Apology tendered apology accepted.
One that Mansoor hopes will set the clock back and make things alright. His bruised ego made an appearance as did his rationalizing of the situation with a ‘I’ll take care of everything – tum meri ho aur mein tumhe muskhil mein nahin dekh sakta hoon”.
This, for him settles it and he can go back to things are they were. Not quite Mansoor, not quite.
Though Laila seems to be giving her marriage a chance, and recognizes Mansoor’s attempts, she is no longer the naïve girl he once enthralled with a kind word or touch. She reflects on the disappointments of the past and the frames her interactions with Mansoor today. When he falls asleep yet again after a show of halfhearted interest in her café, Laila’s half smile says it all.
She is no one’s fool and clearly will not suffer fools either. Ignoring her mother’s commentary on her catch of a dammaad, Laila’s nashukri and constant keeping up of appearances gets a proverbial cold shoulder while Laila’s saas gets a more pointed question – even if it was rendered with sweetness and an oddly creepy smile.
Someone please give Laila’s mother another topic of conversation. While we all have suffered through many a well meaning, but often missing the mark advice on how we need to live our lives, our mothers have many other redeeming features and nuance to them something which is sorely lacking in Laila’s mother’s portrayal.
Laila saved the more pointed barb for Mansoor and his carelessness with his phone. If only Mansoor knew how to take care of the valuable things in his life. Like a leopard that doesn’t change his spots, he is back knocking at Kuku’s door, telling her without a trace of irony I might add, “You two women teamed up against me – one man, two women how cruel”
Kuku threatens him at knife point in an emotionally empowered and charged moment, and that further adds insult to injury to his bruised ego. He counters with an angry phone call reminding Kuku of her place and letting her know that she is nothing without him. That these women do not need him comes as rude shock to Mansoor conveyed with just the right amount of feeble reconciliation and indignant irritation by Sohail Sameer.
As firm as Kuku’s intentions are, she knows that letting go is hard – even if she encourages Laila to do so. She paints a picture of Mansoor as a poetry loving, sensitive, romantic soul – that an irate Laila shrugs off but Kuku pushes on to ask – kya tum uske in characteristics se wakif ho? Kuku make her realize that Mansoor has cleaved them into two – a consummate lover and a status quo wife – and she encourages Laila to come into her own to find that all-encompassing love.
Laila has her opportunity in Saadi who reaches out to give her an out from her ‘messed-up’ life but Laila once again speaks her mother’s tongue of society, norms and expectations. It’s unfortunate that both Laila and Saadi have zero camaraderie let alone chemistry for us to truly sympathize with this as a plausible premise – that rendition of Annie’s song notwithstanding.
If there ever was just one episode full of subtext and veiled conversations, this was it. Each character has their own dilemmas, nothing terribly new or out of the ordinary but it is the presentation of their worldview that lets us peek into their lives, understand them a little, and perhaps love them a little too.
MM (aka A musing Muslim)
