So the thirteenth episode of Zakham was all about Khawar and his mental illness and the sympathy card he played. The drama is not taking the story any forward. Rather, it is showing the same situation in different colours in each episode and their results are also eerily similar. Let’s take a look at the highlights of this episode.
Firstly, Takbeer’s father and brother were shown very concerned about her and really empathetic with all that she had suffered at Khawar’s hands.. With that realisation comes their decision that they will keep her in their house, away from Khawar and all the atrocities he subjects her to. Even Khawar’s over acting to show his yearning for Ahmed did nothing to weaken their resolve. They stood their ground and after much persuasion, let Khawar meet Ahmed. All this is a sign of impending freedom for Takbeer who just dared to start breathing deeper, away from Khawar and his suffocating behaviour which she had been bearing silently for quite sometime now.
Khawar runs to Khalida like a lost puppy and for the first time, she refuses to support him, but the way she did gave an insight into Khawar’s mental illness. Khalida’s advice was extremely twisted. Even though she was acknowledging that it was Khawar’s fault, she was still inciting him to take his son away from Takbeer, all the while telling him that he had been at fault and should try every trick to earn her forgiveness. If she had been raising him with this kind of narcissistic, double faced behaviour, no wonder he turned out the way he did. Later, she was lamenting to her husband, only worried that Khawar did not contact her again, with zero concern for all that must be going in his life at the moment.
Khawar’s failed suicide attempts were the most non sensical scenes I have ever come across. He again surprised with his uncanny ability to weave such intricate webs at the sane time when he is behaving as a psycho case. The missed bullet noise to blackmail Takbeer into coming was very well thought out and when she reached there, he was performing on the peak as a mentally challenged man, with spit flying out of his mouth and words spilling incoherently. How he is so cunning and disturbed at the same time is the biggest unsolved mystery of this drama.
Takbeer’s father and brother have again fell for his drama as usual, and forced Takbeer to go back home. It was so anger provoking when her father was shown so worried about him and that they should have consoled him more because he has taken Ahmed’s illness very seriously and has turned into a psycho due to one calamity falling in him after the other. It was extremely unfair of him to disregard all that Takbeer went through. From losing her only sister to ditching the love of her life for her family’s sake and being abused and suspected by a husband she never wanted to marry in the first place, being pregnant for the first time while already caring for the baby she has at home, if someone deserves sympathy, it is Takbeer. Yet Khawar gets all the sympathy after he unsuccessfully and half heartedly attempts imaginary suicide.
Once again Takbeer’s fate has put her in his path. Her dad and brother, though disturbed seem to have sacrificed their daughter once again. Any sensible father would never have left her daughter with someone so voilently dangerous. Her brothers were somewhat reasonable in fearing that he might kill their sister, but her father wants to give Khawar another chance, even at a risk of her daughter’s chance to live. That was so utterly sad to see that a woman is used as a means to appease someone’s tantrums, and Takbeer herself was so silent, so shocked from the start of this suicide drama because she had resigned herself to her fate that Khawar will once again succeed in dragging her into his hell hole. Madiha Imam did not have much words in this episode but she is consistently outshining all other stars, including the veterans Shabbir Jan and Faysal Qureshi.
The last scene again emphasised the confusion this drama is centred on. Khawar started off by asking Takbeer to hit him with the same prod he used on her as if he was consumed by guilt and ended by him being harsh, threatening and manipulating enough to silent all her future protests. In reality, I don’t think such a suicide note would be if any significance if he took his own life, since he had the right to divorce his wife if her character was so unbearable for her and if he thought her family was supporting her in committing adultery. If they are going to use this as a base of all the future domestic abuse, I really hope they realise it’s absolutely ridiculous and totally futile.
The promo showed Sultan and his wife going away from home. Stay tuned to find out how that affects Takbeer and her marital problems..
