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*Durr-e-Shehwar*
Durr-e-Shehwar
Also known as	Dhoop Chhaon
Urdu	دُرّ شہوار
Genre	Drama; Romance;
Written by	Umera Ahmad
Directed by	Haissam Hussain
Starring	Sanam Baloch; Samina Peerzada; Mikaal Zulfiqar; Qavi Khan; Nadia Jamil; Nauman Ijaz;
Country of origin	Pakistan
Original language	Urdu
No. of episodes	15
Production
Producers	Momina Duraid; Humayun Saeed; Shehzad Naseeb;
Running time	approx. 40:00
Production companies	MD Productions; Six Sigma Plus;
Original release
Network	Hum TV
Release	10 March –; 16 June 2012

Durr-e-Shehwar is a Pakistani drama television series directed by Haissam Hussain and written by Umera Ahmad. First broadcast in Pakistan by Hum TV, Durr-e-Shehwar premiered on 10 March 2012 and was produced by Momina Duraid and Six Sigma Entertainment. The series featured an ensemble cast of Sanam Baloch, Samina Peerzada (both in title roles), Qavi Khan, Meekal Zulfiqar, Nauman Ejaz, and Nadia Jamil in lead roles. It ended its run on 16 June 2012, after airing 15 episodes.

The show was written and produced by the makers of Man-o-Salwa,^[1] Qaid-e-Tanhai,^[2] Malaal,^[3] Maat^[4] and Zindagi Gulzar Hai.^[5] The story explores the challenges of married life, whether in modern cities or traditional settings, highlighting the universal issues that can affect any relationship, and revolves around a strong-willed protagonist who navigates her marriage with patience and determination.

The series received critical acclaim with praise for Hussain's direction and the performances of the lead cast.^[6]

Plot

Durr-e-Shehwar's daughter, Shandana, and her husband, Mansoor's nephew, Haider, have been married to each other for the last eight years. But recently, there has been a breach in their relationship so Shandana decides to spend some time at her maternal home in Murree along with her young daughter, Sophia.

Both Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor love Shandana and Sophia a lot. But Shandana envies her mother thinking she led a comfortable and happy life with a loving husband and nothing to worry about. And thus, she often compares Haider with her father. Shandana also undergoes a stage of semi-depression and evens thinks of divorcing Haider. When Mansoor gets to know this, he gets angry with Haider. He reports this matter to his sister, Haider's mother, thus, further complicating the situation. Unable to see Shandana in such a devastated condition, one-day Durr-e-Shehwar decides to narrate her own life story to Shandana and explain that life for her wasn't as easy as Shandana thinks it to be.

When Durr-e-Shehwar got married and moved to Mansoor's house, she faced many problems and lost all the comforts and respect that she took for granted in her father’s house. Durr E Shahwar, who’d thought that after her marriage, she’d move with Mansoor to his army-allotted house, had to stay with her in-laws, away from him. Mansoor's mother was cold towards her and did not appreciate her for her good qualities. Mansoor also saw her through the eyes of his mother and therefore disregarded all her efforts. Durr-e-Shehwar had struggled for years to gain her mother-in-law's acceptance and the true love of Mansoor, who had earlier neglected her because of his mother. Once or twice she even considered moving to her father’s house, but she persisted. Through these hardships, what gave her strength was her father’s letters and advice. The greatest advice he gave her when she told him she didn’t love Mansoor was to pretend until she did. Soon, Mansoor’s attitude changed, and he took her away with her, and her in-laws realised her worth. And when Shahwar saw that the average husband and man, Mansoor was a great father, she forgave him, although she never forgot.

Hearing this story, Shandana realised the difficulty of her mother's life. Shandana saw her father in a different light, but it calmed her and gave her the morale to start a new life with Haider, with her grandfather’s letters, which she inherited from her mother.

Cast

Sanam Baloch/ Samina Peerzada as Durr-e-Shehwar
Mikaal Zulfiqar/ Qavi Khan as Mansoor
Nadia Jamil as Shandana; Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor's daughter
Nauman Ejaz as Haider; Shandana's husband
Sophia Syed as Sophia; Shandana and Haider's daughter
Umer Naru as Saud; Mansoor's brother
Syed Mohammad Ahmed as Sami; Durr-e-Shehwar's father
Saba Faisal as Safia; Mansoor's mother
Khalid Butt as Mansoor's father
Kiran Haq as Fazeelat; Mansoor's sister
Shazde Sheikh as Hafsa; Mansoor's younger sister
Maya Ali as Mahnoor Sami; Durr-e-Shehwar's sister
Nasreen Qureshi as matchmaker of Durr-e-Shehwar and Mansoor
Sumbal Jamil as Farwa; Durr-e-Shehwar's neighbor in Murree
Osman Khalid Butt as Hassan; Farwa's husband
Laila Zuberi as Mrs. Habib; Durr-e-Shehwar's friend
Sonia Nazir as Nazia; Durr-e-Shehwar's friend

Broadcast and release

It aired in India on Zindagi under the title Dhoop Chhaon, premiering on 21 October 2014.^[7]

Since mid-2020, it is available for online streaming on ZEE5 under the title Dhoop Chhaon.

Reception

Durr-e-Shehwar received mostly positive reviews throughout its broadcast; gathered praise for its storyline, direction and performances (especially of the female leads, Peerzada and Baloch).^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11] Critics praised the storyline regarding the struggles of women towards marital relations and criticised the same for the depiction of working women as "selfish" and the constant sufferings of a girl.^[12]^[13] Hussain's direction was widely praised, with DAWN Images praising it in the words, "Using a clever balance of past, present and near past, director Haissam Hussain kept the momentum going in what might have been just another mazloom aurat (helpless woman) story."^[14]^[15]