Basanta’s (Babrik Shah) demise, Hassan (Fawad Khan) pouring his heart out to Rabia (Mehreen Raheal) like a small kid surrendering himself in her existence and finally Bano’s (Sanam Baloch) biggest dream and longing turning into verity, is all that how I define yet again another exceptional episode of Dastaan.

Hassan’s big time inner guilt for being too coarse and ignorant for Rabia eventually made him realize his fault. The same guilt was the source of bestowing Hassan the enough heroism to step in to Rabia’s room, when no one was at the home. Apparently Rabia dislikes Hassan’s friendly moves towards her. She is representing a character who is brought up with great sensitivity and always dealt with great care. Hassan on the other hand offended her emotionally and psychologically. But on the inside she is all gay and felicitous for seeking his attention finally.

Rabia’s sparkling face and Hassan’s glittery eyes spoke of the feelings they both shared after settling the issues between them. I noticed something since when Rabia appeared on the screen. Rabia belongs to a modern and relatively open family. A family which changed a lot after the partition in terms of its culture. All the scenes featuring Hassan and Rabia are ‘comparatively’ bold as compared to the Hassan and Bano scenes; talking in terms of dialogues, body language, expressions or the direction. All these things just point out one thing and that is the serial has undergone a transition of six big years and that change is always a part of time.

I absolutely agree to the fact that all mothers are alike, no matter they belong to 2010 or back in 1950s. Majority of them are just like Rabia’s mom, who tries their best to carve out for the tactics by which they can make the best man from their family, fall for their own daughter. Rabia’s mom who is at times conscious of how her daughter looks like, then she goes about her appearance, her clothes, her way of sitting and talking etc. Her dialogue ‘Kaha baat ki thi?……Kahe arhi tirchi to nahe pari hui thi bister pe’ put a smile on my face. =D She still fails to forget Parvati wala comment that Hassan passed on Rabia. Rabia’s mother is at times so funny but like others she is at her best too.

“It’s all about green” I wonder how powerful this color is. Or more precisely speaking this color plays a significant role in the serial. It maps out the first encounter of Hassan and Bano on my mind where Bano was beautifully wrapped in the green gharara. Rabia stole away Hassan’s heart once again when she was all muffled up in green shalwar kameez. Of course talking about the main track of the serial, there is another eminent link as we all know and that is the color green which expresses the identity of our dearest motherland ‘Pakistan’.

I would like to point out one thing here; this episode carries so much in it that I personally believe that all the instances should be covered in two rather than one episode. It more appeared to me like a summary or a fast forward mode. The detailed description of how and what Hassan felt about Rabia would have been more of a treat. I was in a state of shock when Hassan courageously confessed regarding his solitude and loneliness in life, with Rabia. Not because I dislike Hassan-Rabia romance, this was because I never expected this to happen too early. I felt some gaps as if something is missing in between.
Any how the dialogues were classic where Hassan conveyed his state of mind to Rabia. His utterance and gravity in his eyes made it sound more real. He spoke his heart out after ages and agreed that he is all alone in the world and now he needs someone to take him out of the mental trauma, care for him and love him.

Fawad Khan has done a splendid job; he is a character who had scenes with Bano, Surraya Khala, Rabia and his mother; one man and four different roles to play with four different ladies. Earnestly no one would have been able to do that with such mastery just as Fawad has accomplished it. Each time he comes on the screen with a different body language and variant facial gestures. His expressions with Rabia are definitely not the same as his expressions used to be with Bano. However he is executing the same feeling of ‘love’ but his outlook and feel is totally different. Three cheers for you Fawad; you are indeed an asset for us!

Sanam, you don’t need to prove us over and over that you were the perfect choice for Bano. She was at her best at the last scene with Basanta. Her celebrations, rejoice, gaiety on Basanta’s demise indeed needs a huge applause. She was happy for the first time in all these six years. According to her, her son took the revenge from his father of all the injustices she passed through. It’s touching to notice that Basanta’s last words were ‘agar tu ne Pakistan ka naam liya to…’. It was huge for Bano to have him seen dying in front of her eyes. It soothed her soul. The mourning cries of Basant Singh’s mother were calming and restful for her. Her spirit got elevated when Basanta’s blood was at her feet down on the floor. The reflex of her figure in Basanta’s blood conquered her subsistence.

Welcome Bano to Pakistan. The land you always dreamt of. I don’t know how would she have her stay in Pakistan but her way of touching ‘Pakistan’ written on the train and rubbing her hands against the Pakistani soil was indeed the practical form of her dream when she said ‘apni Pak sar zamin ki miti ko aankho se laga lene ki tamana’ in one of the episodes. That surely left my eyes misty.

Again the things were in haste. There must have been more detail on Basanta’s death, his mother’s reaction on Bano leaving for Pakistan along with her son. Bano must have shown some gratitude towards the good Sikh women before leaving and on a personal note a man as brutal as Basanta did not deserve such an easy death. He just fell off the roof and that was the end.

Hassan is planning to get engaged to Rabia and the pre cap showed a different dimension, when Hassan will receive Bano’s letter. I’m desperately waiting for next episode like never before to witness his thundering dialogue ‘Bano zinda hai’. It already threw spine chills. I just hope the week ends soon and sadly we are left with only seven more glorious Saturdays.

This episode was earnestly captivating and I loved each and every bit of it. Haissam your direction, Samira your dialogues and Razia Butt your creative thoughts all deserve a standing applause!

Irum YouSuf