This episode showed us the characters moving into new phases of their lives – Saleem’s inclination towards Gulshan Ara and her family, Noor’s pregnancy and positive developments in Waseem and Zeb’s relationship. I am not sure what Khawar stands to gain by pushing Saleem towards Gulshan Ara but he seems to be making it his mission and Saleem, out of a sense of duty for his friend and also to upkeep his reputation as the respectable businessman of the neighbourhood, agrees to go deliver the grocery items to Gulshan’s house. While I found Saleem’s reactions and expressions to be spot on, the actress playing Gulshan Ara seemed to grate on my nerves. Do women trying to ‘ensnare’ a man really talk and act like that and do men fall for it? Hmm!
As far as the drama goes, Saleem seemed to be lapping it up but for now he just seems to be loving the attention being paid to him by all these women and does not seem to be blown away by Gulshan just yet. His mother and siblings love him but hearing Noor’s praise being sung day and night has started to make him feel like she has his family wrapped round her little finger and they do not love, appreciate or respect him anymore. That feeling has only magnified of late and enter Tabassum khala and her daughters and all the respect and attention and sweet talk really boosted his ego. Saleem has always been easily influenced by his friends but what I liked was that beneath all that he would have a twinge of guilt where he would question his own actions sometimes. He seems to have left all that behind and is increasingly only annoyed with Noor.
Noor fainted hence Noor is pregnant. Because obviously the two go hand in hand in our dramas. While Saleem’s family and Noor are overjoyed with this news, Saleem is nowhere to be found. Saleem’s mother’s overly dramatic and excited actions seemed a bit OTT initially but I have come to see her as a simple woman who is easily overwhelmed by her feelings and does not try to channel them or present them a certain way. Her reaction at the pregnancy did make me smile. For the first time, I truly disliked Saleem for his retorts and snide remarks when Noor tries to tell him about her pregnancy. Also, for the first time, the whole ‘I want to say/ meri baat sunein’ being left hanging in the air did not bother me for Noor could hardly be expected to just blurt out the news of the baby when Saleem was being mean or yelling at her to hurry on with his breakfast. I felt for her then and while his remarks and attitude were uncalled for and unnecessarily unfair, there was a hint of truth to them for well, that is pretty much all she says to Saleem. I like Noor but I feel she is forever trying to correct him and that makes Saleem get his back up even more. It takes two to tango and Saleem has made zilch effort to make this marriage work but while it is lovely that Noor cares about his family, maybe she could have spent more time trying to connect with him and understand him. I am not saying she is to blame, not at all or that Saleem is justified in his behaviour, except that Noor is maybe a tad too perfect and holier than thou and that irks me, I mean Saleem (!!) just a bit.
I cringed at the conversation between Noor’s older sister and her husband. When she says that a sensible loving woman is able to keep her husband from being drawn to another man, I thought automatically of Noor. For Noor is sensible and she does love Saleem and is right there in his house – yet it obviously appears that he is about to be drawn to another woman’s charms. With the exception of Saleem, Waseem and Zeb have everyone’s blessings and I liked how Zeb’s father says to her that there is nothing wrong with liking someone. With the exception of Noor’s older sister’s mother in law, I also like how the elders in this drama are sensible and positive characters.
I am curious to see what Saleem’s reaction will be when he hears he is about to become a father and whether, like Noor believes, this will change his attitude towards her at all? Is Gulshan Ara a short time distraction or will this end in marriage and will Noor find out? The two dramas penned by Sarwat Nazir that I have watched lately present a happy ending for the female lead at least but not necessarily with the male lead so I am curious to see how this plays out. I had difficulty linking Ayesha Khan to Noor at first but her hurt and feelings were very aptly portrayed in tonight’s episode especially her final scenes with Syed Jibran. Syed Jibran has totally won me over as the insecure, uneducated man who is easily swayed by anyone but his family. His mannerisms and expressions especially in his scenes with Gulshan Ara were so good that even though I can see where this is headed and I should dislike him, he still made me laugh. To be honest, I missed that there was not much screen time devoted to Saleem and Noor’s scenes together in this episode and was not very interested in Gulshan Ara or Zeb and Waseem’s track and hope to see more of Noor and Saleem in the next episode for that is another reason I find myself drawn to dramas penned by Sarwat Nazir that she focuses on the lead couple’s relationship with each other. What did you all think of this episode and the latest developments? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Kunwal Javid
