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Ramazan comedy shows skyrocketed in popularity after Suno Chanda hit our TV screens and started a trend, leading to many more light-hearted shows such as Ayeza Khan’s Chupke Chupke, Chaudhary and Sons and Hum Tum, to name a few. Writer Saima Akram Chaudhary’s new show Kaala Doriya follows that pattern but it isn’t a Ramazan show, much to everyone’s surprise. The first episode dropped on Friday with Osman Khalid Butt as Asfand, Sana Javed as Mahnoor, and some familiar faces from previous shows.

But Kaala Doriya’s similarities to Ramazan shows of the past have garnered mixed reviews online. For one, people think it’s far too similar to Chaudhry’s previous work.

In the first episode, we saw Butt as a musician who is sneaking home early in the morning and gets caught by his brother, played by model Shahzad Noor.

The scene pans to his mother, played by Zainab Qayyum, who runs up to him to solve an issue with the water before Butt’s short-tempered father, played by Farhan Ally Agha, gets angry. On the way, Butt meets his young niece and nephew and starts playing his guitar for them, enraging his father.

The second scene reveals the next door neighbours, Javed, Nadia Afgan and Sohail Sameer, who are the family of Noor’s wife in the show. Sameer is Agha’s brother in the show.

The drama is based on two families, the rivalry between Sameer and Agha that separated them and divided their parents, played by Samina Ahmed and Khalid Anam. The brothers are not on speaking terms but Sameer’s eldest daughter is married to Agha’s son. She is also very close to her brother-in-law, Butt, offering a fresh take on the relationship between brother and sister-in-law. Usually, comedy shows focus entirely on the rival families and main characters whose hatred turns into affection.

Some people on Twitter liked the show but didn’t understand why Afgan’s character was so similar to her character Shahana Batool from Suno Chanda and said that there should’ve “been some change”.

Others praised Butt and said that he “is made for romcoms” and that he lights up the screen whenever he appears.

Is it really a romcom without Agha playing the dad?

People enjoyed the “proper introductions” for all the characters.

Some people felt this kind of light-hearted content is usually limited to Ramazan, which is why they were surprised by it.

But there were critics too. People weren’t happy with the set being the same as every other romcom and didn’t enjoy the casting being so similar to Suno Chanda’s.

People thought it was a bit too similar to Suno Chanda, Chupke Chupke and Hum Tum. “Saima Akram Chaudhry, sis you need to stop,” wrote one user.

Another criticised Javed’s styling and asked why show creators can’t just cast actors who fit roles instead of using hair accessories and clothes to make actors look younger.

The drama is being directed by Danish Nawaz and is described as a love story of two people, enemies at first and lovers second, who must overcome their family rivalry to come together as one. The drama airs every Friday at 8pm on HUM TV.