O Rangreza

O Rangreza is a Pakistani romantic drama serial that aired on Hum TV. It starred Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas in the lead roles. Saji Gul wrote the drama, and Kashif Nisar directed it. Nasir had previously directed Dumpukht - Aatish-e-Ishq, which also starred Bilal Abbas along with Sonia Mishal and Noman Ijaz.

Plot
Sassi makes her father, Khayyam, her ideal and follows in his footsteps. She treats her mother, Mumtaz, "Mammo", as badly as Khayyam treats her. Her maternal cousin, Qasim, starts taking an interest in Sassi but stops thinking about Khayyam's favours in the past. Khayyam loves an actress, Sonia Jahan, and Sassi starts to follow in her footsteps. She often visits Sonia and learns from her.

Sassi and Sonia perform at Khayyam's birthday. Khayyam finds this embarrassing and slaps her. Sassi starts hating her father. Khayyam wants Qasim to marry Sassi, but Qasim refuses. Sassi finds solace in Sonia's ex-lover and director, Wajih, and starts working on his films. But Wajih dislikes her due to Khayyam's affair with Sonia. Sassi's eldest brother, Tipu, comes from London with his girlfriend, Mina. Tipu is arrogant and stubborn like Sassi.

Sonia poisons Khayyam and escapes because she does not love him. Khayyam wakes up and repents over every persecution he did for Sonia Jahan. He is unable to complete the poetry he started for Sonia.

Mina takes an interest Islam. She asks Qasim to choose a name for her. He chooses the name, Amna. Later, Amna falls for Qasim, but Qasim rejects her saying he can only love Sassi. Tipu transfers the house in Amna's name and decides to marry her. He plans to remove Khayyam, Sonia, Sassi, and Mammo from the haveli. Qasim marries Amna and becomes the owner, thus saving the members. Meanwhile, Sonia becomes ill, and her organs start failing. She dies in Khayyam's house. Sassi becomes an actress with her film Sonia Jahan which is a tribute to the life of the actress.

Qasim falls in love with Amna, and Sassi overhears and gets jealous. Now crazy to win Qasim back, she pushes Amna. But Amna is saved. Khayyam requests Amna to permit Qasim to marry Sassi. Amna unwillingly agrees. On the wedding day, Sassi rejects Qasim as she realises that Qasim loves Amna.

Cast

 * Sajal Aly as Sassi
 * Bilal Abbas Khan as Qasim
 * Noman Ijaz as Khayam Sani
 * Sana Fakhar as Sonia Jahan
 * Sonia Mishal as Mina/Amna
 * Irsa Ghazal as Mumtaz
 * Hamza Firdous as Tipu
 * Sohail Tariq
 * Umer Dar as Ramazan
 * Fareeha Jabeen
 * Omair Rana as Wajih Kamal
 * Tanveer Malik
 * Haseeb Khan
 * Maryam Noor as Aiman
 * Rizwan Riaz
 * Faisal Kichi
 * Waseem Akram

Production
Bilal, on the set of O Rangreza, said that "It’s a beautiful story, I play a dye wala and my whole get-up is like that. I fall in love with a girl played by Sajal who is my first cousin, and from there the play will unravel and the story will unfold. All the characters involved have their own story to tell which will make O Rangreza an interesting watch as it is quite different. Besides Sajal and myself the play will also feature Nauman Ejaz and Sonia Mishal."

Soundtrack
Initially, Sahir Ali Bagga sang and composed the song of O Rangreza. In September 2017, Sajal Aly also sang parts of the song with Sahir, which was also composed by him. All lyrics were written by the writer of the serial, Saji Gul, under the company Moomal Entertainment.

Broadcast
Hum Europe broadcast the show in the UK, Hum TV MENA in UAE, and Hum World in the United States and Canada.

Home media and digital release
Initially, the show was available on Hum TV's official YouTube channel, but the channel later deleted all the episodes. It was also available on the iflix app till 2019 when the channel terminated its contract with the app. In August 2019, Hum TV reuploaded all the episodes on their YouTube channel with muted music. Furthermore, in July 2020, the show was released on the ZEE5 app, along with some other Pakistani dramas.

Critical reception
While reviewing the first episode, The Nation praised several performances, Gul's writing, and Nisar's direction. In a review of the first five episodes of the series, a Dunya News critic praised the show's refreshing storyline, skillful direction, well-crafted, complex characters, and also commended the outstanding performances of the actors, particularly Sajal Aly, Sana Fakhar and Bilal Abbas Khan.

Along with a few other television series of the season, DAWN Images listed it as a series with an off-beat story.