When Haseena Moin wrote dramas for India’s ‘Star Plus’ and ‘Doordarshan’ starring transnational actors

Veteran Pakistani writer Haseena Moin, who passed away in March 2021 has innumerable literary contributions to the Pakistani drama industry. Be it the cult classic Tanhaiyan or Dhoop Kinaray, her small screen marvels have broken popularity records.

In 1997, when the sociopolitical terms of Indo-Pak were better, the countries collaborated for a joint production drama serial. Haseena wrote the script of the hit seriel Tanha starring Marina Khan and Sajid Hassan who went to India for the drama’s shoot that aired on Star Plus.

Tanha did exceptionally well commercially and the Indian audiences enjoyed the realistic execution and inspiring storytelling on television. The title track of the project was written and composed by renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar.

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As per details, the cast of the project includes veterans Marina Khan and Sajid Hassan, among several Indian artists namely Aasif Sheikh, Anang Desai, Milind Soman, and Tanaaz Irani. Unlike regular dramas, Tanha was shot in multiple cities of India including Aligarh and Lucknow. The forty episodes family drama had a successful run of two years on Star Plus from 1997 to 1999.

The veteran writer also wrote a play for Doordarshan called Kash-m-kash, Arshad Mahmood composed its OST and Tina Sani sang it. The series starred Javed Jaffery ad Aly Khan in key roles.