Pehchaan: A Whirlwind of Emotions

Some dramas can go on air and continue airing and are completely neglected by the general audience throughout its run.  Pehchaan falls into this category.

With a not-very-popular cast (barring Alishba Yousef) and the fact that it's airing on A-Plus, a channel which I feel gets ignored despite airing some real gems, Pehchaan has managed to make very few waves with the audience (at least from what I've seen).  This is strange, because like Talkhiyan, Khalid Ahmed and Bee Gul's last joint venture, Pehchaan is equally as deep, moving and powerful.  Like Talkhiyan, Pehchaan hits the audience in the stomach repeatedly, yet the viewer feels the need to come back for more and more pain.  I can't claim to fall into a different category: I only recently stumbled across this masterpiece and indulged in a back-to-back marathon of 18 episodes, spellbound.

When the drama began, the pace felt slow, sluggish....but knowing the path Talkhiyan took, I knew this pace would not last.  What transpired before my eyes ended up being a beautiful story of societal norms, expectations and the price of being "independent."

Each and every character is flawed.  They are human.  With each episode, I found my eyebrows furrowed, sometimes out of horror, sometimes confusion, sometimes extreme irritation.....but the power of this story is that you feel connected to these characters.

Laila, a once independent, young, smart woman who had dreams of pursuing her education is bullied into marriage by her mother, despite the protests of her supportive father (Qazi Wajid).  Laila is married to Mansoor (Sohail Sameer) and does everything she can to make her marriage work, despite Mansoor's neglect, disinterest and distant personality.  The two have a child together, which further ties Laila to Mansoor.  Laila is an intelligent woman and inwardly realizes that there's another woman involved, yet society has taught her to keep silent and endure.  "Sabar" and compromise are words that are always thrown at girs, taught that it's their job to make a marriage work.  But what if the marriage has no hope, no respect. no love?  Laila's mother has fallen into the social trap of "What will people think?" and it is this trap that she uses to try to control Laila, keep Laila glued to her marriage and that she falls into, turning a blind eye to every bad habit of her son-in-law.  It has to be said that the father-daughter relationship between Laila and her father is a beautiful one and you find yourself wishing that every Pakistani woman could have such a father.  If they did, fighting societal pressures would be made so much easier.  Alishba Yousef is doing a wonderful job playing the role of Laila and making her feel like "the ordinary girl."  This could be you.  This could be me.

The character of Mansoor, played by Sohail Sameer, is neither one of "pure evil" nor is he anyone the audience can possibly have a soft spot for.  He does, in fact, play the role of the perfect male hypocrite that is so common in our society.  No, this is not a role meant to trigger male-bashing nor does this show promote female superiority.  It does however highlight some double-standards that our society plays up to.  We see Mansoor carrying on a relationship with Kuku, despite having a wife and child.  Yet when his wife finds out about it, he is "relieved" at no longer having to hide the sham and continues chasing Kuku under his wife's nose.  Yet when Mansoor realizes Laila is accompanying her friend Saadi on a trip, he begins throwing words like "Izzat" in her face, telling her that he will be shamed by her actions.  Kuku points this out to Mrs. Khan during a discussion:  Why is it that when a man acts inappropriately, his wife's "izzat" is not affected, yet when a woman is "shamed," the man's honor is damaged?  Why does our society carry this double-standard?  What is bad for one should be bad for the other.

We come to Kuku, who is in theory nothing but a home-wrecker......but is she?  She's the image of what the "modern, independent woman" is supposed to be.  But we witness that Kuku has had her share of struggles, bad relationships, a bad marriage, conflicted emotions and hey!  Kuku even has a strong conscience!  Iffat Omer has done a great job of making the character of Kuku lovable, relatable and making the audience feel as though "This could be any one of us."  Kuku is a victim of circumstance and society.  She knows right and wrong, yet her life doesn't allow her to live a squeaky-clean existence.

On the other end Mrs Khan, played by Anita Camphor, plays up to the obedient wife image.  Her husband wants her to have a particular hairstyle?  She will get that particular hairstyle.  Anything to please Mr. Khan....but what about Mrs. Khan's opinion and desires?  They play no part here.  What's interesting about this character is that Mrs. Khan serves as the eyes of society.  She's a friend to Laila and Kuku, but she keeps them in check by providing them insight to what others will think about their actions.  Even more interesting is how Mrs. Khan evolves while spending time with these women.  The once obedient Mrs. Khan is slowly heard spewing rants against Mr. Khan, her angst being released.  It'll be interesting to see how this character continues to progress.

At this juncture, after episode 18, we see that Laila has finally left Mansoor, Kuku has finally rid herself of her childish husband Khurram and both women are struggling to live life on their own terms.  What did rub me the wrong way in episode 18 though was the character of Laila's mother.  Not once did the woman ask her daughter "What happened?  Why did you leave your home in the middle of the night?  Why can you and Mansoor not get along?  What has Mansoor done?"  Instead, we see the blame falling entirely on Laila, while Laila silently accepts it all.  Why?  Up until now, we've witnessed a strong woman.  But what kind of strong woman is this that doesn't even vocalize the pain inflicted on her?  A woman who silently accepts blame and accusations?  A woman who willingly signs over the property her father left in her name over to her bullying brother?  WHY?  This is a point that really did bother me.

That said, I do hold on to hope for better things to come and future character development.

While we witnessed an engagement of sorts between Saadi & Laila, it's hard to hold on to hope for a happy future for Laila, knowing the twists the show has taken so far.  Let's see!

This one comes highly recommended!  Happy watching!