Very few people know that the popular Indian channel Starplus aired a drama serial called ‘Tanha’ between 1997 and 1999, which was written by Pakistani playwright Haseena Moin. Not only this, but following the success of Pakistani serial ‘Dhoop Kinare’ which was admired on both sides of the border, Marina Khan and Sajid Hassan were also roped in to play two characters in ‘Tanha’.
In a conversation which I had with Marina Khan a year ago, the actor and director shed more light on the project, telling that it was a love story, with some aspects similar to ‘Dhoop Kinare’, especially its incorporation of an old man and a young lady in love with each other. She went on to tell that Naseeruddin Shah was cast for the project and he was the one who was supposed to play the role of the elderly man opposite Marina Khan.
‘I was too excited!’ said the ‘Tanhaiyaan’ fame actress, further telling that after three days of shoot, Naeeruddin Shah walked out of the project because of some issues with the production house. Vijayendra Ghatge, another popular Indian actor then replaced Naseeruddin Shah, and it was with him in the cast that the entire serial was then shot and sent on air.
The serial became a blockbuster, but only in India where it was easily available to watch. Very few Pakistanis had access to Indian channels back in those days and the serial isn’t even available on YouTube to watch. It must be known that ‘Tanha’ was not the only serial which Haseena Moin wrote for India, but she also penned a drama called ‘Kashmakash’ and a film by Raj Kapoor called ‘Henna’.
