The story is moving forward smoothly and the genuine characters in the play remain the highlight of the drama. Yes! Yousuf’s love for Zulekha cannot be explained in a logical way but I have absolutely no trouble relating to how Yousuf feels for Zulekha. Imran Abbas has played his role really well, I felt for Yousuf every step of the way today. Madiha’s character is one of a kind since if this was any other play Madiha would have been utilizing all her energies into creating some kind of a misunderstanding between Yousuf and Zulekha that would completely destroy any possibility of them getting together at some point. Madiha on the other hand stays very neutral when it comes to Yousuf’s love for Zulekha. When Zulekha called her today I was expecting her to say something that would end this chapter forever but quite contrary to my expectations Madiha’s love for Yousuf is completely selfless. She has been yearning for Yousuf’s love and attention since her school days but she is not going to use any kind of unfair tactics to win that love. It is refreshing to see all these sensible girls on screen who are anything but desperate. Mansha Pasha has brought out the best in her character by not making Madiha look like as big a victim as we were afraid she might turn out to be the ultimate bechari. The character has been written in a very balanced way as well. Madiha is a brave girl who knows how to handle her feelings but you do feel for her.
Zulekha’s conversation with Madiha clearly showed that she only felt sorry for Yousuf because whatever happened to him was very cruel and unfair. She feels absolutely nothing for Yousuf and she most certainly does not want to lead him on. Zulekha’s father’s insecurities and his selfishness are getting frightening with every passing episode. Noor Mohammad intends to go ahead with his wedding and also that of Zulekha at all costs. This arrangement probably suits him more now that he has his mind made up that he will get married to Lubna. He cannot think of a better way to punish Afia Begum and fix his bruised ego. Noor Mohammad fails to see his daughter as an individual, that is the reason why even after Zulekha openly shared her thoughts about her future her father did not even give it a second thought. Like a dictator he felt insecure but he did not feel the need to pay heed to what Zulekha had to say. Zulekha’s sermon about democracy fell on deaf ears because people like her father and brother do not believe in democracy but they believe in dominating and dictating. The only reason Zulekha and her sister haven’t grown up to be docile girls without any opinion is because of Afia Begum’s larger than life personality who has managed to be vocal and confident even after being married to someone like Noor Mohammad for all these years.
The way the policeman who was incharge of making sure that Yousuf gets punished was convinced of his innocence reminded me of how Khalil always managed to win everyone over because of his genuine feelings for Shano. This love story however is very different from that of Khalil and Shano’s love story because for now it is only one-sided. There wasn’t much of Afia Begum in tonight’s episode and I definitely missed her witty dialogues in tonight’s episode.
The word yakhni was overused in tonight’s episode and the yakhni played an important role in making Yousuf’s step-mother figure out what was going on. We also got to see a nice close-up of the yakhni which was quite convincing;) Yousuf’s step-mother’s role is another character which breaks away from all the clichés that have ever exited about step mothers! It seems like Yousuf’s father got married only recently therefore Yousuf still is finding it hard to accept his father’s new wife.
Overall, this episode was not very happening but it was pretty decent. The story is moving forward gradually and at the moment it looks like nothing can keep Noor Mohammad from getting his daughter married. All the actors are doing complete justice to their characters but Imran Abbas and Mansha Pasha’s performances stood out in tonight’s episode more than any other. All the scenes were short, to the point and shot beautifully. This episode of MNYH didn’t have the dhuwandaar dialogues like the ones in the previous few episode so I definitely missed those but I am definitely looking forward to the next episode because I can’t wait to find out how this love story unfolds.
Do share your thoughts about tonight’s episode.
Fatima Awan