From child brides to career crises: Jafri and Asif tackle parenting in Pakistani drama Parwarish

Two of Pakistan television’s youngest — and newest — entrants, Samar Jafri and Aina Asif, headlined 2023’s soap serial Mayi Ri, a story about child marriage. They made an adorable screen couple. No wonder, when they reunite, it makes exciting news.

Their latest is an ARY serial titled Parwarish. Judging from the trailers, the show is about raising young children, and how parents with fixed ideas and little or no compatibility end up creating a disconnect between their children and themselves.

The show is expected to make a comment on parenting. It stars Naumaan Ejaz and Sawera Nadeem in key roles, while Arshad Mehmood and Shamim Hilaly form part of what appears to be a large, dysfunctional family.

Asif — whose multi-dimensional twin act in Judwa has been trending ever since the show started airing in February this year — returns with an author-backed role. Here, she plays a high school student faced with the biggest dilemma of her life: making a career choice. She wishes to study medicine, but it’s obvious that her folks will go along with it only because “doctor bahu” is an enviable tag for a girl in our society.

Jafri, last seen in Nabeel Qureshi’s coming-of-age feature film Na Baligh Afraad (2024), plays a teenager whose dreams of becoming a rock star don’t find favour with his father. Interestingly, Jafri is a popular singer in real life too — his last release, ‘Meri Ho’, has got over half a million views on YouTube alone.

Parwarish’s first episode goes on air Monday (tonight).