Dhoop Kinare

Dhoop Kinare () is a Pakistani television series broadcast on PTV in 1987 and is now considered as a cult-classic. The show centers on a team of doctors in a hospital in Karachi and revolves around their routines at the hospital and their private lives at home. The show starred Rahat Kazmi and Marina Khan in lead roles, was directed by Sahira Kazmi and written by Haseena Moin.
In the early days of PTV, drama serials were usually applauded for being richly diverse in their plots and direction. They were appreciated in Pakistan and their quality content was cherished over the border in India as well. A long list of such dramas may usually include "Dhoop Kinare" as one of those dramas at the top. The serial was continuously successful for two decades after it first finished airing. This serial is said to have promoted the careers of Rahat Kazmi and Marina Khan as one of the most-sought-after stars in the Pakistani television industry.
Characters.
Dr Ahmer Ansari.
Dr. Ahmer Ansari (Rahat Kazmi) is bereaving the death of his foster father (played by Arshad Mehmood) whom he calls Baba (an affectionate word for father in Urdu). He vaguely remembers that the professor had adopted him as a child but has no knowledge that his father had a daughter who died young and that she also gave birth to a girl who lives somewhere in the same city. His father had never shared his past with Ahmer. Ahmer was led to believe that he was the sole beneficiary of his baba's love and affection.
In his will, Ahmer's father (Baba) leaves behind everything but the house to Ahmer. Baba gifts the house to his granddaughter, whom he never met. Ahmer, while trying to reminisce of his encounters with his father (shown in flashback sequences), gathers the true understanding of the dual meaning conversations with his father. He is very upset over the turn of events as he feels let down by his adopted father. Once again he feels alone and rejected. From a happy and cheerful man he turns into a reticent and reserved person.
Throughout the first few episodes, Dr. Ahmer cannot come to terms with the death of his foster father and the sudden emergence of Baba's granddaughter who now owns the house where he spent his entire life. Upon repeated visits to the house Ahmer finds the new owner to be negligent towards the maintenance of the property. It angers him to see his father's house in disrepair. Through his lawyer, he makes many attempts to buy the house from the current owners but is always rejected. Incidentally, the same girl appears in his hospital as an intern. While he does not know who she is, he finds her to be quite immature and careless. He tries to instil professionalism in her and is often seen criticising and educating her which she finds frustrating. After some time Zoya begins to take interest in her profession and Dr Ahmer and she become friends which in turn helps him to loosen up. Soon they start to develop stronger feelings for each other. However, soon Dr Ahmer finds out who Zoya really is and refuses to talk to her. He also rejects the idea of buying the house from her since she finally decides to sell it because of financial losses to her father's business. However, when Dr. Ahmer finds out that they are in desperate need of money, he goes through with the transaction but decides to gift the house to Zoya anyway. In order to get away from Zoya, Dr Ahmer takes a leave from work and decides to leave Pakistan. However his feelings for Zoya are genuine and he soon finds himself at his Baba's house only to find Zoya waiting for him. They reunite for a beautiful conclusion to a memorable show.
Dr Zoya Ali Khan.
Dr Zoya Ali Khan (Marina Khan) is a cheerful young doctor who brings joy to the mundane life at the hospital and in the life of Ahmer. Although her carefree attitude leaves no other choice for Ahmer but to educate her by strict behaviour as he believes a doctor's life demands a lot more seriousness than what Zoya demonstrates.
The serial starts with a young Zoya trying hard to convince her father (Qazi Wajid) for not attending the medical school; she instead comes to know that her dead mother wanted her to be a doctor. A phone call that her father attends gives her the much-needed cheer for the day when the person on the other end explains that she just inherited a house that belonged to her grandfather.
Seeing that her father wants her to become a doctor to celebrate her dead mother's wishes, she takes admission in a medical school. She retains her carefree antics in the seriousness of the hospital life and comes in critique of Ahmer.
Dr. Sheena Karamat.
Badar Khalil plays this character very well. She wants to get close to Dr. Ahmer but he doesn't consider her more than a good friend. When she notices Dr. Ahmer's interest in Zoya, she gets really jealous and gives Zoya a hard time. Later, she meets her old college friend Nasir Jamal (Rizwan Wasti) and marries him but finds out that he is also married to another woman and has children.
Dr. Irfan.
Sajid Hassan plays this character beautifully. He is a junior colleague of Dr. Ahmer and works as the administrator of the children ward. He is a carefree person with an unmatched humorous personality and flirtatious nature. He is a very good friend of both Dr Khan and Dr Sheena which leaves him in an uncomfortable position seeing that both women are in love with the same man. He also harbours a crush on Sheena. He decides to help Zoya and Ahmer get together as her feelings are more genuine unlike Dr Sheena's obsessive nature. Meeting Anji, Zoya's best friend, he flirts with her and soon falls for her and after a whole lot of drama and chaos that came with convincing Anji's daddy, they get engaged.
Anji.
"Kehkishan Awan" plays Anji, Zoya's best friend since childhood. She lives in a house next to Zoya. In later episodes, she gets engaged to Dr. Irfan (Sajid Hassan) who is a junior colleague of Dr Ahmer.
Zoya's Father.
Qazi Wajid plays the role of Zoya's "Baba" who is very close with her and raised her like a friend. He believes in letting the kids grow by learning from their own experiences of life while supporting and advising them when in need.
Fazeelat Bibi.
Azra Sherwani plays Fazeelat who is Zoya's caretaker and is not happy with Zoya always being at the hospital without having rest. Zoya calls her Fazee.
Mummy.
"Ishrat Hashmi" plays Anji's mother
Daddy.
"Hameed Wyne" plays a very strict father of Anji. He forces his daughter into working with him in his office rather than pursuing interior designing.
Ahmer's Father.
Arshad Mehmood plays the role of Dr. Ahmer Ansari's foster father. He appears in dream sequences from Dr. Ahmer's past.
Cast.
Mehmood as Ahmer's Father
Soundtrack.
The music of the drama serial was directed by Arshad Mehmood and some of the ghazals were performed by Nayyara Noor including "Main Tum Se Na Puchun", "Raat Yun Dil Mein Teri" and "Hansi Khanakti Hui" (the theme song).
Broadcast and adaption.
The teledrama was aired in India on Zindagi under the segment "Zindagi Classics". "Dhoop Kinare" is scheduled to air in Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2020.
PTV Home re-ran the serial after a long time from 3 May 2020 to 15 May 2020 daily at 12:00pm in the segment PTV Gold Hour.
In India, the show was remade by Sony Entertainment Television India as "Kuch Toh Log Kahenge". It started on 3 October 2011 and had total of 346 episodes.