Yunhi
| Yunhi | |
|---|---|
 Title Card | |
| Urdu | یونہی |
| Genre | Drama Romance |
| Written by | Sarwat Nazir |
| Directed by | Mohammed Ehteshamuddin |
| Starring | |
| Opening theme | "Yunhi" by Sami Khan & Shae Gill |
| Country of origin | Pakistan |
| Original language | Urdu |
| No. of episodes | 34 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Momina Duraid |
| Producer | Momina Duraid |
| Cinematography | Khizer Gul |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | approx. 40 min |
| Production company | MD Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Hum TV |
| Release | 5 February – 1 October 2023 |
Yunhi (Urdu: یونہی, lit. 'Just so') is a Pakistani family drama television series, directed by Mohammed Ehteshamuddin, written by Sarwat Nazir, and produced by Momina Duraid under the banner MD Productions.[1] It features Maya Ali and Bilal Ashraf in leading roles. The first episode of the series originally aired on Hum TV on 5 February 2023.[2] The story of Yunhi revolves around a typical urban Pakistani family whose norms and outdated traditions are questioned by a USA returnee relative.[3]
Plot
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (December 2023) |
Haji Karamat is the patriarch of the house where he lives with the family of his son Basharat and a divorced daughter Iqbal. His other children, Firdous lives with her family near the house and Khursheed died years ago due to tuberculosis as her cousin Naveed had denied marrying her. Naveed, who has now become a surgeon in USA, returns to Pakistan to marry his daughter Kim who wanted to marry there with a non-muslim boy.
He returns to his uncle and asks for forgiveness. Her daughter Kaneez Fatima a.k.a. Kim experiences unfamiliar situations there such as Daniyal's concern for Suraiya's purdah and not for hers and certain other hypocritical actions. However, she gets intrigued by Basharat's elder son Dawood's getup who is a pious man and a doctor by profession. His introduction with Kim creates a rift between them. On Naveed's wish, Dawood's grandfather decides his marriage with Kim. But he conditions that after his reutn he will marry Iqbal. Naveed agrees on it and Kim also agrees to marry him, taking it as an experiment. Daniyal gets sad on his brother's marriage as he had want to marry her to get American nationality. But, not only his this wish remains incomplete but his ex-beloved Husna, Fridous's daughter also starts ignores him completely.
After marriage, Kim is attracted towards Dawood who keeps trying to fulfill this relationship with his heart. But, she constantly keeps going to meet with his father's friend Zulfi, who later becomes her friend as well, knowingly that the Grandfather doesn't like him. She comes to know that her father has taken all of her documents including the passport with him in USA so that she couldn't return. In USA, he gets cardiac arrest.
Kim deals with Dawood that she will not leave him if she will get influenced by him. Dawood agress on it and comes to know about her horrific past that how her teacher had abused her in her childhood. After days, she takes a stand for Suraiya when her elders decide to marry her with Firdous and Mudassir's son, Hamid without her consent. Kim comes to know about the Suraiya's fellow Owais with whom she wants to marry, and fully supports her. She denies to marry Hamid and everyone in the house blames Kim for it. At a dark night before the day of her forced nikkah, Suraiya tries to elope from the house but Daniyal catches her.
Suraiya accuses Kim to advise her to elope, in front of everyone. Everyone blames Kim but Dawood supports her. He confirms it by unintentionally hearing Suraiya's discussion with Iqbal. She complains her that marriage by choice is the basic right of every girl. After offering his Fajr prayer, Dawood astonishes to see Kim who starts offer her prayer. Suraiya realises her mistake and apologizes her. Kim appreciates and morally supports her and makes it realise to Dawood that it is not justified at all to marry her without her consent. She and Dawood goes Owais' house where they realised that he is not a good match for her as his family members don't respect them at all. Suraiya also decides to not marry him. Dawood and Kim convinces the grandfather to calling of her nikkah with Hamid.
Cast
- Manzoor Qureshi[2][4] as Haji Karamat
- Behroze Sabzwari as Basharat Ali
- Tahira Imam as Razia
- Bilal Ashraf[5] as Dr. Dawood Basharat a.k.a. 'David'
- Maya Ali as Kaneez Fatima a.k.a. 'Kim'
- Maha Hasan as Suraiya Basharat
- Khaqan Shahnawaz as Daniyal Basharat a.k.a. 'Dani'
- Deepak Parwani as Dr. Naveed Ali
- Tazeen Hussain as Iqbal Karamat a.k.a. 'Bali'
- Uzma Beg as Firdous
- Saad Zameer Fareedi[4] as Mudassir
- Laiba Khurram[4] as Husna
- Kulsoom Aftab as Azra
- Ali Rizvi as Sajjad
- Majida Hameed as Naseema
- Kausar Siddiqui as Uzma
- Shazia Qaiser as Uzma's mother
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack was composed by Sami Khan, and sung by Sami Khan and Shae Gill (of Pasoori fame).
| "Yunhi" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Shae Gill and Sami Khan | |||||
| Language | Urdu | ||||
| Released | 24 January 2023 | ||||
| Length | 4:11 | ||||
| Label | Hum | ||||
| Producer(s) | MD Production | ||||
| |||||
Production
On 28 August 2022, Hum TV announced that network's upcoming series Yunhi will star Bilal Ashraf in his television series debut, opposite Maya Ali who will return to channel after six years, since Sanam (2016).[6][7][8] The principal photography wrapped on 10 June 2022.[9]
Reception
Television rating
| Ep# | Date | TRP(s) | Rank# | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 February 2023 | 8 | 1 | [10] |
| 2 | 12 February 2023 | 6.6 | 1 | |
| 3 | 19 February 2023 | 6.0 | 1 | |
| 4 | 26 February 2023 | 4.2 | 1 | |
| 5 | 5 March 2023 | 5 | 1 | |
| 6 | 12 March 2023 | 5.5 | 1 | |
| 12 | 30 April 2023 | 5.9 | 1 | |
| 13 | 7 May 2023 | 6.6 | 1 | |
| 15 | 21 May 2023 | 8.6 | 1 | |
| 20 | 25 June 2023 | 7.2 | 1 | |
| 21 | 2 July 2023 | 7.2 | 1 | |
| 22 | 9 July 2023 | 7.6 | 1 |
Critical reception
A reviewer from The News International stated that the series started off on a promising note but found the climax as "little too unbelievable".[11]
References
- ^ "Drama Review: Yunhi". Youlin Magazine.
- ^ a b "6 Reasons Yunhi Is An Artistic Journey to Look Forward To". Diva Magazine. 4 February 2023. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023.
- ^ Foha Raza (11 September 2023). "Pakistani drama serials to binge on in September". Hum News. Archived from the original on 30 October 2023.
- ^ a b c "Bilal Ashraf make his TV debut in HUM TV's Yunhi opposite talented Maya Ali". The AZB. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023.
- ^ "Bilal Ashraf to mark television debut with 'Yunhi' opposite Maya". Daily Times.
- ^ "Stay tuned for more updates!! | #HUMTV #MayaAli #BilalAshraf". 28 August 2022. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022 – via Instagram.
- ^ "Maya Ali and Bilal Ashraf are all set to star in Hum TV's upcoming drama". Bol News. 28 August 2022.
- ^ Irfan Ul Haq (30 August 2022). "Bilal Ashraf to make TV debut with Maya Ali in a drama directed by Mohammed Ehteshamuddin". Dawn Images. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ DAWN Images (10 June 2023). "It's a wrap for drama Yunhi. Khaqan Shahnawaz shares an "all smiles" picture from the last day of the shoot. (via @khaqanshahnawaz)". Archived from the original on 10 June 2023 – via Instagram.
- ^
- For Episode 1, "A Majestic Start". 6 February 2023.
- For Episode 2, "Flying High!". 14 February 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023 – via Instagram.
- For Episode 3, "Continuously Winning Hearts". Archived from the original on 22 May 2023.
- For Episode 4, "Flying High!". 28 February 2023 – via Instagram.
- For Episode 5, "Remains Number 1!". 6 March 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023.
- For Episode 6, "#Yunhi | Slot Leader 🙌🏻🤩". 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023 – via instagram.
- For Episode 12, "#Yunhi | An Ultimate Hit! 😍". 2 May 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023 – via instagram.
- For Episode 13, "#Yunhi | A Treat To Watch For All! 🤩". 10 May 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023 – via instagram.
- For Episode 15, "Leading The Slot!". 22 May 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023 – via Instagram.
- For Episode 20, "Remains The Best!". 27 June 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023.
- For Episode 21, "Remains The Best!". Instagram. 4 July 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023.
- For Episode 22, "Ruling The Hearts!". Instagram. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023.
- ^ Gaitee Ara Siddiqui (31 December 2023). "Entertainment Galore". The News International. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023.