‘Shayyad’ is well written, with all other dramas floundering unfortunately despite having promising starts. While most dramas have plateaued at most (excluding the thrilling ‘Daldal’), ‘Shayyad’ has remained to flutter overhead with stocky wings. Saad (played by Uzair Jaswal) is the drama’s pillar, and honestly what every man should be. He’s imperfect, incredibly flawed and so human, it puts male protagonists like Ashar and Zaroon – men who are chauvinistic and incredibly misogynistic at most and are idealized as the perfect male specimens known to mankind. When I started the drama, I was taken aback by Saad’s innocence, thinking it all must be a facade – a veil to something menacing.
However, Saad is as foolish, as simple and as naive as he seems
His love for Hani (played by the beautiful Sadia Khan) holds no bound, and it shows in his infantilism towards her. He moans most of the time, but it’s his protective nature with Hani that’s honestly so endearing, it trumps all his more ‘annoying’ traits. He loves her so much, his adoration drips with honey, and it’s clear he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.
Men like Saad are misconstrued as spineless, only because he feels things so much more profoundly than say, Zaroon from ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’
If you look at all the instances and decipher them – you strip it down to a very simple premise; (cue Nottinghill) he’s just a boy who fell in love with a girl and cherished his childhood sweetheart with the utmost loyalty. Since love really is quite imperfect, Hani does not see Saad as anything more than a friend; she’s a soft soul, but she’s fallen for Salar (Noman Ijaz). He’s really quite ruthless, and we’re immediately seeing who he is when at one point he literally summons a rather disgraceful ‘shut up’ call to his mother.
Saad’s frivolous antics are embedded in his confiding in his friend who says that all’s fair in love and war
He’s very gullible and rides to the shores of the blitz on this very motto. Hani’s blind at this point with Salar – and Saad is helpless; he hardly has an ego, and this fight is only because he is (rightly) certain Salar is a conniving little prick. Salar sees Hani as a quest to be attained, barely human and someone who is more of a prized possession perched in the center of his mantlepiece of glorified achievements.
Something that intrigues me (and impresses me) was just how beautifully all characters in ‘Shayyad’ are crafted and given leeway for development
They’re so human, you can’t help feel bits of yourself surfacing in their personas. Hani suddenly seeks continual validation from Saad when she feels his absence – and we all know Saad has NO filter when it comes to expression, but I’d honestly rather someone wag their tongue incessantly than pluck out a more sepia version of what they want to say.
Saad’s evil tendencies make him all the more appealing; the way he starts plotting schemes against Salar just makes him all the more mortal
He’s pushing Salar’s buttons, but it’s a tango swing because…well Salar isn’t stupid. He’s got a veiled ruthlessness about him that will unfurl itself as soon as he’s wed Hani. Saad isn’t even really evil, and at one point takes care of Salar and admitting to a mishap he catalyzed. Saad is desperate for Hani, and never shies away from expressing his overbearing love for her – however, it’s never annoying, despite the repetition. Why? The saving grace of the poetic narration that divulges Saad’s inner conscious. (This is one of the many delicious bites you feast on watching this flawless drama).
Saad is quickly merging into a fine, fine man – not the usual man who drowns in his own ‘just’ prejudices
It’s refreshing to see an anomaly in gender protagonists, with Hani being the more stable lead and Saad an emotional chaos who cannot move on from a case of unrequited love. But he’s got a heart of gold – something most drama male protagonists don’t have…not really.
Do you watch ‘Shayyad’?