There were no new developments in today’s episode but like every other episode of Bari Apa, it was very engaging and I like how the story is slowly moving forward without putting me to sleep. Like the previous few episodes we saw Neelam trying very hard to stay out of Zubeida’s way and explain herself to her every time something went wrong. At the lunch table when everyone praises the food and the maid declares that it is Neelam who did all the cooking, I found it rather odd that Zubeida did not even know who was cooking in the kitchen all this time. I wish Zubeida had done something more useful with her life than controlling the people around her with her husband’s money. She has so much spare time; she could have used all that money to start a business. But that is not possible now since Zubeida has to stay in the house in order to monitor her husband and his second wife. When Zubeida shouted at Neelam (yet again) for cooking the food, I thought just maybe Farman would speak up but I guess that is not happening anytime soon!
Zubeida’s mother wanting to invite Neelam over for dinner was another thing that seemed somewhat strange because Zubeida told her mother just how miserable her life was because of Neelam when they met in the previous episode. I really liked the dinner scenes though; the conversation was very interesting indeed. Firdous’ sole purpose in life is to prove that Zubeida lied and the discussion between the mother and daughter that followed was one many of us can relate to, indeed there are many such discussions between family members after family dinners. I am not sure about Zubeida but we all have a Firdous in our family; someone who lives on gossip and is particularly obsessed with a certain member of the family! The only reason Zubeida goes ahead with the ‘dawat’ is because she does not want people to think that she is a bad person; Zubeida has definitely not learned her lesson.
Zubeida is very lucky to have a daughter like Sharmeen who respects her mother so much and would do anything to please her. Zubeida would have never allowed Sharmeen to talk to Adeel but the only reason she did so was to put Neelam down and exercise some more control on her. The last time Neelam told Eesa about Sharmeen’s outing, I liked it because the intentions were good but this time around when she called him to tell that Adeel and Sharmeen were in the room, it was very inappropriate.
Firdous was absolutely right in saying what she said to Ghazanfar and that was exactly the reason why he was so annoyed with it. The only reason Ghazanfar cannot hear a word against Bari Apa is that he still has a soft corner for her and not because he does not want his wife to go around gossiping about her older sister. The play ended at an exciting note and I am guessing that Firdous’ insecurities are getting the best of her. I do not expect Zubeida to come and see Ghazanfar in the middle of the night since she has to stay home and guard her own husband; I could be very wrong of course!
Bari Apa is definitely going strong and there is so much that needs to be sorted out in everyone’s life, I have no idea where the story will go from here and I am definitely looking forward to the next episode. Like always, the script, direction and acting was spot on with the exception of Mustafa Changezi in particular. The Sharmeen and Adeel scene could have been very cute since it was very nicely written but the acting killed half of the fun.
Fatima Awan
