From ‘Paristan’ and ‘Chaudhry and Sons’ to the widely admired ‘Hum Tum’, all Ramadan rom-coms had their respective final episodes aired on the occasion of Eid, with ‘Hum Tum’ attaining the top position for being the best drama serial to have been aired this year for a large number of reasons.
Not only was it directed by the meticulous Danish Nawaz and written by what is now a household name, Saima Akram Chaudhry, but it also carried a great star cast including the likes of Adnan Jaffer, Arjumand Rahim, Mohammed Ahmed, Farhan Ali Agha, Sarah Khan, Ahad Raza Mir, Junaid Khan and Ramsha Khan.
The major reason why ‘Hum Tum’ won the hearts of millions of people was its progressive take on a number of much-trodden, illogical socio-cultural values. ‘Hum Tum’ endeavored to break multiple stereotypes which unfortunately still exist at large in our society. It did so by touching upon topics pertaining to the trickle-down effect of subtle emotional abuse in families, the hesitation to reverse gender roles in fear of the society, and the preference of male-children over female-children. By penning modern characters who do not adhere to any of these stereotypes nor allow their elders to stick to them, Saima Akram Chaudhry made ‘Hum Tum’ a much-admired contemporary serial the likes of which are badly needed.
The writer herself penned a lengthy note on Facebook right after the serial ended, saying that she had always wanted to write a drama which would reverse gender roles for good, and through which people could learn that women can be as much financially stable as men and men can be as excellent cooks as women. After the last episode of the serial went on air, not only the drama team was left saddened as could be observed from its social media posts, but the viewers were also left heart-broken, as they wanted to have more of a drama as fresh and modern as ‘Hum Tum’.
Despite multiple rom-coms running during the holy month, ‘Hum Tum’ continued to trend on Twitter and invite the largest number of comments from viewers.
