Can somebody please hand me a gun or just shoot me!! Why, why, did I allow myself to watch yet another episode of this no head or tail drama?? Can I blame this moment of insanity on the fact that it was a very long fortnight with no weekly fix of either the eye candy in Humsafar or yet another irrational twist in the crazy world of Kuch Pyar ka Pagalpan?? Or should I just admit that I watched it because with the drama drawing to a close, I kept hoping against hope that somebody would knock some sense into both sisters’ heads along with bashing some into Faisal as well, and that the story would finally begin to show some signs of redeeming itself.
Alas, none of my hopes were realized. Aiman continued to draw long sighs and kept behaving like a righteous heroine of some ‘60s Lollywood/Bollywood movie. Suman continued her socialite lifestyle, although now there are some signs of doubt and remorse creeping in. Her friends are abandoning her and she is missing out on the love of her child. Faisal, well what can I say about him, continued his attempts to shut the stable door after the horse had already bolted – punishing Aiman for Suman’s misdeeds. What makes it extremely annoying is that nobody comes out and spells it out to him that it is entirely his fault that his personal life is in shambles. The girls’ mother and their khala both seem so ineffective in knocking some sense in Faisal’s head by telling him a few home truths. If there is something to be made out of all this, I think it’s a bit too late for any message to get across.
What is extremely problematic here is that rather than showing Suman as suffering due to her actions and Aiman as having triumphed, all we see is Aiman’s continuous suffering. Is there any end to her sorrows? If the point is to show Aiman happy at the very end and Suman as suffering, I’m sorry but in my opinion it has been left for a little too late. What good are the rewards if one is too old to enjoy them? What will Aiman do with Faisal’s love and respect, if she ever gets them that is, when she has already spent a lifetime being miserable? Where is her self-respect? And why do “good” girls have to be shown as suffering so much? Why is being a victim being portrayed as a good thing? Is it wrong for a girl to stand up for her rights?
Similarly, if Suman is to be shown as suffering at the end, where is the lesson in that? As far as I can see it, she has led a pretty cushy life so far. She has everything she wants and has managed to get away with every kind of misbehavior possible, without any immediate repercussions. So does it really matter that she is sad and lonely when older. Having left the moralizing till the very end, I think the story writer and the director have lost the impact that a story like this, if well told, could have had. The way it stands now, I don’t see anybody learning anything from this story. In fact, if given the choice between the victimized Aiman and the conniving/evil Suman, actually Suman would get my vote hands down for knowing exactly what she wants and not being afraid to go after it. Not exactly the lesson the drama would want to put across, I’m sure!
Written by S Z ~
