I am a huge Umera Ahmed fan and follow her plays religiously; she is a class above the rest and gives us plays that are very inspiring.I feel that watching an Umera Ahmed play is more than just entertainment, it is a very educational experience as well. It is as if she thinks very hard before writing every single dialogue, the depth in her writing is unbeatable. And that is exactly the reason why I get so upset when I watch Umera Ahmed’s great writings affected by controversies when they go on air. When Shehr-e-Zaat went on air the scene of Falak performing ablution (wadhu) was put under scrutiny by many people and everyone was surprised that no one on the set knew that the way she was performing ablution was wrong. There were many other such careless mistakes or bloopers. For example Falak never wore a duppatta even after she turned towards religion. But all of that is done and dusted so let’s not talk about that.
Only two episodes of Zindagi Gulzar Hai have gone on air and without a doubt the play has a great deal going for it but I have to say with great sadness that the actors and unfortunately the director also has gone somewhat overboard when it comes to showing liberal people. Mehreen Raheel’s dressing is nothing new, sadly she does not consider the feelings of most of the people in Pakistan and dresses however she wishes. But what shocked me and many other people was the T-shirt that Ayesha Omer wore in the second episode, the T-Shirt had “Little Miss Jihad” written on it and it seemed like there was a bomb tied at the back of the scraf of the woman in the picture. And many people noticed and disliked it because the concept of jihad is very sacred to us and while we tolerate and somewhat accept all the modern wear in our dramas wholeheartedly but let us not make fun of our religion.
Everyone should have complete liberty to wear whatever they want to but the actors should think a great deal before wearing something that is bound to give rise to controversies. We all understand by now that Zaroon’s family is very modern but wearing such things just means that you are pressing the buttons of very emotional viewers who attach great respect to Umera Ahmed’s writings. Such bloopers (very careless mistakes) just leave a bad taste in the mouth and I can only wish that people who were involved with this project realize that they were wrong in letting Ayesha Omer wear this shirt. Even if she felt there was nothing wrong with it, there were many other people on the set who could point it out.
I really like everything about Zindagi Gulzar Hai till now and am hoping that we will not be seeing more of such things in the future because these are the things that can be easily avoided and can hurt people’s feelings. What do you people think? Am I being over emotional? Please correct me if I am wrong and share your feelings.
Saud.
