What is a love team?
Love team is a concept with origins in the Filipino and Thai entertainment industries, where it is most commonly found. In a nutshell, love teams are those pairings which after getting success as a romantic pairing in a drama, tend to almost exclusively work with each other. Not only do the actors which are part of a love teamwork in multiple films and movies, almost always as a romantic pairing, they also project themselves as a duo on all platforms instead of being two individual actors. Hence, a team of sorts.
That the love team shares extraordinary chemistry on screen is a given, but the actors involved also share the same kind of chemistry off-screen as well. Thus, they give their fans plenty of reasons to link the two actors romantically off-screen as well. Quite often, the love team becomes an official couple in real life as well.
How #SaHad fit the pattern
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POkqVgWx0r4
Part of the reason why Yakeen Ka Safar became so popular was the chemistry shared between Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly in the drama. Scripts written by Farhat Ishtiaq almost always have a romantic pairing that becomes the most successful jori of the year. Humsafar was Farhat’s first drama for television and the craze for Fawad Khan and Mahirah Khan’s jori is yet to die down. Diyar e Dil continued the legacy with Osman Khalid Butt and Maya Ali who had become the country’s beloved pairing.
That Ahad and Sajal’s pairing followed the same pattern was not a surprise to anyone. However, what they did afterward is what makes them come across as the television’s first love teams in recent years. As soon as Yakeen Ka Safar finished airing, their fans did not have to wait for long to see the reunion of their beloved couple on screen.
Aangan was revealed to be the next play with Ahad and Sajal playing the primary characters in an ensemble cast. #SaHad had already become a legitimate thing by then with fans actively looking for clues as to whether the duo shared a special relationship offscreen or not. Not just the fans but the media industry was also very interested in their relationship. For instance, Ahad Raza Mir was constantly hounded with questions regarding his equation with Sajal Aly while he was out promoting his film Parwaz Hai Junoon, much more so than his female co-star in the film. Needless to say, the interest was real.
The exclusivity factor
Barring a couple of projects including television commercials, SaHad has done the majority of their work together as a couple ever since YKS. So far, the duo has done three television commercials and three television dramas together. Their next project is an upcoming web series that once again features them as the main pairing. Such is the speed and consistency with which the two continue to work together that the news of their next project is announced while their current project is still awaiting a release date!
Usually, actors in a successful pairing try to balance the ratio of projects they do with other unrelated actors. The case of SaHad is unique as the two almost exclusively prefer to work with each other – almost like its a calculated move rather than having a limited choice of projects to choose from.
The reel-to-real factor
One of the factors why love teams are such a rage in their home countries is the possibility for fans to see them turning real offscreen. This the fans’ investment in the pair’s chemistry does not end with the end of their projects. For as long as the couple is together, there is something to look forward to for the fans who diligently follow them.
Ahad and Sajal had managed to spark the same kind of interest within their fanbase. Their every interaction, especially on social media, was hinting towards their possible more-than-just-friends equation off-screen. There was a time when Ahad, who has a very limited social media presence, would come online just to leave likes on Sajal’s Instagram posts. And of course, who could ever forget Sajal’s vehement defense of Ahad during the whole Ko Ko Korina debacle? The two of them hyping each other’s projects and performances and not talking about any other aspect during the airing of Aangan was also not missed by any.
Then, inevitably the engagement news broke out and all of this thinly veiled bias for each other became official. Their fans, as well as the industry, rejoiced at a beautiful on-screen couple becoming real.
Final word
While the concept of a love team might be new to Pakistan’s television culture, the pattern in which SaHad have marketed themselves ever since they gained popularity post-Yakeen Ka Safar is very telling. After careful observation of their behavior, one can conclude they have indeed behaved as a love team instead of just another popular jori of the industry showing that maybe not everything was left to luck and chance when it comes to them. We are not insinuating that it is all calculated but it certainly is an interesting angle to ponder on.
