Chalo jee, Hammad nay lipstick kay saath saath lagta hai churiyan bhi pehn rakhi hain! I could not help snicker at how Ifra stood up to defend Hammad and even after she told Ashraf off, Hammad still stood behind her till Ashraf left! In that moment of madness, I will admit I could see why Ashraf said she was ‘auraton ki Ashraf’ except, oh wait, she was defending Hammad. Ah well, need I spell it out. And cherry on top – Hammad is ‘rukhsatofied’ to Ifra’s house. I know he was sent so that Ashraf could not do him any harm but it still made me laugh.
Anyhow, we see Ashraf ‘heartbroken’, sulking and uncharacteristically quiet. There were a lot of repetitive scenes with Ashraf insisting his parents could have prevented the nikkah from happening and how they have always favoured Hammad over him. I kept waiting for Ashraf to erupt, wreak havoc but nothing seemed to happen until he overheard Saira declaring her love to Ebad on the phone. He then vows that if he did not get the ‘love of his life’ he would make sure nobody else in his family would. When he speaks to Jawad about marriage to Saira and the way Jawad’s face fell, it confirmed my suspicions that he likes Rabab after that scene earlier when Rabab is watering the plants and they exchange smiles. I kept thinking Rabab would speak up when Shakeela tells her daughters that Manzoor has said that if Saira will not marry Jawad then Rabab will have to. I thought Rabab liked him too and that would have solved that problem right there but maybe I was mistaken.
Ebad is able to convince his parents to go to Saira’s house with his rishta. Ashraf is suspicious and bursts in on the scene and in his characteristic way sends them packing. It was almost comical how Ashraf bent down to peer into Ebad’s face and then grabbed him, messing up his carefully made ‘cheerum’ (maang) and suit! I wondered at Khadija earlier encouraging Saira to ‘befriend’ Ebad and thought why would she do that when she knows Ashraf will probably rip Saira apart when he finds out. But she manages to convince her mother to have Ebad send his parents under the impression that ‘rishtay wali khala’ arranged the meeting.
I know Ashraf was despicable when he egged on Sufiyan and had Khadija divorced and his anger towards his sisters was also excessive but I did not really hate Ashraf yet because the light moments of his ‘romaaaaance’ made me laugh. But the way he dragged Saira down the stairs was awful and oh my God, how many times has he almost strangled her?! I have lost count. I could not help noticing each time though how Saboor Ali looked like a poor duck having its neck wrung! So now, choosni is locked up. As usual, Hammad was not there during the whole rishta and punishment scene. Seems like everything happens during his working hours.
I suppose this is Ashraf’s plan now. After wallowing in self pity, he has risen now to make everyone who ‘schemed’ against him pay. I am surprised he has not done anything truly nasty to Hammad yet. I felt for Shakeela today, torn between trying to do right by all her children and thought that Seemi Raheel has done justice to her character.
