As the world celebrated Women’s Day yesterday, we also saw women across Pakistan step out in support of the movement; the aim, as every year, was to raise a collective voice for the empowerment of women and unite to help the not so privileged against the numbing, existing patriarchy.
Moving from real to reel, one feels that in spirit of the movement, it’s also important to recognize if and when inspirational characters are written and portrayed on television just as much as it is to encourage writers to chalk in women who can be considered role models. One would want to see women who defy odds and give female viewers someone to look up to. Stories of survival need not be endless sob stories but tales of heroism and valour. There are examples of such women in real life so then why aren’t we seeing more of them on television?
When we see a woman standing up for her sexually harassed and murdered friend in Cheekh, we see Mannat, portrayed by Saba Qamar, lose her unborn child, husband, mother, sanity and almost everything she loved in order to get justice. That story is enough to discourage anyone from even trying to step up for their rights. One would question why Zanjabeel Asim Shah, being a female writer, put Mannat through so much trauma? On the contrary, one has to credit Zafar Mairaj for writing a character like Hajra (Yumna Zaidi); Inkaar was a much stronger example of women empowerment in lieu of the justice system. Unfortunately, there are too many Cheekhs and not enough Inkaars to hold up as example.
Women in TV serials are shown as either oppressed saints or uncontrollable sirens, and there are seldom any female characters who are strong and aspirational enough to go down in history.
We need to see driven, career oriented women on television. The character of Raima Alvi, played by Madiha Imam in drama serial Muqaddar, is therefore a welcome exception. She is shown as a final year student, who moonlights as a radio jockey and is driven by a passion for journalism. I do hope the writer, Iqbal Bano, helps Raima retain her bravado when she faces the biggest set back of her life. Then we have Momina Sultan, in drama serial Alif, as another example. Portrayed as an Oscar winning actress, she is spiritual and morally upright but she is also a highly acclaimed actress who has a concrete career in line. Umera Ahmad has, once again, done justice to her female heroes and it applies to both Momina and Husn e Jahan (Kubra Khan). It’s refreshing to see several women in drama serial Ehd e Wafa having solid career goals. Ramsha (Hajra Yamin) is a journalist and Dua (Alizeh Shah) is an army doctor, written well by Mustafa Afridi. Out of the many drama serials that one watches every week, these are a few memorable female protagonists who have strength and spine.
Human beings are not islands and cannot emerge and develop in isolation; it’s just as important to see supporting actors as building blocks in a female protagonist’s life. While Saba Hameed plays the role of an unbearably unreasonable mother in law in Ghalti, she plays the very opposite as an unbelievably supporting MIL in Kahin Deep Jaley. When her son doubts his wife’s character and suspects her of being involved with another man, his mother supports her and convinces him of his wife’s high morals. Saad’s (Ahad Raza Mir) mother Faryal, played brilliantly by Vaneeza Ahmed in Ehd e Wafa, is a doctor and makes all the right calls as an independent woman, homemaker, mother, wife and mother in law. Inspirational supporting roles aren’t just limited to women. Hafiz Ilyas, characterized by Rehan Sheikh, has blind trust in his daughter and is just as much a feminist, if not more. His character is not your average father; most fathers in drama serials can’t deal with crisis and more than often die or commit suicide (Surkh Chandni, Ruswai).
So, to celebrate Women’s Day 2020 on the small screen, let’s begin by creating characters that inspire the millions of women watching to stand up for their rights and fight back even when things aren’t going too well.
