Gulbahar drama: Sanam Saeed's second-marriage twist draws backlash, plus timing and cast

Gulbahar, the Hum TV drama starring Sanam Saeed, Emmad Irfani and Komal Meer, is trending on Google in Pakistan this weekend, and most of the talk is not praise. Eight episodes in, its turn towards a second marriage has drawn a sharp review in Dawn Images and a wave of criticism from viewers, while the episodes keep pulling more than a million views each on YouTube.

What Gulbahar is about

The serial is written by Aliya Bukhari and directed by Mehreen Jabbar. It follows Sara (Sanam Saeed) and Sheharyar (Emmad Irfani), a successful married couple who cannot have a child. Under pressure from Sheharyar's family, led by Sara's sister-in-law Shehnaz Aapa (Sabahat Bukhari), Sara herself arranges for her husband to marry Diya (Komal Meer), a much younger woman left orphaned after a gas explosion. Diya's aunt, who resents her over an old family grievance involving her husband Mansoor (Shahood Alvi), pushes her towards the match. Saife Hassan also appears.

When the teaser came out in August, early reports described a childless couple weighing adoption, which is part of why the twist has landed badly.

"The women of Gulbahar are not okay"

That is the headline of a Dawn Images review by Fatimah Mazhar published on 10 October. Her case, in short: the premise is regressive and the bigger problem is how the women are written. Sara is defined by her childlessness and gives in when she could have drawn a line; Diya exists to solve someone else's problem rather than as a person with her own wishes; Shehnaz judges women by their husbands and sons; and the aunt is a villain with no depth. The men, the review argues, are mostly passive, and the women end up complicit in shrinking themselves. Mazhar notes that the writer and director have described the show as a story about love and possessiveness, but says it has not yet given its women any room to push back.

How viewers reacted

The backlash online goes further, Minute Mirror reported on 9 October:

• Many asked why a second marriage is presented as the answer to infertility when adoption was available.
• Some were disappointed in the lead actors, especially Sanam Saeed, who is known for strong female roles.
• One viewer who has been through infertility criticised how the show portrays it.
• Others objected to a story built around a much younger, orphaned bride and called it provocative for the sake of it.

Gulbahar timing: when and where to watch

• Channel: Hum TV. Episode 1 aired at 8pm PKT on Wednesday 16 September, according to the channel's promo.
• Days: new episodes this week came on Wednesday and Thursday (episode 7 on 7 October, episode 8 on 8 October).
• YouTube: each episode goes up on Hum TV's YouTube channel at 9pm PKT, with English subtitles. Episode 9 is promoted for Wednesday 14 October at 9pm.
• Views: when we checked on Saturday afternoon, episode 1 had about 6.9 million views on YouTube, and episodes 7 and 8 had about 1.7 million and 1.6 million within two days.

Whether the drama changes course is the question for the next few episodes. More TV and film news is on our entertainment desk.