On tropes, inconsistencies and other observations

Hello. I am new to this forum, and I actually gave this post a lot of thought before realizing that I really needed to talk about these things.

First of all, the entire track post Naz's decision of choosing Imaan over Salim has rubbed me the wrong way. Vineet as a character was introduced solely to prove how wrong Shaira is, and how good and heroic of a father Imaan is. That sexual and physical violence against women is treated as a plot device meant solely to uplift a male character or to prove the importance of a male character should not be surprising, of course, because it is a trope that has been used forever, but I expected less misogynist sh*t from a show that seemed to be about the two women, above everything else. The fact that even in the hospital they showed none of the horror and their biggest concern was her troubled equation with Imaan and not what she went through is appalling to me. Instead it became all about how Imaan saved her. This trivializing of gendered violence as a means to benefit the male characters in a story needs to end.

Storywise too, I thought Shaira's troubled equation with Imaan was mostly because in her view, he was being a hindrance to the relationship between Naz and Salim. Was she unfairly rude and mean to Imaan as a result of that? Absolutely. But I never believed that the reason behind that rudeness - that of love and concern for her mother - was ever wrong. Didn't she say as much in one of the episodes? That she doesn't want to add on to Imaan's suffering, she just wants her mother to prioritize her own happiness? Instead of allowing her relationship and friendship with Imaan to progress as a result of the growing understanding that she cannot and should not take decisions for her mother, and that Salim is going to very much remain the father figure in her life he has always been and all Imaan is asking for is his own place in their lives - they made it into this weird contest where Imaan had to prove that he really did deserve to be her Abbu, over Salim. And in a way that is deeply, deeply disrespectful to Shaira.

Also, the fact that they decided to not focus on the fact that Naz took this decision on her own and Shaira's conflict essentially was with the image she had built in her head - that Naz really ought to be with Salim - bothers me. Her confrontation should have been with her own beliefs and with her mother. Instead, they took Naz entirely out of the equation.

That being said, I am not panning the show entirely. I wouldn't be making this post if I hadn't been watching this show religiously all this time. I have given too much of my heart to Imaan (and Satyadeep the actor), and I am way too invested in the stories of all the four leads by this point. Maybe Sartaaj not so much at the moment, but that is because his entire track with Indira has been deeply revealingly troubling to me.

I am just not calling the show revolutionary at the moment, because in its treatment of its female characters, the show has been so far a lot like other television shows than not. I wish they would ensure that they don't reproduce harmful tropes in the future. I also wish they would take a look at the characters they have created, and proceed in a way that isn't disrespectful to them.

And that too being said, there were some things I liked about the episode yesterday.

I am glad that it was Salim who really made all the difference yesterday. Yes, the knowledge that her father did everything that he did for the two of them, did leave an impact- but I really think it was what Salim said that made the biggest difference. And why Shaira finally accepted this person in her life she does not particularly know or like but who also happens to be someone who will be there for her and her brother like a father should. I also like how Salim told her to not worry about him or Naz, because in my view, that is what Shaira's biggest issue with Imaan was - that he was getting in the way of Naz and Salim. I cannot understand how she can suddenly start proposing that Imaan and Naz get married again - it is a dramatic U-turn that is out of character for Shaira - but thanks to what Salim said, I can at least accept that she has decided to finally let the two of them handle their situation on their own.

Like her Dadi said, "jo mera Imaan nahi kar sakta, woh Salim kar leta hai." I agree. He IS their father in the very essential sense, Imaan is too, of course. Shaira's "tests" were bound to fail obviously because like Salim said, woh ek sachchai se lad rahi thi. Her Abbu definitely loves her very much. But yeh koi competition nahi hai about who plays the better father. It never was. Why they ever wanted to portray it as such is beyond me.

But I did feel like they gave Salim-the character the respect that was being denied to him all this time, yesterday when Mrs Khan told him how proud she was of him. I thought there would be more of a reaction from Naz too, which just goes on to show how utterly devoid of feeling their relationship is... it is hard to imagine a time when they were ever in love. Forget the now, I don't believe Naz ever really loved him. She seemed enthusiastic about Shaira's nikaah idea too before looking immediately upset, which means that if she regrets her decision of choosing Imaan at all, it is because she feels bad for Salim and not because she loves him.

The show isn't getting fantastic ratings. And while ratings are important, for a finite series it shouldn't matter so much. What should matter, though, is that they create and deliver on a show that they believe and that I too believed was going to be truly different. Show it.

Agree so much about Naaz and Shaira and how their dilemmas were, in a way, delegitimized, to prove Imaan's dedication to his family and then subsequently set up his downfall in their eyes, with this very convenient satrah saal purana letter. I find the stories in the show interesting too and this was something of a disappointment.