Mol is an upcoming “Mega” serial on Hum TV. We have been watching the promos with great interest. From the promotional poster it does look like a typical Dusri bivi serial or at the very least a love triangle. However delving deeper into the teaser’s and we hope to see something a little more interesting. Mol was the topic of much speculation a year or so back as the cast became the subject of a lot of popular debate. With a completely different cast and a different production house the drama now stands ready for release and we were fortunate enough to talk to the man behind the original concept : Faysal Manzoor Khan .
What gave you the idea for the original story?
It’s a visually driven story, which I had one fine evening in 2008; I saw myself standing at a window in my mom’s bedroom back in Peshawar and looking across the lane. There was a house with a huge garden and I saw a one year old baby boy in that garden. I wondered who the baby was and what I was doing there? We had left Peshawar in 2003. Within a month on closing my eyes I saw a girl standing at that window and since then I started exploring the relationship between the girl and the child and this is how Mol was born.
It has taken a long time to come to the screen then, can you tell us about that journey?
Yes, it was never easy searching the relationship between the child and the girl, it was like an unknown world, that started revealing itself to me slowly and finally at the end of 2011 and early 2012 I finally penned it down.
Does this mean Mol is inspired by a true story?
Well mostly as storytellers the stories we tell are the ones we see and feel here and there, but this is purely fiction, something that came as revelations between 2008 to 2011
So tell us how this drama got to HUM TV ?
Well in those days Humsafar was very popular I kind of liked the play, post marriage relationship drama and the sensitivities though Mol was not the same story but I had a feeling that audiences appreciating Humsafar would appreciate Mol, so on one of Drama Pakistani’s thread in June 2012 i announced it will go on HUM TV
Who wrote the screenplay?
Okay, I am just the story writer, the person who created Eeman Shehriyar ,Sajjal etc, but its Amna Mufti who gave them words, beautiful words. She wrote an amazing screenplay. If there was Sukkur in story with her screenplay she made Sukkur look heavenly and added metaphors. She started writing Mol’s script in March 2013. And my, she did a great job. I could have had any writer and I did try a few but then I realised the story need an intellectual and scholar, and who could be better than Amna Mufti ?
Did you envision the actors to play the respective roles or was that left at the director’s discretion?
it’s always the end product that matters and after seeing the final outcome I think both Faysal and Naveen have done great job. I had envisioned ones in my thoughts and visuals but now i see them on screen and I am happy.
I don’t want to jump the gun here, but just out of morbid curiosity, does domestic abuse and / or dusri Shadi feature in the story?
Yes Humsafar worked on chemistry between the two, here the characters are at odds, they are strangers to each other and different and there is always some distance between them, a vacuum, which gets filled at the end of the play. We when they talk there is silence so much unsaid. And please it’s not a love story at all, it’s actually individuals discovering who they are through different events and situations and while doing so, they face hardships limitations by society it’s about their empowerment and taking control back from societal, societal roles and expectations and exercising their free will.
So are there any Bholi larkiya?
No ,Emaan is not a bholi larki, she teaches special children. She knows how to respect other people’s space. When she is not given that space, she stands against it in her own way. We all should have the right to live life the way we want to, if we don’t cause pain or suffering to other beings
Does the hero like paratas and koftas? Becuase we all know if any girl can make them a man will leave his wife for her…
Ha Ha Ha …. The Hero is a disciplined man. He lives life on a schedule, knows what to eat what not to. He is someone who lived in UK for years and that’s how he came to know what individual freedom is… so he doesn’t like his interfering family and parents who want him to live his life their way
What , no … No Chai Parata competitions?
Well Emaan does things for Shehriyar out of her own will not that she is forced, he is a deputy Commissioner… its story of two very intellectual characters trapped with characters that have the mindset of society
We are extremely cautious of the recurring dusri shadi themes that seem to have become the new normal for Pakistani dramas. The promos do show some kind of Bholi larki type but she looks strangely chalaaq ..so maybe we should call her the ‘not so bholi larki ?’
Haan there are such girls as well, when you dont empower them so they become what Sajjal has become. Ayesha’s father despite living in Sukkur taught his girls to be who they are maybe because he does not have boys .Ayesha…… I mean Emaan sorry they changed the name of Naveen’s character; My character was named Ayesha from day one. No, doosri shadi is not the issue of the play. I can’t give away the story
How satisfied are you with the promos so far
It was me who made the JV (joint venture)happened between Momina Duraid and Sateesh Anand so I knew what i was doing and I have no regrets, I am very happy the way they recorded, there is a local folk story that Amna has embedded in the script and that had to be told at darya (river) and Momina Duraid (the producer) did that.Then there was this odd proposal at Sadhu Bela temple and I thought they might not get permission but in promos I saw Sadhu Bela temple and I was happy we just made it artistic rather Amna Mufti made it.As Sadhu Bela according to Sikh belief is the place where the birth of “shabd”(words) took place. And in my story Shehriyar and Emman are together alone at that very place for first time so what he utters becomes the words of her life…very significant
How do you like the way the stylists have created these characters looks? After Bashar Momin , this is one of Faysal’s better ‘looks’
Yes he looks great. for me Emaan is very important it’s her journey
Who is playing Sajal?
Iqra Aziz, she has acted well i was stunned to see some of her scenes in promos. Adnan Jaffer is also playing a very important role. I like seeing fresh faces. I’ve only seen Naveen in Humsafar and I watched the first few episodes of Alvida until she died. Then there is ZQ (Zainab Qayuum) .she plays a role of a model
That sounds like a great team, who is the director?
Ilyas Kashmiri, I must say I am impressed with his work
The visuals are stunning but I hope the intimacy of the characters interactions is also captured and we hope that this drama doesn’t become a victim of dragging
I think he has. I saw the song promo and Faysal walked on the bangles of the girl and just after that shot Iqra takes a turn and looks and he captured it so well
Iqra looks impressive and a little scary as Sajal as if she will eat the hero and heroine
Well sajjal is that bhooli bhali larki the one not so empowered. I liked in the promos is how they’ve refrained from going over the top
Yes no screaming and broken crockery
That’s the whole beauty, that’s what I’m hoping they maintain Thanks to Amna Mufti she kept the characters real gave them real language and mannerisms and Ilyas bhai captured them well. 
Thanks to Faysal Manzoor Khan fom the team at Dp
