Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu (You Are Most Precious To Me)

This drama is the story of Haniya, a girl who is born and brought up in America. Although she has been surrounded by western culture all her life, she has always been drawn to her own Pakistani roots and is quite different from other girls. Her parents die in a car accident and she moves in with her Grandmother. She also has an elder sister Yamina (Sanam Saeed) who is married to Adam (Junaid Khan) and are shown to be a troubled couple who eventually get divorced due to Adam being physically abusive towards Yamina.

Haniya studies at Columbia University where she comes across Ibad, a Masters student who has come to America for his studies from Pakistan along with his best friend Adeel (Ahsan Khan). He comes from a well-off family and is an only child to his parents. He is shown to be the perfect son who is loving, caring and obedient towards his family. He is also shown to be extremely generous and selfless towards everyone and everything which attracts a lot of people towards him, apart from Haniya who is a bit skeptical of him. However, eventually Ibad also wins over Haniya and the two fall in love.

Everything is going very smoothly until he decides to go to Pakistan to tell his parents about his relationship. On arrival, he gets told that his marriage has been fixed with a girl of his father's choice and that the engagement is the following day. He tells his parents about Haniya, however, his father clearly refuses to accept the relationship despite trying to convince him as much as possible. Ibad ends up getting engaged and as a 'dutiful' son, decides to forget his love.

When Ibad arrives back to America and is about to break the news to Haniya, he finds out that her grandmother is in the hospital and does not have much longer to live. Her grandmother asks Ibad to make a promise to never leave Haniya as she has already lost many of her loved ones and now she is about to leave her aswell. Ibad being torn between Haniya's grandmother's promise and his own parents' promise, does not know what to do, however, eventually he goes along with his heart and decides to marry Haniya.

He goes back to Pakistan and tells his parents about this. The mother is completely fine with it, however, his father does not approve of this relationship and wants him to marry the girl that he had chosen for him. He also creates a lot of judgments against Haniya who he has never even met and criticises her. Ibad tries his best to explain the whole situation regarding Haniya and her grandmother but he does not bother hearing his son out and decides to break all ties with him.

On his way to the airport, a heartbroken Ibad gets a call from Haniya asking him about what happened to which he explains the whole situation to her. Haniya decides to make a promise to Ibad that she will come to Pakistan and win his parents heart without revealing who she really is. She does eventually do that, however, Ibad is nowhere to be seen later on. What happened to him? Does Haniya fulfill her promise and become successful with her goal?

This drama really touched my heart and I must've seen it atleast 3 times. It made me question something, is it worth listening to everything that your parents say if they are not going to listen to even one wish of yours? Ibad had always listened to his parents and fulfilled their wishes no matter what, however, when it came to his own wish, he was told that he was selfish and not a good son. Was he only a perfect son in their eyes when he was only listening to their demands? This drama showed that it is not necessary that parents are always right and that their judgement can also be wrong. Afterall, they are also human.

I haven't seen a lot of Sarwat Gillani's work but this character has got to me my most favourite one of hers. The way she tries her best to be accepted by her in-laws is so endearing and the way she treats them as her own parents makes you love her character even more.

Adeel Husain is one of my favourite actors but unfortunately, he does not come in a lot of dramas. When he does come, however, he always plays an impactful role. This character has got to be my most favourite of his and I could really feel for him once his father kicks him out of their house. He emoted his pain amazingly through his eyes and his expressions.

Mate-e-Jaan Hai Tu is based on a novel of the same name and was very popular amongst Pakistani TV viewers in 2012 when it first aired. It was also eventually shown in the Middle East as well as in India due to its popularity.

Rating 9/10