Continuing from last week’s delicate questioning of female sexuality and ownership, this week sees all our protagonists examine honesty and the ties that bind them in matrimony.
Laila ruffled feathers with her getaway and while she is aware of Saadi’s interest, she does everything to hold herself back. The only time she reveals that she is unhappy, gets covered up with a ‘what else could I want’ echoing her mother’s thoughts more than her own.
Saadi on his part tries to awaken that Laila that he once knew, that lively, young girl now hidden behind her unhappy life as wife and mother. Mamuli sa toh masla hai – tum nakhush ho. He attempts to get her to see that she doesn’t need any justification to voice her unhappiness and is unwavering in his support for her – if she will have him. Though for Laila, I think this is as far as she will go with Saadi – despite his strong romantic inclinations and flattering observations of Laila, I suspect she would have taken a different route had she really wanted to be with him.
What I love most about Laila’s transformation is that it cements her into a stronger person each time and for once she isn’t afraid to speak her mind and put down Mansoor when need be as well.
Mansoor manhood and ideas of his naive wife are shaken to the core. Despite his threatening phone call to her that nothing will remain – na ghar, na shohar, na izzat, what he really can’t stomach is her defiance, her taking ownership of her own sexuality and assumes the worst of his wife. Hurt and despondent, he turns back to Kuku only to be rebuffed yet again as he tries to plead, cajole and assert his position in her life.
Kuku for her part doesn’t cave even if her conversation with Mansoor rakes up her guilt. Guilt played a huge part in her taking back an ailing Khurram to nurse him back to health. Khurram who saw this as a sign of her love and loyalty was rightly shaken when Kuku finally told him the truth of her relationship with Mansoor.
The conversation between Mrs. Khan and Kuku was the crux of this episode with Kuku musing, without an iota of irony that Laila was still seeking mard ka sahara khud ko pehchhan ti nahin hai. Easier to have a clear perception of others than to see this failing in oneself. But it is Mrs. Khan who gets it right saying that Hum sab ek mard ki talaash mein rehte hai -sahare ki, saath ki nahin.
It is a patriarchal world after all and none of them can escape that, though pave their own paths, that I think they can and are doing just that.
Not only was this episode a mine of meaningful dialogues but the visual touches Mansoor as viewed through the cage, Laila’s putting away her lipstick and a phone left un-cradled, Khurram’s breakdown all let us glimpse their predicaments without the need for any heavy handedness.
Pehchan is one of those wonderful instances where the writing, performances, visuals and direction all match up to give us a thoughtful and visual experience.
MM (aka A musing Muslim)
