Izzat.

Izzat is the name of the game in this drama for many of the characters and I have chosen to focus on three of them. Gulbahar spends the whole drama trying to find izzat for herself, Jahaniah Shah is unable to unable to reconcile the blow the loss in the elections brought to the family’s izzat and Babar Sahib knows his izzat is linked to his job which is temporary.

When talking about izzat, Gulbahar is the first character that deserves the spotlight, for she was someone who knew how society looked upon someone in her proffesion and marrying Lal Hussain Shah helped her escape the stigma of that proffesion. However, while she believed she was living an acceptable life now, society still did not give her the respect she hoped for. Her past still haunted her; Guddu was teased about his mother being a “gaanay gaanay waali” and upon Dilbar’s return, she wa sucked into the same life again. Even when she visits Lal Hussain in his house, he is dismissive of her and tells her to leave soon which hurts for, for she would do so much for him and here the person who gave her the izzat she was proud of, was putting her in her place. So, the marriage that was her salvation failed and she never got the izzat that she so strongly desired.

To a feudal like Jahaniah, izzat meant everything. Lal Hussain Shah was a mature politician however, Jahaniah was young and impulsive and the defeat hurt his ego. And the actions he took to get the lost izzat back, just brought him down further and he was left being a convicted felon. In this quest to find izzat, he endangered everything Lal Hussain Shah stood for as well.

Babar Sahib is the bureaucrat whose, power and izzat is all but dependant on his job. We see how easily he can be disposed of when he is very simply transferred at the end of the drama. However, Babar Sahib knows how the system works which is why he wants to cement his place in society before he loses the perks of his position. And his son, Amjad becomes his stepping stone to achieve this. And his desire to cement his izzat is so strong that even after his first marriage fails, Amjad’s second marriage is also based on the riches and social standing the brides’ family has.

In a society where class, land, social standing and power define the life a person leads, izzat becomes a very important factor and the characters are left striving to attain it.