This particular play, airing every Friday and Saturday at 8pm on HUM has been written by Umera Ahmed and directed by Saife Hassan. The story revolves around a married couple, Beena (Urwa Hocane) and Tabish (Ahsan Khan). They have been married for fourteen years and have two children. A rags to riches story, Tabish has aspirations of joining politics. He plans to remarry, as he believes he needs a spouse befitting his new status. The lady in question is his political secretary, Naz, who is educated, charming and extremely cultured. Initially, Beena is shattered, but then things take an unexpected turn, when she mysteriously disappears.
Without glorifying or extolling the virtues of running away, the play skillfully depicts the ramifications of trying to deal with a difficult situation by trying to escape from it. Although at first, Beena comes across as a simple, domesticated female, whose life revolves around her family; like an onion, the writer, Umera Ahmed, starts peeling off the layers. That is what makes Umera so special; her writing prowess and her ability to paint nuanced characters is remarkable, to say the least. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there is another twist, as another layer is peeled off, to reveal something new and hitherto unseen.
The flashbacks are instrumental in helping the viewers understand, what compelled Beena to take such a drastic step. A dutiful wife and an extremely loving daughter and sister-in-law, she gives her marital home everything that she has and much more; the flashbacks also reveal what a pure soul she is, as she selflessly gives it her all to make a success of her marital life. Material possessions never had any meaning for her and as we see in the initial episodes, she is still essentially the same woman, but her husband, due to his newfound wealth and status, has changed.
After all, how long can you keep pouring without replenishing your reserves of energy? The years of subservience and commitment have emotionally, mentally and psychologically exhausted and drained her and when her husband announces his intention to remarry; all those sacrifices and compromises seem to have been wiped off with a duster, leaving nothing behind.
The flashbacks help to put Beena’s current situation into perspective. For fourteen years, she kept giving and giving, to the extent that those who were taking started taking her for granted. She became like a piece of furniture in the house, rather than an individual in her own right. In her eagerness to make a success of her marriage, she bent over backwards to please her husband and inlaws and when watching the flashbacks, what comes to light is that she is a very loving and giving person and genuinely cares about her husband’s family.
Beena is to blame here also, in the sense that when an individual is a bit too caring and loving all the time, as mentioned earlier, people start taking them for granted. Their love and care becomes their biggest weakness and they start being abused and exploited. Her husband, when he married her, had nothing and the flashbacks depict all the sacrifices she made for her inlaws; by always putting them first. Maybe things would have been different if she had set boundaries and rather than devoting herself utterly and completely to her marital household, kept things in perspective.
Circumstances changed and Tabish became a multi-millionaire. As is inevitable, he changed and felt that he needed to upgrade his spouse as well as everything else. He has his eyes set on a career in politics and wishes to marry Naz, his political secretary, who being attractive, cultured and well-spoken, appears to be the right choice, befitting his new status in society. He needs a spouse, appropriate for his new found status in life but is unprepared for what ensues on the domestic front.
He underestimates his better half; after the initial shock wears off, she plans to teach him a lesson that he will not forget in a hurry. She elopes with Behram (Saif Ali Khan), a sabzi wala whose shop she often frequents, and the resulting humiliation and mortification suffered by her husband, is her way of paying him back in the same coin. She empties out their shared locker and takes all the money and jewellery to ensure her financial security.
Beena carries off her role with panache and emotes with those huge, innocent eyes of hers, which do all the talking. After fourteen years, when she finally feels things on the domestic front are somewhat stable and her husband is settled, he springs a surprise on her. All those years of slavish devotion, fidelity, attachment and commitment come to a head and as Shakespeare said, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!
This production offers an excellent insight into the double standards of society, especially the scene at the police station, where she confronts him. The hard hitting dialogues, dipped in acid, make a huge impact and leave an indelible mark on the viewers. Here is a woman, who has done everything in her power to cement her position in her marital home, only to be discarded like a piece of tissue, when she is no longer needed or of any use. Like obsolete technology, her husband plans to replace her with a newer, modern version in the shape of Naz.
Every character has been flawlessly crafted and perfectly executed and each episode brings a new twist. After emptying her reservoirs of devotion, love and commitment, when it is finally time to reap what she had sown; Beena is discarded like an old piece of machinery past its expiry date, worn out after years of overuse and misuse.
After all, how long can you keep pouring without replenishing your reserves of energy? The years of subservience and commitment have emotionally, mentally and psychologically exhausted and drained her and when her husband announces his intention to remarry; all those sacrifices and compromises seem to have been wiped off with a duster, leaving nothing behind. She feels used and abused and quite rightly so! A gem worth watching for the excellent social messages given throughout, aimed to make you think, ponder and reflect! Keep watching!