As I have said in my earlier review, Zindagi Channel has revived viewers’ lost interest in Tele-Sserials . Courtesy, of course, those choicest of Soaps being aired, one after the other, by the Channel, which not only entertain but also make you think. However, I am not so sure that these be called’Soaps’ as they don’t linger on way after the story writer has finished fumbling with his pen. Compared to what are being gurgled out by the other’Indian’ Channels, not less than an insult to viewers’ intelligence and a simultaneous test of their patience, Zindagi has captured tele-buffs fancy, hearts and time in equal measures.
Ishq Gumshuda is the latest of their offerings at 08.00 PM prime time - a story of young hearts, their relational crisis vis-a-vis their parents’ dilemma and distress. Ali(Humayun Saeed) and Alizeh(Sarvat Gillani) are cousins and best buddies. They work in the same Architecture Firm. There is healthy competition between the two and in the evenings they chill out in the Club together. Days would have breezed by soaking in the intoxicating fragrances of life but rifts surface when Ali’s mother suggests that he marry Alizeh as the entire family feels that they are made for each other. It so happens that Ali has always been in love with Alizeh though secretly. However, it is Alizeh who rebuts Ali’s advances, as according to her, how can friends be life partners. By proposing marriage Ali has once again proved that men are men and they cannot think beyond marriage. It is cheap of him to disgrace and devalue the pious bond that they have been enjoying with each other. Ali’s conduct reinforces the usual, age-old belief that there can be no other relation between a girl and a boy but attraction of the opposite sexes.
A piqued and humiliated Ali chooses to do what most men of his age will do - obliterate memories of the mistake that he has committed by proposing marriage to Alizeh. To repair his damaged ego, he bluffs Alizeh that she is mistaken about his intents and that it is not she but Neha(Aamina Sheikh), their mutual friend, that he loves. Alizeh is super excited and acts Cupid - she convinces Neha that there is nothing between her and Ali, secures Neha’s confession that she has always loved Ali but kept her feelings for him tucked under the garb of friendship as she, like the others, think Ali and Alizeh are a pair made in heaven and meticulously plans out every detail of their marriage despite continuous reminders and even admonitions from her parents that she is making a terrible blunder and living in denial.
Realization comes late to Alizeh and the bonhomie boomerangs when soon after Alizeh finds herself gradually being excluded out of Ali’s post-marriage life. She feels left out and incomplete without the constant bickering, sharing and jovial teases with Ali. As the relational equations change, the truth dawns and Alizeh is unable to face her own self. She runs wild, scouring the city, till the wee hours of night in search of what she has let slip by in haste. Will she be able to return home and to family?
Ishq Gumshuda is old wine in a new bottle - the usual love triangle but with a difference. In contrast with Alizeh’s increasing waywardness and maddening hostility, Neha’s compassion, understanding, forgiveness and endurance and Ali’s desperate attempt to find new meaning in life with a partner, who till recently, was just a good friend, infuses an angle extra and novel to the sensitive portrayal. The love crisis has been handled with additional care and delicacy, albeit, with the indispensable support of flawless performance and masterful presentation.
The idea is not to wallow in Alizeh’s grief or make an insipid curry out of her tears and pain but to resolve a strange situation, to move forward in life and not to get further entangled in bogus relationships in quest of lost happiness. Uniquely enough, the story is replete with serendipitous touches, especially, the positive hand-holding approach and involvement of the parents when Alizeh is wading through turbulent waters. It is at this point that a quartet emerges - Alizeh and her lost love and Alizeh’s mother(Hina Khwaja Bayat) who also appears to have been through similar situation in the past and the grief of which still nestles in some remote corner of her heart. Who is she pining for? Her silence is pregnant with emotions, her restraint is poignancy personified and her words are a camouflage of her feelings. She grieves in unison with her daughter. However, it is Alizeh’s father(Asif Raza Mir) who is determined to bring her back to normalcy.
And then there is Neha - the quiet, mature, introvert, dusky beauty who while on one hand appreciates and respects Ali and Alizeh’s former friendship but at the same time does not wish to let Alizeh’s domineering presence encroach into their marital space. Will Alizeh ever revert to her carefree self? Will Ali and Neha be able to live happily ever after with Alizeh’s shadow playing hide and seek in between? And who is this stranger, Farookhzaad(Javed Sheikh), a man much older to her, with whom Alizeh has all of a sudden struck a rapport and finds solace in talking to? Is it an association on the rebound? Or there is something more to it that Alizeh and her parents are yet to find out?
Though, at times a little predictable, unconvincing and childish Ishq Gumshuda(Monday to Sunday), is after all a tale of life long yearning and ultimate acceptance and succeeds in raising contentious issues on the connotations of man-woman relationship against the backdrop of a demanding society which is comfortable with pre-defined norms and notions.
Watch the Serial and you may come across a few interesting alternates.
Love & Luck
(This review is dedicated to esteemed MSian @jmathur)