Haniya Sajjad, a.k.a. 'Hani' (Sarwat Gilani), and Ibad Uzair, a.k.a. 'Aabi' (Adeel Hussain), meet as students at Columbia University, New York. Haniya has lost her parents and lives with her grandmother. Haniya and Ibad fall in love. Ibad, while on a trip back home, informs his parents about this relationship. His father, Uzair (Javed Sheikh), makes it clear that he will never accept it. As a dutiful son, Ibad decides to forget his love and marry the girl his father chose. He unwillingly gets engaged to his cousin, following his father's insistence.
However, when Ibad returns to the US, Haniya is about to lose her grandmother and is left distraught. Haniya's grandmother asks him to marry her as her last wish, so she doesn't have to worry about Haniya. Haniya's grandmother dies a day after Ibad and Haniya's wedding. After spending some time with Haniya, Ibad visits Pakistan to break the news to his parents. Uzair explodes in anger and, ignoring his wife Hajra's (Hina Khawaja Bayat) pleas, announces that Ibad is no longer part of the family.
A saddened Ibad, on the way to the airport, rings up Haniya and tells her what has happened. To comfort him, Haniya promises that she will go to Pakistan and gain his father's forgiveness.
One day, Hania told Ibad's mother that she will be home alone as her uncle and aunt had to go abroad. In this key moment, Hania's circumstances lead her to spend time with Ibad's parents. This experience fosters a deeper connection and allows them to overcome their initial reservations. She started living with them like her own family and Mr. and Mrs. Uzair Farooq were also very nice to her as if she was their own daughter.
One night, Hania with a depressed heart, secretly went into Ibad's room. She started crying with great pain and sorrow. Oblivious to the presence of Mr. Uziar Farooq who followed her. Mr. Uzair Farooq reveals he knew Hania's true identity and expresses his regret for the family's prior stance. Hania assures him that Ibad held no resentment and would have eventually gained his approval.
Later, they told the truth to Mrs. Uzair who thanked Hania for making Ibad's last days happy and cheerful with her presence.
The drama ends with Mr. Uzair Farooq loving Hania and thinking of her secure future with Ibad, like a responsible father to fill his daughter's life with joy and love.
Deviations from the novel
Adapting her novel for the television screen, Farhat Ishtiaq has added a new sub-plot and fleshed out some of her original characters. In the TV series, Haniya and Ibad's love story is interwoven with a plot focusing on a married couple, Yamina (Sanam Saeed) and Adam (Junaid Khan). Ibad's best friend Adeel is a minor character in the novel, but his role has been extended for the TV series. He is played onscreen by Ahsan Khan.
The drama has received positive reviews from critics who have praised the story and its execution by director Mehreen Jabbar. TV Kahani in its review gave it 3 out of 5 stars: "Over all, Mata-e-Jaan is a decent show, but falls short thanks to the great expectations everyone had from it. The serial would’ve been much better had they paid more attention to the principal cast and twitched things a little. This isn’t a must-watch, but it does have its own sweet moments."[citation needed] The cinematography has also been very well received: "The execution of the scenes is smooth, like the slides that effortlessly slip into place to form a beautiful portrait. That brings us to another reason why this drama is a must watch."[2]
