Saaya (Pakistani TV series)

Saaya
Saaya poster featuring Maham Amir as Ghost
Also known as	Mera Saaya Saath Hogha
Genre	Horror drama
Created by	Faysal Manzoor Khan Emran Khan
Written by	Wajeeha Sahar
Directed by	Syed Muhammad Khurram
Starring	Maham Amir Sohail Sameer Kiran Tabeer Faizan Shaikh
Opening theme	"Mera Saaya Sath Hogha"
Country of origin	Pakistan
Original language	Urdu
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	70 (64 on Geo Kahani)
Production
Producers	Babar Javed Erfan Ghanchi
Production locations	Karachi, Pakistan
Running time	(Episode 01-16: 35-44 min) (Episode 17-30: 17-19 min) (Episode 31-70: 35-42 min)
Release
Original network	Geo TV
Original release	March 21 (2018-03-21) – November 21, 2018 (2018-11-21)

Saaya is a 2018 Pakistani horror drama television series directed by Syed Muhammad Khurram, produced by Babar Javed and written by Wajeeha Sahar. The drama stars Maham Amir, Sohail Sameer and Kiran Tabeer in lead roles,^[1] and premiered on Geo Entertainment.^[2] The theme of the series is karma.^[3]

In 2021, serial was released on network's sister channel Geo Kahani.

Plot[]

The drama revolves around a girl named Sauleha who lives with her husband Rashid and their daughters, but is pressed by her mother-in-law to produce a son otherwise she will be thrown out of the house. Sauleha delivers a baby boy but the boy gets exchanged for a girl by Qayyum in the hospital who is desperate to have a son. Sauleha's mother-in-law does not accept the baby girl and in order to get away from her presence she performs black magic which disturbs the mind of Sauleha. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law murder her but pretend it is suicide. Rashid forcefully marries Saba but he doesn't accept her as a wife and this disturbs Saba. The family starts facing paranormal activities and the invisible presence kills a number of people. Meanwhile, the demon possesses Saba but Rashid thinks that she has a mental illness, and then Sauleha's spirit continues to haunt Qayyum's house and is on a mission to avenge her killers.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

• Maham Amir as Sauleha
• Sohail Sameer as Rashid
• Kiran Tabeir as Saba
• Faizan Shaikh^[4] as Sajid
• Mizna Waqas as Raheela
• Ghana Ali as Maheen

Recurring Cast[]

• Sumbul Shahid as Ateeqa; Rashid, Sajid and Shela's mother
• Hajra Khan as Shela; sister of Rashid and Sajid
• Saleem Iqbal as Hamid; Rashid, Sajid and Shela's father
• Saleem Mairaj as Shams; a spiritual scholar
• Falaq Naz as Rafiqa; Saba's mother
• Usman Patel as Ishaq; Saba's brother and Maheen's husband
• Sana Pervaiz as Ghana; Saba's friend and Sajid's wife
• Sana Humayun as Dr.Areesha
• Wahaj Ahmed as Qayuum; Raheela's husband
• Zulfikar Ali as Waseem; Shela's husband
• Salma Qadir as Rifat; Shela's mother in law
• Vasia Fatima

Production[]

In September 2017, Syed Mohammad Khurram started shooting officially for his horror series "Jinn" which changed to "Saaya" afterwards. Faysal Manzoor headed the project whereas Wajiha Sehar written the script for the series. Shooting for the series started in September 2017 and it had to be launched in January 2018 but due to nikah of two stars of the series Maham Amir and Faizan Shaikh, shooting and editing was interrupted. Later it was launched in March 2018.

It was slated to go off air after 55 episodes but due to positive reviews and feedbacks, it was extended with new storyline which was produced by Erfan Ghanchi of Blue Eye Entertainment who previously produced Naagin. Lollywood actress Ghana Ali joined the cast on extension. The serial was concluded on 21 November 2018 with a two hour long episode.

Release[]

The series was announced to premiere on 7 March 2018 but delayed due to editing issues and premiered on 21 March on Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. It airs thrice a week with the duration of one hour. The drama was previously titled as ‘Jin’ but changed afterwards. During Ramadan, the channel reduced its running time to half an hour from 9:15 P.M to 9:50 P.M. From 20 June it returned to Wednesday to Friday at 9:00 P.M with one hour episodes, but after extension the show aired on Wednesday 9:00P.M due to delay in shooting issues. The series was among the top horror shows of 2018.^[5]

Sequel[]

In December 2021, it was revealed that season 2 of Saaya is in production starring Wajiha Khan Durrani, Inaya Khan, Naveed Raza, Zainab Qayyum as initial cast members of the show.

References[]