Betrayals continue by the two people who have enmeshed others in their web of deceit. As with any tangled web, once in a while a taut silken thread or two  give way, but the web stays intact.

Kuku and Mansoor soon fall into their old pattern. This time, a little less cautious, a lot more relaxed and a misplaced cellphone is all it takes for that taut thread to break, unraveling the spinning lies. Silently, without so much as a whimper. These revelations barely make a sound.

This silent night, a never ending night of revelations. One that begins with a commanding saas, Mansoor’s unyielding demands of his wife, a distraught Laila, an apology morphing into anger and ends with secrets and lies laid bare only to be covered again by Laila’s well ingrained sensibilities to keep up appearances.

Khurram, in his first aggressive show of mardangi demands an explanation from his wife and rains a few blows on Mansoor for good measure. Quite a show. One that drags Laila out into the cold moonless night and bathes all four of them in the light of the unpleasant truth. Khurram’s half rendered insult was as close to melodrama as we are likely to get because a tamasha isn’t for respectable people.

I am all for subtlety but in what could have been Laila’s moment to exhale, ends with her choosing convention over confrontation. She wraps up the situation in neat alibi just as she wraps up in her shawl – for comfort, for warmth and to hide and disappear.

Khaffa ya muh modhne ke bajaye, ussne izzat ki chador se ye baat hi dhak di.

The girl who had finally found her words, now uses them as her shield. Though she is in character, not to defy convention, I have to say Alishba needed to be a lot more caustic in putting Mansoor in his place. With nowhere to hide, Mansoor wants to have a frank discussion and is pained (as am I) by Laila’s avoiding the truth in quotidian mundaneness.

Through the fog of the last few months, Laila has understood her place and knows that she can place her own sharth in keeping up appearances for an entire lifetime. But colour me confused. Is the young and naïve Laila the one hurt by Mansoor’s disinterest, lack of warmth, or even a kind word the sort of person for whom this admission serves as a bargaining chip to secure the life that she really wants?

Maybe it’s just me but I want for her hurt and pain to find a voice and for Mansoor, for Kuku, for Khurram, for her mother-in-law, for her parents, for all of us to hear. Why writers and directors feel the need to take away a woman’s voice I fail to understand. Yes, you can throw the silence is strength trope at me, but after so many years of silence, a change would be nice. Though at least here, Laila seems to be coming into her own and this time propriety be damned. At least, I hope so.

Pehchan plays around with the idea of self, of identity. And hopefully of coming into ones’ own. Laila’s journey has begun while Kuku still envies Laila her conventions. At least she speaks up to ask of Mansoor the right he denies her. The right to be his wife, the right to bear his children even as his words – mera wajjud, meri zindagi, mere pyaar, mera sab kuch – ring hollow. Sub kuch aur kuch bhi nahin.

Kuku is oscillating between desire and reality and perhaps the only one who shows some remorse. Iffat Omar, nuance is your language and you speak it with body, mind and soul.

Poor Khurram who wasn’t portrayed sympathetically to begin with, now isn’t even allowed an honest moment of realization and sense of betrayal. Tables turned, respectability restored. Fawad Khan plays his part endearingly, with all the annoyances and failings of his character. I hope to see more of him, minus grey hair and suspenders, please.

Mansoor seems chirpier – Sab theekh ho jayega – ek dum straight. Things will get easier. He wanted things to be open and now they are, what else could these women want? One has her social standing and the other him. He’s notched another post in his respectability roster as a father, so maybe his prayers have been answered. Though am sure this team doesn’t give him that easy a deliverance.

I can’t help but wonder if we are being rushed along a little though. For a team that pays attention to detail, Laila’s is perternaturally gifted with a TV mom appearance, you know, the ones who give birth without a bump and are back to size zero in sixty seconds. Also while Mrs Khan and Kuku have had their short end of the stick with bad husbands, surely a conversation about three or four men left on earth is more first year women’s studies sophomoric spite than truly tickling the funny bone. Also ladies, come on – wherefore your Brad Pitt, George Clooney and more close to home Dilip Kumar, SRK and Mikaal Zulfikar references?

Maybe I complain too much, and am trying to keep my impatience at bay, but as time goes by, I am hoping this tale is a different telling of the same old story…

Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date.
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate.
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny.

It’s still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die.
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by.

MM (aka A musing Muslim)