101 Talaqain written and directed by Omer Ikram is a fun watch. Zahid Ahmed as the fast-talking Rustam Kavasji, the divorce magistrate extraordinaire, is a delight to behold. He is hilarious and at times quite insightful.

The drama deals with the 101st couple that comes to Rustam Kavasji. Something about the suffering and battered Sajjad and an oddly gas-lit Aimen makes Kavasji, who is a staunch disbeliever in the institution of marriage, pause.

From then on, the story of the drama takes us on a non-linear journey to the highs and lows of this marriage while trying to decode why relationships end.

The first episode shows Sajjad with a bruised face, having been physically abused by a young, petite wife. The whole thing is played for a joke with the mention of Aimen’s prowess at tennis.

On another occasion, Sajjad comes home late for dinner with his in-laws. As a ‘punishment’

Amen locks him out of the house.

She is made out to be ‘not that bad’

as her unnecessarily young-looking parents show a similar dynamic of a dominating wife and a mild-mannered husband.

Here is where the heart of the p r o b l e m with 101 T a l a q a i n lies. The issue is explored as an inversion of sorts and not a tasteful one. It oddly misogynistic, if you may.

The caricature-quality presentation of the wife holding a rolling pin and the husband sweating out of fear could be forgiven had there been better narrative development.

As the plot unfolds, Sajjad is depicted as a man who fell in love with Aimen. In an all-too-familiar trope, after marriage, he becomes terrified of her and starts lying to her.

Aimen, on the other hand, is painted as the primary offender.

She is physically and mentally abusing Sajjad. She blows a fuse every time he talks to or is seen with another woman (all innocent encounters); she makes a surprise dinner and forces him to eat after finding out that he has already eaten.

The black-and-white characterisation falls flat on its face. The entire production becomes monochrome, predictable and bland.

One can see where this one’s heading and one can as easily pick it apart after only a few episodes.

Even if one were to roll with the narrative favoured by the drama series, one cannot help but take it with a grain of salt, knowing that it is a bit misplaced in a patriarchal society.

Granted some men get abused; some women are unnecessarily suspicious of their husbands; and some women dominate and suppress their husbands, the problem is about taking an exceptional case to explain why divorces occur.

101 Talaqain is fine from the perspective of telling the story of a couple where the spouses have given up on each other. However, as an overarching narrative on why divorces happen in Pakistan, it seems surreal and strangely divorced from ground reality.

There is no real issue being addressed here: no infidelity, no mental torture and no physical or financial abuse. The spouses, shown as educated and modern, have been assigned stereotypical roles: the husband is the breadwinner and the wife the homemaker.

However, her cooking for him is shown as unusual. Other than picking up a dirty sock here and there, there is little more Aimen is shown doing. It is as simple (and as bland) as that. It is about the poor misunderstood Sajjad. All the different times he lies to Aimen, the lying is explained away as a ‘simple misunderstanding.’ However, the privilege is not extended to Aimen when she is having ‘trust issues.’

After the first episode, the viewer may give 101 Talaqain some benefit of the doubt but six episodes in, the drama is unsalvageable and a mere recounting of marriage through a male gaze.

As the play begins, one is almost deceived into thinking that this is about an unreliable narrator (as a story device) and might unfold in an interesting way. However, it soon becomes disappointing.

This is made worse by the fact that the outlook of the show is quite modern and chic. There is a fun and smart protagonist whose rants about relationships are hilarious and, at times, insightful.

But the woke-ness disguises a onesided and deeply misogynistic narrative.

Some of the viewers might find the play fun to watch. However, it does not do justice to real issues here and now that it sets itself out to deal with.

The author is a freelance contributor