General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Dhoop Ki Deewar

Dhoop Ki Deewar (دھوپ کی دیوار, "Wall of Sunlight") is a Pakistani Urdu-language web series that premiered on the Indian streaming platform ZEE5 on June 25, 2021, as a Zindagi original. Written by Umera Ahmed and directed by Haseeb Hasan, it stars the real-life married couple Sajal Aly and Ahad Raza Mir as Sara, a Pakistani woman, and Vishal, an Indian man, whose families are connected by grief after both lose their fathers, soldiers on opposite sides of the India-Pakistan conflict.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	June 25, 2021 on ZEE5, with weekly episodic releases every Friday at 12 pm IST; finale aired on the Independence Day weekend¹
Lead roles	Ahad Raza Mir as Vishal from India; Sajal Aly as Sara from Pakistan; both characters come from military families²^•³
Creative team	Written by Umera Ahmed (known for Zindagi Gulzar Hai); directed by Haseeb Hasan (Parwaaz Hai Junoon, Alif)¹
Production	Produced by Motion Content Group and Hamdan Films; filmed entirely in Pakistan with a Pakistani cast and crew⁴^•³
Format	18 episodes of about 45 minutes, aired June to August 2021⁵
Position in Zindagi slate	The third ZEE5 Pakistani original, after Churails and Ek Jhooti Love Story⁶
Later release	Re-released on Zindagi's official YouTube channel beginning November 4, 2025³

Spoilers

Premise

The story follows two young people from military families on opposite sides of the border. Vishal lives in India and Sara in Pakistan; both lose their fathers in the conflict, and their shared grief becomes the foundation of a friendship that their families, who regard each other as enemies, cannot understand.²^•⁶ The trailer shows the two first clashing publicly in media interviews and on social media, each blaming the other's country, before an online conversation changes their perspective.⁶

The series was marketed under the tagline "Heart Over Hate." Director Haseeb Hasan described it as a reflection of positivity "beyond borders, religion and societal biases," and said the show explores the impact of martyrdom on the two families and how they come to see peace as the only answer.¹^•⁷ Writer Umera Ahmed framed the theme as grief transcending borders: "No matter which country, religion or belief you belong to at the end of the day the grief lived is the same everywhere."⁶

Development and production

Ahmed began the story before it was commissioned for the screen. According to a statement she posted during the pre-release controversy, she started writing Dhoop Ki Deewar as a novel in 2018 and owns the intellectual property rights; she was later hired by the Pakistani firm Group M to adapt it, with production handled by Group M in association with Haseeb Hasan's production house Hamdan Films, produced by Misbah Shafique.⁸^•⁷ In a January 2019 post she said she had sent the story to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, for evaluation and that it raised no objection.⁸^•⁹ Director Hasan said the project came to him while he was filming Alif, and that the novelization plans were set aside when he, Shafique, and Ateeq Rehman of Motion Content Group expressed interest.¹⁰

Shooting took place in Pakistan, with spells in Karachi, Swat, Kashmir, and Lahore, beginning in 2019.¹¹ Although the cast, writer, director, and crew were all Pakistani, the series was produced for the Indian platform ZEE5.³ It was the first screen project Mir and Aly shared after their marriage.⁷^•²⁰

Cast

Alongside Aly and Mir, the ensemble included Manzar Sehbai, Zaib Rehman, Samina Ahmed, Samia Mumtaz, Savera Nadeem, Raza Talish, Aly Khan, Adnan Jaffar, and Zara Tareen.⁶^•³ In the family structure, Adnan Jaffar played Sara's father, a Pakistani colonel; Savera Nadeem her mother; Manzar Sehbai her grandfather; and Samina Ahmed her grandmother, while Samia Mumtaz played Vishal's mother and Zaib Rehman his grandmother.¹¹

Controversy and release in Pakistan

The trailer drew strong criticism in Pakistan before the series aired. Social media users called the project "anti-Pakistan," "anti-Kashmir," and "anti-two-nation theory," and some called for it to be banned, objecting in particular to the children of rival soldiers falling in love and to the use of the word "shaheed" (martyr) for Indian soldiers.⁸^•¹² Ahmed responded with a detailed note in Urdu addressing the objections, including accusations of being unpatriotic, the assumption that the series was a Hindu-Muslim love story, and the choice of an Indian platform over local channels; she clarified that the series was not a love story but what she called a "social tragedy" centered on what families of martyred soldiers endure.¹³^•¹⁴

When ZEE5 launched the series in India on June 25, 2021, its simultaneous release in Pakistan was called off after the streaming app was disabled in Pakistan the day before, and the two lead actors deleted their promotional material for the show.¹⁵ Ahmed said she had no say in which platform the series released on.¹⁶

Reception and later availability

A NewsBytes review of the first two episodes gave the series 3 out of 5, calling it brave in its attempt to show the aftermath of war but noting weak handling of accents and language and slow early episodes.¹⁷ On IMDb the series holds a rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 510 users.¹⁸

For years the series was difficult to watch in Pakistan because it was hosted on a platform not fully accessible there. On November 4, 2025, Zindagi began uploading it to its official YouTube channel, and the first episode drew thousands of views within hours; the re-release renewed discussion of the series among viewers.³^•¹⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › South and Southeast Asian serials › Pakistani serials

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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