Sometimes a single moment can change your life. A moment of realization alters everything and today Laila had her moment.
Shab e ghum buri balaa hai. Hume kya bura tha marna agar ek baar hota.
These words ring true for Laila and her state of mind. She has already died a million deaths. First the death of her dreams, then this marriage eroding her chances of happiness and hope, her daily death of expectations, the true demise of her relationship with Mansoor and now the finality in the death of giving that marriage a second chance.
Though Laila tried to save her marriage, from reaching out to Mansoor on their anniversary only to be brusquely ignored, to asking Kuku to help her buy a gift Mansoor likes, to covering for him – he doesn’t believe in giving presents- she tried to keep that dim ray of hope and possibility alive.
Kuku who has been encouraging Laila to break free from societal and her own expectations, finally had to resort to a cruel blow – showing her the gift that Mansoor had recently sent her. That one moment was all it took for Laila to realize that Mansoor no longer deserves a second chance. With Kuku’s words echoing in her ears – Khud ko ek taufa do. Mansoor ko nahin khud ko ek mauko do. Appni pehchan lota do – Laila seeks to do just that, to find herself.
Her resolve strengthened, she takes up Saadi on his offer, shocking her husband’s sensibilities with the possibility of not returning. To her credit, Laila doesn’t lie – not to Mansoor, not to Mrs Khan but to her mother, understandably, she spins half-truths. You have to wonder if she is getting up caught up in another tangled web as she tries to untangle the threads of her life.
Laila too, still can’t shake off her guilt. Let’s hope she manages to discover how to be true to herself.
This episode had such warm moments of camaraderie between Kuku, Laila and Mrs. Khan that you wanted to grab a chair and some coffee and hang out with them. The wordless sequences, and strong directorial hand give Pehchan another visual language altogether that also mirror the characters state of mind and gives you insight into their choices.
The star however was the great writing yet again from Bee Gul with a piercing look at society’s hypocrisies, the mazloom mard’s excuse for infidelity, and questioning the different standards to gauge a man and a woman’s izzat. Kudos team Pehchan, kudos.
MM (aka A musing Muslim)
