1. How they hog the remote. Every Saturday I see you sitting on the couch, stroking the remote and muttering “my precious” under your breath. Do you really have to keep the remote with you all day? The show airs at 8pm, it’s barely 10am at the moment.
2. How they lust after each weekly episode. While you wait for the beautiful “Humsafar” filled Saturday to arrive; is it really necessary to satiate your thirst by constantly watching the “Humsafar” promo every time it airs?
3. Their desire to showcase their love for the show. Frankly, I am really tired of the deluge of “Humsafar” episodes, parodies and pictures with weird emoticons on Facebook walls and Twitter feeds.
4. Posting personal reactions to the show. Yes, yes. We know you would have punched Ashar in today’s episode if you were there but you weren’t and it isn’t real. Next thing you know they’ll be posting videos of themselves watching “Humsafar”.
5. The “Humsafar” SMS attack. Goodbye Faraz and Zubeida Apa, “Humsafar” fans occupy your mobile inbox with the “Woh humsafar tha” poetry, instructions for Khirad and curses for Sara.
6. The “Humsafar” cult. Stop trying to convert every one! Preaching your love for “Humsafar” every chance you get won’t make me love it.
7. The constant live commentary during the show. “Say something Khirad, tell Ashar that you’re innocent and that his mother is a wicked witch!” *face palm*.
8. The vivid imagination. All the female fans fancy themselves to be Khirad and male fans Ashar. I bet some can relate to Sara, too.
9. Their inability to listen to criticism. It’s not like it’s a breakthrough script, the story is clichéd and the typical love triangle is overdone and predictable. It’s like the Pakistani twilight only without the vampires, werewolves, demon baby and the glitter. Well, maybe not the glitter.
10. Watching it repeatedly. A single episode is aired thrice (or maybe more times) and the fans watch every telecast. Some can never have enough so they YouTube it!
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, January 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS (62)
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Very interesting. I was a big Humsafar fan. enjoyed this article.
11) Some fans have so much time that after watching episode 5 times they actually write articles about it and post comments on that article...........
this show would have been a complete trash had the cast been not so good looking :P
this was funny.i'm a BIG humsafar fan but this wasn't that bad.though some of them were too pointless.written only to make it to 10
Crap you wrote! thanks for the waste.
Stop Hating!! Its better that these people are watching humsafar than that Indian crap dubbed as entertainment. Even people from India are following this drama online.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh HUMSAFAR IS THE BEST ,
A fun read Ferya :D
ohhhhhhhh i love humsafar , even if u write 1000000000000000000000 points i will still say its the best .
Besides point 8, last part, its all useless!
Lol @ points 4, 5 and 7. Good article. The drama is too over-hyped; not saying that its not a good drama, but its not even half as good as people make it out to be. Hum TV has produced much better dramas in recent years; Dil Diya Dehleez and Qaid e Tanhai being two shining examples.
@Aimen you are hilarious ... you haven't seen half an episode yet you hate it lol atleast the next time you hate something you should have better reasoning behind it
Disagreee.
This clearly shows that you love Humsafar......you have a lot of knowledge.
First I have to say, looking at the comments, Humsafar viewers have no sense of humour! Relax, im being sarcastic ;)
Ive not watched Humsafer, but I avoid desi dramas, when I lived in pakistan me and my whole family would sit and watch these. Year in year out, it would be the same tired plot repeated over and over again, I would be bored out of my brain!
The thing that bugs me the most though, is that the dramas storylines are all revolved around the lives of the rich and elite. Why cant we have more stories about those from poorer backgrounds? Do they not matter? How about a love story based in a slum? Or a drama that examines issues in pakistani society?
I understand that people need escapism, but once in a while how about making something abit deeper.
Ok let backlash from Humsafar viewers commence! :)
Well Humsafar is not only about the story.
its acting /directing/music/lighting/story production value
I have never seen a Drama of such high quality ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ppl who haven't seen it or are watching some episodes in youtube are criticizing it.
But you have to see it on TV and follow it to understand its Kadr( value) .
and Yes I am a Humsafri!!!!( fanatic fan) :)
lol... I agree with you Ferya. Initially I also liked the Humsafar but now they've stretched it too much. Moreover, it has the same storyline as many Indian soaps have. The story becomes so slow and predictable. But even when I liked it, I never wanted to be like Ashar because I know I won't be able to find any Khirad in my true life. All in all a nice analysis but I expect some harsh criticism from Humsafar's true fans for you.
I'm a Humsafar and Maat fan, so now you must hate me twice over. Enjoyed the read.
Lol. Loved it! I'm SO glad to know I'm not alone in not watching it!
Hey I can relate to Sara :D
Bashing every thing that gets popular doesn't make you a genius, ......@Fizza thumbs up girl :)
I love this drama and I almost do all those things, I never watched many Pakistani dramas in the past, mostly American show. None has held my interest for the characters and shows than Humsafa. My grandma, my mom, my "i hate desi dramas" father and I...we watch it every Saturday night!!!
Its better than any American drama show Ive seen in a long time
Haters gonna hate
few points are valid ones but most of these points are exaggeration....
Pointless and retarded blog!
I love the show humsafar but dont do any of those this! The writer must have really insane people around!
@Fizza: spot on.........
10 Things I Hate About the "10 Things I Hate About" write ups
1) Why '10'? 2) The exaggerations are almost always very senseless. 3) The sarcasm is tasteless. 4) Criticizing the people instead of the art. Sometimes the remarks are plain offensive. 5) Repeating the same points. 6) The points rarely reflect any reality. 7) The lame appreciation the article receive from lamer people. 8) Almost every writer behind the post is guilty of being part of the cult him or herself. You cannot write much about Humsafar without knowing a lot about it. You cannot write against Bollywood movies without watching them. You cannot list ten points about anything without being immersed in it yourself. 9) The author often comments afterwards that 'this was all meant as a joke'. 10) Why 10?
Some things are just fun to hate, and it becomes a silly trend. Like cracking jokes about Bieber has become so "in', people who barely even know anything about the guy have joined the lynch mob, hoping to look cool.
I've never actually watched Humsafar, but from the stories I get to hear about it, it looks like just another hackneyed saas-bahu, love-triangle TV-show to me. But then I don't really "hate" it, I just "not like" it.
As an instructor at our university puts it, every single story falls into two general plots (either exclusively in one plot, or a mixture of the two) : a stranger comes to town, or the protagonist goes on a journey. Think about every movie, show, or drama you ever saw, every novel you ever read ... all of them will fit one of these two plots. So criticism based just on the fact that Humsafar has the same cliched plot is a tad bit harsh, because then you should stop reading all literature and watching any movie or show or drama, because all of these follow the two general plots given above. Something to think about :P
@hum-ullo: And yet you watch it regularly every Saturday? Learn to appreciate the good things about Pakistan, people.
Humsafar is NOT a copy of Meri zaat zara-e-benishan....the latter was penned down by the renowned novelist Umera Ahmed,whereas Humsafar is based on a famous novel by yet another celebrated author Farhat Ishtiaq..STOP comparing ...Its not even remotely similar...
seems like an advert of humsafar....
All ten things I hate is this article titled 'ten things I hate about.....'
sorry to say but this blog post is extremely lame and pointless! I am not a crazy Humsafar fan but yes I like the play and do watch it.
Why can't we Pakistanis just support something good that someone does here? I like it because it is a story that has been nicely told and presented. The director, writer and actors have put in efforts to make a project that Pakistanis could be proud of. Isn't it great to see that?
And to all those who are like: oh this is the same old story, nothing new blah blah blah....
Many a times, movies / plays, whether English or Urdu have similar stories or with slight changes, but don't we love something that presents human emotions nicely and is made in a good way? What's different for you? The mother-in-law turning into a Martian? That's when u'll be happy?
Its not just about Humsafar, but we need to think about this as a nation. Instead of criticizing each other simply for the sake of criticism, we should learn to appreciate and support talent!
Humsafar is a Copy of "Meri Zaat Zara-e-BeNishaan"
AT LEAST Pakistani dramas have a 'moral-of-the-story' in each episode. Or have you missed the point altogether. Remember this is not some Indian trash.
What lead you to write this piece: shortage of ideas? deadline too close so had to write something?
THIS IS TOTALLY UNDESERVED CRITICISM. It belongs more to Indian drama lovers....
Humsafar is a stupid emotional story with so many loopholes.
The DNA/blood proof that the kid is Ashar's, does not mean that the mom was not sleeping around
No sensible (and MIT educated man) will just go away, and not give his wife a chance to clear her name.(And not even pursue the alleged boyfriend about his acitivities)
If u r so much convinced that ur wife has cuckolded urself, a divorce might be the first thing u will do next morning.
A secret plot thats shared with 5+ ppl , will somehow get exposed at some point. Ashar's educated mom should have known this. Its like 9/11 conspiracy that Mossad called all jews in NYC not to go to WTC on 9/11 !
and so on and on
A part of the story of this drama is inspired from Geo Tv's "Meri Zaat Zarra e Be Nishan"-which was based on the Novel (titled same)
In that too the Saas does the exact SAME thing with the BAHU.
So thats where the original concept comes from.
Humsafar is an exceptional drama, but yes some of its fans do go overboard.
What a waste of time and space!
its a cool attitude to criticize everything that becomes popular with public... the 10-things-i-hate blogs, Facebook-Photoshopping, and youtube-parodies etc all these makes us look different than rest of the crowed....
Why u no sing more angst filled rock anthems Fawad? Why? Whither EP? Whither counter culture rebellion? Seriously, I'd rather watch reruns of All My Children. =/
These 10 things are seriously pointless. I am not a BIG fan, but I watch it just like a normal drama. Still, I didn't find any point that is good enough to hate it. Instead these points look like a drama and that too star plus one, which is a lot exagerated. Come up with some good points to critisize and hate. Not worth it!
From Someone whose sick off with this humsafar !
"Dil jale"
This wasn't really necessary, the writer seems to be trying TOO hard. It isn't all that bad you know.
This is lame, as are all the other "10 things" blogs on Express Tribune. Running out of topics or what?
Pointless Blog!.
I have never watched this programme, read this column out of curiosity, what I do not understand is why are you all being so serious guys. It was meant to be a light hearted humor. Let your hair down once in a while and have fun, I found it to be quite funny :)
I am tired of u " 10 things I hate About" writers ... seriously !!
Very funny that you write this ... you took this much time to write a compulsive humsafar article about being anti compulsive ;)
I live in London and we have no Hum Tv in UK but someone told her about this Hamsafar Dramra from Pakistan and she now watch 5 to 6 episodes every day on YouTube :-)
Exaggerated. I know a lot of people who are Humsafar's craziest fans, and they don't do anything that you mentioned above. Especially point # 1; nobody is that insane to grab the remote 10 hours before the show is aired.
You know what - these 'ten things i hate/love' blog posts are so low-brow, they just sicken me. I'm not saying every post needs to be serious, but really...