Sajal: A study in scarlet
Some people and situations exist merely to be cautionary tales for others. Their existence lends support to the view that it is wiser to not go down some paths in our lives for us to retain the essential goodness of our characters. The character of Sajal in the show KNK came very close to being that cautionary tale for more than a handful of viewers. In fact, if many of her detractors (of which there were many) were asked to select a description of her, the likely one that they'd all settle on would be "utterly and unfairly resentful of Aina". She was, indeed, unfairly resentful of her sister Aina through the better part of the series, earning the ire of most in the audience. I too, did not like this part of Sajal that targeted Aina, and blamed her for what was, essentially, the result of happenstance or the gods, if one is a theist.
But to consider this as the sole facet of her being would be a disservice to the character of Sajal, and indeed, to the show itself which is, clearly, much beloved of this thread and its posters. So, I will go a little further back into the series to a time when Sajal was the loving, wise older sister. In the first episode of this series, Sajal is shown to be quiet, content, and indulgent of her younger sister, Aina's, freewheeling ways. She is also the beloved of her mother and intensely and deeply devoted to her welfare and Aina's. She is also, we learn, deeply in love with her fiancee and cousin, Faraz bhai, a character who will go on to win the heart of every viewer of this show as the series progresses. In these early episodes, it is easy to see why Sajal has the heart of a winsome man like Faraz bhai. She is lovely, gentle, easy-going, and wise. Who wouldn't want such a lover and partner? Moreover, in these early episodes, her styling wins over Aina's annoying and ill-cut bangs, I thought! As Aina's follies start to unfold, Sajal continues to have the upper hand as far as wisdom, maturity, and practicality are concerned. As news of Aina's pregnancy sent shock waves through the family, Sajal and Faraz bhai were the ones I looked towards as a viewer to rectify the heroine's grievous errors. But then, Aina's and Sajal's beloved mother succumbed to a heart attack on learning on her second-born's pregnancy, and much was altered within the family. Mohsin bhai's family snapped ties with Faraz bhai, Sajal and Aina. Faraz bhai was starting to grow a bit annoyed at Aina (understandably), while Sajal had turned downright frosty. So far, I thought these changes were justified, and Aina did deserve at least some of this unpleasantness. She had, after all, been brought up in a family that made her aware of its conservative moorings every step of the way. How then could she not have understood the massive step that was a marriage, and more importantly, sleeping with her new but hidden husband? I was somewhat with her till the time she decided to sleep with her husband, and that too without any protection! She was clearly being utterly and completely reckless.
But my views towards Aina started to soften as Sajal continued to escalate her attacks on Aina following her own miscarriage and resulting, permanent infertility. Being forced to stay hidden while pregnant, being faced with a faithless partner, and the uncertainty about one's future and that of one's unborn child is an enormous burden to share. Add to that the mounting vicious attacks by Sajal, and Aina was clearly in dire straits. But while I was starting to feel Aina's pain, and to loathe this new side of Sajal, I could still understand the latter's motivations if I tried to put myself in her shoes. As she said in one of her outbursts to Aina, she (Sajal) always played by the rules imposed on them by their families and societies, even when things were hard and she wanted to break free. Remember, we have no reason to believe that she didn't feel as heady a love for Faraz bhai as Aina did for Imran. It was also indicated that she had to stay apart from Faraz bhai for quite sometime while he was away in America. Moreover, her love for him seemed to have begun much earlier, implying that she had to wait a while before he too fell in love with her, confessed his love, and made sure they were engaged. Additionally, she continued to wait patiently for Faraz bhai's return from America even when he had not bothered to stay in touch with her. She too, I think, could have kicked up a fuss due to her own frustrations. But by all accounts, she continued to stay sane, and juggle her familial responsibilities. By contrast, in her early days in love, Aina was restive, impatient, and feckless. She couldn't wait to be with Imran, and was willing to go to all lengths at the cost of her own loved ones, to be with her lover.
Sajal became truly tiresome once she lost her child and turned barren. Thereafter, her actions towards Aina were petty and pointless. She would not leave a single opportunity to humiliate her once beloved sister. While it had already been decided that Faraz and Sajal would raise Maaz as their own, Aina was clearly struggling with this decision in no small part due to Sajal's growing insecurities and pettiness. Faraz bhai tried his best to make things better for both Sajal and Aina, but he was often out of his depths, understandably. Sajal cast a final blow to her sister when she coerced Faraz bhai into taking them all to America for at least a decade or so. While I do not condone such meanness, I can, however, understand at least some of Sajal's insecurities. From her perspective, she was the person who always toed the line, and yet, because of her feckless sister, she lost a beloved parent, and then, her child and her reproductive ability. In a world where women's reproductive abilities are much prized, and where multiple marriages, especially for children, are allowed, I can see how someone as kind and sane as Sajal too could descend into such madness. After all, after her mother, Faraz was all she had. Aina and she were always poles apart, and she was, at best, a kind older sister to Aina. Once that sister's actions started to pull the rug from under her feet, she started to, quite believably, resent that sibling. I have personally been around some friends who are reproductively challenged and have, paradoxically, a deep desire to raise and parent a child. The combination of these twin insults-the inability to bear children and the desire to have them- can wreak havoc on the sanest and most compassionate of minds. So, I can imagine Sajal's challenges, and how she might have felt unable to rise above the resentment that was bubbling inside her. While she never truly gets over her insecurities, she does, with time, make more successful attempts at being kinder towards her sibling, and towards the end, seeing her son's love for Aina's child, she decides to cave in, and forge another bond with Aina to replace the crumbling one that they had been sharing over the past two decades or so. If this isn't growth in a character, I don't know what is. I think, with the right perspective, a viewer can see Sajal as a very promising character in a very endearing show!
Edited by JNam - 7 years ago
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