Very frankly, I started watching this drama with zero expectations – it was mainly because I was bored, and mainly because I wanted to see how much the story has been copied from Maaye Ni. Oh yes, the plot outlines seemed quite similar. To top the whole thing off, the name of the female lead was also the same – Sabeeha. In any case, I watched a couple of episodes and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
Like Maaye Ni, the drama serial is basically about the way grown-up children get busy with their lives, and parents are left to brave the empty nest syndrome. For Mansoor and Sabiha, old age seems to be a long, harsh journey – which is made worse when Mansoor divorces Sabiha during a fight. Now, for some reason, the fight started on a very frivolous note (that is, Sabiha did not want to eat dinner) and went on to Mansoor accusing her of not bringing up children properly. There was an exchange of “your kids” and “your kids” and finally ended in Mansoor uttering the three counts of divorce. (If you ask me, that scene did not really convey the emotions too well – I was hoping for more intensity but the fight seemed a little forced…)
Anyway, Sabeeha goes to live with her eldest son, but is soon disheartened with the attitude of her daughter-in-law and leaves; again, the roles played by Ayeza Khan in Maaye Ni and Aiman Tariq in JSNUA are too similar. Thus far, Sabeeha is living alone in her father’s house. Mansoor is living alone in his own house. It is depressing just to watch them, but the drama serial, I feel has portrayed the more humane side of the story – shades of grey if you please. Both sons who are in the same city realize they are not giving as much time to their parents as they should. Both the daughters-in-law (if only to look good in front of their husbands) also visit them from time to time. But loneliness in old age is something no one would wish for. And hence, right now, both Mansoor and Sabeeha are trying to come to terms with the fact that they are alone and have lost their spouse of 36 years.
Now, my basic issue with this drama, along with Maaye Ni, centres mostly on the fact that almost all elderly women who are around me, including those who are widowed, are spending their free time very productively. I find it very hard to relate Sabeeha in this drama and Sabeeha in Maaye Ni to anyone around me at least because the elderly ladies around me, whose grownup children are abroad, or who have married daughters and no sons, are doing some or all of the following: they have joined a class of sorts (Quran, tajweed, tafseer, etc.), taken up a hobby (walking, jogging, reading, etc.), starting a home-based business (designing, catering, selling accessories, etc.) OR become more social. Yes, some even join a gym or take up knitting. And mind you, all these ladies have their fair share of health-related issues.
However, in short, everyone finds something creative to do with one’s time – why are our drama serials not reflecting this trend? Instead of depressing every one even further, why not show some of such real-life characters on the screen? Yes, there are people who go into depression and suddenly have no idea what to do with so much free time, but honestly, here, our drama serials have a huge potential to actually inspire the audience and encourage them to get out of this depression.
In Maaye Ni, Sabeeha dies in the end, rejected and unwanted. Sabeeha in JSNHA has her own house. Let’s see if this drama serial manages to make her a strong, inspiring characters. Less than 10 episodes have been aired so far, so there is some hope.
Before signing off, I must request production houses to come up with names that have a greater recall value – what kind of a silly name is Jannat Say Nikali Hui Aurat? Who comes up with such names? The drama is not about Sabeeha – it is about her ex-husband also. If she is a “Nikali Hui Aurat”, he is an “ashamed, lonely, depressed man”. This is about him as much as her. But then, with names like Mehmoodabad Ki Malkein, Kaafir, Kash Main Teri Beti Na Hoti, etc. I think Six Sigma really needs to brush up on titles in general.
Written by Drama Buff ([email protected])
