Ishq Zane Naseeb's biggest strength lies in its' theme and narrative; severe, untreated mental illness. The character development is fine tuned, with Zahid Ahmed and Sonya Hussain playing Sameer and Gauhar with extreme finesse.
The supporting plots are well developed, but some are ignored in favour of others. Be it the budding romance between Kashif and his boss, or the numerous attempts by Jahangir to disrupt the life of his cousins, Sami Khan, Xarnish Khan carry the supporting narratives the best.
A special mention goes to the use of chronology; reverse chronological order is used in the narrative to depict the past history of Sameer, and the development of his mental illness. Whilst sometimes disruptive, it mostly serves to illustrate his journey through abuse and loss, and the slow, but steady development of dissociative identity disorder.
Sometimes the show is difficult to watch; be it the cruelty shown by Sameer's step mother, or the whispering of Shakira into his ear, during moments of abuse. Besides these moments, the show remains largely digestible as a whole.
