mann Mayal, speaking about her third collaboration, director Haseeb Hassan states It wasn't a deliberate decision; we didn't sign all three of the projects together. I'd honestly call it a coincidence. When we got done with Diyar-e-Dil, we started casting for Sanam, and Maya suited the kind of character the script demanded. During Mann Mayal's casting, we approached several actresses but Maya managed to perfectly fit into Mannu's shoes. Besides that, I'll have to agree with the fact that when you work with people who are genuinely hard working, you try to work with them over and over again.
Emaad Irfani was finalised to portray the role of Shehroze, according to Director's interview with HIP, the creatives first choice was Sheheryar Munawar Sidiqui for this role, since Sidiqui was busy filming his film Project Ghazi, this role was then offered to Irfani who has had three projects airing on Hum TV. Actress Sharmeen Ali was also selected to film in Duraid's two projects Dil Banjaara and Sang-e-Mar Mar was selected to portray the role of Sara. Veteran actresses Hina Khawaja Bayat and Gul-e-Rana were also a part of secondary cast. Bayat's role was finalised after her collaborations with Haissam Hussain in Aik Nayee Cinderella and Aunn Zara, she is selected to portray Shabnam Shaukat, Aan's mother. Actress Lubna Aslam portrayed the role of Ayla's parents whereas veteran actor Munawar Saeed Shabnam's in-law.
Filming and Locations Principal photography began in May 2015 after the completion of Diyar-e-Dil. In late June 2015, the project was delayed since creative head Momina Duraid announced the filming of Mann Mayal first, where director Haseeb Hassan chose Maya Ali in leading cast. Furthermore, in January 2016, the project was delayed once again since Osman Khalid Butt and Hareem Farooq were promoting their film Janan. Speaking about Sanam's delay, Haseeb Hassan says: We wanted to give some gap between Diyar-e-Dil and Sanam because it also stars Osman Khalid Butt and Maya Ali in lead roles. So releasing another serial with the same couple and team immediately after the first one wouldn't have created the buzz. But now people are dying to see them both together, so it'll start airing in a couple of months, it's a unique love story, with a totally different package. Filming resumed in August 2016. The series was released before completion. Filming was extensively done in Naya Nazimabad Karachi with Zeb Rao being the cinematographer, Ishtiaq Hussain and Waqar Baloch being the location coordinator, Akbar Baloch being the head of set department and Kashif Ahmed being the head of post production. Graphics were done by Husnain Daswali and Muhammad Furqa Ali Qazi, while editing was done by Jameel Awan, Mahmood Ali and Mohsin.
Episodes
Music