Spheres of Women in Humsafar:
Women constitute a majority of the players and instruments in
Humsafar. In order to understand the various roles they serve and the spheres
they occupy, one must strive to avoid classifying them under simple headings
and one should juxtapose them with their male counterparts to ascertain how they
exert themselves within the parameters that are delineated for them in society.
In the initial episodes, it is made pointedly clear that
women derive their legitimacy from and plot the trajectory of their actions
with regards to men. Maimuna, a woman of considerable self-worth, has
previously refused any sort of financial assistance from her affluent brother,
Baseerat, and has inculcated the same values into her daughter Khirad. She
chose to live in barely adequate conditions and worked hard as a teacher,
valuing independence and dignity and remaining in relative isolation from the
web of wealth of her brother. Yet, when push comes to shove and life spirals
out of control, the dying Maimuna pleads to Baseerat to get Khirad married and
settled stably. In the heat of the moment, Baseerat vows to get his own son,
Asher, to marry his first cousin. Why the drastic step? Baseerat was extremely
guilty about neglecting his sister in the past, and so, in order to compensate,
he offered her his most valuable commodity, which was met by tears of joy…
..But not from everyone. 4/5 women had serious issues with
this barter. Fareeda, the talk-less glare-more wife of Baseerat could not
accept the degree of the mismatch and the fact that her husband circumvented
her and made a huge decision himself. Shouldn’t a mother, who birthed and
raised her son, have any say whatsoever? Shouldn’t she get to have a seat in
the selection committee of potential brides? She voiced her protest vocally
which her husband listened to (humored? tolerated?) for a few minutes before he
snapped and threatened to throw her out of the house. The dynamite exploded. She
had lost control over her son and her husband, reducing even the meagre
domestic power women allegedly have. The chains of dominance tightened. As
Fareeda said later on, when Baseerat was apologizing, that in that one moment
of anger and frustration, he reduced her status to next to nothing, and he had
the power to do so. In societies where patriarchy is the mode, men hold the
keys of not only the actions of women, but also of morality. And with that, we
move on to the second major dissenter, the bride-to-be Khirad.
Like Fanny Price, Khirad is the morally pure and innocent
girl who is violently thrown into a situation she would much rather avoid,
making her deal with the cold indifference (and the occasional rude remarks) of
the upper stratum which makes her feel psychologically inferior. Notwithstanding
her education and her ego, marriage was deemed the answer to all her current
and prospective problems by her mother. Khirad had no real say. I mean, why
should she? She should feel grateful! How often do opportunities like these fly
towards the unworthy? It’s poor Sara who must feel the burden of a broken heart
and a monumental betrayal, not Khirad! Leaving my sarcastic side note aside,
one shall attempt to look at the characters of Sara and Zareena later on,
especially with regards to how the former feels affronted when a young,
“dupatta-clad” girl of neither background nor assets steals a man whose wife
Sara was destined to be.
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