Journey With Durr-E-Shehwar

by Fatima Manzoor Ellahi

As an Umera Ahmed fan, I religiously follow all of her dramas with high hopes and expectations and needless to say she hardly ever lets her fans down, if ever. Durr-e-Shehwar proved to be yet another feather in her cap.

Where should I start from,the plot, the theme, dialogues, finely created characters, background score, the detail work on the outfts, diction and mannerism of a young girl 40 years ago and the value system that the parents of a girl stress upon. The lighting in the scenes picturised in Murree, every little thing was simply spot on. No doubt it was a team effort but full marks to Haissam Hussain for yet another brilliant performance.

A story based serial, that thank Heavens had a beginning, a middle and an ending, although some of the fans would have loved to see a few more episodes but we all know that would not have been a good idea. The show would have lost it's tempo and pace.

The simple story of two generations of women who are facing marital issues and surprisingly the person who comes to their rescue is a man. Father to one and grandfather to the other. Although they both belong to two different eras but are faced with the same problem, how to make their marriages work.

The story is simple yet brilliantly knit, the characters are very convincing and real and thank God after what seemed like an eternity, there was one serial that did not deal with prostitutes, extra marital affairs, immorality, drugs, alcohol and divorce It deals with people who are easy to identify with, who are neither perfect nor all bad but are average people who .People who are actually making an effort to make their relationships work, not just for themselves but more importantly for their kids. a reality based story that did not deal with fantasies or ideals but average, ordinary people and the frustrations, obstacles and disappointments that people actually have to deal with. In the midst of all those TV shows that fill your heads with make belief perfect husbands/wives and lifestyles that are but a fantasy for majority of our population, this play was easy to relate with for majority of the viewers. And last but not the least it had a message for the young generation, the message