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William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been adapted on screen time and again because the story of forbidden, and ultimately tragic, love between two young people has proven irresistible for audiences around the world. Shakespeare, however, never discloses the reason for the ‘ancient grudge’ between the two families. If 7th Sky Entertainment’s Mann Mast Malang on Geo TV, which appears to be yet another adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, is anything to go by there, was much sense behind Shakespeare’s decision.

The drama, written by Nooran Makhdoom, directed by Ali Faizan and starring Danish Taimoor as Kabir Khan (Romeo) and Sahar Hashmi as Riya Asghar Ali Khan (Juliet) in the lead roles, gives a specific reason for the feud between the families of Kabir and Riya. That reason, however, is a little hard to digest. In fact, what we witness in this drama is a complete reduction to absurdity of the family feud in Romeo and Juliet. Action, dialogue and plot are all unfavourably affected by this absurdity.

To sum up, as a 10-year old, Kabir accidentally, or at the very least innocently, shoots dead Riya’s father, Asghar Ali Khan (Salman Peerzada), when he sees him with his hands around his mother, Saba Hamid’s throat, apparently in an attempt to strangle her. The moment occurs during a flashback scene in episode seven that reveals that an enraged Asghar Ali Khan had come to defend the honour of his other daughter (Riya’s older sister) Asma, played by Uzma Hassan, who while married to Kabir’s older brother Mobin Khan (Kamran Jilani), has been accused of infidelity by her in-laws.

After Asghar Ali Khan’s death, Kabir is sent abroad by his mother Ma Bina so that he does not fall victim to Sikander Khan (Adnan Samad Khan) and Asma’s revenge for their father’s death. Kabir returns after a 10-year family-imposed exile to fall back in love with Riya (who he was engaged to in his childhood). The rest of the drama’s action concerns itself with the developing love between the Kabir and Riya amidst the enmity of the two families.

In Shakespeare’s play the onus of the tragedy rests, for the most part, on the feud between the families of Romeo and Juliet. The ensuing unacceptability and intolerance of their love ultimately becomes the main cause of their tragic deaths. But what is tragic in Shakespeare’s play is rendered ridiculous in Mann Mast Malang. The intensity of hatred and revenge as shown in Mann Mast Malang and based on an accidental killing by a young child is not very convincing.

With continuing episodes, this rationale becomes more and more absurd. In fact, Mann Mast Malang reveals how a word or idea if repeated enough, loses its intensity and even its meaning. The word ‘dushman’ or enemy is reiterated to such an extent in the dialogue that the word, the concept, and the ‘dushmani’ or enmity between the families becomes almost nonsensical. The result is that the enmity comes across as little more than something being carried on due to a lack of something better to do.

Mann Mast Malang actually helps explain why Shakespeare may have chosen to maintain a quick pace for his play — the fast-paced action of Romeo and Juliet is spread over approximately four to five days. It reveals an understanding of audience tolerance of the subject matter. In Mann Mast Malang, the family feud stretches over so multiple episodes — 38 so far — and is prolonged, monotonous and tedious.

Yet, the drama challenges the viewer further when casting choices reveal an incongruity between casting and action. When Kabir returns after 10 years, if we take into account that he was 10 years old at the time of the incident and perhaps a few years older when he was sent off, he should be, roughly speaking, somewhere around 20 to 25 years old now.

Using a mature actor such as Taimoor, who is in his 40s, to play the role as well as the maturity of lines in the dialogue given to his character are just not in keeping with the character’s supposed age. In spite of the questionable creative choice, it seems that the casting decision has paid off. Certainly, the YouTube viewership of the drama suggests that the drama owes its success largely to Taimoor’s star power and his being cast once again in a role that he has become adept in; that of a passionately obsessive lover. Given the storyline and action of the drama, there is little reason to attribute the drama’s success to any other reason.

The repetition in both dialogue (’dushman’ comes to mind again) and action makes us feel as if the drama has lost its plot by repeating that plot all too often. It is a pity, because in its beginning, the drama did seem promising. It began well with the establishment of an important central conflict: the feud between the two families. It also gave us some special moments in its early episodes with touches of Bollywood in episodes two and three during scene when Kabir first sets eyes on a now grown-up Riya dancing at a friend’s wedding in a red dress and roses in her hair and again later when he is standing in the rain, allowing himself to register his new found feelings of love.

Love and conflict, proven factors of success in past productions, were both in the air. But 38 episodes on, they have been run to the ground.

While we may be able to forgive the drama makers for their negligence of fine details with regard to the content and presentation of the drama, it is more difficult to overlook the demolition of its female protagonist. Riya, presented as a grade 12 student who has unsuccessfully tried to pass the grade several times, cannot even recite her two times table. In contrast, Kabir, the hero, is endowed with superior intelligence and understanding, as well as an ability to teach multiple academic subjects (chemistry, physics, mathematics etc) to both Riya and her friend.

The viewer may be able to sympathise with Riya for not being academically inclined but her lack of intelligence — even common sense — cannot be entirely accounted for by her naiveté. There are moments in the drama, such as when she is talked into believing the worst about Kabir by her family, where she demonstrates little to no judgment or sense. It is a disappointing depiction of womanhood by a female writer and we can only hope for more inspiring female characters in the future from the channel.

Even if Mann Mast Malang was not intended to be an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and even if we were to totally disregard Shakespeare’s play, there is much to lament about in the presentation of this drama. It is painful how the drama’s creative choices ignore the intelligence of Pakistani television drama viewers. Mann Mast Malang’s storyline of young lovers struggling against family opposition is reminiscent of classic tales such as Laila Majnu, Heer Ranjha and, of course, Romeo and Juliet. But what makes such tales enduring is the element of the tragic.

It is precisely this element that is missing in Mann Mast Malang. The drama makes us want to laugh rather than cry. Whether this ‘Romeo and Juliet’ will eventually be given a tragic ending remains to be seen. There is a possibility, however, that when that happens the weary viewer will let out a sigh of relief that it is all finally over.