So, here’s the deal – I’m now thoroughly confused. Where is the story headed? I understand that after Adi’s death, Sanjha’s lost all interest in being free or returning to the village and all that, but still – she spurned Dr. Ammar’s efforts to rescue her and turned down his offer of marriage, she says she’s not interested in Weeda at all, she’s refused the Seth’s advances – can somebody explain as to what’s going in her mind. Naïve as she might be, she’s smart enough to have figured out that the Seth’s interest in her is not exactly on an intellectual level, he is a man of baser instincts. How long does she think she has before he makes a serious move on her? Where will she then go?
As I watched the episode unfold, I found myself asking the same question repeatedly: Is this the same story I fell in love with? Where did that crisply written, issue-based narrative disappear? Now it seems like a whole other drama, more to do with some kind of a triangle between the philandering Seth, the aging insecure Fehmida, and the young Sanjha. There seems to be a complete disconnect between what was going on earlier – issues of human trafficking, plight of the women in these unfortunate circumstances– and this more recent turn. I am still waiting to know Mumtaz’s fate. What happened to the rest of the girls at the kothi-khana? I was so vested in their characters that I now feel cheated. I understand that Adi’s death has numbed Sanjha, but still her being so unconcerned about the fate of rest of the girls at Mumtaz’s kothi-khana is surprising to me. With the Seth seemingly willing to cater to her every desire, why does Sanjha not solicit his help to rehabilitate these girls? Try as one might, unpleasant as it may be, is it that easy to forget the recent past?
Apart from Sanjha, the other character that has carried over from the earlier track, Mr. Weeda, is also turning into one heck of a confused and depressed person. He thoroughly messed up Sanjha’s life and is now repenting at leisure. Narmeen, another strange one, sees Weeda’s sullenness as a part of his charm and wants to marry him. Narmeeen’s proposal is not only confusing Weeda, it’s confusing me as well: she barely knows his background, knows that he’s pining away for another girl, yet, she wants to marry him?
While the acting stayed top-notch, and it is great to see Ayesha Alam back on screen after ages, aesthetically too, it seemed like I was watching a whole other serial. The background score was loud and the choice of the tacky suspenseful music came as a surprise, considering how well the music had blended into the background earlier. During the conversation between Sanjha and the Seth, when he brings her the books, Noman Ejaz’s voice was so muffled and music so loud that I had to replay that part at least twice to hear what he was saying.
Given the usual run of a serial, I guess that this too has a couple more episodes, and I cannot help but wonder how the story will wrap up. Will the Sanjha team stand up and deliver to to make a larger point about human trafficking? Will we hear more on the issue of girls who end up in brothels? Will the Seth face any punishment for his misdeeds? And, will we ever see Mumtaz again?
Written by SZ~ [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter: SZ_DramaPakistani (@sz_dp)
