Mushk

Mushk
Clockwise, from top left: Urwa Hocane, Imran Ashraf, Moomal Sheikh and Osama Tahir
Urduمشک
GenreRomance
Serial drama
Written byImran Ashraf
Directed byAehsun Talish
StarringImran Ashraf
Momal Sheikh
Urwa Hocane
Osama Tahir
Theme music composerNaveed Nashad
Opening theme"Mushk" by Ali Zafar
Country of originPakistan
Original languageUrdu
No. of episodes26
Production
ProducerMomina Duraid
CinematographyNadeem Rahman
EditorSyed Tanveer Alam
Production companyMD Productions
Original release
NetworkHum TV
Release17 August 2020 (2020-08-17) –
13 February 2021 (2021-02-13)

Mushk (Urdu: مشک, lit. 'Fragrance') is a Pakistani drama that aired on Hum TV. The actors starring in this show include Imran Ashraf, Urwa Hocane, Momal Sheikh and Osama Tahir. With Imran Ashraf also as the writer, the play is directed by Aehsun Talish. A weekly episode started airing on Hum TV from 17 August 2020.

The show earned widespread critical acclaim for its performances, dialogues, and cinematography, and achieved decent viewership, peaking at 5.1 TRPs. It received nomination of Best TV Actress - Critics' choice for Hocane at the 22nd Lux Style Awards.

Plot

The story starts with Mehak, a girl who is born in a conventional family. Even though she gets a chance to go abroad for further education, that doesn't change the conventional thinking of her family, who wants to get her married as soon as she gets back. Little do they know that Mehak has started a new life out there; she is married and even has a young son who is named Shahmeer. Shahmeer's father is the man Mehak loves, Shayan. While Mehak is enjoying a happy life out there, a man named Adam, who has been in love with her for years, awaits her and lives in Mehak's village. It seems like all he will get is his heart broken.

Mehak's happy family doesn't stay together for long, as on Shayan's visit to Pakistan, he is trapped and locked up by his uncle as he wants Shayan to marry his daughter, but Shayaan doesn't want to marry her as he is already married and there is a large age gap between them. This leads to Mehak coming back to Pakistan in his search. But how can she tell her family that she is married if she is not able to find Shayan? How will she reveal her son?

Fate saves her day by making her meet a poor girl called Guddi who fakes to be the mother of her child and agrees to spend some time in Mehak's haveli as a servant until she finds Shayan. Soon, Mehak has disclosed to Guddi that she went to London and fell in love with Shayan. After some time Shayan had to go back to Pakistan for some reason, but Mehak was worried that he will never come back so she forced him to marry her and he did so.

Once, Guddi abused Mehak's Tai Zulekha and she in return throws Guddi out of the house. This leads to Guddi taking Mehak's son with her to the train station. Mehak asks Adam for help and tells him that Shahmeer is her son. Adam goes to the train station and brings Guddi back. Guddi seeks forgiveness from Tai but in her heart, she wants revenge. Once, Saqib comes to meet Roshni and Guddi, Tai, and Mehak see them. Dada comes and asks who was meeting Saqib. Tai lies to Dada that Saqib came to meet Mehak. Dada on the next day goes to Adam's house and asks him to marry Mehak. After coming back the next day, upon Mehak's plan, Adam agrees.

Their engagement is planned to take place on the same day as Roshni's nikkah, with whom Tai has arranged through her husband's Doctor Sahab. Guddi's vengeance plan is to have Roshni elope with Saqib, so that it would demean Tai's izzat (respect). Roshni escapes on her nikkah day, but Adam and Mehak's engagement take place. Roshni and Saqib arrive at the train station, where they are aided by a man who dwells there.

Meanwhile, Dada is informed that Roshni has actually escaped, and ends up in the hospital after panicking. Adam is sent to find Roshni. Saqib and Roshni are planning their nikkah to finally get married. On the other hand, Shayan now lives as a guest in his Uncle's house to soon marry his daughter but attempts another time to escape. However, when he goes to inform the police about his Uncle, he realizes that the police are also under his control. He is again forced to return to his Uncle's house. Saqib is revealed to be taking revenge for his sister from Roshni's father and dumps Roshni at a woman's house. Adam arrives at the train station and is finally told by the man at the train station about where Roshni is.

Cast

Production

Imran Ashraf, who is primarily known as an actor, also wrote the mega-hit tragic drama serial Tabeer a few years back.

In 2019, he returned to writing with Mushk; his second play as a writer that will also feature him in the lead alongside Urwa Hocane. This marks the second writing collaboration he has made with Aehsun Talish who also directed the 2019–20 drama Yeh Dil Mera.

In October 2019, it was announced that Urwa Hocane, last appeared in the network's social-drama Udaari, will make a comeback on TV screens with Mushk alongside Imran Ashraf and the script will be written by Ashraf himself. In the talk show Bol Nights, actress Kubra Khan and actor Gohar Rasheed announced that they were to be part of Mushk, but later dropped due to scheduling conflicts. In turn, Momal Sheikh replaced Kubra and Gohar Rasheed was replaced by Osama Tahir.

The first and second teasers of the show were released on 4 August 2020.

Soundtrack

Mushk OST
Soundtrack album by
Ali Zafar
Released9 August 2020 (2020-08-09)
Recorded2020
GenreTelevision soundtrack
Length4:18
LanguagesUrdu, Punjabi
LabelM.D Productions
ProducerMomina Duraid
Music video
"Mushk" OST on YouTube

The official soundtrack of the serial has been composed by Naveed Nashad and sung by Ali Zafar while the lyrics are written by Ahson Talish.

Reception

Critical reception

The show garnered widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise for its cast's performances, dialogues, and cinematography The incorporation of raw Urdu in the dialogues was especially commended. Reviewers from The Nation and DAWN Images lauded the cast's performances, storyline, direction, and script. In a review of the 20 episodes, Intsab Sahi of The News International praised the script for its "charming" characters, the "purposeful" plot and thought-provoking portrayal of various issues, albeit noting that some dialogues were overly philosophical.

Audience reception

The series received a decent TRPs throughout its run and leading the time slot for first time in its 15th episode by gaining 5.1 TRPs, followed by 4.55 TRPs in 16th episode and 3.7 TRPs in 17th episode.

Awards and nominations

Date of ceremony Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
October 9, 2021 Lux Style Awards Best Female Actor - Critics Urwa Hocane Nominated
November 5, 2021 Pakistan International Screen Awards Best Television Actor (Jury) Imran Ashraf Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Zara Tareen Nominated
Best Original Soundtrack Ali Zafar and Naved Nashad Nominated

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ghazala Sulaiman (10 January 2020). "Upcoming stories that will rock our screens in 2020!". HUM TV. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Buraq Shabbir (6 November 2019). "Urwa Hocane set to return to television with Mushk". The News. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  3. ↑ "Imran Ashraf braves the cold to get the perfect shot". Daily Times. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  4. ↑ Omair Alavi (25 October 2020). "Women with a mean streak". www.thenews.com.pk.
  5. 1 2 Afreen Seher (7 February 2021). "New kids on the block". www.thenews.com.pk.
  6. ↑ Ghazala Sulaiman (3 February 2020). "Influential people that are changing the entertainment game in Pakistan!". HUM TV. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  7. ↑ Usman Ghafoor (8 March 2020). "Meet Pakistani cinema's stars of tomorrow". Gulf News. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Omair Alavi (12 November 2019). "Aehsun Talish and Imran Ashraf expect high from 'Mushq'". Hum TV. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  9. ↑ "Taking a look at Ali Zafar's three super-hit drama OSTs this year". Daily Times. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  10. ↑ Akbar, Hammad (23 September 2020). "Pakistani Dramas That Stand Out For Their Stunning Locations And Visuals". Galaxy Lollywood. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Batool, Maisooma (2 January 2021). "2020 In Drama: Recapping The Year That Went By". Galaxy Lollywood. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  12. ↑ Rehman, Maliha (28 January 2021). "With Mushk, Imran Ashraf created a good script all on his own when none were coming his way". Dawn Images. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Imran Ashraf's dialogues from Mushk win hearts". niche.com.pk. November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  14. 1 2 Haider, Sadaf (11 January 2021). "What we want to see more of on television in 2021". Images. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  15. ↑ Waqas, Maliha (22 September 2020). "Mushk – a phenomenal drama to appear after a long time". The Nation. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  16. ↑ Intsab Sahi (31 January 2021). "Philosophy overdose". The News International.
  17. ↑ "#Mushk - Leading the slot! Episode 15". instagram.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  18. ↑ "Mushk TRP - Episode 16". Instagram. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  19. ↑ "Remains The Best". Instagram. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  20. ↑ Images Staff (26 August 2021). "Lux Style Awards announces nominations for its 20th edition". Images. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "PISA 2021 announces nominations in 24 categories". The Express Tribune. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2022.