Why Khuda aur Muhabbat-3 beccome so popular in India?

 

With mostly expected end, Season 3 of ‘Khuda aur Muhabbat’ concluded last Friday. At the end of last episode, maker of the drama showed their gratitude towards almighty to make it first blockbuster drama in Pakistan which crossed all records in viewership.

Sometimes ago, the lead actress of this drama Iqra aziz (mahi) also posted on Instagram about its 1 billion viewership crossing. One of the comments on that post (ofcourse it was by an Indian fan) was that it is Indian viewership which gave this drama too much success. And she (or he) was quite right.

But, why Indian audience loved this drama too much? I tried to observe the reasons for its success and here are those-

Pakistani Dramas are already popular in India

Corona period might give you hard time, but some sectors benefitted from it. During this time, people explored options to kill boredom. Pakistani dramas which are easily available on YouTube were their new discovery. However, some people already acquainted with this option before corona time. but, corona period kicked high of its popularity.

The reasons why people loved these dramas were obvious. These dramas were in short series with 25 to 30 episodes and mostly in one season. Everyone has YouTube, you don’t need to download any app and pay premium to watch these dramas. Thus, these were available even to the most common people in India who don’t know much about apps installation and search. 

The other reasons were their language which was urdu, a beautiful language, which everyone wants to speak (thanks to shayri culture which contributed too much to maintain the love to urdu in this English culture.). People attracted to these people who speak in this beautiful language.

And, how can we forget the impact of Pakistani dresses in India? Modern Indian society is too much under impression of European culture, and fashion designers, whose clients are mostly elite people, mostly design traditional clothes for special occasions like weddings. These heavy and overpriced clothes which are sometimes too bold even in traditional sense, are out from the hands of common Indians who live in small cities, towns, and villages and who can’t wear such dresses which are of deep neck or open back. 

So, when they search for affordable traditional dresses of daily use, they find the traditional dresses of Pakistani fashion designers for their use. And this love for Pakistani dresses extended their love to Pakistani dramas which also present beautiful traditional dresses.

Therefore, due to these reasons, Pakistani dramas gained handsome popularity in India. And, KAM-3 also got the benefits of this popularity. But there were some special things in KAM-3, which helped it to become the first blockbuster in Pakistan. Let’s also discuss those specialities-

Iqra Aziz was already favourite of Indians

The lead actress of this season was Iqra Aziz who played the role of Mahi in the drama. Due to the grand success of three seasons of comedy-drama “Suno chanda”, Iqra Aziz was already favorite of Indians. We should also not forget the elegant beauty of Iqra Aziz in her popularity. So, when new drama of her released, it was received by Indians with full admire. 

Iqra aziz (mahi) in KAM-3

Previous seasons of Khuda aur muhabbat were also popular

‘Khuda aur muhabbat’ franchise always gave popular seasons. In previous season, Imran Abbas mesmerized the audience and people loved the story and presentation of the seasons. Thus, people couldn’t skip new season.

OST of the season

I should admit that it was the title song of the season which gave it a big hit. The melodious voice of Rahat fateh ali khan, the lyrics which had deep meaning, and the video cum trailer which showed the beautiful presentation of the show impressed the audience too much. In a very short period, this song became viral on whatsup status and insta stories. As a music lover, I also watched this song on youtube and enjoyed it greatly but viral clips of this song forced me to watch first time any Pakistani drama. 

Graceful Presentation

The presentation of this story was graceful. People loved the story of high class people of Pakistan who were zamindars (landlord), big businessmen, Peer/Pir (पीर), and too powerful. 

On the other side, we watched the dargah and their muzawirs which added the philosophical approach to the drama. There was also the story of Sikandar and Romana which gave the taste of classical romantic stories. Romana’s dialogues were too deep. The family story of the lead actor, Fahad gave a glimpse of the middle-class life of Pakistan. 

Depiction of havelies and their people, the place of women in every class of society, the stylish and elegant jewellery, dresses, and customs (however derogatory but beautifully presented)  added the charisma in the series. 

And how can we forget to mention the incredible acting of the characters? Although, every character gave its best, but, the character of Nazimshah (Mahi's brother), which was played by Sohail Sameer impacted me most. Sohail Sameer played the role of Iqra Aziz's humorous, weak and fearful father in ‘Suno chanda’ but in KAM-3, he played the powerful and aggressive role of powerful brother. 

Nazim Shah

Therefore, all factors contributed too much to the popularity of the KAM-3. However, this season was not free from criticism.

The core story of the season was itself problematic. They showed the one-sided love of the lead actor and we know that how much girls face distress due to this one-sided love and commit suicide mostly in Indian subcontinent. The story was helping to increase it. Also, the love of Taimoor shah’s mother toward him was just overacting. 

I think the biggest defect of this series was its 40 episodes, there was need of just 25 or 30 episodes but they stretched the story like rubber. In beginning, it was enjoyable to watch but after the marriage of Mahi, it became a burden to watch the drama further.

Too much tears, too-long scenes of conversations between two people, and unnecessarily long scenes of preaching, made these dramas unbearable. Sometimes, they showed just 3 scenes in the entire 43 minutes’ episode. I also left to watch this series after 35 episodes. 

Last year, a clip of Pakistani qawwali ‘bol kaffara kya hoga’ became viral in India. And its original Pakistani song ‘bol kaffara kya hoga’, which was also an OST, recorded highest views and become the most viewed song of Pakistan on Youtube due to Indian audience.

This year, KAM-3 got this luck and achieved immense success. The large population of India is strong enough to make any cinematic peace popular. Now, let’s wait, what is going to be popular next year.