Kabuli Pulao

Kabli Pulao follows the story of Haji Mushtaq, an upright man from Lahore, and Barbeena, an Afghan girl in need. Haji Mushtaq, a 51-year-old Punjabi bachelor, leads a simple and straightforward life until he meets Barbeena. He goes to Mardan for a religious tour where he meets her brother during his stay in a mosque. Her brother asks if someone would be willing to marry her but would have to pay the brother for it. Haji Mushtaq tried to counsel her brother that he should not be asking money for marrying her. He finds out that the money is being asked for the operation of their other brother who lost the use of his legs. Haji Mushtaq lend the money without marrying Barbeena. However, Barbeena later insists on marrying him for the favour he did. Her brother also sks him to protect her by marrying her, as she is a widow and a brother of her deceased husband wants to marry her against her wishes. Despite all efforts to help her without having to marry her, Haji Mushtaq has to marry Barbeena on her insistence. Meanwhile, Shamim a woman who had been Mushtaq's neighbour since childhood and has a crush on him has not given up hope that Mushtaq would marry her some day. He returns to his house in Lahore with Barbeena on the insistence of his niece Ayesha who refuses to attend her engagement in his absence. He reaches his house where he lives with his younger brother Chaudhry Qayyum and his family and introduces Barbeena as a maid, who was eager to serve him in his house in return of the help that he has done for her brother's treatment. Within a few days, Barbeena gets attached to Qayyum's sisters and others family members begin to like her as well due to her taking care for the house.

Barbeena's elder brother comes to Lahore to meet her. Ilyas, the police inspector of Haji's hometown who has a past animosity with him learns that the Afghan girl living in his house is his wife. He tells it to his teacher Shamim and they both arrive there. They bring Khawaja sara with them to insult him for hiding his marriage and for his marriage with a girl much younger than him. Everyone including Qayyum gets disturbed on the reveal of the marriage and starts disliking Shamim for her behaviour. Farzana, the elder sister of Haji saheb stands by her brother and decides to announce the marriage with a grand Walima. Haji's younger sister Chammo does not have a good relationship with her husband Ghaffar due to her inability to give birth due to which Ghaffar doesn't love her and turns negative. He eyes on Barbeena but on revealing the marriage he is infuriated and expels Chammo from his house. He agrees to bring her back in front of Haji Saheb on the condition that he goes away leaving the city with Barbeena. Haji Saheb does so by telling the family that they are going with Barbeena on her brother's funeral. He goes to Mardaan but on reaching there he learns that his friend Mawlawi, the person with which he had decided to live, has died. In a state of utter restlessness and trouble, Haji Saheb travels to Rawalpindi where he comes across Hayat, a hotelier who provides them with shelter in her daughter's house where she lives with her husband. Hayat's daughter Hajra and son-in-law Asad has an unpleasant relationship and keep fighting due to which Hayat decides to make them share the house with Haji Saheb so that their relationship can improve considering that they will value the presence of an elder in the house.

Haji Saheb and Barbeena starts living there and earn their livelihood by selling Kabuli pulao. Initially, the pulaw didn't sell much but when Barbeena starts selling, it becomes popular among the people in no time. Hajra who has been a keen of filmmaking but her passion losts somewhere among her quarrels with Asad. She decides to make a documentary film on this unusual couple. She establishes relations with them first of all for this purpose, and makes their videos secretly without their consent. With the ending note of her realisation of the purity and mutual respect in their relationship, she ends the film. On releasing the film, it gets viral on the Internet and his family, who was looking for them since their departure, discover that the couple is lives there. Qayyum and Ghaffar come to bring Haji Saheb back. However, Qayyum dies in a road accident. They return to Lahore in their house with Qayyum's dead body.

The show explores various themes such as love, sacrifice, cultural differences, and the power of human connection. It also sheds light on the challenges that people from different cultures face when they try to build relationships and understand each other.{{Cite web |last=FUCHSIA |first=Team |date=5 May 2023 |title=Series Kabli Pulao Is About Finding Love Despite Differences |url=https://www.fuchsiamagazine.com/upcoming-series-kabli-pulao-is-about-finding-love-despite-differences/ |access-date=11 July 2023 |website=FUCHSIA |language=en-us}}

• Mohammed Ehteshamuddin as Haji Mushtaq: Barbeena's husband
• Sabeena Farooq as Barbeena: Haji Mushtaq's wife
• Nadia Afgan as Shamin: in love with Haji Mushtaq
• Abdullah Farhatullah as Baran Afghani: Barbeena's ex-husband

• Adnan Shah Tipu as Chaudhry Qayyum
• Munazzah Arif as Zubaida
• Raima Khan as Chammo: Haji Mushtaq's sister and Ghaffar Butt's wife{{cite news | url=https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30338100| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123091835/https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30338100/raima-khan-aka-chammo-of-kabli-pulao-sheds-light-on-societys-hypocrisy | archive-date=23 November 2023 | title=Raima Khan aka 'Chammo' of Kabli Pulao sheds light on society's hypocrisy | date=24 October 2023 }}
• Farzana Taheem as Kulsoom: Haji Mushtaq's sister
• Momina Faiq Bajwa as Rimsha
• Saqib Sumeer as Ghaffar Butt: Chammo's husband
• Fajjar Khan as Ayesha Qayyum
• Haseeb Khan as Zakir
• Umer Dar{{cite news | url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/863709| title=Umer Dar: A Notable Emerging Actor | date=4 January 2022 }} as Inspector Ilyas
• Faiz Chauhan as Hayat
• Naina as Hajra
• Sikandar Nawaz as Asad

In February 2021, Kashif Nisar revealed that her upcoming series is about the relationship of two individuals who have a language barrier.{{cite web | url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zf7LwLgafDc | title=Kashif Nisar on What It Takes to Create a Successful Drama | Raqeeb Se | Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi | website=YouTube }} Nadia Afgan was selected to portray one of the pivotal role. Nisar offered the role of Kulsoom to her, but she ended up playing the role of Shamim.{{cite news | url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2446182/m| title=Marriage isn't just about living together: Nadia Afgan | date=13 November 2023 | work=The Express Tribune}}

The series premier its first episode on 11 July 2023 airing weekly on Tuesday at 20:00 PST on Green Entertainment.It is based on 19 episodes with 35-40 minutes running time.{{cite news|url=https://www.somethinghaute.com/the-much-awaited-green-entertainment-to-officially-start-on-july-10|date=4 July 2023 |title=The much awaited Green Entertainment to officially start on July 10 |work=Something Haute}}

The series broadcast in India by Zindagi premiering on 11 November 2023, thus becoming the first ever Pakistani TV series with a simultaneous foreign broadcast.{{Cite news |website=Mid Day|date=8 November 2023| accessdate=9 November 2023 | title= Popular Pakistani show 'Kabli Pulao' to have it's[sic] Indian premiere on 11th November| url= https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/television-news/article/popular-pakistani-show-kabli-pulao-to-have-its-indian-premiere-on-11th-november-23318880}}

{{Infobox single

| name = Ankhain

| type = song

| artist = Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

| writer = Imran Raza

| composer = Sahir Ali Bagga

| label = Green Entertainment

| language = Urdu

| released = {{start date|df=y|2023|5|23}}

| length = 4:31

| misc = {{External media

| audio1 = {{YouTube|cziikKNgBBE|Lyrical song}}

| video1 = {{YouTube|uK_-iHj0PzE|Music video}}

}}

}}

The original soundtrack "Ankhain" was released in May 2023.{{cite news|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/1096403|title=OST 'Ankhein' for 'Kabli Pulao' released|date=24 May 2023}} It was performed by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, music was composed by Sahir Ali Bagga and lyrics were penned by Imran Raza.{{cite news|url=https://www.samaaenglish.tv/news/40036373|title=Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's enchanting OST for 'Kabli Pulao' casts a spell on audience|website=Samaa TV|date=24 May 2023|access-date=9 June 2023|language=en-US}} The OST gained 100 million views on digital platforms of the network within 2 weeks.{{cite news|url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/1100697|title=Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's song 'Ankhain' surpasses 100 million views|website=Daily Times|date=6 June 2023}}

In a review by Youlin Magazine, the reviewer praised the series for its engaging plot, the theme of refugees' lives, lead characters and the portrayals of Ehteshamuddin and Farooq.{{cite web|url=https://www.youlinmagazine.com/article/drama-review-kabli-pulao-a-realistic-serial-about-afghan-refugees|title=Drama Review: Kabli Pulao: A Realistic Serial About Afghan Refugees|date=27 July 2023|access-date=13 August 2023|work=Youlin Magazine|author=Hurmat Majid}} In a review of the 3rd episode, a reviewer from Bol News praised the Farooq's performance.{{cite news|url=https://www.bolnews.com/entertainment/2023/07/kabli-pulao-episode-3-barbeena-steals-hearts-with-her-innocence|title=Kabli Pulao Episode 3: Barbeena Steals Hearts With Her Innocence|date=27 July 2023|work=Bol News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727074912/https://www.bolnews.com/entertainment/2023/07/kabli-pulao-episode-3-barbeena-steals-hearts-with-her-innocence/|archive-date=27 July 2023|url-status=live}} Foha Raza of Dawn Images praised it for its realistic characters and themes such as emotional support, depiction of evolving relationships and judgment on looks.{{cite news|url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1192005|title=Five life lessons to learn from Kabli Pulao|date=23 August 2023|access-date=9 September 2023|work=images.dawn}}

In the year-end articles, The Express Tribune praised the script for the portrayal of unconventional saga of love and focusing the refugees,{{cite news|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2451178/2|title=2023 in dramas: Unforgettable stories that ruled the small screen|author=Manahil Tahira|date=26 December 2023|work=The Express Tribune}} while Dawn Images noted its main theme and the performances of the leads.{{cite news|url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1192151|title=2023 in Pakistani dramas: A mixed bag of spunk, grit, and subtlety|work=Dawn Images|date=26 December 2023|author=Qurat ul ain Siddiqui|access-date=27 December 2023}}

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• {{IMDb title|28690162}}

Category:2023 Pakistani television series debuts

Category:Pakistani drama television series

Category:Afghanistan–Pakistan relations in popular culture

Category:Green Entertainment original programming