“Sirf chadar aur char dewari de dene se izzat ki hifazat nahi hoti”
What stood out for me in today’s episode were the two husbands, Farman and Shakeel, who may have given their wives chadar and chardewari but are not strong enough to stand by them. Does Ghazanfar fall in the same category? For now I would like to think not! Riffat was strong enough to walk out after Shakeel threatened to divorce her and I would personally really like to see some of the wives doing that more often on-screen! Men like Shakeel and Farman should know that women need much more than financial security, they want a man who can stand by their side. What Riffat said to Shakeel today made a great deal of sense and Shakeel’s mother tried to knock some sense into him too but Shakeel failed to look beyond Bari Apa and how Riffat felt about her.
Zubeida is justified in feeling cheated but her conversation with Ghazanfar in the car when she tells him that she has always taken care of everything in the house from the appointments to Sharmeen’s proposals, I could not help but think that maybe that is exactly where she went wrong. Maybe if she would have given her husband a little credit and let him take some of the important decisions, he would not have felt completely alienated and just maybe would not have played the hero in someone else’s life. There are quite a few dramas nowadays in which men who are not happy with their marriage decide to remarry, now what does a woman do if she is not happy with the man she is married to? Why don’t couples try to sort out their differences? If Farman had the guts to marry another woman, he should have had enough confidence to tell Zubeida that he felt suffocated in this relationship. And if he is so impressed by Zubeida’s jah o jalal than why remarry?
All through today’s episode I was wondering if Ghazanfar was right in lying to his wife and spending all that time with Zubeida. Surely, he did not have the option of sharing Zubeida’s secret with Firdous because she would have told the whole family about it. While Ghazanfar was a true gentleman all through the episode, Zubeida like always made enough references to the past to make my blood boil. Ghazanfar obviously feels that Bari Apa has been wronged and wants to be there for her until she makes up her mind. Zubeida takes pride in the fact that she never cheated on her husband and also says to Ghazanfar mere pass tu jawaz bhi tha but I could not help but think that she may just have done something like that if Ghazanfar wasn’t such a gentleman!
Why does Sharmeen see Farman as a perfect and ideal father? I never saw him taking a stand for her. I must add here that I could not relate to the father and daughter bond today, just like the previous few episodes because Sara Khan failed to deliver. I can think of so many other young actresses who could have done complete justice to the character. Fahad Mirza, on the other hand has been doing a very good job.
Honestly speaking, this latest episode of Bari Apa gave me a lot to think about. The little lies and the big lies, what is dhoka and what is not? There is such a thin line between the two. Some of the scenes would have been more engaging had they been shorter. The play definitely needs to pick up some pace but, overall really enjoyed seeing the entire family on-screen today and eagerly waiting to see how the story unfolds.
Fatima Awan.
