Ishq Zahe Naseeb
Ishq Zahe Naseeb () is a Pakistani mystery drama television series co-produced by Momina Duraid and Moomal Shunaid under MD Productions and Moomal Entertainment which started on Hum TV from 21 June 2019. The series focuses on dissociative identity disorder, portrayed by Zahid Ahmed along with Sonya Hussain and Sami Khan in lead role whereas Zarnish Khan and Jinaan Hussain in pivot roles. It also has Yumna Zaidi and Azekah Daniel in an extended cameo appearance. It was the fifth on-screen appearance of Zahid Ahmed and Yumna Zaidi after "Jugnoo", "Zara Yaad Kar", "Pukaar" and Choti  Choti Batain. The series received critical praise, with Ahmed and Zaidi both noted for their performances, especially Ahmed's performance. Plot. Gohar is a poor but happy girl who is in love with a boy named Kashif. Kashif too is serious about her and intends to marry her. However, one day they are spotted together by Gohar’s brother Saleem, which creates problems for Gohar. Consequently, she is forced to accept the proposal of a nasty cousin Jehangir, because her father owes them money. Gohar and Kashif, on Gohar's sister's advice decide to elope, but on the day  of the marriage, both of them return halfway due to familial obligations, and avoid contact with each other. Meanwhile, Sameer is a wealthy, handsome, and young businessman whose mother abandoned him when he was a child and his father died soon after. He was then raised by his step-mother Sabiha. Due to traumatic experiences in his childhood, he developed split personality disorder, which has been kept a secret between him and Sabiha. He got engaged to a girl named Zoya whom he loved and hoped would help him get over his issues, but she died mysteriously before their marriage . Gohar’s sister Bushra works as a receptionist at Sameer's office, and Gohar takes her place when Bushra gets married and resigns. She is instead assigned as a governess at Sameer’s house, where Sabiha grows fond of her. Gohar doesn’t tell her family that she is working at Sameer’s house instead of his office, to avoid problems. Jehangir eventually finds out and tells her family who bar her from working anymore. Sameer, realizing that his mother has adapted to Gohar's way of managing the house, comes to her house to request her to rejoin. When  he learns of the family’s debt and Jehangir's pressure on the family, he writes her a blank cheque in hopes that it will get her to come back. Gohar refuses, but Saleem accepts the cheque, and withdraws money, twice the amount loan was for. He pays back the loan and keeps the rest of the extra withdrawal for himself. He also breaks Jehangir and Gohars engagement. Jehangir chooses to take revenge by attempting to throw acid on Gohar's face but fails. He is jailed but comes out after some time on bail. Meanwhile, Kashif secures a good  position in Sameer's rival company and starts earning well. His boss Donia is a woman who uses a wheelchair and is bitter because her fiance left her. Kashif slowly helps her mend her trust and bring back her liveliness and she is able to walk again. Their relationship blossoms, as does Sameer and Gohars. Sabiha, fearing that Gohar is trying to trap Sameer, fires her as governess. In retaliation, Sameer gives her a position in his office, to work on an upcoming project with Donia’s company. A subsequent meeting between the two companies leads to Gohar meeting Kashif  after a long time. But neither of them speak about their failed attempt to marry each other, making themselves believe that they betrayed each other. Sabiha learns that Gohar is working at Sameer’s office and arrives to humiliate and demean her, hoping she’ll leave. In an attempt to save her respect, Sameer announces that he is engaged to Gohar, silencing his mother. Later, during a dinner, he tells Gohar that he truly likes her and formally proposes to her. Gohar, on seeing Kashif, accepts the proposal. This is witnessed by Kashif and Donia who also happen to be  there. Sameer comes to Gohar’s house with his proposal, and on her family's acceptance, gets engaged to her. On the other hand, the same day, Kashif gets engaged to Donia. Saleem meets secretly with Sameer and gives him a list of materialistic things he wants under the pretense that it’s for Gohar’s security, in exchange for Gohar’s wedding with him. Sameer agrees on the condition that after the wedding, Saleem and his family should maintain no contact with Gohar. Saleem agrees reluctantly. Despite Kashif wanting Gohar to marry him, she marries Sameer and on the  wedding night comes face to face with his other female personality, Sameera. At a hospital, she also discovers Sameer’s real mother, Suraiya, now in a vegetative state, who was presumed dead. Following her, she finds out her brother is Akbar Chacha, a cook who works at Sameer’s house. He tells her that Sabiha drove Suraiya out of the house after framing her of cheating on her husband and led everyone to believe she died. She also meets with Sameer’s doctor who tells her about his mental illness and hallucinations. A series of flashbacks show the story of  a woman named Shakra, who was a maid at Sameer's house. Shakra got raped by Ehsaan, Sameer's father and as a result, Shakra gave birth to a baby boy. The boy was ordered to be killed, and Shakra got mentally disturbed. She was thrown out of the house. A few years later, Ehsaan threw his wife, Suraiya, out of the house accusing her of cheating on him and married a greedy woman named Sabiha who worked as a secretary in his office. Shakra returns from the mental asylum where she may have been sexually abused and poisons Ehsaan  as a revenge for killing her child and raping her. Shakra returns to work in the house. Sabiha starts to lock both Sameer and Shakra in the exact basement where Shakra was raped. While Shakra looks after Sameer, due to her own mental health issue, she poisons Sameer against men. Shakra starts to obsess over Sameer and begins to dress him up as a girl, calling him Sameera, developing his disorder of split personality. One day, Sabiha discovers this, and thinks of Shakra as a characterless woman as she is obsessing over him. Sabiha has Shakra arrested and sent to  jail. Sabiha comes to visit her, presumably when she discovers Sameer's disorder. Shakra tells her how she killed Ehsan but makes Sabiha promise not to tell Sameer as he loves her and she loves him. Later, flashback shows that her baby was not killed, but was taken by Ehsan's bodyguard who embraced the baby after not being able to kill the child as ordered. Therefore, bodyguard lies to Ehsan that the baby has been killed. It is later shown in the drama that Shakra is the illusion which Sameer sees because of his traumatic past. Gohar leaves Sameer  a note asking him to visit the old home where his mother is. When he reaches there, he comes face to face with Akbar Chacha who tells him the truth about his mother. However, before Sameer can meet Suraiya, she dies. On the other hand, Donia becomes distrustful of Kashif after discovering the truth about him and Gohar. Jehangir meets with Sabiha to discuss how to separate Gohar and Sameer. As part of the plan, he shows Sameer pictures of Gohar with Kashif, leading him to believe she is unfaithful and after his wealth. That night, in his disturbed state  of mind and under the influence of his other personality, he points a gun at Gohar and then at himself. Gohar attempts to take the gun from him, but a shot is fired during the struggle that injures Sameer. He is hospitalized as a result while Gohar is arrested. When Sameer gains consciousness he tells the police that it wasn’t Gohar who had fired the shot, but himself. He also admits to pushing Zoya off the balcony in his house under the influence of his other personality, that led to her death. Gohar is released from jail due to  Sameer’s testimony, and court rules Sameer innocent for Zoya’s murder due to his mental illness and asks him to enter a facility for treatment. Jehangir is thrown in jail for his crimes, while Sabiha commits suicide. Sameer wants to set Gohar free and asks her to sign the divorce papers, but she refuses. She meets with Zoya’s cousin, who although doesn’t forgive Sameer for her death, she understands that he didn’t mean for it to happen. The series ends with Donia and Kashif reuniting after their misconceptions are cleared and with Gohar's blessing. Whereas , a mentally stable and healed Sameer reunites with Gohar at a mazaar, years later. Production. Casting. The extended cameo role of Shakra before offered to Zaidi was earlier offered to Ayeza Khan and Neelam Muneer who rejected it due lesser screen time, being a cameo role. Soundtrack. The official soundtrack of the serial has been composed and performed by Naveed Nashad while the lyrics were written by Hashim Nadeem. Reception. Critical reception. It received critical acclaim due to its storyline and performances of the stars as well. Zahid's portrayal of a victim of dissociative identity disorder was praised by  the critics. "Amna Isani" of Something Haute said that Zahid played the character of Sammer with near-perfection, the most undisputed character of the serial."Maira Kiari" of "DAWN IMAGES" ranked the performance of Zahid, "Sameer/ Sameera" as the top 6 performances of television in 2019. The Nation praised the character and performance of Sonya and said that she caught our attention. "Syeda Zehra" of Something Haute praised the Yumna's performance and wrote, "Yumna Zaidi has given one powerful entry with just a few scenes so far". The performances of Sami Khan and Zarnish Khan also got appericiation. Sadaf  haider of "DAWN IMAGES" ranked it as one of the best drama of 2019.