Three Pakistani dramas that featured the beloved ‘rivals to lovers’ trope
There is no doubt that this has been a great year for the Pakistani entertainment industry. We had Yumna Zaidi starring in a film about a woman rebelling against society to follow her dream to become a cricketer, a show like ‘Noor Jehan’ exploring generational trauma, and even some hard-hitting dramas that did not shy away from discussing domestic violence like ‘Jafaa’. But what particularly stood out for us this year were the three dramas that revolved around the internet’s favourite trope: rivals to lovers.
The trope is pretty much self-explanatory, as it features two characters who start off as intense enemies in the beginning of the drama, but progress towards fall in love with each other as the story ends.
We have seen how TikTok and Twitter has solely reserved these tropes only for Bollywood, Korean dramas or Hollywood movies but let us present our case as to how Pakistani dramas exceeded all expectations, and provided us with some amazing pairings this year who proved why this trope is so beloved among audiences.
1 Duniyapur
Khushhal and Ramsha’s pairing in this thriller has already developed such a strong fan base on social media even though we have only received 9 episodes so far, because neitzens can’t get enough of the chemistry sparking whenever these two are having a confrontation on screen.
Both Shahmeer and Ana are the youngest children from feuding families aiming to take control over Duniyaur, Shahmeer (played by Khushhal) is from the Adam family who aspires to seek a life outside of the violence, and Ana (played by Ramsha) is the youngest daughter of the Nawab tribe who also wishes to escape her family’s legacy by travelling abroad. But both are entrusted with the responsibility to head their respective families after tragedy strikes, pitting them against each other to fight till the last breathe until the city belongs to one of them.
He doesn’t even stop eating while showing her up 😜
Seated for this enemies to lovers trope 🔥 🍿 #Duniyapur #KhushalKhan #RamshaKhan pic.twitter.com/tbqSvS3xFv— misoha (@missoha92) November 15, 2024
2 Iqtidar
Iqtidar revolves around two people coming from opposite backgrounds. Mehru Nisa (played by Anmol Baloch) is from a middle class family and the daughter of a single mother. She is the sole breadwinner for her family, and especially her younger siblings. While Shahnawaz(played by Ali Raza) is the eldest son of a politician and hopes to get his mother elected as a minister with the upcoming elections.
The heart breaking twist arrives when Mehru’s younger brother Zeeshan is killed by a drunk driver when he is cycling home at night, who happens to be Zain- Shahnawaz’s younger brother.
At first, Mehru swears to put every single effort in ensuring her brother’s murderer is put behind bars, and Shahnawaz is bound by his family to go at any length’s to protect his brother as well as his family’s reputation by suppressing the case. However, his interactions with Mehru cause him to slowly change his perspectives around politics to the point that he begins to work as an undercover agent, and passes on to Mehru any of the tactics his mother and lawyers were going to use in court to discard her case.
View this post on Instagram
We love a drama that has men becoming helplessly devoted to the woman in their life, but a Pakistani drama with a man overcoming his prejudice and seeking to improve his personality in order to be a better person to the woman he loves? We got our own desi version of Pride and Prejudice here.
3 Ishq Murshid
‘Ishq Murshid’ captured the beauty of why people love the ‘rivals to lovers’ trope so much, its because of how the male lead evolves his personality, doesn’t seek to cage the woman he loves and instead of that he tries to help her seek her dreams. Bilal Abbas and Durefishan Saleem play two people coming from completely opposite lives, he happens to be the privileged son of a politician while she is the daughter of a government officer. When Shahmeer (played by Bilal) falls in love with Shibra (played by Durefishan) at a wedding, he doesn’t pursue her immediately after finding out how much she hated sons of political figures who achieved everything that they had due to nepotism.
Rather than taking it as a rejection, Shahmeer proves why he is such a green-flag coded male lead by completely changing his appearance so that he could prove himself as the self-made, hard working man Shibra and her father want. He gets a job as a simple clerk and changes his name to Fazal Baksh, and seeks to get into the good graces of her father in order to get closer to Shibra.
Read more: Ishq Murshid is the best example of the internet’s favorite trope: golden retriever and black cat
