Humari Adhuri Kahani‬ (Kashaaf Iqbal)- Novel Review by Shoby

Humari Adhuri Kahani‬ (Kashaaf Iqbal)- Novel Review by Shoby

So currently the only well known male writer of our Urdu digest industry, who has managed to make his mark Mr. Kashaaf Iqbal is back after a bit of hiatus with his brand new product Humari Adhuri Kahani‬. First thing first, I was a bit confused with the title and was thinking whether its been a promotional stint by the writer to give it a name of a recent Bollywood movie and whether it should correlate with the theme of the story but after reading it completely, I can safely say that this could have been the best only title for this story as HAK tells us the tale of the incomplete love that a female RJ had to pursue, courtesy some cozy moments between her & her fiance.

We all know that Kashaaf is one writer who goes extra miles to project the detailing of the atmosphere & phenomenon going around and this time its no different. HAK starts off with a silent night (yet loud) scene on the roads of Karsaaz, Karachi, where RJ Tasmiya is heading towards radio station to conduct midnight romantic show "Milan Ka Safar" with her co-presenter Muneer. As a matter of fact, it is shown that Tasmiya has some mystery intuitions & doubts regarding this road especially the bridge and she feels sort of a fear while travelling through it.

It happens that Muneer & Tasmiya are engaged & are going to get married in upcoming 14th of Februrary and it is almost needless to say that they are truly madly deeply in love as Tasmiya says Mohabbat ager dil or dimagh se pata ker ke ki jati to shayad main yeh bhi bata deti ke mujhey un se kab mohabbat hui. Beautiful shot by the writer. Perhaps his best, till date.

As the show progresses, there comes an emotional moment when Muneer asks Tasmiya that she has not uttered those three magical words to him till date. After a bit innocent foul play by Muneer, she claims on air that she is in love with Muneer and then they officially announce the listeners that they are getting married and this was the last show that they presented that night.

After few days, they get married and while coming back from Baraat, they unfortunately meet an accident on that very bridge where Tasmiya always use to get frightened. Story unfolds and it is revealed that Muneer dies as a result of the accident.

On the next night, Tasmiya with the help of a relative visits the same radio station at night where she used to conduct show with Muneer. On her return she tries to commit suicide on the same bridge but a strange thing happens. Spirit of Muneer visits her and asks her to promise two things so that they can be together in the life hereafter. One, not to commit suicide or pray for death & second, not to remarry, regardless of how forced she may be. At the end of the story, Tasmiya is shown in the late 30s, still unmarried and she is waiting fdor the fate so that her reunion with Muneer can happen.

Theme of the story is fresh & tale of an RJ (in fact two RJs) is a novel thought as far as writing in a digest is concerned. Kashaaf has surely gone multiple steps ahead from his previous writings as this time it is a much more mature & honest attempt to bring something new to the readers. Overall, Kashaaf has done his best to merge the romance with the theme of thrill & mystery. I personally enjoyed reading the proceedings apart from the fact that a few strong words or monologues were found missing. Had some few more moments of love & romance been there, it would have been a much better product. 

Once again I have the same problem with Kashaaf's writing. He starts off with a beautiful bang on subject matter but at the very end, he just loses the grip and seems like in a hurry to wrap up the things. However I reckon, it may be the fault of the limitation offered by digest's editors.

Although not very rich in content & a few laid back in dialogues, I still believe it is a much better offering from Kashaaf. Way to go.