Durr-e-Shehwar

Durr-e-Shehwar is an Urdu-language Pakistani drama television series directed by Haissam Hussain and written by Umera Ahmad. First broadcast in Pakistan by Hum TV, Durr-e-Shehwar premiered on 10 March 2012 and was produced by Momina Duraid and Six Sigma Entertainment. The series featured an ensemble cast of Sanam Baloch, Samina Peerzada, Qavi Khan, Meekal Zulfiqar, Noman Ejaz, and Nadia Jamil in lead roles. It ended its run on 16 June 2012, after airing 15 episodes.

The show was written and produced by the makers of Man-o-Salwa, Qaid-e-Tanhai, Malaal, Maat and Zindagi Gulzar Hai. The story entails the complexities of married lives in today’s urban setting or yesterday’s traditional times, showing how certain issues are common in every relationship. The strong protagonist gives her marital life as much patience and resolve as possible.

The series received critical acclaim with praise for Hussain's direction and the performances of the lead cast.

Plot
Durr-e-Shehwar's daughter, Shandana, and her husband, Mansoor's nephew, Haider, have been married to each other for the last eight years. But recently, there has been a breach in their relationship so Shandana decides to spend some time at her maternal home in Murree along with her young daughter, Sophia.

Both Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor love Shandana and Sophia a lot. But Shandana envies her mother thinking she led a comfortable and happy life with a loving husband and nothing to worry about. And thus, she often compares Haider with her father. Shandana also undergoes a stage of semi-depression and evens thinks of divorcing Haider. When Mansoor gets to know this, he gets angry with Haider. He reports this matter to his sister, Haider's mother, thus, further complicating the situation. Unable to see Shandana in such a devastated condition, one-day Durr-e-Shehwar decides to narrate her own life story to Shandana and explain that life for her wasn't as easy as Shandana thinks it to be.

When Durr-e-Shehwar got married and moved to Mansoor's house, she faced many problems and lost all the comforts and respect that she took for granted in her father’s house. Durr E Shahwar, who’d thought that after her marriage, she’d move with Mansoor to his army-allotted house, had to stay with her in-laws, away from him. Mansoor's mother was cold towards her and did not appreciate her for her good qualities. Mansoor also saw her through the eyes of his mother and therefore disregarded all her efforts. Durr-e-Shehwar had struggled for years to gain her mother-in-law's acceptance and the true love of Mansoor, who had earlier neglected her because of his mother. Once or twice she even considered moving to her father’s house, but she persisted. Through these hardships, what gave her strength was her father’s letters and advice. The greatest advice he gave her when she told him she didn’t love Mansoor was to pretend until she did. Soon, Mansoor’s attitude changed, and he took her away with her, and her in-laws realised her worth. And when Shahwar saw that the average husband and man, Mansoor was a great father, she forgave him, although she never forgot.

Hearing this story, Shandana realised the difficulty of her mother's life. Shandana saw her father in a different light, but it calmed her and gave her the morale to start a new life with Haider, with her grandfather’s letters, which she inherited from her mother.

Cast

 * Sanam Baloch/ Samina Peerzada as Durr-e-Shehwar
 * Mikaal Zulfiqar/ Qavi Khan as Mansoor
 * Nadia Jamil as Shandana; Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor's daughter
 * Noman Ejaz as Haider; Shandana's husband
 * Sophia Syed as Sophia; Shandana and Haider's daughter
 * Umer Naru as Saud; Mansoor's brother
 * Syed Mohammad Ahmed as Sami; Durr-e-Shehwar's father
 * Saba Faisal as Safia; Mansoor's mother
 * Khalid Butt as Mansoor's father
 * Kiran Haq as Fazeelat; Mansoor's sister
 * Shazde Sheikh as Hafsa; Mansoor's younger sister
 * Maya Ali as Mahnoor Sami; Durr-e-Shehwar's sister
 * Nasreen Qureshi as matchmaker of Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor
 * Sumbal Jamil as Farwa; Durr-e-Shehwar's neighbor in Murree
 * Osman Khalid Butt as Hassan; Farwa's husband
 * Laila Zuberi as Mrs. Habib; Durr-e-Shehwar's friend
 * Sonia Nazir as Nazia; Durr-e-Shehwar's friend

Broadcast and release
It aired in India on Zindagi under the title Dhoop Chhaon, premiering on 21 October 2014.

Since mid-2020, it is available for online streaming on ZEE5 under the title Dhoop Chhaon.

Reception
Durr-e-Shehwar received mostly positive reviews throughout its broadcast; gathered praise for its storyline, direction and performances (especially of the female leads, Peerzada and Baloch). Critics praised the storyline regarding the struggles of women towards marital relations and criticised the same for the depiction of working women as "selfish" and the constant sufferings of a girl. Hussain's direction was widely praised, with DAWN Images praising it in the words, "Using a clever balance of past, present and near past, director Haissam Hussain kept the momentum going in what might have been just another mazloom aurat (helpless woman) story."