Remember our board game? Maami’s intervention, Shariq’s wedding, Naimat Chacha tracking Zoya down – no game. Then Shariq formally asks for Zoya’s hand in marriage – six! Zoya’s parents are agreeable to the idea – double six! Zoya confesses to her mother that she is in love with Shariq – triple six – except that leads you back to square one, doesn’t it for Naimat Chacha opposes the marriage and announces if Zoya remarries she must give Sameer up. Shame! Anyways, after his wife’s grief and resentment all comes pouring out it opens Naimat Chacha’s eyes and he agrees to the marriage and steps back.
But then Zoya is adamant that her whole family must know about Shariq’s first wife. She has no qualms about being his second wife though for when Shariq’s mother rings her and asks her the reason for her initial refusal and wants to know if Saba was the reason her prompt ‘no no’ made me cringe. True, Shariq and Saba’s marriage is not exactly shaadi of the year but well she is his first wife and I do not know, it would have made me like Zoya a bit more if she was shown to give some thought to Saba and how she is to fit in all this but heck no, all Zoya really thinks about is Zoya herself. I am honestly a bit confused – are we meant to like Zoya? I have never felt so detached and unfeeling about a female lead in a drama before – well none that I can recall right now! All Shariq has ever seen Zoya do is sit, cry or run off to the train station – and that has made this hugely successful and confident man fall hook, line and sinker for Zoya and have her inertia and faarighness rub off on him too?! When she weeps to Shariq keh shadi nahin ho sakti I thought oh man! And then when everyone finally agrees to the marriage she is weeping again ‘I can not lie, I can not forget Azmeer’. If this was meant to be an emotional or touching moment, which I imagine it may have been it fell flat because Zoya’s constant gloom and misery is becoming so stifling that it would have been nice to see her say something positive for a change!
Shariq’s emotional speech broke through any hostility and barriers in Zoya’s household and even Naimat Chacha finally gives his blessing. The conversation between Saba and Shariq was awkward to watch. Shariq’s mother pressured Shariq into the marriage and well, he did marry Saba – where does he plan to fit her in all this? Saba’s excitement over having Zoya to talk to and Sameer to play with was horrifyingly similar to the thoughts of a child excited over the prospect of a mother figure rather than sautan coming! And how does Shariq plan to juggle two marriages?! I am unable to manage two dishes on the stove – while bhunning the chicken, I end up burning the onions in the other one then how does he imagine to manage two wives within the same house and feel he has been fair to both. (Yes, I know I just compared marriage to cooking but oh well!). Yes, I know the marriage between Saba and Shariq is anything but a marriage but well she is his wife and if she is just an inconvenience I would still like to think that he has more consideration and more in mind for her than just another person living in his house.
Saba is shown to be ecstatic over Zoya’s arrival but we see her give into a pensive moment or two and I wonder what is brewing there? Will she begin to feel jealousy now and will Zoya and Shariq mil kar help her recover from her childhood trauma? Why isn’t Maami coming to check on Saba now – I have a feeling she will show up now that Zoya is back.
Interestingly, in today’s episode what I found the most riveting was not Saba’s track (which has taken a back seat for a while anyway) or Shariq and Zoya’s track (yawn) but the scene between Naila and Shahnawaz. When I saw the tears streaming down Naila’s face when her mother in law has her emotional breakdown I wondered if her heart had softened. But she is spitting venom when she taunts Shahnawaz over his ‘grief’ over letting Zoya go. Shahnawaz had lied to his father about being the one not able to impregnate his wife so that nobody would be able to point any fingers at Naila. Can I just say that I wince each time the word kammi is used in this type of conversation. Even if the spouse does not want to hurt the other, to lay the responsibility at the feet of that person with that word just sounds so distasteful to me. It was truly nice to see this side of Shahnawaz though and it was different to see how a man can take this upon himself so as to not have anyone treat his wife less or force him to be unfair to her by remarrying. Normally it is the man who taunts the wife in our dramas and it was really interesting to see Naila do the same for I am sure this is not too far from reality either. Naila is shocked and then thoroughly ashamed of herself. I wonder if Shahnawaz will forgive her for her insensitivity or whether her true colors have made him dislike her now. More than Saba, Shariq and Zoya I am interested to see the outcome of Naila-Shahnawaz – now what does this tell you about the state of this drama, ha!
It was actually a relief to see Sana Javed smiling in the last few scenes of this episode and I hope she has shrugged off her lethargy for good. Seems like she has passed it off to Sameer for kia say kia ho gaya hai but Sameer has just remained in that annoying cushion thing without a single cry or wriggle! Shariq residence seems to be one big happy family – but is it? Intezaar for next week – surprisingly (not!) I am not counting the minutes till then! Glad to know with the comments last week that I am not the only one who tunes into this drama – would love to hear your thoughts on this episode!
Kunwal Javid
