Wow, what an interesting episode…it kept me glued to my TV screen right from the get- go. I have said it before and I must say it again that the beauty of this play lies in its characters. In these past few episodes the way I have felt about the characters has changed with the different twists and turns in the story. There were times when I truly felt for Zubeida but today I did not feel for her one bit. The saying that a woman can make or break a house is so true. Zubeida is blessed with a husband who gives her the respect she does not even deserve and a daughter who is fighting a very hard battle to make her mother understand how she feels. It is sad that Zubeida has only one daughter but she never even welcomed her whole heartedly in her life. The way Zubeida always keeps a distance from her solely because she wants to be the boss rather than the mother is just plain sad. Sharmeen’s life could have been so simple and easier but with a mother like Zubeida that is never going to happen.
The stark difference between Zubeida and Farman’s second wife was more obvious today than in the previous episode. His second wife values his opinion, gives him respect and even thinks he is “charming” but Zubeida never gives him any credit. The way Zubeida kept on telling Farman throughout today’s episode that he should let her handle things and did not even trust him with getting the mithai, was a little too much.
Sharmeen refuses to marry according to her mother’s wishes and tells Zubeida about her meeting with Ghazanfar. Zubeida did not for a second think about her daughter’s happiness but she was too worried covering up for her “blunder”. I really felt for Sharmeen since a mother is a girl’s best friend and the poor girl does not even know what it is like to have a mother she can lean on.
One thing was proven today that Farman will never take a stand for anyone, whether it is his daughter or staying back to support Eesa. He is a totally different person when he is with his second wife and Eesa because both of them turn to him for advice. The “jooro ka ghulam” dialogue was extremely funny…little did Farman know that he was talking about himself when he said “waise lanat hai aise shohar per jo apni biwi ko aqal na sikha sake”. He obviously plays second fiddle to his wife completely unconsciously otherwise he would not have made this comment about “another man”.
Up until the last episode I thought that Firdous was cute but after watching today’s episode I think she is wrong in taking pleasure in Bari Apa’s troubles. The way Adeel asks his mother to ask Bari aapa all that she inquired from him said a lot. Firdous’ son has more respect for family than her, what a shame. Bari Apa thinks that Ghazanfar told everyone about Sharmeen’s affair and decides to cut off all ties with him. It is very unfair that Ghazanfar has to pay for his wife’s wrongdoings, let’s see for how long he is going to put up with it.
I really enjoyed this latest episode and must give due credit to Samira Fazal for giving us characters that are so relatable and for penning down a story that is very gripping. I remember Mera Naseeb had this same effect on me, you never knew what would come next and the characters were brilliantly etched-out. Saife Hassan has also done a great job with the direction. The two scenes in particular were exceptionally well-done today; one in which Zubeida walks in when everyone is discussing Sharmeen and the last one. I especially enjoyed Ayesha Khan’s and Noman Ijaz’s scenes the most. They may have a big age difference on-screen but they look great together. It is truly refreshing to see Ayesha Khan playing a role that suits her really well and she looks ravishing as usual and I am truly looking forward to seeing more of her. It was also good to see Riffat and Shakeel being financially independent, I am waiting to see how Bari Apa reacts to the news. There is definitely a lot to look forward to.
Fatima Awan.
