Domesticity in Chand Grehan

There is one thing common in all the female characters of the drama, regardless of class. In the domestic sphere, we never see the woman indulged in household chores or activities which we have clearly seen in the previous dramas. Whether it is the respectable upper class housewife, the middle class working woman or the lower class woman in misery, none of these characters operate in the conventional way in the domestic sphere and are frequently found idle. It is probably because of this that the kitchen, a place of great significance in Humsafar and used to show Fazeelat’s domain in Dhoop Kinare is never once portrayed in this drama.

If we look at the category of housewives, we see Gulbahaar, Sajida Begum and Sheherbano never lifting a finger and just sitting leisurely around the house. The first two are seen with their husbands having a meal that is brought by servants. They just sit in the company of the men and their conversations never have anything to do with domestic chores normally associated with the women in the household. Both women are seen making their hair as if to please their husbands and indulge in such luxury while at home. Sheherbano can barely be called a housewife because she is never seen as part of the house but only occupies the confined space of a single room in her married house. She either listens to ghazals or compares herself to her caged bird but she too never steps into the role of a domesticated female figure. For her, even life before marriage was quite similar because of the numerous male servants present in her father’s house. She never really encountered the need to perform any duties; the only time she is asked to make tea is by Nasir in his new apartment. That too is merely a way of adding to the romance aspect of the couple and we only see Sheherbano leave for the kitchen but never see her working there.

Even the middle class working woman found in Shireen remains constantly busy with her job. In the various times that she visits Nasir’s house, she demands tea saying “Chai tou pilao” and we see Nasir’s friend taking up the task. The only time that she offers to serve Nasir, he mocks her saying “Miss aap ne home-economics parhi hai….mere khyaal hai madam aap sahafat he karein kyun k ye choole haandi ka kaam aap ko zaib nahi leta.” In doing so, he completely defines her through her profession leaving no place for her to function in the private space of the home. His words also make the viewer compare her to Sheherbano who is not a working woman but had the ability to please Nasir with good tea.

In the lower class, Singhar is someone who one would assume has to manage all the domestic affairs herself and even requests her husband to stay for food before his travel. But for much of the drama, she is identified as the mother rather than the domesticated wife. For her, the son becomes a means of empowering her and giving her some negotiating power with her husband saying, “Apne baitay ko apna naam tou do”. And because the drama largely gives her a storyline through her child, we never see her doing the household chores like a wife. The only woman who craves to fall in that role is Ameer-un-Nissa who says, “Hum se bartan dhulwa lo. Hum se kapre dhulwa lo”. She in fact remains puzzled that she is being offered such luxury like jewellery, clothes and music playing classes. She constantly asks Khanum, “Tum hum se kaam kyun nahi leti” because for her that is the assigned role for women and that is only how she can earn money.

Thus, the drama seems to sideline this aspect of women’s role to highlight more pressing concerns. The male dominance and power is critiqued to a great extent that in doing so the conventional role of women is left forgotten. After the drama of the 90’s, the post 9/11 drama seems to bring back the idea of the domesticated female figure seen in Humsafar and praises women specifically for this role.

Marriage of love or reason?

Gulbahar’s marriage to Lal Hussain Shah was a marriage of reason of sorts and love wasn’t the primary basis of marriage. Gulbahar acquired status and respect through this marriage, apart from the right to ‘Saieen’s jageer’ through their son Guddu. Economics does play a role in the marriage because at the brothel Gulbahar had to auction herself to earn money but as Saieen’s wife she had to just doll up ,sit at home and wait for him to grace her with his presence. But the primary purpose of her marriage to the feudal was to quench her thirst for respect as reflected by Gulbahar’s very famous dialogue “agar izzat ki bhooki na hoti tou nai karti ye shaadi, paisa tou meray paas bhi bohot tha”. Moreover, because of her marriage with the influential and revered Lal Shah Hussain she easily got rid of her past and her affiliation with her old friends because they knew she dared not mess with such an influential man’s wife(  with an exception of Dilber).On the other hand, Gulbahar was Lal Hussian Shah’s secret wife who very few people knew about so that his reputation could be protected. He was scared that people would question his character therefore he robbed her of her basic right of acceptance and identification as his wife in society. Even though he bestowed upon her a lot of love and respect but she wasn’t encouraged to pursue her talent of singing and had to give it up to keep her husband’s ‘izzat’. Thus as much as dalogues like “mein tou aap ki mureed hoon” and “ mein petal thi aap ne sona bana dia” suggest that Lal Hussain Shah and Gulbahar make this unacceptable marriage possible because they are truly,madly, deeply in love-they are not, their ‘nikkanama’ is an actual contract!

The Power Dynamics in Chand Grehan

This drama was aired in 90’s; however, it still holds great relevance to today’s power dynamics that prevail in Pakistan. The ‘Power Triangle’ exerts all the power over every class in the society and their influence shapes the politics and economy of Pakistan. The drama very amazingly defines how the feudal, the media (Press) and bureaucracy carry out malpractices in order to maintain power and achieve their illegal aims. The feudal, Laal Hussain Shah, has the greatest power as he has all the resources and political power to manipulate the other two but at the same his survival is impossible without the help of press and bureaucracy. The feudal is a man with whom great power and influence resides as Laal Hussain in the drama says “hum maalik hain iss zameen ke, humare hokum ke baghair chirya paani nahin peeti. Similarly, this triangle together is able to control other institutions like judiciary, police and etc.

The dynamics of Laal Hussain Shah’s power could be examined through the fact that despite having lost the elections, he was still able to admonish both a sitting bureaucrat and the owner of the newspaper the agency. Moreover, the strength of bureaucracy and media could not be undermined as they are the ones who are the actual information provider to the public. They also have contacts with other institutions. If needed, they can easily turn the power politics upside for the feudal through this influence. This drama in actual is trying to critique the power dynamics that goes on in the Pakistani society and is still very much present. The manipulation of different institutions to get maximum gains and wealth at the expense of the lower classes of the society actually defines the situation of Pakistan. Therefore, it will not be wrong to say that this power triangle is still a very integral part of today’s society and is here to stay. The power of feudals might have deteriorated a bit but their influence over any political party cannot be ignored hence, these three bodies rule the politics and economy of Pakistan.

Gul Bahar

I want to talk about how Gul bahar's life never gets better for her even after getting married. She has been in the profession of prostitution since the beginning of her life and it is Shah Jee who takes her out of the viscous cycle that she has become a part of. Initially she is lucky in the sense that her friend is still in that profession but she finally gets an opportunity to get out of it by virtue of marriage. She finally gets settled and gives birth to a son with Shah jee.

However, her past does not leave her alone and one of her employees comes back to her and starts to blackmail her and ends up publishing scandals about her life in the newspaper. Gul Bahar's life takes a turn once again. The miseries of the past that she let go of after years of marriage come back to her sending her into feelings of self hatred once again. She starts saying stuff like : "isse ziada tou wahan paisa tha mere paas" and "itna bura tou wahan bi nai hota jahan insaan apna jism bhechta hai."

Her self evaluation of self and the body shows how in our society this profession is seen in an extremely negaive light and those people that even try to come out of it have a stigma attached to them for the rest of their lives. Shah jee too starts to distance himself from her by staying at the other house and barely visiting Gul Bahar. And it is these circumstances that make Gul Bahar leave her son and her husband when she goes away towards the end of the drama. It shows us how even though she was not involved in the most respectable of professions she cannot bear the fact that her husbands stops respecting her even after he had accepted her for what she was. 

Let Heera Mandi breathe.

While a number of ethical, moral, ritual, cultural practices are highly criticized and frowned upon in Chand Garehan, there are a number of instances upon which the implicit critique is not justified. This is particularly true when the hotel owner who runs a human trafficking side business is seen as formalizing his unlawful acts under the institution of filmmaking; a very typical and unjustified dogma in our society already. The problem however is that while this possible issue is highlighted it juxtaposes no other image and dimension of the film industry hence showcasing a reductionist image of it. As Said states that dramas play a much more perpetuating role than one foresees and shapes the public opinion in a crucial capacity hence every major comment the drama makes is of great importance. This is very true for Chand Garehen because it was aired at a time when only one TV channel was to cater all of the audiences’ needs. Rather than altering the idea that was held by the majority and channeling it to the right direction, as it does with majority of the issues being tackled, this drama merely reinforced the stigma with the film industry.

Secondly, the end that Gul Bahar comes to also proposes a problematic implication. The underlying idea is that motherhood and independence stemming from working in the showbiz industry do not go together. This again mimics a widely held belief of the incapability of women’s effectiveness in the domestic sphere when they are entertainers or ‘gana bajane wali auratain’. The ending note that Gul Bahar does not even fight her right of getting Guddu back speaks a lot on the subject. How she realizes her agency through singing eventually also is a comment on how someone who gets associated with that class and profession keeps returning to it- another stereotype. Chand garehan must be credited with taking a number of bold steps, but just as much as the feudal landscape was in need of a breather, so was heera mandi in its own right. 

Women and Their Sense of Self

Like every other drama, women, or the role of women in society is very important, and contributes considerably to the narrative of the drama. Chand Grehen while focusing on feudal life and the game of tug of war between power, money and politics too revolves around the role of women.

            According to my interpretation of things, the greater the power the man has, the greater will be his influence on the woman, and the greater will be the dependency of the woman on the man. A prime example of this is Gulbahar begum, who despite being self-sufficient when it came to money, found herself completely devoid and deprived of izzat, and felt that it could be given to her through someone like Lal Hussain Shah. In fact she completely erases her own self identity when she says that she is not Gulbahar but the wife of Lal Hussain Shah. Furthermore, despite having everything that she needed for an independent life, she says; “Meri tou mitti hi manhoos hai.” Women could not degrade themselves more than that. And what is even more appalling is that Lal Hussain Shah never intercedes or corrects her or consoles her. It is as if he agrees with her, and is turn doing a great favor upon her by keeping a roof over her head which she could have done for herself with ease. However, it is this search for izzat which brings Gulbahar to this point of dependency. She just could not realize or comprehend that her izzat, her self- identity and her freedom are in fact taken away from her after marrying Lal Hussain Shah. And it is only later when she realizes this and pays the price of redeeming her freedom and sense of self at the cost of her son. If we look into it deeper, her ‘self’ was obviously a part of her son. And when she lets go of her son, she lets go of a part of her ‘self’; something irredeemable.  

            Another example would be of Singhaar. She is the mother of the son of Jahania, and hence is elevated to a higher level, yet she does not even acknowledge and claim the place that a mother deserves. Instead, the only thing she too wants is izzat. And izzat can apparently be provided by powerful or wealthy men.

            These women fail at forming their self-identity and keeping their ‘selves’ intact. They are vulnerable and allow themselves to be pulled into the delusion that izzat is something external which needs to be obtained through a particular individual.  

            Sheherbano on the other hand, is one exemplary example of the kind of woman who knows that her sense of self is what will provide her with the sense of respect that Gulbahar and Singhaar are looking for. Not only does she not feel dependent on Nasir, but she does not allow herself to be dependent or needy of Amjad either. For her, a man is not someone who is supposed to rescue her and preserve or grant her a sense of self respect or izzat. What we learn from Sheherbano is that izzat comes from within, and neither can anyone provide you with it in the first place, and nor can anyone take it away from you unless you allow them.
I could not help but relate Sheherbano to Jane Eyre, and how both do what they are told, especially when it comes to the orders of Mrs. Reed and how Sheherbano obeys Lal Hussain Shah, but there are certain limits that no one is allowed to cross, and hence no one is allowed to try to merge their sense of self with the sense of self of the two women mentioned. In other words, Sheherbano is the woman who would fall in the “Female (1920-1960)” phase as stated by Showalter in “Toward a Feminist Poetics”. Whereas Gulbahar and Singhaar somewhat fall in the “Female (1840-1880)” phase where their sense of self relies on the external models; imitating male ways of looking at the world and imitating what is laid down by the male.

Gulbahar's language and mobility

Gulbahar aka Gullo Rani is a complex character, that fluctuates most evidently when in the public and private sphere. As discussed in class, Gulbahar undergoes social mobility through her marriage to Wadera Lal Hussain Shah. However, this mobility is strangely restricted within the boundaries of the home provided to her by Shah ji. Here her language is that of utmost repspect and humbleness as she refers to herself as transitioning from 'peetal' to 'sona'. Within these boundaries her language is refined and cultured as she frequently refers to him as her savior, giving her a life of 'izzat' which she doesn’t deserve. Hence, within her private sphere Gulbahar's language enables us to see how her social mobility is structured. She may be the feudal lords wife and that places her amongst the upper class but her position is very much restricted and almost prison like in those walls.

On the other hand when in the private her class ascendancy is perhaps more visible since it is here we actually see the perks of her being married to wadera Lal Hussain. However, her language takes a complete reversal in the public. More specifically when she visits Heera Mandi to meet the pimp, her language very conveniently interchanges words such as 'apkay' for 'teray'. The respect and humbleness is all lost, yet it is here that she is able to exert herself as someone from the upper class as she refers to herself by saying, 'Mein Gulbahar nahi shah ji ki biwi hoon'. In this way even though her language reverts to her original self, she still derives her social standing through her relationship to Shah ji.

Hence, even though she may have achieved social mobility, her language of humility restricts her from being vocal of her sentiments in the home provided by her savior. However, it is only in public that her new position manifests itself as in the private she is mostly restricted to being Shah ji's subordinate.