Ohkay so, this episode of Alif once again unveiled a lot of secrets from the life of Husn e Jahan. It is interesting to note that Qalb e Momin thought he had all the minute details to write the story, but little did he know that there were a few more who knew about her more than he did. Qalb e Momin was a child, he was young, he was immature to understand the struggles of his mother, but it is basically a favor happening to him that there is Sultan as well as Master Ibrahim who can tell him all that he did not know about Husn e Jahan!
Husn e Jahan & The Mystery Surrounding Her
Sultan finally revealed everything & told Momina that he did not murder Husn e Jahan. I guess after facing Qalb e Momin & seeing the look in his eyes, Sultan knew that he was not doing anyone a favor by holding onto this secret. Husn e Jahan chose to go away in seclusion herself. It was interesting to note that she did mention Qalb e Momin, because it was her plan to spend the rest of her life with her son. She obviously didn’t know that Abdul Ala had something else planned for her but the moment when she took that decision, it was purely because she wanted to be with her child. Husn e Jahan did experience some days of her life by distancing herself from her son, but with each passing day, she realized she could not fool herself anymore & could not carry on by being ignorant of the fact that her child needed her the most. It was nice to have a clarity that Qalb e Momin’s love forced Husn e Jahan to take this decision.
It was heart wrenching seeing Qalb e Momin holding himself responsible & accountable for everything that his parents go through. It was definitely unfair of Sultan to say all that to Qalb e Momin, yes his love for Husn e Jahan once side but he isn’t oblivious of how hard things were on Qalb e Momin too as a child, that too a child of movie star Husn e Jahan. Sultan gave away those letters, not with an intention of helping Qalb e Momin change his perspective about his mother, but because he wanted her character in the film to be painted differently. In this entire scenario, it was nice to see at least Momina being by Qalb e Momin’s side & showing some sort of support to him because of all the people, she does understand that things have always been hard on Momin too. He never led a peaceful life, did not even have an ideal childhood, therefore if there’s someone who deserves care & affection is Qalb e Momin.
Momina found out yet another secret & it was related to Master Ibrahim. This does explain the reason why Momin was looking for him. He had no idea whatsoever but because he saw Abdul Ala being in touch with him, he assumed Master Ibrahim is going to be the only person Abdul Ala must’ve chosen for Husn e Jahan. Momina couldn’t help but recall all the discussions she’s had with Master Ibrahim about his wife, the paintings, the way she decided to come back from Turkey & settle in Pakistan. It was obviously very easy for her to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Even Master Ibrahim didn’t take much longer in figuring out that Momin was here to ask some questions. It showed that he saw it coming, ever since Momina started working with Qalb e Momin, he knew there will come a time when she will get to know about him & Husn e Jahan’s connection. Master Ibrahim also knew about Sultan being Momina’s father, so it was like he knew everything about Momina’s family too, he must’ve heard everything from his wife Husna!
Phenomenal Performances
This episode of Alif belonged to all the actors because of their phenomenal performances. Each one of them poured their heart & soul & the way all the actors elaborated all these emotions, it actually showed that they have lived these characters for so long & now when the drama is about to end, they were right in their element & there was no other way than to do justice to these characters & their journeys. The attention to detail that has gone into making Alif has played a huge part in its brilliant execution. In all the flashback scenes of Momina & Master Ibrahim, I couldn’t help but notice how young & simple Momina looked, with the help of makeup, they gave her such a look which suited her before she became a famous star. They also justified the time that has lapsed since she has had those conversations with Master Ibrahim. It is brilliant how much attention the makeup artists as well as the director paid to this little aspect because it added so much reality to these scenes & made a great visual impact.
In the discussions under previous reviews, some of the readers did say that all that we were getting to see about Taha was basically through Qalb e Momin’s eye, that too when he was young but considering that it was the 2nd last episode & the fact that the last episode is going to focus more on Master Ibrahim & Husn e Jahan’s relationship, I feel the viewers who have not read the novel were not wrong in drawing a conclusion about Taha’s character such as him being a coward who ran away from his responsibilities. As much as I am glad that Momin understood Husn e Jahan’s struggles as a mother, I hope he doesn’t shy away from holding his father responsible for not doing justice to his roles as a husband as well as a father. Saife Hassan, Sajal Aly, Hamza Ali Abbasi & Saleem Mairaj, they all made this episode impactful with their phenomenal performances & the direction was like a masterstroke that made this episode a masterpiece. I will honestly say that I am so not ready to see Alif ending so soon & going by the preview, I wish they don’t give an open end to Momin & Momina because their love story needs a proper closure & the viewers deserve that too. Please share your thoughts about this episode of Alif.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.
ps: I apologize for the late review, I was really unwell & I still am but decided to review it because I couldn’t keep the lovely readers waiting. Hope I was able to do justice to this episode of Alif. Thank you for understanding!
