Yeh Dil Mera

Yeh Dil Mera is a 2019 Pakistani romantic thriller television series that premiered on Hum TV on 30 October 2019. Produced by Momina Duraid under her banner MD Productions, the serial stars Ahad Raza Mir, Sajal Aly and Adnan Siddiqui.

The series received mostly positive reviews, with critcs praising its plot, acting performances, and chemistry of the lead couple, but was critical of the pacing issues and poor direction.

Plot
Aina is the only daughter of a powerful business tycoon, Mir Farooq Zaman. She is a chemical engineering student, and intends to complete her internship from AK oil industry, named after its CEO Aman-Ullah Khan.

After various interactions, Aman through his charming personality wins over Aina’s heart and proposes her for marriage. Aman cancels the marriage, a few days before the function and flies to UK, only to later come back and marry her, after she begs for it.

Aina’s life takes a downturn after marriage, as Aman becomes hostile towards her. She starts to look for answers and ends finding up about Aman’s traumatic childhood, in which his parents and sister were murdered by her father. Their relationship is all but over after Aman blames Mir Farooq to be the murderer.

They both travel to Daryabagh, where Aman’s parents were allegedly murdered. Though together, they both now have different objectives, for Aina, to prove her father’s innocence, whereas for Aman to avenge the death of his parents and sister.

In Daryabagh, Aina, while investigating, gets know that her mother, Neelofer Farooq, was murdered by Ali Bakhsh, his father's assistant, on Mir Farooq's orders while she was running from Mir Farooq's home with her daughter Aina, upon getting know that Mir Farooq tried to assault Aman's mother Humaira, and killed Aman's parents and sister. She puts a gun on her head and makes Mir Farooq Zaman accept all the crimes committed by her.

Mir Farooq orders his assistant Ali Bakhsh to shoot him in regret. Ali Bakhsh after doing so, suicides.

Aaina separates from Aman without divorcing her. And after winding up all her father's business, she opens a school for poor children in Daryabagh with this money. Aman also dedicates his life to the orphanage. And this is where the story ends.

Cast

 * Ahad Raza Mir as Amaanullah Khan
 * Sajal Aly as Noor-ul-Ain Zaman
 * Adnan Siddiqui as Mir Farooq Zaman
 * Paras Masroor as Ali Bakhsh
 * Zarnish Khan as Humaira
 * Mira Sethi as Neelofer Farooq
 * Farhan Ali Agha as Ghauri
 * Mariam Mirza as Mrs. Ghauri
 * Rabia Butt as Sahira
 * Natasha Hussain as Farhana
 * Adnan Tariq Qureshi as Ubaidullah
 * Yahya Ahmad as Ibrahim
 * Naima Khan as Nargis Bua
 * Syed Mohammad Ahmed as Dr.Arsalan
 * Musa as Maani/Amanullah (young)

Soundtrack
Shiraz Uppal sung and composed the song Yeh dil mera while the lyrics were written by Shakeel Sohail.The other soundtrack Tip Tip was sung by Sajal Aly, who plays protagonist in the serial and Naveed Nashad and was composed by Nashad also. The lyrics of the Tip Tip were written by Aehsun Talish.

Production
The show was earlier titled Mujhay Vida Kar but later changed.

The writer, Farhat Ishtiaq said that Yeh Dil Mera was supposed to be a novel; 300 pages in she faced a writer’s block so she left it incomplete. In 2017, she intended to finish the novel alongside the drama adaptation but scared of the comparison, she decided to leave the novel for later.

The production location of the serial Darya Baagh is a fictional place, the shooting was actually done in Shogran, situated between Kaghan valley and Neelum Valley.

Critical reception
The series received positive reviews for its haunting theme and performances of the lead couple. Sadaf Haider of DAWN Images, in her review of the first two episodes, praised the performances of the lead pair and the strong plot of Farhat Ishtiaq's script. In another review, Haider praises the show's unique storyline, strong performances of the actors, nuanced characters, and the chemistry of the lead couple, but criticizes its poor direction, continuity issues, and repetitive dialogues. A reviewer from Daily Times lauded the story of the serial stating, "It wasn’t only mysterious but also a show that heavily focuses on the theme of Mental Health, a subject that is spoken very briefly about and sometimes also ignored." Maliha Rehman of Dawn was appreciative of the Aly and Raza Mir's chemistry, writing "There are many scenes that are remarkable, in which revenge battles with love, confusion creates doubts, and the past threatens to tarnish the lead pair’s romance.", but was critical of bad direction. Sarah Hameed of The News International lauded the portrayal of mental health issues in the whole series but criticised its trivialising in the last episode.

Controversy
After the release of teasers of the show, the show was heavily criticised for the publicity of sexual harassment in the work place as a romantic genre, to which Farhat Ishtiaq replied that by watching the teaser of just 30 seconds, the whole story of the show cannot be predicted. Viewers will see that why she (Aina) went for the job interview with such a heavy makeup. It may be that both characters know each other already.