The questions! I watched one of these episodes with the kids around and the baby crying caught their attention and forget Sajal worrying about society’s questions, my kids had loads – why is the baby crying? Why is the mama just standing there? Is she naughty? Ohhh, why does the Khala have the baby? Is Khala naughty then? Ah – bingo! Khala is definitely ‘naughty’! Naughty being a milder version of the words that should be actually used to describe Sajal. She has convinced herself that Aina is manhoos and yes we had been dealing with that the past few episodes and although these also swayed in that direction, death of poor Nadia Bhabhi in the end took the focus off Aina and her manhoos-ness!
Even in her shock and depression, it was absolutely deplorable and unforgivable of Sajal to throw out her pregnant sister like that. Thank God for her neighbour who seems to be hanging around Sajal’s house more and well, good for Aina that she does for she manages to take her to the hospital in time. Sajal has a momentary twinge of guilty conscience or wait – was it because she was more concerned about the baby that she was adamant to pass of as her own? I was a bit upset when Faraz seemed to be a bit fed up with Aina in the previous episodes but I am glad he is sane and worries about her and has not begun to sing the same tune as his wife!
It was actually heartbreaking how Sajal does not want Aina around herself or Maaz and minces no words or misses no opportunity in making her feelings known. I liked what Faraz said about how they were daughters of one mother and to give up on the manhoos rant but Aina has become manhoos, bechari and now ayah Aina. I suppose one of the good things about this play is that where I had resigned myself almost to seeing Aina constantly in that light, I was pleasantly surprised to see how her neighbour managed to drill some sense into Aina. Till now Aina had accepted she had made a mistake and then was just going with the flow, patiently taking Sajal’s spiteful comments in stride but she seemed to rouse out of her slumber and went about looking for a job. I also liked how she gave Sajal the shut up call when she was ironing her clothes. Good for Aina!
I have to say this ‘when my wife is pregnant’ Mohsin is quite a pleasant man. He won me over with the ‘don’t cook, I will order something’. A man who makes that offer himself wins some serious brownie points in my opinion, haha! He has always been quite short with Nadia but I am glad that she felt loved these last few months. There is no love lost between him and Aina and while Sajal’s anger is a bit blown out of proportion, I sort of like how Faraz, Mohsin, Aina and Nadia’s personalities in relation to each other have been presented. They are family and have grown up together and raised by the same woman (well minus Nadia),so while they have their differences, nobody is out to cause any serious harm or grievance to another. The way Aina jumped in to help with Nadia’s situation and Mohsin is shown to worry about Aina being on her own just made the characters more relatable to me.
Poor Faraz – he should just not answer his mobile phone for each time he does it is only bad news. Once with Sajal’s fall, then Aina in the hospital and then Nadia. He should probably just give it to Aina who still does not have mobile phone I could not help notice! If she had rung Imran’s mother from her own phone, then when bari bi got off that bed in her sari to fetch the number she could have given Aina’s direct number and saved Imran the confusion caused by the housemaid answering the phone. Also, Aina could have avoided overhearing what Mohsin said when Nadia answered the phone thinking it was Sajal.
It would seem obvious now that Aina will step in or be thrown in by an eager Sajal to help take care of Mohsin’s children. I am honestly quite interested to see how things fare between Mohsin and Aina for I can not seem to recall any one on one interaction of the two and even amongst a crowd, Mohsin was always quite exasperated and far from fond of Aina and she did not seem to like him much either. Hoping to see much less of Sajal – this character has so much negativity that I am amazed Faraz still declares to be in love with her! Even before she was dealt the blow about not being able to conceive she has only constantly been mean to Aina and her self pity and self importance are getting on my nerves!
With Imran and Aini, I do not know, nikkah nama na hua tau magic wand ho gaya that as soon as they get married, their roles are reversed and Imran has the upper hand. Imran acts like he was bullied into a corner and finally gave in but now is seeking some pleasure from his spiteful acts but he fails to impress me. Definitely not rooting for him to patch up with Aina at some point and want to send him a virtual slap when he sinks into ‘I was made to give up my muhabbat’,etc!
I will be honest when I say the constant crying in the past few episodes had dampened my interest in this drama a bit which is also why I was not really eager to watch these episodes but they drew me in and I am glad to have the drama pick up again. I like Naveen Waqar as Aina because I feel she has portrayed her character really well. Sajal’s psychotic attitude must have rubbed off on me because I actually thought Emaad Irfani acted well in the hospital scene and I even shed a tear or two when he sat at Nadia’s deathbed. But jokes aside, I felt he was able to present a mellow, caring Mohsin much better than the head wobbling and about to blast off, angry Mohsin in the earlier episodes. I also like how Aina’s makeup and hair seems to be in line with her scenes where she is not heavily dolled up when she was in the hospital for instance. The simplicity of the clothes the characters wear, something which I would normally not notice, blends in nicely with the portrayal of a seemingly normal middle class family. I will miss poor Nadia for she was such a positive, pleasant character – but then lif moves on,eh?
What did you all think of these two episodes? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Kunwal Javid