If the last episode of Bari Apa was about the two husbands who had given their wives chaadar and char dewari but not the izzat they deserved, this one most certainly was about three women who are very insecure in their own way. Zubeida even with all her jah o jalal and bari bari batein had no choice but to go back to Farman because Ghazanfar’s words kept on ringing in her head “tumhara gharoor tumhari khuddari sub us ghar se hai, us ghar se bahar tum kuch bhi nahi ho”…I absolutely do not like the message that this dialogue conveys but at the same time I cannot deny the fact (unfortunately) that this logic holds true not only for Zubeida but for many many girls who have to stay in a marriage because they have no where else to go to. In the good old PTV days fathers usually used to say it out loud that the daughter should come back to her parents’ house only as a mayat (beti jaa tu tumhari doli rahi hai lekin wapas tumhari mayat hi aye gi…something like this) but now we say it in a more subtle manner, the message is more or less the same. In Zubeida’s case things are different of course, Zubeida did not invest in her relationships and therefore there is nothing for her outside the four walls of “Farman’s” house but why oh why is it true for most of the married women? Is it the society? The men in our society? Or the women themselves who are responsible? Yeh dabi dabi dari dari aurtei jo doosri shadi ke naam se itna ghabrati hai, where did they come from? I have another question, how many married women watch this play with their husbands? My husband has always watched Bari Apa with me and today when Riffat’s mother tells her to go back to Shakeel my husband was all for it and I thought that Riffat was probably the only woman in that play who was doing the right thing. Why should wives be insecure only? Why can’t men be insecure for a change? Oh of course Zubeida said it men can find girls their daughter’s age to get married to so no reason to be insecure! Am I the only one who thinks that this play should be a big ego boost for all the husbands out there?
You guys can probably tell that this episode gave me tons to talk about and at the same time it gave me a lot to reflect upon too. I really did feel like Riffat’s character is there for a reason, it is there to show the difference between the three very insecure wives and the wife who is willing to take the risk and find out that whether her marriage is worth the effort or not.
I have to say that I loved the hotel lobby scene because I know that even in five star hotels’ lobbies every woman sitting alone comes across such men. It was also good because it made Zubeida realize how vulnerable she was if she was out on her own. Firdous overhears Ghazanfar talking to Zubeida and runs to tell her mother with a sparkle in her eyes and a very happy face, although she tries very hard to hide her khushi. Sometimes I feel like there are too many people overhearing way too many personal conversations in our dramas and half of the stories won’t even progress if people stop doing that. Someone needs to tell these people that eavesdropping is highly unethical.
Can I say that Riffat was the only wife in today’s episode who made me feel good about being a woman! Although I do think that when she told Shakeel that he should not use Raheel (their son) to get her back she was contradicting herself since when she left Raheel with Shakeel I felt like she was the one using him to teach her husband a lesson! Riffat wants Shakeel to break all ties with Bari Apa so at this point she has the “my way or the highway” approach. I will be very disappointed in her if she comes back home herself. I must add here that I totally agree with Shakeel’s mother “larai jhagray ke bhi kuch asool hotay hai”. Shakeel cannot just threaten to divorce Riffat every time they have an argument.
Sharmeen and Eesa both asked so many ideal questions from Farman and I was thinking dil ki baat keh di but too bad Farman did not answer. When Sharmeen said to him ke waise tu ap ami se drte hei and even then you went ahead with all this and when Eesa says to him he did not have the guts to speak in a firm tone with Zubeida, I enjoyed every second of it. I must add here that kuch logo ko izzat raas nahi aati and Farman is one of those people. The scene when Farman tells Eesa that he couldn’t meet Neelam because he was in a rush and Neelam smiles at him was just brilliant. The expressions that Ayesha Khan gave were spot-on. But later on when the two were having a conversation where Farman assures her that everything was going to be alright, the two looked more like baap beti than husband and wife. The acting and the direction was flawless but the age difference is appalling.
I am glad that for a change Farman mustered up the courage to tell Zubeida that he could not leave Neelam (in his own farmabardar way of course) but when Sharmeen intervened , I could not help but think that there is a reason why grown ups should not have these conversations in front of kids! Sure Sharmeen knows everything and she is old enough to understand such things but the proposition she put forward just goes to show that parents or all grown ups should settle such matters in private. The expressions on Zubeida’s face when Sharmeen asks Farman to divorce her mother were perfect. In fact I think until now Nauman Ijaz, Savera Nadeem, Ayesha Khan, Waqas Khan and Arjumand Rahim in particular have proved that acting is just as much about giving the right expressions as it is about delivering the dialogues properly. The credit of course goes to the director as well for capturing the perfect expressions. The way Nauman Ijaz stammers every time Zubeida asks him a question he has no answer for or when he is going to lie is another interesting trait of Farman’s personality, I can only wonder if Nauman Ijaz came up with the idea himself or the director asked him to do it.
Once again this was another exceptional episode of Bari Apa that gave me a lot to think about and I would expect some heated discussions to follow after this recent episode. It was a fast paced, well written and well directed episode with some outstanding performances from all the actors. I just have one complaint, why are Riffat and Bari Apa wearing the same clothes even after four years or so? What does Bari Apa keep in her walk in wardrobe? Dead bodies lol!!! Seriously, the actors, directors and producers should pay more attention to the actors’ wardrobe!
Fatima Awan.
