Fareeda the Capitalist

*In Marxist philosophy, the term bourgeoisie denotes the social class who owns the means of production and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, in order to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society.

Humsafar is a drama that critiques the upper class and one of the ways in which it does this is by addressing the issue of commodification. The life of the upper class revolves around commodities, so much so, that it leads them to commodify everything in life. For example, Fareeda’s constant grudge against Khirad is that “she is not worth it,” as if Khirad is some commodity that Ashar wishes to purchase. Although one may say that this attitude reflects the wider social context of capitalism, the fact that the upper class commodifies everything in life, is peculiar to the upper class, and that is why the upper class is viewed as the bane of society, whereas the middle class is seen as the upholder of true values. Hence, Khirad, aghast that her mother in law had actually sold her, asks,

“Meri izaat ke kya keemat lagai app nay? Duss lakh, bees lakh!?”

And also says to Batool Khala,

“Yeh unchay logon ke soch bohat neech hoti hai” and “Bara sheher, bara ghar, baray log, mujhe raas nahin aye.”

Fareeda, the Capitalist, has invested so much in her only son, Ashar, that it becomes intolerable for her not to get the profit that she had expected from this investment. Thus, when Baseerat, her husband, gets her son married off to Khirad, a simple girl from a small city, it is as if Fareeda has been cheated of her profit. Being a capitalist, however, she tries to regain this economic loss, and this is shown by her conniving schemes against Khirad. The commodity may be extremely important to the upper class but even more dear to them is what it represents; their wealth, their status, their position at the top of the social hierarchy. Hence, Fareeda must regain her economic status even if it means her most valuable commodity, her most prized possession, Ashar, perishes in the process.

Fareeda is in the drama, the ruthless Capitalist that exploits the labor power of the proletariat, namely Khizr, to obtain economic advantage.  But the ending of the drama would make Marx happy, where the proletariat wins the war with the bourgeoisie, when Khirad finally triumphs over Fareeda.