Whoa! Wow! OK! Where do I begin? How do I sum up the finale and not end up sounding like a blithering idiot?! Can I do it  justice? I ran out of superlatives a while ago and now my thesaurus has given up on me as well…. So, bear with me and here we go …..

The uncharted safar we all embarked on way back when in September finally reached its destination today … and Wow! What a safar it’s been …

I initially began watching Humsafar thinking it would be a good time-pass. I had read the story a while back and enjoyed it. On hearing that it would be turned into a drama I thought to myself, alright, I am a huge fan of Sarmad’s work, I have drooled over Fawad Khan in the past, and am used to giving plays by MD Productions at least one serious “dekho,” so all in all not bad – I remember telling myself that if nothing else at least one of these factors would come through and that one Saturday would not be a complete waste… and MAN, was I wrong!!!

Rather than one element or another working, Humsafar was a complete package in that EVERYTHING came together, and HOW! For me, the last episode epitomized everything that was exceptional about this serial. Direction, dialogues, camerawork, acting, editing, all surpassed the benchmarks set by the previous episodes. FINALLY Khirad’s character endeared itself to me. I loved the way she showed maternal concern and began to doubt the wisdom of her emotional decision to leave Hareem in Karachi. The way she hurriedly brushed past Ashar in her concern to get to her daughter as soon as possible was beautifully done. The heart-to-heart between Ashar and Khirad was just what the doctor ordered; both of them finally verbalizing feelings, thoughts, and questions that had previously remained unsaid, even in happier times. Finally they had learnt the value of communicating; egos were put aside and souls were bared. The long-awaited confrontation between Ashar and Fareeda was nothing less than explosive. All those dialogues I had read long ago took on a life of their own– every line from Ashar felt like a whiplash. After the novel, I had always wondered about what had happened to Fareeda, and the tender moment between the mother and son was a perfect wrap up to that thread. He knew her reality but, being the dutiful son he was, he couldn’t turn his back on his now mentally ill mother. Another extension to the original story, Khizar and Zareena’s cameo, didn’t add much to the story, but I liked the way it brought closure to Zareena’s character. Last night I had wondered what the last scene would look like – would it be worthy of drawing the curtains on this epic serial? And, YES! what a scene it was – Ashar and Khirad, still clearly adjusting to their renewed relationship, watching their daughter play in the rain; Ashar tacitly asking if he’d been forgiven and at Khirad’s subtle acknowledgment taking the pin out of her hair; a much happier Ashar dragging a now smiling Khirad to join their daughter and rejoice in the rain.  All ghosts of the past had finally been laid to rest – a new safar had begun.

This was one of the very few final episodes where I did not walk away thinking, oh this question was not answered, or that didn’t one thing didn’t make sense. Story-wise all loose ends were beautifully tied up. Every shot was meaningful and justified its being there in the finale. The editing was very crisply done and the OST placement was beautifully accomplished. The final scene, for me, has to be one of the best last scenes in Pakistan TV drama history. The juxtapositioning of the past and the present was absolutely inspired. Kudos to Sarmad Khoosat.

Any review of Humsafar would be incomplete without acknowledging all the people that contributed to its success; the final product is indeed a rich tribute to their talents. Farhat Ishtiaq’s fantastic story, Sarmad Khoosat’s cinematic vision and his keen understanding of the characters and their motivations, Shahzad Kashmiri’s exceptional lighting and camerawork, the haunting OST, Fawad Khan’s beyond brilliant acting, Atiqa Odho’s superb performance in the final confrontation and her later appearance as a lost soul, Naveen Waqar’s excellent portrayal of the lovelorn Sarah, Hina Bayat as the heartbroken Zareena, Mahira Khan as the stoic Khirad, and finally Behroze Sabzwari as the man responsible for kicking off the drama, all chipped in equally to make Humsafar a masterpiece.

Thank you Momina Duraid, MD Productions, and HUM TV for inviting us along on this epic safar; I, for one, am certainly glad that I became a humsafar ….

Written by SZ ~