By Fareesh Zaman
When the first famous Dargaah scene in Qubool Hai aired, we were left astonished by the magnificence of it. Asad, the rugged handsome male lead (played by Karan Singh Grover), seeing Zoya, the ethereal beauty all decked up as a bride (played by Surbhi jyoti), for the first time and instantly feeling a connection to her, connected to us as well and Asad-Zoya, AsYa became an iconic pair for us. Later, when they had their first meeting, they simply set the screen on fire with their angry performances and seeing their hatred for each other, we fell in love with them.
The fact that the lead male role was played by none other than Karan Singh Grover, one of the most talented actors in Indian Television Industry and Surbhi Jyoti, a promisingly talented actress was playing the lead female role, just added to Qubool Hai's viewers' base.
The show that had a Muslim background grabbed attention of all the viewers irrespective of age, we just could not get enough of AsYa's unique story and the family saga that kept us glued to our TV screens. When AsYa's first romantic background score, "Mitwaa ishq pe zor nahin" was played, we were spell-bounded by the beauty of it and it soon made it to our mobile ringtones! We loved it all, Asad's irritation at Zoya's shayari and mischief..Zoya's exasperation at Asad's OCD habits..we loved their simple banters for no good reason.
The sizzling on-screen chemistry of Karan and Surbhi was like no other we had ever seen before.
But just when our most favorite on-screen couple were starting to acknowledge their feelings to each other and to us, the most unnecessary evil characters and illogical tracks kept coming in their way. It all started with the Tanveer track, the lady who was omnipresent and had almost every tool in her dupatta to kill Zoya. We endured that horrible track which came to the point at which our male lead was shown to sleep with her. As sick as it sounds, we tolerated it just in the hope of seeing our Asya together again. That happened in the Ajmer track where Asad confessed his feelings for Zoya, and with beautiful picturization of the scenes and flawless execution, we had no complaints.
But guess we should have know better. Our hopes of seeing our Asya getting married were shattered again when probably the most illogical track ever shown in any Indian drama came across in Qubool Hai. The infamous Zoyaan track just annoyed us to no end, as we still do not understand how on earth two grown-up people could think that they got married without them knowing it! The track that followed was Asad lending Zoya to his younger brother to save their sister's life. It saddened us to no end to see our perfect show going this sick way.
Thankfully it ended soon because the CVs understood their TRP is not going well with this track. So they wrapped it up abruptly with the promise of a proper closure of the Zoyaan track (which still has not happened) and Asad took Zoya back home.
We sigh a breath of relief and still forgave the CVs after their terrible blunder and just when we thought everything was going to be fine now...bam! Came the rudest shock ever, the news of Karan Singh Grover's exit from Qubool Hai broke like hysteria among fans. What added fuel to their agitation was the channel head spewing venom unnecessarily against Karan. Accusing him of being unprofessional and coming to the sets in drunken state, was an extremely wrong step taken by the channel and resulted into an out roar amongst the fans.
We were already grieved about not being able to see our favorite actor on screen in our favorite show, but this inconsiderate step taken by the channel just added to our misery and ruined the festive season of new year's eve for all of us. Karan was accused of being unprofessional, while his co-actors denied this blame and we have also seen his dedication in several BTS segments.
The actor himself stated in his interview that after he came back from his sick leave, he was willing to continue the show for another 3 to 4 months during which the show could have been ended on a happy note for all concerned. Nobody can deny that Karan had health issues for which he was not able to continue longer. Then why the channel did not agree to it, and rather went on a spree to defame the actor, is a question that we are unable to comprehend.
We just cannot bring ourselves to accept anyone else as our Asad, and ruin the essence AsYa has in our mind. Karan lived and breathed Asad and made him lovable to us. It became one of the most cherished characters ever in television and Karan shall always remain the face of Asad. He and Surbhi Jyoti are the only Asad and Zoya for us and as viewers of Qubool Hai, we would love it to end with the same screen burning chemistry of AsYa that it started with and had taken our breath away.
Check this out: The Difference between KSG and Raquesh (replacement) as ASAD...
85