Women and resistance in Urdu Dramas

From the three dramas that we have watched so far, I feel it would be interesting to look at a cross comparison of how women are portrayed in each of them, especially because the depiction varies so greatly from one to the other. Female representation in general would be quite vast a topic, therefore what I think would be useful to discuss here is how the female protagonists understand, co-opt or resist societal norms 

and pressures in each of these.

In my interpretation, women in Dhoop Kinaray are depicted to have some level of power over their own lives, and ability to resist societal pressures. Where Zoya does not have to deal with societal pressures such as marriage etc, and it is interesting to note that this drama shows that as a possibility, Dr. Sheena has to make the hard choice to either remain lonely or commit to an already married man, and she chooses the former, even though the choice is hard, yet it is available to her.

Then we have Chand Grehn, which shows a series of females in a completely different set-up, where larger societal forces figure largely in the lives of all the individuals shown. It may be argued that women are to a very large extent shown as oppressed outcomes of the rigidly patriarchal structure, so for example Sheherbano has to get married in accordance with her father’s will. However I feel that despite this, the fact that women are shown to be individuals, even if they are oppressed in their own unique ways, and that they bargain or resist patriarchal structures is significant.

Here is where I feel Humsafar is problematic, because not only is no choice given to the female protagonist, her leaving the house and her coming back are all dictated by external forces, first by the ‘evil conspiracy’ and then by what is thought to be ‘right’ for her to do. Moreover the female who does exhibit some form of resistance to the system, is scorned. What seems to me as being exalted then is this intensified sense of the victimized helpless female, and of sacrifice on her part to uphold societal norms, which is then virtuous as well. The fact that this is a modern day drama then, which depicts a woman in a domestic setting to be even more powerless than a female depicted a few decades ago within a feudal setting, is then great cause for concern.