Gul-e-Rana (TV series)

Gul-e-Rana () is a Pakistani drama serial based on a novel by Samra Bukhari titled "Hasti Ke Ahang". The program premiered on 7 November 2015 on Hum TV.
The serial was written by Samra Bukhari, directed by Farooq Rind and produced by Momina Duraid along with Humayun Saeed and Shehzad Naseed. It stars Sajal Aly and Feroze Khan along with the supporting cast of Mehmood Akhtar, Rubina Ashraf and Jinaan Hussain.
The series was created by Momina Duraid, Humayun Saeed and Shehzad Naseed of Six Sigma Plus Productions and aired on Hum TV as part of night programming under Duraid's production company. Gul-e-Rana is known as one of the popular dramas of Hum TV.
It has been criticized for its misogynistic, sexist and regressive approach. There was also a controversy when in a scene the leading actress Sajal Aly blamed a victim of sexual abuse because of her sense of dressing.
Synopsis.
The series revolves around a girl who is struggling for the rights of women after being abused by poor mentality people of the society. After marriage, men don’t give respect to women and treat them badly. Gul-e-Rana (Sajjal Ali) tries her best to transform Adeel's mentality about women and faces many problems. In the end, Adeel has an accident and transforms into a good person. It is shown in the drama that Gul-E-Rana leaves Adeel for some time and becomes an ordinary teacher. But it is hinted in the end that both of them reconcile after some time.
Plot summary.
The series is a story of emotions, trust, relations and sympathy. It gives a note on forgiveness.
Gul-e-Rana's father dies in a car accident, and consequently her rich uncle, takes Rana, her sister and her mother under his wings. Rana's both Aunts hate her and warn her that all her uncle's money is for them. Meanwhile, Maria and Laila, daughters of Gul-e-Rana's aunts, are willing to do anything to marry Adeel who is the only son of Raana's uncle. Gul-e-Rana is very different from her cousins, as Rana exhibits the traits of a well-groomed and modest girl. Unlike Gul-e-Rana, her cousin Adeel is egotistic and narcissistic. To him, girls are merely a means of passing time and pleasure. He considers Gul-e-Rana perfect to marry as she wouldn’t have a say in his personal life and tries every way to trick her but she pays no heed. Meanwhile, Zafri, Rana's cousin is interested in her and wants to marry her to ensure that Maria and Adeel can marry without any hurdles. One night, Adeel misbehaves with Rana. She slaps him hard on his face. Adeel knits a sinister plan i.e. the very next morning he apologises to Raana and ask for her forgiveness for his last night's misbehaviour. That afternoon he picks Raana from college and lies that her mother is very ill and is admitted in the hospital. He takes Raana to a faraway deserted house, arranges for a Maulvi and his friends help to organize a Nikaah, leaving her with a choice to choose between him and her honour. She decides to marry Adeel but vows to get revenge. Rana's mother finds out about their 'supposed love' and is shell-shocked. Eventually, Adeel and Rana get married while everybody assumes that they love each other; Adeel and Rana torture each other. Rana disobeys and ignores everything Adeel tells her in order to show him where he stands in her life. Adeel suspects that something is going on between Gul-e-Rana and Ashar (Rana's cousin) while Rana just sees Ashar as a friend. Adeel goes to Islamabad. Then Adeel brings Rana to Islamabad with him by lying to his father that he wants Rana to take care of him while he is sick. Adeel and Rana continue to play Tom and Jerry with each other. Adeel's friend Mona comes to stay with them. Adeel tries to rape her but at the same time when Gul-e-Rana opens the door, Adeel runs out of embarrassment.
Rana calls Adeel an animal and Adeel slaps her. Adeel feels guilty but still doesn't quit being the "bad boy". Adeel calls Maria and other girls to make Rana jealous. She says to him that she doesn't feel anything (but through her expressions it is clear that she does feel something). Rana calls Asher Bhai and says she misses him. Adeel's catches Rana in front of Taya Abu and acts like she is having an affair with someone else. Taya Abu gets angry at Rana but she doesn't try to prove her innocence (as she believed that Taya Abu will not believe her as his own son is standing against her). Now Rana is thinking about how the life has brought such a turn in his life. Taya Abbu returns, advising Rana to compromise.he says Adeel is immature but Rana is a wise girl and sacrifices are a part of married life. This way Taya Abbu returns without taking Rana with him who was supposed to attend Ashar Bhai's wedding. Now Maria visits Murree with underlying motives. Adeel goes to pick her up. On their way back they enjoy the scenery and take pictures. When they return it is quite late. Gul-e-Rana tells Gul Bibi to set up the dinner for her. Maria and Adeel come. Maria behaves rudely. Adeel comes to know that Gul-e-Rana no more lives in the same room with him. He mocks her and tells her that he will soon get someone else to fill up that empty space. Rana congratulates him on this, but is unhappy and Gul bibi advises her to fight for her right but Gul-e-Rana leaves Murree and goes to Karachi. Meanwhile, Ashar's father meets with an accident and dies. Here in Maria informs her mother that Rana has left and also spreads this news to her cousin and another probable suitor. Mamu comes to know. He visits Mari and slaps Adeel after Maria acts as the victim.
Now Maria and her mother have conspired to get Adeel married to Maria by falsely alleging him of relations with Maria on the promise that he would marry her. Adeel visits Ashar's house to take back Rana forcefully. Ashar shows courage and supports Rana. Rana goes into the house with Ashar and Adeel is flabbergasted. Taya Abu wants Adeel to marry maria or he says that he would not give Adeel his inheritance. Adeel flees to Murree and Taya Abu doesn't pressurize him to marry maria.
Adeel has an accident and is badly injured. Kamal encourages Gul-e-Rana to go to Murree and take care of Adeel as a wife would do. Gul-e-Rana goes to Murree and takes good care of Adeel. She makes sure that Adeel takes all his medicines and eats properly. Adeel's attitude towards Rana begins to change day by day. At first, he makes Rana do all his chores. He even says the difference between a wife and a maid is that a maid takes payment. He contemplates his situation and tries to ponder over what he did wrong.
He suddenly asks Rana to stop doing his chores and that he wants to sit and talk with Rana, to which Rana replies she has nothing to talk to and that Adeel's words have only hurt her. Adeel and Rana’s attitude towards each other begins to change and Adeel develops feelings for Gul-e-Rana. Meanwhile, Ashar passes away due to cancer and Gul-e-Rana decides to move to Karachi. Gul-e-Rana leaves Adeel for some time and becomes an ordinary teacher. In the end, Adeel becomes a humble and kind guy who often sees Gul-e-Rana in his imaginations and anxiously wait for her to come back. Since Gul-e-Rana and Adeel are still legally married, it is hinted in the end that Gul-E-Rana will eventually come back to Adeel. 
Production.
Development and casting.
"Gul-e-Rana" was created by the Six Sigma Plus productions and M.D production's partnership. It was produced by Hum TV's chairman Momina Duraid, and actor and producer Humayun Saeed. Producers hired Farooq Rind for direction, who was the director of channel's famous series "Laa".
The screenplay for the serial was written by Samra Bukhari, and the series is based on her novel "Hasti ke Ahang". In July 2015, Humayun Saeed and Shehzad Naseeb came on board as a co-producers.
The song composition was done by Waqar Ali.
The series was given the 20:00 (PST) time slot and aired on Saturday evenings as a part of Duraid's night programming. It was previously decided that the series would replace "Jugnoo" but post-production delays were held and it was decided that the series would instead replace Duraid's TV series "Mol".
Casting.
Producers mutually chose the cast which includes Sajjal Ali, Feroz Khan, Behroze Sabzwari, Mehmood Akhtar, Sundas Tariq and Farah Shah. Sajjal Ali was selected to portray the leading role of Gul-e-Rana opposite Feroz Khan, who was chosen to portray the role of Adeel. The couple marked their second appearance after their series "Chup Raho". Behroze Sabzwari and Rubina Ashraf played Aziz and Muneera, Rana's parents, while Farah Shah, Mehmood Akhtar performed the roles of Adeel's parents. Samina Ahmad finalised to portray a negative role along with Saleem Mairaj and Jinaan Hussain. Saadia, who portrayed the role of Laila, was given a role of bold girl first time in her life.
Filming.
Shooting began in June 2015 and finished in October 2015, with a total of 21 episodes. Teasers were released in October along with the soundtrack. Shooting was extensively done in hilly areas of Pakistan. The production house divided the filming with half the episodes being shot in Karachi and half being shot in Murree and Nathia Gali. Six Sigma Plus Productions chose scenic areas for posters, teasers and drop back scenes to make the serial more attractive and unique. In early October, Hum TV released promos for the serial which were heavily praised for their shooting locations and cast.
Release.
Broadcast.
It aired on 7 November 2015 on Hum TV. It was also aired in Middle East on Hum Mena, in Europe on Hum Europe and in North America, New Zealand etc. on Hum World. All International broadcasting aired the series in accordance with their standard times. On Hum Mena and Hum Europe, it was broadcast twice. It was also aired on the Hum tv's sister channel Hum Sitaray from 5 February 2017 to 25 June 2017
Home media and digital release.
Besides airing on tv its episodes were also uploaded on YouTube which were later deleted. It was also released on iflix as a part of channel's contract eith the platform but later on, on terminating the contract in 2019, all the episodes were pulled off and thus had no digital availability to stream. Furthermore, it was also released on the Indian OTT platform Eros Now and in August 2019, it was uploaded on Starzplay to stream online.
Music.
The title song of "Gul-e-Rana" was composed by musician Waqar Ali who also did the background music. The soundtrack consists of songs in Urdu language. Lyrics were written by Sabir Zafar. The lines of the song are frequently used during the course of the show. The original soundtrack was released on 6 November 2015 with the teaser trailer of the serial. The song along with production was produced by Momina Duraid under her production company M.D Productions.
Reception.
The drama series became popular soon after it released due to its story-line and cast. It made Hum TV the slot leader on Saturdays. "Gul-e-Rana" achieved record ratings after achieving a TRP of 7.2 as its highest rating (over the 15-minute time slot of 8:30–8:45 pm) on 19 December 2015. Coincidentally, "Chup Raho", the first show of Sajal Ali and Feroze Khan, achieved its highest rating of 7.3 TRPs. Gul-e-Rana achieved a TRP of 6.4 (over the 10-minute time slot of 8:50–9:00 pm) on 2 January 2016. Over the 70-minute time slot (8:00–9:10 pm) on the same day, Gul-e-Rana achieved a TRP of 4.7. Once again, Gul-e-Rana achieved exceptional ratings as its 10th episode aired on 9 January 2016, grabbed 6.7 TRPs (over the 10-minute time slot of 8:50–9:00 pm). Over the 70-minute time slot (8:00–9:10 pm) on the same day, Gul-e-Rana achieved a TRP of 4.5. "Gul-e-Rana" achieved exceptional ratings as its 11th episode aired on 16 January 2016, grabbed 5.2 TRPs (over the 15-minute time slot of 8:45–9:00 pm). Over the 70-minute time slot (8:00–9:10 pm) on the same day, "Gul-e-Rana" achieved a TRP of 3.6. Then its 15th episode gained extremely high rating which was 7.2. Its 16th episode got a TRP of 6.2. In the last episode, people tweeted about the show so much that it trended on no. 1 spot in an hour. The last episode had a huge amount of ratings with a TRP of 8.8.