Overconfidence in one’s abilities or in one’s self in general can land people in situations they could never have imagined and quite often if the person is open minded enough or is over confident for long enough it can also lead to self discovery and also enables you to look at people more objectively in the long run. Zaroon’s overconfidence is what made him take up Kashaf as a challenge and he has no idea what he is getting himself into. There is a reason why it is believed that overconfidence can have great motivating value, just look at the enthusiasm with which Zaroon is trying to woo Kashaf. Zaroon thinks that it will take Kashaf only one week to fall for his charm but any objective viewer can tell that Kashaf is going to be a tough nut to crack.

After Maria tells Zaroon that Kashaf has a very low opinion of him and she couldn’t care less about him or his friends Zaroon considers it his ‘duty’ to prove her wrong, even if that meant apologizing to Kashaf and bearing some more insults from her with a smile on his face. At this point I think that Zaroon is making a total fool out of himself and I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying it! His opinion about Kashaf is so wrong but how would he know that since Zaroon can never be wrong about any girl….that is why they say that overconfidence is bad thing because it indulges people in wishful thinking and Zaroon is the king of wishful thinking! It was rather strange the way Maria tells Zaroon what Kashaf thinks about him right on his face since she is very fond of him but I guess she holds her ‘friend’ dearer. Zaroon’s apology lifts a big burden off of Kashaf’s shoulder but she can’t help but wonder what exactly is the reason behind Zaroon’s sudden change of behaviour. I must say though that the burden being relieved factor would have been more relatable if we had seen a few more encounters between the two.

It was actually inspiring to see Kashaf’s sisters tutoring children in order to earn the much needed money. A family like Kashaf’s can find their way out of anything since they do not believe in relying on anyone else but exploit their own abilities to the maximum. And the great thing is that we never see these girls complaining, they consider it their duty to help their mother out and do not expect anything to be served to them on a silver platter. I am certain that there are many families out there who work hard day and night to make ends meet with their heads help up high, in fact there are many such women around me who walk miles to tutor children and toil hard to stand on their own. Kahsaf’s desire to change the way things are not just for her mother but her sisters as well is what motivates her to do her best in her studies and that is probably why she is rewarded too.

Today for the first time Sara started the conversation with Zaroon and we all got to find out more about her relationship with her fiancé and also about how she expects her relationship with him to be. I agree with Zaroon that both the partners should work in order to make a relationship last but Sara believes that she does not need to compromise. Zaroon’s opinion about women in general comes from what he has observed in his household and that may also be the reason why he likes women running after him, call it a reaction!

Although Murtaza would gladly leave Rafia alone but his second wife just won’t let him be. The most startling part was when Murtaza blames Rafia for his brother not giving him his due share from the money he got from selling the house, the man is completely blinded and no matter how hard Rafia and his daughters try to stay out of his way, he will always find some excuse to blame them for everything that goes wrong with his life. Rafia is an easy punching bag for him and he makes the most of it! He dare not blame his second wife for anything because she won’t allow it. Rafia maybe economically independent but she also wants the society’s “consent” and it is a fact that leaving Murtaza, no matter how useless he maybe, will only cause more problems for her. Besides, for women like Rafia it is not that easy to leave their husbands. I think the portrayal of Murtaza and Rafia is perfect. No doubt Murtaza is just ‘naam ki chaoun” but like Rafia says “darwaza band kurne ke lie thori si himat ki zarurat hoti hai”.

I have to say that I am glad that I have not read the novel since that saves me from continuously comparing the play with the novel. I think Zindagi Gulzar Hai till now has proven to be quite engaging; in fact I think it is one of the best plays on air right now minus the never ending and unnecessary scenes of Muratza’s second wife in particular. I am definitely looking forward to more of Zindagi Gulzar Hai and enjoying it thoroughly. Kashaf and Zaroon both are very interesting characters and the story is unfolding nicely.

Fatima Awan.

Despite of the fact that there were hardly any Zaroon/Kashaf interactions in today’s episode, I enjoyed this latest installment primarily because the acting was top notch and some of the scenes were really cute. My favorite scene from today’s episode had to be the one in which Zaroon asks Sara to stitch his shirt’s button. The conversation made me chuckle and we also found out that Zaroon does not only want a wife who dresses up “appropriately”, is not partying all the time , listens to him but also one who knows how to stitch a broken button! Zaroon tells Sara, “mei aisi biwi le ke nahi aaun ga jise button lagana na ata ho”. Sometimes I really do feel for poor Zaroon, where would he be without the maids in the house. Realistically speaking how many men actually do know how to stitch a button? Non that I know! Why did every conversation today lead to Zaroon’s family convincing him that he was ‘destined” to marry Asmara? Although Zaroon made it clear that he needs time to think things over. There is a very good reason why Sara and Ghazala find absolutely nothing wrong with Asmara. Ghazala even thinks Asmara would be ideal for Zaroon. The statement just went to show how little Ghazala knows about her own son. Ghazala was never there for her children even when they were little and as Zaroon pointed out she was too busy making a career, no wonder Zaroon does not want a wife like Ghazala and Sara. Zaroon may have all the worldly riches one could wish for but there is most surely a big vacuum in his life, he longs for his mother to spend time with him. Sara is quite content with her life and does not expect the same from her mother. Zaroon is always the one who starts the conversation with Sara or shares things with her; we have not seen Sara sharing anything with her brother yet. Most often when the two are talking, Sara is the one who ends the conversation.

Zaroon is very protective about the women in his life, whether it is his mother, sister or Asmra (girlfriend?). Zaroon’s character is very relatable since most men in our society think like that and the truth is that ours is a male dominated society where men can get away with many things which women can’t even imagine venturing into. Women are constantly judged and hardly anyone questions a male for his actions.

Rafia was flawless as usual, I simply love the character and Samina Peerzada has been brilliant right from the start. Rafia does not for a second consider Sajjad’s proposal even though she knows that she will have to pay a very heavy price for refusing the proposal. I was moved to bits when she said, “mei is ghar ke badlay apni beti ki zindagi tabah nahi kur skti”. Rafia has her priorities set very straight and she will not falter no matter what. I did feel that Kashaf may have went overboard when she confronted her father and asked him to  leave them alone but then I was also glad that it may rid Kashaf and her family of Murtaza forever. She was right, he is no real help and Rafia and her daughters are better off without him. The mother/daughter scene that followed was very heart touching.

Kashaf’s complaints towards Allah were overdone in today’s episode and it would have been better if the dialogues were more subtle. I think we all know by now that Kashaf feels that Allah has been unfair to her, saying such things constantly especially when the dialogues are right in your face is not very pleasing.

Zaroon and Kashaf apparently have had regular confrontations in the class but we got to see none of them but only heard about them from Osama, Maria, Kashaf and Zaroon. I wonder why the confrontations were not shown at all since it seems like the story is already going to move forward in the next episode. We heard the gist of it all and I believe the viewers are expected to be content with that. There were so many of us who were looking forward to the confrontation scenes but the precap suggested that the story will move to the next level in the upcoming episode so apparently the heated class discussions between the two were not part of the play at all.

There were many mistakes in Sanam Saeed’s dialogue delivery today where she missed some words from different dialogues and it was a little too obvious that she is not very comfortable with Urdu. Overall, Sanam Saeed did a good job but I think that those few scenes should have been shot again. She looked absolutely beautiful in the close up in which she is resting her head on the table and thinking about how blessed Zaroon and Asmara are.

We only got to hear about Sajjad paying Rafia a visit and the way Rafia told him off, I did feel like the scene was missing from the episode. Although it was not a very important detail but too much of what happened today was more of what we heard from others than watching it ourselves. I am glad though that Asmara’s outfit was not as outrageous as it was meant to be and that particular “detail’ was left to our imagination.

Today’s episode ended at a very exciting note and I am waiting to find out what is it that Sir Ibrar told Zaroon that made him take Kashaf up as a challenge! Kashaf is sure to give Zaroon a very tough time and even though we may have not seen much of Kashaf/Zaroon till now but the next episode promises a lot of both of them together. Overall, even with a few flaws here and there today’s episode was engaging and I am expecting the next episode to be quite happening.

Fatima Awan.

Finally, today we all witnessed the second heated confrontation between Zaroon and Kashaf and I enjoyed every second of it. I really did think though that Kashaf was getting personal and taking something that Zaroon said in general terms, personally too. Zaroon’s statement in the class was not about a certain class but about the nation in general but Kashaf obviously felt he had no right to “label” all Pakistanis since there were people like her in Pakistan too who had worked very hard to get where they were today. Nevertheless, I did feel that it was actually Kashaf who over-reacted and not Zaroon. And I am so glad that the two of them actually have a very good reason now to be infuriated with each other’s behavior and I am also hoping that we will be seeing much more of Kashaf and Zaroon confrontations/interactions in the future episodes as well. Zaroon did say later on that Kashaf always has a problem with whatever he says in the class so lets just ‘assume’ that the two of them have had such heated discussions in the past too.

Ample screen time was given to the Zaroon and Asmara conversations and I must say that I want to see less of Zaroon and Asmara and more of Zaroon and Kashaf. The Zaroon/Asmara scenes are getting highly repetitive already because every time the two talk to each other whether it is on the phone or in the university all we see is a very annoyed Asmara asking Zaroon how much she hates it when he talks to other girls. Well apparently Asmara is not the only one who gets jealous when Zaroon talks to other girls but Zaroon also admitted today that he does not like it when Asmara talks to other boys and Asmara was also surprised to hear that ‘all of a sudden” Zaroon was afraid of commitment. Does that mean that Zaroon made a commitment to her in the past? Well the conversation that the two had in the car suggests that he did not but then he did not exactly tell her that they were just friends but only this that he wants to concentrate on his studies for now. Honestly speaking some of the dialogues were quite misleading and it seemed like a classic Madiha/Rohail scenario! Can I please make a special request to the producers to not cast these two together ever again because I am sure many of us have had more than our fair share of Mehreen Raheel falling for Fawad Khan.

Kashaf dislikes Asmara for being proud and full of herself but at the same time she envies her because she has everything that a girl can wish for and more; good looks and a man who loves her so much (or so she thinks!). Although Kashaf is dead against marriage but the fact is that like any other girl her age she also longs to have someone in her life who would make her feel special too. She thinks that apart from having good looks and money, having someone who loves you is what makes life perfect. When Maria asks Kashaf how she feels about Zaroon, she gives a very honest answer but even Kashaf has a hard time denying the fact that Zaroon is the most good looking boy in the class.

Kashaf’s conversation with her mother today where she asks her mother why she did not leave all her daughters with the father seemed somewhat childish coming from someone like Kashaf, it was very cute and showed how much she cared for her mother but did not seem in line with Kashaf’s character.

Today’s episode was more about Zaroon and Asmara than anyone else, also much of it focused on problems in Kashaf’s household. I would really like to see more of the University life focusing on Zaroon and Kashaf of course. Although till now I have been supporting Kashaf all along but today I felt like Zaroon was justified in feeling that Kashaf was attacking him personally for no reason. He maybe a flirt and have a “loose character’ but I have not seen him bragging about his wealth till now but he is someone who has also worked hard to get where he is today.

Overall, this latest episode lacked the intensity that was there in the past few episodes, maybe because a lot of what happened did not add anything new to the story and gave no new insights into the characters. If I had a choice I would honestly forward the Zaroon/Asmara scenes in particular, they are killing all the fun for me. I am really looking forward to watching the next episode and finding out how the story unfolds and hoping Asmara won’t be around till the end!

Fatima Awan.