Concept and development Diyar-e-Dil was developed by
Hum TV's senior producer
Momina Duraid of
MD Productions, the channel hired the award-winning director
Haseeb Hassan to direct the series. Story of serial is based on award-winning writer
Farhat Ishtiaq's novel of the same name
Dayar-e-Dil with few variations. Screenplay is also written by Ishtiaq while script composing is done by Muhammad Wasi-ul-Din. Farhat has previously worked twice with Momina, when she wrote mega-hit drama serial in Pakistan television history
Humsafar and
Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu. Song composition is done by Shany Haider while background music is given by Bilal Allah Ditta, who chose Zeb Bangash and Momin Durrani for singing. The show approximately airs weekly episode for 35–40 minutes (minus commercials) every Tuesday. and was also reported that the series will originally start its airing in April or May. However, due to promotional reasons the show was given a time slot of Tuesday, 8:00 pm and the pilot episode was released on 17 March 2015, In an interview with
Hum TV Farhat states that, "Diyar-e-Dil as a novel was not my best thing. It could have been written better which I tried to do in the script. I personally feel
Diyar-e-Dils script is far better than the original novel. I'm planning to rewrite
Diyar-e-Dil novel with all the additions that I've made for the script. In my opinion
Diyar e-Dil script is my best script till date.
Diyar e Dil critics can disagree with me." Commenting on characters, she emphasized that they are based on, "Family ties, relationships and love. It was a journey which my characters took to find out whether love is enough for us or do we need blood relations also? Can a person survive without his/her parents, siblings and family? My characters chose different paths and some of them later regret their decisions. How one generation's mistakes bring troubles to the next generation was also a big problem which my characters faced."
Novella The entire story of the series is based on Ishtiaq's novella. While developing screenplay Farhat made several changes, in an interview she said, "There are some differences, but they are very positive. I wrote several drafts of this novel back in 2006. While adapting I took some scenes and situations from my earlier drafts of the novel. Interestingly Momina and I think on the same wavelength. She came up to me once and said Farhat, it would be great if the story had this and this and I said, that is what I had written in the earlier drafts and we just used those. In the novel, there were flashbacks here the story is very linear. Now we have a very strong linear story and I have strengthened the characters even more. I have really enjoyed this script and it was very difficult for me. There are so many characters and each with their feelings that I had to do justice to the feelings of all the characters. I Enjoyed the difficulty as I had also challenged myself." Few characters were added, who only introduced namely in novel. Characters like, Laila, Ibrahim Feroze and parents of Arjumand, Yasmin and Bedar were expanded. Arjumand’s character itself had a less appearance in book while in serial it is one of leading character. Ruhina's miscarriage was also not written in the novel.
Casting Producer Momina Duraid, writer Farhat Ishtiaq and director Haseeb Hassan mutually chose the cast which includes
Abid Ali,
Sanam Saeed,
Maya Ali,
Osman Khalid Butt,
Mikaal Zulfiqar,
Hareem Farooq and
Ali Rehman Khan, for the portrayal of leading characters.
Abid Ali was selected to play Bakhtiyar Khan. having previously acted in
Aik Nayee Cinderella and
Aunn Zara. The actors received overwhelming acclaim for their third appearance together as a couple in Diyar-e-Dil. According to Maya Ali, the role of Faarah was the most difficult role she had portrayed. On 12 October 2014, actress
Sanam Saeed joined the ongoing filming thereby confirming her role for
Diyar-e-Dil. Alongside Saeed, Mikaal Zulfiqar was cast to play the role of Behroze. Both marked their second appearance together as a couple after their TV Series Ek Kasak Reh Gayi. Actors
Ali Rehman Khan and
Hareem Farooq were cast to portray the roles of Arjumand and Suhaib after their success in shows
Rishtay Kuch Adhooray Se and
Mausam. It was their first appearance together as a couple. Production also chose
Behroze Sabzwari, Tara Mehmood, Azra Mansoor,
Rasheed Naz, Ahmed Zeb and
Eshita Mehboob for the supporting roles of Tajamul, Zuhra, Yasmeen, Beddar, Moeez and Laila respectively.
Filming, locations and setting Principal photography and filming began in late September 2014 and finished in early April 2015 with approximately 33 episodes. Shooting was extensively done in hilly areas of Pakistan, production house choose
Khaplu Palace for pivotal shooting location, in
Skardo,
Gilgit–Baltistan which was set as a Mansion. Episodes were also shot in
Shangrila Resort and
Shangrila Lake was shown in drop up scenes. In early March, channel released
promos of serial which were heavily praised for their shooting locations and cast. Series’s original sound track (OST) was recorded in January and was released in March 2015. The series was officially set to premier in May with Friday as prime time-slot. Teasers were released in February along with the OST of serial. ==Music and original soundtrack==