Bano tum sach mein aasmanoo say utaranoor ho koi…Bano tum humari qaum ki ghairat thee, aur humnay tumharay sath kya kiya… Ye dua haimeri Rab say kay hum sab ko aap kai jaisi watan ki mohobat aur us kay liye mar mitnay ka jasba ata karay! Ameen.
Dastaan finally comes to an end. My first review was on Episode 8 – partition. That episode made me cry the most, today I write Dastaan’s last review, with such a heavy heart. I have never cried so much while watching a drama as I have with Dastaan. It moved me, shook every nerve in my body, it woke me up jolting me with each episode, it drew my passion and patriotism from my heart into my bloodstream!
All 23 Episodes have been by far the best 23 Episodes in Pakistan Television’s history. Each and every single scene has been well calculated, brilliantly dramatized, marvelously directly, and superbly performed. With each new episode the Dastaan team kept raising the bar higher and higher. And finally with the last episode, you have taken it to a level where it would send shivers down any director’s or producer’s spine to try to even come close to achieving the kind of standard that you have set. Truly Dastaan deserves international recognition – MominaDuraid, your team deserves the Oscars, a whole handful! There can be no best scene or best dialogue when there was a relevance to every scene and every dialogue was outstanding – brilliant, outstanding, you have my standing ovation!
Before I get into what really moved me in Dastaan, I wanted to recognize my most valued performers in Dastaan – SanamBaloch for living my Bano and delivering her to us in such grace, elegance and purity. No one else could have done what you did. Really, you are the heart and soul of Dastaan! Fawad Khan for the “interesting” role that you played with such passion; your smile and facial expressions were so well calculated it was hard to ever imagine you were not the real Hassan! Saba Qamar for being such a darling, so elequoent; you took a very flat character and outperformed to make us fall in love with Suraiyya Khala. Mehreen Raheel for playing such a difficult role with such pride; for making us fall in love with you especially in the last episode.Ahsan Khan – you are the star for me, I would give you the best actor award for Dastaan any day! FarhanAlam, Samira Fazal and Haissam Hussain…. What can I say… I’m speechless! Samira, I am very proud of you today! HH, my admiration for your work has no words; yet again the English dictionary falls short of adjectives when I try to express myself as to how much I have admired your work – the work that all 3 of you put together for us. A special thanks to the 3 of you!!!
Razia Butt – Bano was truly your masterpiece. Partition- the pains, the suffering, the sacrifice, you have so beautifully captured it all.Is watankay“Zarray zarray mein qurbani kiDastaan likhi wihai”. Independence – a gift from God that is so very easily taken for granted. You made us realize what we have isa blessing.Woh mera ghar hai, meri jannat hai, mera Pakistan hai.Vision of Pakistan- what it was and what it has become; unfortunate yet it’s a reality we have to face. For Bano to have her family mercilessly killed in front of her own eyes, her parents murdered, her sister in law’s unborn child cut out from her womb, her brothers killed, to be raped by a Sikh man, married to him for 5 years, bearing the child of the man she hated, deprived of her one true love – Pakistan, and then to come to Pakistan and seeing the true colors of her beloved land. It’s sad… the multitude of torture that she goes through is unimaginable. But to see the power that she has to bear all of that and yet be smiling in the end is empowering. She goes from being a lover to a liberated woman who could care less about Hassan; she lives for Pakistan and was there to purify it, which she does with pride and dignity! There are layers upon layers of messages that need to be decoded fromDastaan. I could write a novel just decoding Dastaan! After watching Dastaan, I truly believe “mera Pakistan rehtayduniyatakrahega”, inshaAllah.
The true strength of Pakistan is Islam; Pakistan was founded as a nation for Muslims. When Muslims throw Islam and it’s teaching in the back burner, we get Pakistan as it stands today. Pakistan was founded on true, pure beliefs but unfortunately what Bano witnessed in her beloved land was not Basant Singh but replicates of him who are Pakistani and sadly Muslim. It is great that Bano believes that she has purified Pakistan but really, by killing one “Basant Singh” does it liberate Pakistan of all evil. The evil is within us… it is our responsibility to cleanse ourselves, we have a little of Bano in all of us; it’s just a matter of waking it up and standing up to the challenge. Cleanse yourselves as Bano cleansed herself by killing “Basanta”. I truly believe in a united, strong and powerful Pakistan but it has to come from within, so that one day Bano can truly be right and when our grandchildren watch Dastaan a century from now, they can say, Bano was right when she said “Ye mera Pakistan hai, mera mulk mera watan, mera Pakistan; Ye paak logoon ki paak sarzameen hai yahaan koi basanta nahi, koi basanta nahi”. There will be a day when Bano will not have to kill a Basanta to cleanse our nation, when women will have equal rights, where there will be justice, when we can stand proud to call ourselves a citizen of Pakistan, when we will be a super power because we have the strength to take it there. It’s high time to wake up and cleanse ourselves and Pakistan of these impurities.
The ending – Samira’s creation! I preferred Razia Butt’s ending, but I’ll learn to live with this one too! I can see how this ending may have been preferred as this way Bano, a person who believes that Pakistan is perfect gets to purify it. What I really liked about this ending was the last scene, bibi ki taweez ko jab bano tasbeeh samhaj kar us par Pakistan zindabad, Pakistan zindabad, Pakistan zindabad parhti hai… that was outstanding, there couldn’t have been a better end. I know there is a lot of criticism with this ending, however, I didn’t want Bano to marry Hassan as I never thought of him to be worth of her (especially not after his reaction in the last episode). Is it better to see Bano in a mental asylum rather than her being dead? I don’t know… I don’t think it matters. To be honest, Bano’s message is of more importance than what happens to her.
Rabia’s best dialogs of Dastaan:“Dulhan agayee hai”. Bano meri Pakistan ki dulhan hai… as I said hum sab mein Bano chupi wihai, usko jagaoo… wake her up and get to work; a new Pakistan awaits! And in Bano’svery own words, Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad…
Bano tum sachmeinaasmanoo say utaranoor ho koi…Bano tum humariqaumkighairat thee, aurhumnaytumharaysathkyakiya… Ye duahaimeriRab say kay hum sab koaapkaijaisiwatankimohobataur us kayliye mar mitnaykajasbaatakaray! Ameen.
Dastaan finally comes to an end. My first review was on Episode 8 – partition. That episode made me cry the most, today I write Dastaan’s last review, with such a heavy heart. I have never cried so much while watching a drama as I have with Dastaan. It moved me, shook every nerve in my body, it woke me up jolting me with each episode, it drew my passion and patriotism from my heart into my bloodstream!
All 23 Episodes have been by far the best 23 Episodes in Pakistan Television’s history. Each and every single scene has been well calculated, brilliantly dramatized, marvelously directly, and superbly performed. With each new episode the Dastaan team kept raising the bar higher and higher. And finally with the last episode, you have taken it to a level where it would send shivers down any director’s or producer’s spine to try to even come close to achieving the kind of standard that you have set. Truly Dastaan deserves international recognition – MominaDuraid, your team deserves the Oscars, a whole handful! There can be no best scene or best dialogue when there was a relevance to every scene and every dialogue was outstanding – brilliant, outstanding, you have my standing ovation!
Before I get into what really moved me in Dastaan, I wanted to recognize my most valued performers in Dastaan – SanamBaloch for living my Bano and delivering her to us in such grace, elegance and purity. No one else could have done what you did. Really, you are the heart and soul of Dastaan! Fawad Khan for the “interesting” role that you played with such passion; your smile and facial expressions were so well calculated it was hard to ever imagine you were not the real Hassan! Saba Qamar for being such a darling, so elequoent; you took a very flat character and outperformed to make us fall in love with SuraiyyaKhala. MehreenRaheel for playing such a difficult role with such pride; for making us fall in love with you especially in the last episode.Ahsan Khan – you are the star for me, I would give you the best actor award for Dastaan any day! FarhanAlam, Samira Fazal and HaissamHussain…. What can I say… I’m speechless! Samira Api, I am very proud of you today! HH, my admiration for your work has no words; yet again the English dictionary falls short of adjectives when I try to express myself as to how much I have admired your work – the work that all 3 of you put together for us. A special thanks to the 3 of you!!!
Razia Butt – Bano was truly your masterpiece. Partition- the pains, the suffering, the sacrifice, you have so beautifully captured it all.Is watankay“ZarrayzarraymeinqurbanikiDastaanlikhiwihai”. Independence – a gift from God that is so very easily taken for granted. You made us realize what we have isa blessing.Wohmeragharhai, merijannathai, mera Pakistan hai.Vision of Pakistan- what it was and what it has become; unfortunate yet it’s a reality we have to face. For Bano to have her family mercilessly killed in front of her own eyes, her parents murdered, her sister in law’s unborn child cut out from her womb, her brothers killed, to be raped by a Sikh man, married to him for 5 years, bearing the child of the man she hated, deprived of her one true love – Pakistan, and then to come to Pakistan and seeing the true colors of her beloved land. It’s sad… the multitude of torture that she goes through is unimaginable. But to see the power that she has to bear all of that and yet be smiling in the end is empowering. She goes from being a lover to a liberated woman who could care less about Hassan; she lives for Pakistan and was there to purify it, which she does with pride and dignity! There are layers upon layers of messages that need to be decoded fromDastaan. I could write a novel just decoding Dastaan! After watching Dastaan, I truly believe “mera Pakistan rehtayduniyatakrahega”, inshaAllah.
The true strength of Pakistan is Islam; Pakistan was founded as a nation for Muslims. When Muslims throw Islam and it’s teaching in the back burner, we get Pakistan as it stands today. Pakistan was founded on true, pure beliefs but unfortunately what Bano witnessed in her beloved land was not Basant Singh but replicates of him who are Pakistani and sadly Muslim. It is great that Bano believes that she has purified Pakistan but really, by killing one “Basant Singh” does it liberate Pakistan of all evil. The evil is within us… it is our responsibility to cleanse ourselves, we have a little of Bano in all of us; it’s just a matter of waking it up and standing up to the challenge. Cleanse yourselves as Bano cleansed herself by killing “Basanta”. I truly believe in a united, strong and powerful Pakistan but it has to come from within, so that one day Bano can truly be right and when our grandchildren watch Dastaan a century from now, they can say, Bano was right when she said “Ye mera Pakistan hai, meramulkmerawatan, mera Pakistan; Ye paaklogoonkipaaksarzsameenhaiyahaan koi basantanahi, koi basantanahi”. There will be a day when Bano will not have to kill a Basanta to cleanse our nation, when women will have equal rights, where there will be justice, when we can stand proud to call ourselves a citizen of Pakistan, when we will be a super power because we have the strength to take it there. It’s high time to wake up and cleanse ourselves and Pakistan of these impurities.
The ending – Samira Api’s creation! I preferred Razia Butt’s ending, but I’ll learn to live with this one too! I can see how this ending may have been preferred as this way Bano, a person who believes that Pakistan is perfect gets to purify it. What I really liked about this ending was the last scene, bibikitaweezko jab banotasbeehsamhajkar us par Pakistan zindabad, Pakistan zindabad, Pakistan zindabadparhtihai… that was outstanding, there couldn’t have been a better end. I know there is a lot of criticism with this ending, however, I didn’t want Bano to marry Hassan as I never thought of him to be worth of her (especially not after his reaction in the last episode). Is it better to see Bano in a mental asylum rather than her being dead? I don’t know… I don’t think it matters. To be honest, Bano’s message is of more importance than what happens to her.
Rabia’s best dialogs of Dastaan:“Dulhanagayeehai”. Banomeri Pakistan kidulhanhai… as I said hum sab meinBanochupiwihai, uskojagaoo… wake her up and get to work; a new Pakistan awaits! And in Bano’svery own words, Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad…
