Ishq Murshid

Ishq Murshid is a romantic, light-hearted Pakistani television series directed by Farooq Rind and produced by Moomal Entertainment and MD Productions. It aired from October 8, 2023 to May 5, 2024 on Hum TV and starred Bilal Abbas Khan and Durefishan Saleem in the lead roles. The final episode of the series released theatrically on 3 May 2024, and broadcast on 5 May.

The series received mixed reviews from critics for its plot and characters, but despite this, it achieved a high TRP rating of 22.3, the highest for the network, with Khan's performance being met with praise.

Plot
Shibrah Suleman is a headstrong, intelligent, and selfless girl, unwavering in her principles and deeply cherishing her family values. Hailing from a modest middle-class background, she remains unswayed by material wealth or social status.

Shahmeer Sikandar emerges as an enigmatic, yielding figure of affluence, having pursued his education abroad in the UK. He is from a wealthy family; however, his mother died in his childhood, leaving him with that everlasting scar, and he is in conflict with his father, Dawood. His mother, Zubaida, was supposedly sick in her last remaining moments and had a caretaker hired for her, Farah. Her husband and the caretaker had an affair, and the day Zubaida found this out, she died. The caretaker then married Shahmeer's father, and Shahmeer refused to let go of him.

When attending his best friend, Faraz's wedding, he meets Shibrah, demanding her change from a driver. Enthralled by her confidence and alluring personality, Shahmeer finds himself drawn to her in an instant. Shibrah is also there, attending her best friend Maliha's wedding.

On the wedding night of Faraz and Maliha, Shahmeer crashes into their room and, in a comedic sequence, implores them to know more about Shibrah by Maliha. This begins the ultimate plan between the three to get Shibra to marry Shahmeer, despite Maliha knowing Shibrah's loathing for opulence and corruption. She insists on only marrying whoever her father chooses.

Meanwhile, Shibrah's sister (Sukaina) is upset as she has been married to her cousin, Zohaib, for 3 years now, but because of his family's greedy demands, his mother refuses to take her in as his wife.

Shahmeer embarks on a perfect scheme to capture Shibrah’s heart, which involves disguising himself as a poor man and starting anew. This means securing employment at Shibrah‘s father's office, transforming into the puzzled and sweet Fazal Bakhsh.

Fazal Bakhsh, in the guise of acquainting herself with Shibrah and her family members, bribes the boy who delivers lunch to Shibra's father and takes up the work of collecting lunch from Shibrah’s home and delivering it to her father every day.

One day, Shibrah’s mother got side pain and fells on the ground when Fazal came to their home to fetch lunch. Fazal called an ambulance and referred Shibrah’s mother to the hospital, where doctors examined her and told her that she had an apendix and needed surgery. After successful operation, Shibra's father asked his both daughters to sell jewellery and pay hospital charges, but at reception and asking about payment, he got answer that the bill of eight hundred thousand rupees had been paid by an angel.

Shibrah's father gets shocked and calls to Sukaina to tell her that there is no need to bring jewelry although the hospital bill has been paid by an unknown angel.

Cast

 * Bilal Abbas Khan as Shahmeer Sikandar alias Fazal Baksh; Dawood and Zubaida's son, Shibra's husband
 * Durefishan Saleem as Shibra Suleman; Suleman and Safia's daughter, Shahmeer's wife
 * Omair Rana as Dawood Ali Khan; Shahmeer's father
 * Zarmeena Ikram as Farah Ali Khan; Dawood's second wife, Shahmeer's step-mother
 * Samiya Mumtaz as Zubaida Sikandar; Dawood's first wife, Shahmeer's mother (dead)
 * Noor ul Hassan as Suleman Ahmad; Shibra & Sukaina's father
 * Salma Hassan as Safia Suleman; Shibra & Sukaina's mother
 * Hafsa Ehsan Abbasi as Sukaina Suleman; Shibra's sister; Zohaib's wife
 * Sajjad Paul as Zohaib; Sukaina's husband
 * Rabia Noreen as Nargis; Suleman's sister, Zohaib's Mother
 * Awais Sulaman as Faraz Aftab; Shahmeer's best friend; Maliha's Husband
 * Srha Asghar as Maliha Faraz; Shibra's best friend; Faraz's wife
 * Shabbir Jan as Aftab, Faraz's father
 * Hira Tareen as Mehreen Baig; Shahmeer's childhood friend and one-sided lover
 * Adnan Jaffar as Haroon Baig; Mehreen's father
 * Sajid Shah as Safdar; Shahmeer's guard
 * Ali Gul Mallah as Fazal Bakhsh

Music
The original soundtrack "Ishq Murshid" released on November 2023. Lyrics were written by Sabir Zafar, Ahmed Zahahzeb composed the music, and performed the song. Another original soundtrack "Tera Mera Hai Pyar Amar" were also released on November 2023. Ahmed Zahahzeb penned the lyrics, composed the music, and performed the song. The soundtrack gained immense popularity. Female version and Extended wedding verse of "Tera Mera Hai Pyar Amar" were also released.

Production
To portray the main protagonist, Ahad Raza Mir, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Wahaj Ali, and Bilal Abbas Khan were approached, but Khan was chosen ultimately owing to his better understanding to the character. On March, 10,2023, Khan revealed his upcoming project through his Instagram account, in which he will be paired opposite Dur-e-Fishan Saleem. Saleem was chosen to portray the female lead and was suggested to the writer Abdul Khaliq Khan by Siraj-ul-Haque. Hum TV revealed the look of the actors on 7 June. The first looks of the lead actors from the series was revealed on 23 May. The first and second teasers were released on 5 August 2023.

Critical reception
While reviewing the first episode of the series, The News International stated that the film had a "predictable" plot, "clichéd" characters and noted the lack of chemistry between the leads. DAWN Images noted, along with the characters of some other television productions, the character of the male protagonist for being in love and the female protagonist's character for being outspoken. In an article by Redbrick, The reviewer praised Abbas Khan's transition between two characters and called it as "effortless", with the character of female protagonist as "clichéd and forgettable".

Ratings
In its 18th episode which aired on February 2024, the series received the rating of 22.3 TRP, the highest for the network. The first episode for the series gained more than 62 million views on YouTube.