u/book_tea_lit_lover

Evening coffee and Baba’s beauty appreciation go hand in hand! An everyday task for this single as a pringle woman! If fictional men ko taadhna is a crime then Han hun main criminal! 😎

kiski talvar pe sir rakhun, yeh bta do mujhe,
ishq krna ‘gar khata hai, toh saza do mujhe,
ae mohabbat ka itehaas likhne valo,
‘gar main harf-e-ghalat hun, toh mitaa do mujhe…

Teeeeheheheheheh 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽🤭🤭🤭

Parth as Mahid has to be my favourite in ITV ever…
Only once before this did I ever come close to this type of charisma on screen by a TV actor and that was Rajeev Khandelwal’s Sujel! But I was a kid back then and thought Sujel in black could never be topped!

But then more than 2 decades later, lo and behold Mahid Miyan waltzed in with his deep melancholy eyes and Shalwar Kameez swag! Aur main gayee kaam se!🫠

I admit I have never “followed” any TV show because a)was never interested in the kind of shows that were popular back then (Kitchen politics) and b) I was a fictional books over anything kid…

I binged watched SHKH and caught up to it in real time pretty quickly! 50 episodes in 3 days! 😎 And never have I fallen in love with a ML so quickly! Ek toh he is actually a green flag on most days and then so so very very beautiful… for me an actor automatically becomes beautiful beyond words if they play the character well. And yahan toh Samthaan Baba ne pehle din se hi ball out of the park hit kr rakhi hai! So to me, Mahid/P is, at present, a celestial beauty.. ✨💫
He glows and shines in a way that makes life a lot better to live!
Here’s to beautiful men… heheheheheh! Here’s to sharp jawlines and hydrated skin…here’s to moisturised lips and gravity defying hair…here’s to expressive eyes and a honey voice…here’s to looking like a snack at all times 😜

Oh and how can I forget a poetic Urdu appreciation for my precious P 🤓

bahut ḳhūb-sūrat ho tum bahut ḳhūb-sūrat ho tum
kabhī maiñ jo kah duuñ mohabbat hai tum se
to mujh ko ḳhudā rā ġhalat mat samajhnā
ki merī zarūrat ho tum bahut ḳhūb-sūrat ho tum
haiñ phūloñ kī Daalī pe bāñheñ tumhārī
haiñ ḳhāmosh jaadū nigāheñ tumhārī
jo kāñTe huuñ sab apne dāman meñ rakh luuñ
sajā.ūñ maiñ kaliyoñ se rāheñ tumhārī
nazar se zamāne kī ḳhud ko bachānā
kisī aur se dekho dil mat lagānā
ki merī amānat ho tum
bahut ḳhūb-sūrat ho tum

~Tahir Faraz

♥️♥️♥️

This phrase has been used by me a lot on this sub and I am sure many of you are sick of it! But I cannot emphasize more on how this symbol is being solidified with every episode!
On to the long rant, something I am known for in Seherland…😎

"tu mere aasmaan ka chand,

main tere asmaan ka chand..

tu meri siyah raat mein mashaal,

main teri shab si zindagi ki seher...

tu meri khushiyon ko lautana,

main teri hassi ko bachaungi...

tu mere khvaabon ka haafiz,

main tere noor ki haafiz…”

~ 🌙🧿

Seher and Mahid aren't a romantic couple. Not yet and not on Mahid's watch. They have a strange bond and connection. It is more soul than body and such connections are often not made by choice but there always seems to be some divine intervention in bringing such people together...

Contrary to popular ITV tropes where no matter how modern and strong the FL is shown, she is always saved by the hero, here in Seherland, Mahid has been rescued by our Seher quite a lot of times.

Dono ek doosre ko bachate hain aur kabhi bhi ehsaan nahi jataae jata! Nobody is keeping a tally and that in itself is beautiful... Mahid does keep saying "iss baar hum aapko bachane nahi aaenege" but he stands right in between Seher and the plethora of musibats our girl falls into. Seher always says, "ab hum inko apni shakal nahi dikhaenge, krein ye jo krna hai" and then literally dances around him to save his "neck"...

Kisi ka Hafiz hona aasaan nahi hota, khaas kr uska jiss se door rehne ki hidayat aapka dimaag aapko har waqt deta ho! Haye ri qismat!🥹🤦🏽‍♀️

My favourite moments are when Mahid saves Seher from that gunshot and its not because of the falling in the pool scene (though I don't mind Niyazi sahaab looking like that 😈🫠)but for the sheer fact that itna taaza dhokha khane k baad bhi Mahid Seher ka Hafiz rha, dagaa nahi di... then not letting her fall from the tree, a very small gesture but big impact. The saving her on the night of EID (sans the terrace jumping 😒). Even on Eid he was wounded, physically and mentally but he chose to save her because it is Seher and he is Mahid, how can he not! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Seher has her hero moments too and some of them are far greater than Mahid's. The adamgunj fiasco where Mahid loses his control is my favourite Seher moment! She becomes his shield, that tiny petite girl fuelled by sheer will power and care for this giant of a man, calms him down and tells him to look at his haqeeqat and not his maazi... Seher handles and calms him in a similar situation when Mahid finds his ammi's letter. She makes him see his ammi in a new light and makes him rest a while amongst the chaos, settles beside him on the floor and puts him to sleep...to have that kind of maturity as a teenager is so endearing...then of course the engagement where she saves his life (she did put it in danger too but we'll ignore that!😬) Seher combines her intelligence, presence of mind and compassion to help Mahid every time! Her tiny frame may not be able to support this haathi jaisa aadmi, but her heart stretches to it’s maximum capacity when it comes to him and her brain, well that’s one machine that never shuts down in Seherland! Seher ka khuraafati dimaag 😎😈

They both come from different environments and they understand that. Seher comes from a household where physical abuse translates into mental trauma and the scars are embedded on the body and mind as well… Mahid’s trauma is more internalised, his shame and disgust towards his Ammi is the result of years of poison poured into his ears and infused in his soul by the very family he trusted! The woman who claimed to have raised him as his own pokes at his wounds at every given chance! No one ever lets him forget how vile his mother was! Oh my poor babies, hurt by the people who are supposed to protect them!

Seher’s understanding of men is limited to her father. Parvez is evil personified and has zero empathy for Kauser and Seher, to him they are just tools, means to an end! Kauser is the unpaid maid for his household and his trivial business ventures. Seher is his ticket to the elite circles of Luckhnow because who will deny anything to the FIL of the future Mufti! With this image of men in mind she clashes with a man who lives by principles and respects everyone regardless of their gender. Mahid is an enigma to her and rightly so! He promises to be the gatekeeper of hell in their marriage but instead acts as a shield. He vows to be her captor but gives her the freedom this society had always denied. He is such a coconut istg! 🤦🏽‍♀️

Mahid’s trauma is deeply rooted as he himself confesses on his Ammi’s grave on his wedding day that he has only had darkness as his companion all his life and now feels that there is going to be a Seher that will free him from this!
He is a kid lost somewhere in 2011! Mahid Niyazi is the perfect poster boy for his family! Just like Seher, he too is being used by the members of his family but with Mahid the problem is that he has no idea! He blindly trusts people who have stabbed him the back all his life! Uff his trauma is too much for me discuss every time! And then comes Seher, bringing in the much needed sunshine and our man blossoms like a sunflower!

Haye! 🥹 ♥️

“yeh jo aangan mein bikhre padein hai phool,

inse keh do humein na chedein…

yeh jo yaadon ka samaan rakha hai,

inse keh do humein na tadpaye…

meri nahi sunte yeh sab, tum hi inhe samjhao na ,

Meri mayoos aankhon ko roshni tum hi dikhao na…

kyun yeh kaanton sa chubh rhe hain mujhe,

pucho inse meri khata kya hai…

meri nasamjhi k iss azeem gunah ki saza kya hai,

tumhi puch k batao na…

Ammi door ja rhi hai, sach ki chamak mein kho rhi hai,

usey vapis bulao na, mere dil ka pta btao na,

meri nahi sunte yeh sab, tum hi inhe samjhao na,

Meri mayoos aankhon ko roshni tum hi dikhao na…”

~~

Mahid, unki ammi ka khat, unka khilona aur door khadi Seher… sab kuch hai aur kuch bhi nahi…

Mahid sits by the fountain in the abandoned hisaa of Niyazi Manzil, that once belonged to his mother! The letter lies by his side and he fixes his toy train and watches it go round and round… just like his ammi’s words in his head…he had misunderstood her, he had misjudged her actions and he had hated her…and all she had ever wanted was a life of freedom and happiness for her little shehzada…and the prince thought the queen mother didn’t love him…Mahid’s grief takes the shape of his mother and he sees her… Gazala Niyazi, stands in the brightest of the lights and looks at her Shehzada…she doesn’t seem happy, she is looking at him with accusations in her eyes and Mahid sees it, he starts blaming himself, he cries for her to go away as he cannot see her look at him with hate in her eyes…Mahid’s mind is playing games with him and it is heart breaking to see how he cannot distinguish between reality and a hallucination…he folds on the ground, cries out ammi! Wants her gone from there, apologises to her, blames himself and while all of this is happening, Seher looks at him from a distance with her own heart breaking for the man she cannot seem to let go…

She cannot take it anymore and crosses the distance, sits by him, she starts to dismantle the train and then tells him how his ammi can never hate him…he looks at her with a sliver of hope in his eyes, it is perhaps the first time after the Talaq that Mahid willingly listens to Seher. Seher beautifully explains to him how his ammi had loved him and had wanted the best for him and that no good mother ever wants to hurt her child ever. Seher seems to draw from her personal experience here as her mother is her world and she is hers. Mahid listens and understands and when Seher tells him to look at Gazala again and find tears in her eyes because she is hurting as much as he is, he sees them…

“Hell is but a state of mind..” John Milton’s Satan says this in Paradise Lost! And the statement stands true for Mahid’s hallucinations…he sees his mother in a different light after Seher’s words, runs towards her but she is gone and before he can chase her, the second woman in his life stops him… tells him something which no one has ever told him, “aapki ammi aapke dil mein hain, humesha…” Uffff 🥹

Seher calls him to come lie down with her, she cleans a spot on the floor for him, she calls on a child like a mother would… Mahid follows..he mimics Seher, lies down, keeps a hand on his heart and looks at her… “Mahid apni aankhein band kijiye..” Khuda ki kasam itne pyar se Mahid ko kisine pehle samjhaya hota toh aaj vo itna toota na hota… she touches his heart and closes her own eyes, he follows…

And we see them lying in an aangan full of fallen red flowers, an empty train track by their side and just a sense of sukoon… it is one of the most beautiful shots ever …it’s poetry on screen..

That track no longer has a constant train running in circles over it, to me it looked like Seher has put Mahid at ease, his mind is at ease and he isn’t thinking about how his ammi is gone because of him. A little relief from the past, he knows now that she loved him and the constant battle inside him has finally come to an end… the doubt he had, lies abandoned now and he basks in the warmth of the knowledge that his Ammi loved her shehzada…

Bikhre hue phool aur unn k beecho beech Mahid aur Seher… it felt like no matter how much chaos is around, these both will always find their sukoon with each other, even amidst chaos! This moment of silence and peace must be so precious to Mahid and Seher…

P and R did such a commendable job in this scene! Rishita portrayed the emotions so well, a teenager teaching an adult the meaning of motherly love…she was so gentle and loving while speaking to him, she knew what she was telling him would ease him, soothe him and R did a fantastic job of blending in innocence and maturity! Go girl! Your improvement as an actor feels personal, more success to you ♥️

P, I am sorry, I really am. Because my vocabulary is exhausted and so am I!

“Kisi zubaan mein bhi vo lafz hi nahin, k jin mein tum ho kya tumhein bta skein….”

What are you even doing to play Mahid???? Every time you are on screen, I just am in awe…what finesse…♥️ Mahid in this breaking into million pieces scene…uff uff and uff! 🥹Your tears, man they do something to my heart, so heart wrenchingly beautiful and sad...I wonder how much is Mahid affecting the real Parth!

Special mention to that vein popping in his forehead that makes me bawl my eyes out! An actor jo itni shiddat se character play karta hai deserves a bow from his audience! So P here is me bowing down to you on behalf of all your fans and the fans of the show, thank you love, for giving us Mahid… ♥️♥️♥️