Ever since I started watching Pakistani dramas, I hardly came across any such drama in which a lady is not madly in love or should I say highly obsessed with a guy and mostly the guy is her ‘cousin’. My question is that does love make you so worthless that you forget the meaning of rarely portrayed word nowadays called ‘self respect’? How come they never pay heed to the fact that getting married to the guy of your dreams is not the last thing to do on this planet? And mostly the person behind all these high expectations is the mother of the girl who can do anything to make her sister’s or brother’s son her son-in-law as if he is the only guy left on this planet who can marry her daughter, otherwise she’ll be left spinster. That is still bearable as long as they don’t start playing cheap tricks to get their purpose. We often see that the guy gets married to ‘not-the-choice-of-his-family’ and then the actual game begins where in laws particularly the mother never misses an opportunity to show the girl her right place. What a productive act to do! Never mind, what else can we expect from the least tolerant and jealous mother-in-law? This topic is done to death and still the favorite choice of makers since it gets high TRPs. There is a list of those dramas in which women are shown highly desperate, brushing their dignity under carpet and showcasing themselves despite getting rejected and knowing the zero interest level of the guy in them. Why is it so? Being a girl, it bothers me how my gender is shown purposeless and worthless.
Here is a list of those dramas in which girls were shown highly desperate:
Sara in Humsafar:
Despite being a ‘Hit’ drama and the favorite of all, Humsafar does have some clichéd parts to its credit and i-e, a desperate girl day dreaming of the hero despite knowing that ‘Asher ne usko us nazar se kabhi nahin dekha’ LOL. Sara was educated, beautiful, had a sound background and above all had many proposals as highlighted in the drama but we found her screaming ‘Asher mera hai’, as if she bought him from the market. Two mothers were behind this entire self created obsession as they kept injecting into her that one day she’ll get married to Asher. But that day never came and she lost her life committing suicide. Seriously? Getting Asher was the sole purpose of that educated working woman? She could do much better with her life but the whole story revolved around the obsession she had. The drama was a hit but had a typical story.
Arzoo in Kankar:
Arzoo was once again a desperate girl after a good looking man. Sikandar told Arzoo again and again that he was not interested in her but No, she decided to get as desperate as anyone could get and didn’t pay heed to what he said. The woman behind this was her mother. I don’t understand one thing, when a guy says No, does it mean Yes? It’s a famous saying that if a girl says No it means Yes. But I think these girls have taken this for boys. After Sikandar’s and Kiran’s divorce, Arzoo being an ultimate desperate got convinced to marry Sikandar despite knowing that he rejected her ruthlessly. Can someone stoop to that level? Kindly show some dignity in females, they are not as disrespectful as they are shown in our dramas.
Jeena in Mann Mayal:
The flavor of the season, the favorite of all *coughing sarcasm* it’s none other than Mann Mayal. I doubt my level of intelligence when I find some people drooling over and praising this ‘master piece’. Jeena set the goals for all the desperate people out there, who want to but can’t do anything. She knew it clearly that Salahuddin was not interested in her at all but continued with her childish acts to impress him. Salahuddin on the other hand was shown a baby with a pacifier who couldn’t understand her intentions and could not give her a shut up call. We saw them getting engaged haphazardly and Jeena left no stone unturned to sustain that engagement despite knowing that Salahuddin was hopelessly in love with Mannu; a mother of three children. And the desperation goes on. Jeena left the world saying ‘Mera to naam he Jeena tha, mujhy to abhi aur Jeena tha’. How deep! I almost drowned. Can you be in a relationship with someone who has that much of interest in you that he’ll not even think once before calling off the engagement? And you are begging like anything. And not only this, we saw her having an affair with Jameel(a servant) to get her purpose. How shameful!
Mannu in Mann Mayal:
Mannu left her home in a filmy and dramatic way and stopped at the doorstep of Salahuddin. She was hopelessly in love with him and didn’t think about the reputation of her family and even her own self respect. What bothered me the most was the way in which all this was shown. They showed it in a very positive light that a girl being bold enough to run away like this but a cowardly guy who can’t take a step forward but this boldness is highly unacceptable in our society. We all know that how a ‘ghar se bhagi hui larki’ is treated after marriage. So what was the point in glamorizing all this? For what? Ratings? And that very same Mannu decided to forgive Salahuddin at the end. Very respectful I must say.
Sajjal in Mol:
Again, we saw a hero with zero interest level in the girl and a girl desperate enough to become the second wife after getting rejected at first. The theme is simple, run after the one who shows you how unimportant and worthless you are for him. But you being ‘dheet’ enough will wait until you get the opportunity to throw yourself at him. Why are these girls shown so numb that they don’t care about the rejection they get? And that also by a man? Please girls show some self respect! Sajjal’s mother was as usual behind this. I wonder why these mothers don’t care about the dignity of their daughters. Okay, we all know that love sometimes make you do such things that shouldn’t be done but what happened to these mature ladies? What will the man think after marriage? This is the girl who was dying for me. *Sigh*
Shazia in Mausam:
Shazia was another example of desperation personified. Throughout the drama she tries to get Hashir knowing that he only loves Saman. She lied to him about Saman’s marriage and continued with all her efforts till the end where she finally found that he wasn’t meant to be with her. Why after so much time our ladies come to know that the boy is NOT INTERESTED? Koi zabardasti hai? Why don’t you find someone who admires you and your presence? This world is big enough to accommodate at least one such person. Go and find him. Please leave this uninterested guy alone! Please!
Daniya in Bunty I Love You:
Daniya was shown a widow in her 30’s and she was highly obsessed with a guy who was of the same age, the age in which Daniya got married to an old fellow ‘Patel’. Bunty started living with Daniya, got everything through her, all the things he could only dream of before he met this lady. He had no feelings for her but Daniya continued to make efforts to get that guy and she paid heavy amounts to all the girl friends of Bunty who came in her way. We were shown that if you can’t make a guy fall in love with you then start buying all those girls who come in your way and don’t you ever care that you are a human and above all ‘a girl’ who can die but can’t stoop to that level. The story was itself bold enough and was all about the obsession of a lady with a boy who was even not so appealing in the first place. Just because he was young enough, Daniya fell head over heels for him. What a desperation I must say!
Tahira in Saya e Dewar Bhi Nahi:
Tahira knew that Haider was madly in love with Shehla, instead of showing an ounce of self respect her family tried to get her married to Haider through Jirgaa system. It’s like forcefully throwing yourself at someone. And after she got married to Haider, we saw her saying that ‘Main to Haider aur Shehla ke bech nahin ayi thi na’. This lady had probably weak memory. She could easily refuse to get married to Haider who was not-at-all interested in her and was just pressurized. She could take a step back but she chose to become a ‘Kabab mein haddi’. *Sigh*
So these are some characters that bring desperation to a whole new level. Kindly share your thoughts.
Amna