Humsafar- A twisted case of women empowerment

Humsafar at various points during our discussion has been compared to old dramas, where the comparison is often drawn in terms of women empowerment. Where old dramas are showing women as all rounded, independent career women, Humsafar has portrayed either two extremes. The weakling Khirad and the extremely cunning Fareeda. However, side by side there is another narrative that highlights the fall of the male. In this way the drama is portraying a very twisted form of women empowerment, that to me appears problematic when you apply it in the Pakistani context (I am not by any means trying to demean women if anyone reads it as that)

This idea clicked when Fareeda kicks Khirad out of the house and she reflects on Baseerats words, " Yeh mera ghar hai…. agar tum meri baat nahi maano gi mein tumhain talaak de doon ga". Fareedas expressions at that point simply exhibit a desperate need for revenge. At that point it appears as an attempt to simply grapple power in her own hands by overthrowing the male figurehead of the family. In this way the drama is actually encouraging this weird form of radical empowerment that is disastrous to a society that for years has had its foundations in the institution of family.

Within the family, more specifically I find the drama to be exhibiting a very weak case for the institution of marriage. The the drama does in two ways.

 Firstly with the death of Baseerat, Fareeda seems to take on her true colours and wreaks havoc in the household. Her actions no matter how twisted they may be are in fact reflective of her free will, once she breaks away from the shackles of her marriage. Hence, outside her marriage Fareeda is free to be who she wants to be.

In another world, Khirad too is shown as strangely empowered once she is removed from Ashers house. Within the domestic setting, she is quite literally moulded from the 'kachi mitti' into the 'sancha' that Asher wants. This way she has no identity of her own when she within the boundaries of her marriage. Once she breaks away, she appears weak at first but later on her self reliance and 'Khudari' kick in again when she takes up a job to protect her daughter Hareem. Her true identity is then restored.

Hence, the drama cannot be looked at as merely a case of the weak female. It is very much a twisted idea of women empowerment and that just spells disaster for a society that so strongly believes in the institution of family and marriage.