The young Vishal Malhotra (Ahad Raza Mir) gets into a nasty social media war with the ‘dushman’s daughter’ Sara Sher Ali (Sajad Ahad Mir), after their soldier fathers are killed in a cross-border skirmish. As the days go by and the celebration of the martyrdom subsides, they realise that their grief binds them. Theirs is an unusual friendship founded in love for Atif Aslam songs, Hindi films, hatred for bickering relatives and memories of their fathers. A lot of these motifs are repeated for effect as we navigate caste divides in families, social structures and treatment of widows at large, war mongering on news channels, commodification of young girls and the question of empowering them, dependency on marriage, depression and treating it correctly amongst others. Director Haseeb Hasan has done a fine job in juggling diverse ideas, wearing them into a coherent and compelling narrative.

There is just one problem in this well-intentioned, well-directed, well-performed series. It’s pace doesn’t live up to the expectation of what a regular web audience might expect. By design, it’s an episodic series far removed from the tonality of Zindagi’s 2020 hit 'Churails', which was an out-and-out web show. The unhurried telling lends itself to television more organically than web.

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But don’t let that stop you from experiencing this unique show. In the jingoistic times we live in, 'Dhoop Ki Deewar' is probably the last of its kind. Why would someone dare to make a show championing peace, only for it to end up being pulled down eventually? I hope there will always be audacious artists reminding people of Manto’s prophecy - “Hindustan had become free. Pakistan had become independent but man was still a slave in both these countries.”