Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Fallen right into the trap of contrived situations and conventional tropes. Sigh, and things were going so well!
While last week we saw the final chapter in Ali and Sania’s relationship, this week sees the growing chasm between ‘Sham and Seherish. Seherish walks out of the house again fed up with ‘Sham being at Sania’s constant beck and call. Actually, despite her all her false assumptions, she is the only one to see ‘Sham’s misplaced sense of responsibility. Though they both want things to work out neither is willing to be the first one to give in.
“Sham’s loss of faith in Seherish and the sting of her accusations has now turned into a matter of ego. One where he believes she needs to see the error of her ways, apologize and make her way back. Seherish who feels that she made an attempt earlier is now safeguarding her self-respect and wants “Sham to be the first to cave.
This much is credible and fairly realistic as far as arguing couples go. Both Adeel and Aisha gave realistic, restrained performances boosted by strong writing and lovely visuals. Side note, how amazing is Naeem Mustafa’s work? His strong aesthetics never overpower the narrative but create another layer to the storytelling.
As much as their situation was realistic, the current turn of events is terribly forced. This constant reaching out to ‘Sham (whether by Rumi or Sania), and with them now being kicked out of their residence and back to his home has turned Sania from silent suffering stereotype to mazloom aurat who must turn to a man to save her.
Kya “Sham aur Sania itne akaal se peydal ho chuke hain that it takes the words of a five year old to bring it to their attention? Is Sania not able to gauge Rumi’s feelings for ‘Sham? Is she so clueless as to uncomprehend Rumi’s conversations? Heck, I was complaining about Rumi not being age-appropriate but will someone please give Sania a good shake and kindly bring her brains back from the pasture? Someone wake up her inner Kashaf!
When Ms.Silence-is-my-strength has accepted her divorce wordlessly and refused for reasons best known to her to tell her family, why has she then not taken charge of her life? Why is she constantly circling back to the man she was associated with? And sorry, all those conversations about how our lives keep intersecting are not working.
Why is she so paralyzed in front of Aziz bhai’s shining examples of sisterhood and needs “Sham to speak up for her? Where is all her bravado? Are there no solutions available to her that she needs to constantly be saved by “Sham? Is she so naïve to think that her moving into his house has no consequences? Has she lost the ability to think?!! Can you feel my disappointment radiating through?
How much stronger would the storyline have been if each of the characters carried on independent of each other? If Sania didn’t turn into another mazloom aurat and actually picked up her life as many single mothers do with their self-respect intact. Her persona and actions are quite demeaning to single mothers who do manage to get their lives on track.
And ‘Sham – good grief man, just leave her be! His ehsaas-e-jurm is playing out in such a convoluted manner that I want to personally send him a restraining order.
We’ve been bemoaning the lack of strong women role models and lo and behold, another missed opportunity. What began as a strong story is now being boxed back into existing molds. Brace yourselves for more of the same old folks.
I am hoping like hell Team Shukk proves me wrong.
MM (aka A musing Muslim)
