“Agar mujhe tumhare saath rehte hue bhi akele hi rehna hai na … tau hum dono ko saath rehna hi nahin chahiye …Main yeh bati hui zindagi nahin guzaar sakti…” Powerful lines indeed!! Standing up for her child and herself, Ujala spelt out her decision to Faisal in no uncertain terms – she had had enough and was not going to put with his moodiness any more. It was now up to Faisal to decide. Oh, how I wish a few more of our spineless drama heroines would take a page out of Ujala’s playbook, stop wringing their hands and have the gumption to take a stand! Way to go Ujala – more power to you girl!
Fast forward a few years and what we see is really heart wrenching. Faisal’s rigidity has resulted in irreconcilable differences in his relationship with Ujala. He is no longer the charmer, the perfect lover, we saw in the first couple of episodes, rather the Faisal of today is a bitter and hard man. Hating the relationship he has with Ujala, but unwilling to either accept the child or let Ujala go, he has turned into a man angry with himself and the world at large. On the other hand, Azaan, the baby, at the center of this maelstrom, is now a young boy, unable to understand why his dad does not love him. Fed of the constant bickering with a glowering Faisal, Ujala takes the radical step of walking away and leaving Faisal in charge of Azaan’s care. What follows next is endearing to see – a frustrated Faisal stumped by the effort involved in caring for a child.
Whether Ujala is right in forcing the issue with Faisal remains to be seen. But, what does need to be appreciated here is the fact that rather than all the screaming, sighing, and crying, for once there is an open honest dialogue between a husband and a wife. They talk to each other on equal terms, a rarity in our drama serials. Both are right and wrong, both are equally rigid in their stance. Whether one agrees with either Ujala or Faisal, or disagrees with both of them, one has to appreciate the fact that they are both equally empowered. For writing such a powerful story that deals with a very sensitive, almost taboo, subject, for showing strong characters that stand up for themselves, for challenging the viewers to think differently, and for offering a new point of view, major props should be given to writer Mohsin Ali, director Anjum Shahzad and the producers, Filmwala Productions. Great stuff!
Writtenby SZ ~
