Relationships, be they between a parent and a child, or a married couple, or siblings, or a daughter/son with their in-laws, or even among friends, are crazy, complicated things. They require a lot of nurturing, a lot of accommodation, a lot of communication, and most of all a lot of space—space, that allows relationships to take root, develop and ultimately flourish; space, which disappears, when well-meaning outsiders, even if they are close family, start interfering; space, which disappears when precious moments are not treasured and savored; space, which disappears when the other in the relationship is not trusted and valued as an equal partner. Moving from the past to the present, today the spotlight was turned on to Shandana’s marriage. It was all about those lost spaces, those moments in time, which Shandana and Haider had lost through their pig-headedness, and their desire to one-up each other.
The episode opened with a troubled Sophia confiding in her grandmother that her mother was upset with her. Building on this moment, the rest of the narrative was about Shandana looking back on her marriage, reliving the arguments, the fights, and the angry words. I wonder how much more soul searching will it take for happier memories to surface. I sincerely hope, for Sophia’s sake, that those moments of joy are not buried so deep that it is impossible to retrieve them. Even as Shandana was lost in her thoughts, Durre Shehwar too was dealing with the ghosts of her past, a past where everything was not as rosy as her daughter perceived it to be. Interfering strangers had begun messing with her new life even before it got underway, and from the precaps it is clear that the relationship between Durre Shehwar and Mansoor too was impacted by Mansoor’s high-handed attitude. And, even though he has mellowed considerably with age, Mansoor’s hot temper and his quick call to judgment is evident in his angry phone calls to Haider and his mother. Whether this well-meaning, but completely unnecessary, interference helps or hinders Shandana’s already troubled marriage remains to be seen. Tempering Mansoor’s overbearing attitude was Durre Shehwar’s soft and well-meaning advice to her husband and daughter, mirror images of each other, both feisty, easy to ignite and quick to explode.
From the screenplay, to the acting, to the directing, to the technical aspects, this was yet another fabulous episode –great job by Haissam & Co. Nadia Jamil stood out once again as the quick to fly off the handle Shandana, and matching her every step of the way was Nauman Ejaz, superb as the equally hot-headed Haider –truly a couple made in TV heaven. After watching Samina Pirzada and Qavi Khan in so many over the top roles recently, it is great to see these excellent actors playing such meaty characters. Moreover, having seen the same ten to twenty faces in practically every drama on TV these days it is refreshing to see many lesser seen and new faces here, and among these, the superstar once again was Sophia Syed – what a cutie she is and what an absolute natural as the disturbed child who has lost her smile. My two cents of marital advice to Shandana and Haider: Guys get over yourselves! If for nothing else, clean up your act and reconcile so that Sophie can smile once again.
Written by SZ~ [email protected]
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