So there have been a few developments in these three episodes. All the questions that kept popping up were answered. Saima’s first husband Haris had been an old friend of Hassan’s. He goes to visit his friend’s widow once and the next time he visits her, he finds Saima lying in a pool of blood. I had so many questions in that episode alone but thankfully they were all answered quickly. I wondered how Saima could attempt to take her own life when she was solely responsible for her little children now? I wondered, that no matter how deep her grief, how could she still be walking around zombie like and depressed even after all these years, not caring seemingly about the psychological effect it would have on her children.
Mehr’s initial meeting cum confrontation with Saima ended with Mehr rushing out. I could totally relate to how she came back, wanting to find answers to her questions. I mean, I wanted the answers man!! Woh tau phir bhi Hassan ki biwi thi! Saima apparently suffers from clinical depression, an illness her late husband had been aware of and the treatment of which had caused him to run up such huge debts which she was now left to pay off. I am no psychologist and do not know the intricate details of how such an illness is treated or how deeply it affects the person but I suppose this is why Saima behaves the way she does and answers my questions as to how she could not seem to ‘snap’ out of her grief and be strong for her children.
Anyway, she is too proud to accept ‘charity’ from Hassan when he offers to help. I did like the line he used – how Allah nay boht nawaaza hai. It was nice to hear a rich man sound humble for a change. So then he offers to marry her so that she may accept financial help from him as a husband. Hassan wants to tell Mehr about the ‘arrangement’ but when he returns to Karachi she is unwell and later he seemingly lacks the courage to do so. Saima sensing his discomfort upon his visits tells him he need not visit them regularly and so in essence that is all their relationship ends up being – one of financial aid.
Mehr returns to Karachi and shares what she has learnt with Haider and Alia. The crickets are outraged – sorry, I meant Haider is outraged (I really wish they would do away with that weird crickets background music whenever Haider appears). Anyways, his anger is understandable but what enrages him further is that, we learn Hassan has left a share in his inheritance to Saima’s children. When Haider insists that he will not let this happen, I found it odd for Hassan had signed off on everything and how could he put a stop to this. But as he says to Junaid later that if he does not tell them – they would never know. Hmm.
Meanwhile, Zaina and Hamza are playing ‘lurrve-lurrve’ , blissfully unaware of how truly ‘connected’ they really are! Alia and her mum are planning the next phase in their Haider Control Plan – nothing new there. If I breathed a sigh of relief that Minahil will not turn into the obsessive, scheming rejected girl tau another one in the form of Hamza’s ‘fraand’ Areeba shows up. Sigh.
Saman (Huma Nawab) – I do not know why I feel compelled to explain in each review that Saman is Huma Nawab (or Huma Nawab is Saman?) . Probably because nobody really talks to Saman and she ‘bhatkofies’ here and there adding nothing substantial to anyone’s life. When she says to Junaid upon learning Hassan’s secret how we really do not anyone then and then asks which meeting he is going to I snorted with laughter at Junaid’s stupidity – really?! Why would he tell Saman such a thing?! But yayy good for Saman – she has two hobbies now. Constant shak on Junaid and how to get Minahil married off to Hamza! Aha Saman, life’s not so boring now, eh?
Surprisingly what is the most (only?) appealing part of this drama is the Mehr-Saima track. I know Saima has a filmy touch and I do prefer Samina Peerzada but I believe both women are powerful actresses and I felt their emotions strongly in their meetings. When Saima rings Mehr to ask for financial help, the way she spoke, the way Mehr replied and listened without the extra dramatic uffs and eye rolling and her hand flew to her neck – it brought tears to my eyes. Especially when Saima threw in the ‘mum’ card and I felt a lump in my throat. I thought of my own munchkins then and marvelled at how being a mother you do not want to see your children suffer in the slightest – or anyone else’s. Yeah yeah, I know it is only a drama so I will stop with the senti-bit but still! I am all for love stories and young couples but strangely this extra focus on the two ‘older’ wives and the different approach is working for me – for now.
It seems quite obvious that now Haider will do whatever he can to make sure Saima and her children do not get any financial help. Mehr has been shown to be soft from the beginning and believes they are not the gold diggers Haider makes them out to be so I suppose she will try to intervene for them. It is interesting how everyone’s emotions are different – Haider’s hatred towards Saima and her children, Mehr blaming Hassan more than she blames Saima, Zaina’s anger at Hassan and his other family. What did tug at my heart was in an earlier episode when Mehr reads a card Saima’s son sends to Hassan – how hard it must be to know you have a ‘father’ and not being able to reach out to him.
I thought Judai had nothing new to offer and in a way it does seem that the story will flow in a particular predictable way but I like it so far. I watched it weekly and was frustrated with the pace but then that was also due to how Hassan dragged out the ‘secret’. I watched these three episodes in one day and am interested to see what happens next.
Oh, so I finally learnt that Imran Aslam’s character’s name is Zaryan. When Saima rings Mehr she says ________ bol rahi hoon. Now I think she said Gaiti but I was not sure so I deliberately stuck to referring to her as Saima in this review but would love if someone could tell me if that is what she said?
How many of you have been following Judai and watched these episodes? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Kunwal Javid
