'Companion or Life Partner')[1] is a 2011 Pakistani television series based on the novel of the same name by Farhat Ishtiaq (who also wrote the screenplay) and directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat.
Khirad Ahsaan belongs to a lower-middle-class community in Hyderabad and lives with her widowed mother, Maimoona, in a small apartment.
As the series begins, she has recently completed her Bachelor of Science and is very strong in Mathematics as her father was a maths teacher.
They have one son, Ashar, who received his MBA from Yale University and runs the family's high-powered firm with his father.
After Maimoona receives a cancer diagnosis, Baseerat brings her and Khirad to his large home in Karachi for treatment.
Within a short period, Maimoona dies, and Farida appears to have had a change of heart, treating Khirad as a daughter.
After Baseerat's sudden death, and encouraged by Ashar to follow her dreams, Khirad enrolls in a master's program in applied mathematics.
Farida uses his absence to further fabricate and throws Khirad out of the house in the middle of the night as an act of revenge against Baseerat.
She has also learned how to protect herself with documentation, evidence that forces Ashar to accept the reality that Hareem, whom he did not know existed, is his daughter.
Khirad is then forced to confront both Sara and Farida, but the strength, independence, and confidence born of her hardships prevent them from bullying her.
Khizar returns from America and starts to blackmail Farida by threatening to reveal Khirad's innocence to Ashar if Sara does not marry him.
While looking through a box of albums, Ashar finds Khirad's letter from four years earlier and finally reads it for the first time.
The show's theme song, Woh Humsafar Tha, was composed by Waqar Ali and sung by Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch.
Naseer Turabi wrote the poem to express his sorrow after the Fall of Dhaka (marking the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971).
Although she wrote the screenplay for Humsafar, she states that the novel differs from the television series, as "the former is more about the child, while the show concentrates on the parents as lovers".
[6] It was an enormously popular show during its national television run,[7][8] was extensively discussed on social media,[1][9][10][11][12][2] and by 2014 was the highest-rated Pakistani series to date.
[1][13] Star reported that the Humsafar page on Facebook had thousands of Pakistani-origin European and North American fans and viewers.
[15] Human rights activist Abira Ashfaq notes that “the terrible appeal of Humsafar is that it confirms characters and stories set in deeply patriarchal frameworks.
It is sexist justice that soothes the hearts of patriarchal vigilantes and keeps us on because we want to see the mother-in-law shamed, humiliated and thrust out, and moral purity rise to the top in the reunion of Khirad and Ashar.
It is a modern-day fairy tale, better than Cinderella, worse than Shrek; the born-again revival of TV drama in a tweeting world.”[15] Kanika Rajani of The Indian Express argues that the series is unique in its decision to portray its protagonists as flawed, particularly "Asher’s frustration at his initial failed attempts to communicate with his wife.
"[16] Mahira Khan's portrayal of "Khirad" received positive feedback from critics and was popular with viewers when the serial debuted.