Dramas / PTV
PTV · 1986
Two sisters, Zara and Sanya, lose their parents in a car accident and then discover that their father was deep in debt. The family house has to be sold, their friends drift away, and they move to Karachi to live with their aunt. Quiet Zara becomes fixed on making enough money to buy the house back, while lively Sanya tries to make a new life work.
It ran from 1986.
All-time blockbusters
Like other PTV serials of the 1980s, Tanhaiyaan has no published ratings figure. It is now described as a cult classic, and its popularity was strong enough that a sequel, Tanhaiyan Naye Silsilay, was made in 2012, twenty-seven years after the original. Behroze Sabzwari's Qutbuddin, nicknamed “Qabacha” by Sanya, became one of the best-remembered comic characters of the era.
Shahzad Khalil directed it and Haseena Moin wrote it, with much of the cast from her earlier hit Ankahi, including Shehnaz Sheikh, Badar Khalil, Behroze Sabzwari, Qazi Wajid and Jamshed Ansari. The serial's real subject is the difference between a house and a home, and the ending turns on what Zara has given up to win the house back. This page avoids that ending. It has been re-run several times on PTV and other channels because of its popularity, and it aired in the United Kingdom on BBC2 in 1992. PTV Home showed it again daily from 5 to 17 April 2020. The sequel, Tanhaiyan Naye Silsilay, began on 20 October 2012 on PTV Home and ARY Digital, with Haseena Moin co-writing the script.
Slot not confirmed
PTV · Started 1986.
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Shehnaz Sheikh | Zara |
| Marina Khan | Sanya |
| Asif Raza Mir | Zain |
| Badar Khalil | Aani |
| Behroze Sabzwari | Qutbuddin (Qabacha) |
| Azra Sherwani | Aapa Begum |
| Qazi Wajid | Faraan |
| Durdana Butt | Bibi |
| Yasmeen Ismail | Vida |
| Jamshed Ansari | Buqrat |
Last checked 22 October 2026.