In one episode Gaythi Ara turns from victim to perpetrator. In Nayab she sees a reflection of her own deeply troubled past and just like her own much hated mother in law she sees an opportunity to exploit it.  In South Asian culture a lot of value is attached to the first 18- 20 years a  young woman spends with her parents, much is made of Maa ,Baap ki tarbeeyat ,when in reality they may have a  limited influence . Mother in laws, husbands and sasural in general has an equal if not greater influence on young brides in the long run. Power and success always elicit admiration and no matter how much Gaythi Ara may have despised her in laws, there a sneaking regard for the authority they wielded. Gaythi Ara is at least subconsciously doing exactly what her in laws did to her

In this episode we are introduced to Nayaab the younger sister of Gaythi Ara’s second cousin, Almas. Nayab has just lost her mother and is forced to live as an unwelcome addition to her elder sister’s family but bears her circumstances with patience and stoicism at least in front of visitors. She is in love with her cousin Zaid , who keeps reassuring her that one fine day ,he will take her away from all this . I want to feel for these two sad victims of fate but apart from being outraged at Gaythi Ara’s arrogance, I can’t seem to get weepy eyed over them.

Dawood has little time or patience left for his mother and sister, who sacrificed his love at the altar of their egos. He doesn’t even notice Nayab at their first meeting treating her as if she was part of the furniture but his mother sees an opportunity to push her angry son’s attention in a different direction. The power of this serial rests firmly on Saba Hamid’s strong presence and nuanced performance but I was pleased to see that instead of being standard   ‘good girl’ prop Urwa Hocain’s Nayab has an actual personality. She stands her ground and refuses to be impressed by Gaythi Ara’s house, wealth or whirlwind of a wealthy son. Similarly her sister Almas may be bowed by her husband’s family but she is not broken. The scene in which Almas demands her husband’s help as her haq was well played and well written.

A great deal of credit goes to the director Owais Khan for actually doing his job. The scenes are shorter, seamlessly edited, to the point and he has managed to extract good performances from all the actors .I am not a big fan of Urwa’s Hocain or Sonia Hassan but both are proving to be very competent, very watchable actresses. Whine though I may about Ahsan Khan, this episode was lacking his admittedly acting /star ;) presence. I am looking forward to next week, which from the promos looks as if two weddings are in the air but sadly all for the wrong reasons and to the wrong people. As a side note : I wish they had not given us a promo at all it makes everything to predictable and ruins the effort put into making each episode a step in the narrative .

written by Sadaf