Show Name: Qubool Hai 2.0
Lead Cast – Surbhi Jyoti (Zoya Farooqui), Karan Singh Grover (Asad Ahmed Khan), Mandira Bedi, Lillette Dubey
Director: Ankush Mohla & Glen Barretto
Ratings: 3.5 stars
For a country like ours, cross-border romance between India & Pakistan is a subject that has been treated to good effect by many content creators and more often than not, it tends to work. But what exactly happens when you mingle it with a tinge of flag-waving patriotism? That’s exactly the thought process working at Qubool Hai 2.0. Add to that, when you got an on-screen pair like ‘Asad Ahmed Khan’ (Karan Singh Grover) & ‘Zoya Farooqui’ (Surbhi Jyoti) who managed to win an incalculable amount of love with their sizzling chemistry in the past, creating an alternative universe for the same on-screen jodi in a sequel becomes a tad more appealing. That’s exactly the case with Qubool Hai 2.0, the sequel of Qubool Hai.
The story begins on a captivating note where we see a dejected and dispirited Zoya trying to run away from her arranged marriage in Belgrade, Serbia to meet her father, General Bakhtiyar Farooqui back in Pakistan. General Bakhtiyar Farooqui is a puissant politician spearheading the country’s defense ministry. Zoya’s parents have been separated since she was very young and hence there was no force on Earth that could hold her back from going to meet her father when the opportunity came her way. As she runs away from her marriage, her fiance sends his goons to scout for her but they fail to find her. As events unfold, Zoya accidentally meets Asad Ahmed Khan (India’s gold-medalist sharpshooter) from whom she seeks help during her hour of crisis. Like a true ‘desi’ gentleman as he himself admits, Asad protects this damsel in distress from her fiance’s goons and eventually helps her out till she’s safe and comfortable.
Every time he feels that she’s safe, he’s proven wrong as something or the other crops up due to which both end up flirting with danger for a long time. Eventually, his grit, dedication & chauvinism take him to Islamabad with Zoya so that he can escort her safely to her abode of heaven where her father is awaiting her presence. However, mystery unfolds into something totally unanticipated as we find out that Asad’s real intention to accompany Zoya is not to protect her from the goons but to extract the secret of the ‘nuclear weapon code’ hidden at her father’s place as he’s a secret agent on a mission doing it for the sake of his motherland.
All thanks to a staged shootout at General Bakhtiyar’s house, Asad and an Indian agent counterpart manage to kill Bakhtiyar Farooqui so that they can get closer to accomplishing the mission in hand.
Asad comes to Pakistan as a level-headed focused agent whose mission is to serve his country by using ‘Zoya’ as just a tool in the process. However, as seen in the sequences, he’s constantly torn between two contrasting emotions. On one hand, he gets closer to Zoya in the process while on the other, he tries to pull back as he knows he has a job to finish. But what happens eventually? Do Asad and Zoya actually get to realize they are in love with each other? Do they end up being together or do they find themselves in a catch-22 situation where nothing works out their way? No more spoilers here.
Qubool Hai 2.0 is a show that will give you an essence of old-school love with a tinge of contemporary flavour. The cinematography is on point as it manages to capture the picturesque locations of Belgrade, Serbia to good effect. Karan Singh Grover and Surbhi Jyoti truly shine as Asad and Zoya once again. While Karan’s rock-solid persona will blow your mind, Surbhi’s bubbly and chirpy dialogues will make you fall in love. The use of Urdu dictions like ‘ilm’, ‘Allah Miyan’ & many more is mesmerizing and it manages to keep you hooked to the screenplay till the very end. Mandira Bedi as Chief of Indian National Securities Council & Lillette Dubey as Zoya’s aunt impress with their limited on-screen presence. A gripping & crisp storyline ensures that once someone starts watching the first episode, there’s no way you can not binge till the 10th. The show ends on a cliffhanger which is a clear augury that ‘picture abhi baaki hai mere dost’ and there’s more to come soon.
Overall, if you are someone who enjoys classic romantic love tales and mystery thrillers, this one must be on top of your binge list right now.
3.5/5 stars