When Chup raho started, I was very excited about it and eagerly looked forward to watch a play based upon one of the most prevalent hidden evil of our society i.e the sexual molestation of girls at the hands of their own male relatives. However, I was a bit apprehensive about it as well keeping in view Yasir Nawaz’s last directorial venture Shakk which lost its track in between and was dragged till eternity.
Unfortunately same thing happened with Chup Raho which died its horrible death in between. It has been dragged on for no reason. In this episode nothing much happened except Rameen’s feelings for Sheraz which again changed from sheer contempt to affection without any obvious reason which left me absolutely baffled but I’m glad that Yasir Nawaz did not waste five more episodes on this. We find Rameen reading Aazar’s email and feeling sorry for her poor husband who is asking her to forgive him as he is sure now that she is no less than a saint, describing the hardships he went through soon after she left him. Rameen who acted so strong and courageous throughout the play, all of a sudden became timid. She easily gave in to the emotional blackmailing used in that email, conveniently forgiving everything. Right after, it is revealed that it is Numair who is emailing her as Aazar in order to keep her in the house. The very next day, Sheraz’’s Mother sent driver to Rameen’s place asking her to visit their house as Eshal, Sheraz younger daughter falls sick. Numair goes ballistic when he comes to know about it and almost abused Manal for allowing Rameen to go to Sheraz’s place. On the other hand, Sheraz’s girls get really excited upon seeing Rameen again; however, Sheraz gets perturbed with her presence. Few minutes later, we find Rameen professing her undying affection for Sheraz in a restaurant and vice versa. However, they mutually agree to part ways after Rameen’s declaration that Aazar will die without her.
Frankly, I found many loop holes in this episode. It lacked coherence and substance for sure. Rameen feeling guilty about having developed feelings for another man while being married literally made me sick. Any sane woman wouldn’t even think twice before leaving the kind of husband Aazar was let alone feeling guilty. I am also amazed at Rameen’s naivety. She did not try to contact Aazar’s sister even once to inquire about her lost husband. The good thing about this episode was the awakening of the sleeping beauty of this play that is Manal, who finds her husband’s behaviour completely insane and tried resisting it vehemently for the first time in the play. As far as the acting is concerned, Jibran syed (Numair) undoubtedly steals the show even in this episode with his brilliant performance as a psychotic. Yasir Nawaz also did justice to a rude, overweight, blunt yet sensitive character of Sheraz which I am sure no one could have done better than him. Sajjal Ali ofcourse has also done a commendable job as Rameen.
Finally and thankfully this serial is coming to an end next week. I have no doubt in Yasir Nawaz’s capabilities as a director and expect something better from him in the future which he doesn’t try to drag on for ages.
Written by Falak
