‘London se angrezi bol ne wali bahu le ke ayi’
‘Teri Meri Kahani’ is one of the best shows on television right now. The first episode had me hooked, and seven episodes on I’ve found myself simmering in this incredibly well-written show about three people who just can’t seem to catch a break. Yes, it’s a love triangle, but ctrl alt del the sappy recycled elements that most triangles hold, and dapple it with something unprecedented.
Ibrahim (Azfar Rehman),
Sophiya (Saboor Aly),
…And Deena (Saheefa Jabbar Khattak) are the three protagonists tangled up in a messy tale of love
To sum it up, Ibrahim and Sophia work together and are in love. Deena’s lived her entire life in London and decides to leave her luxurious life, abusive husband, and selfish mother to return to her estranged father back home in Pakistan.
I love this show for many reasons, but mostly because I relate a lot to Deena, growing up in London and having a more speckled ‘Western’ mindset moving back to Pakistan. She’s got a great heart; she’s soft yet outspoken, wild yet thoughtful. She’s unapologetic about who she is because she’s more than the clothes she wears or the outgoing nature she exudes – and she knows it.
Her more ‘liberal’ instincts are frowned upon, and when her adoring father Nawaz wishes her to marry Ibrahim (from a humble background), she knows it’s a mistake. Her and Ibrahim are two incredibly different people, they’ve grown up in entirely varying circumstances and they don’t see eye to eye on almost anything.
She’s belittled for not being able to cook a roti, or wear ‘appropriate’ clothes with her more conservative father’s household – but because she has her own brain. essentially she’s considered flawed and lethal. Deena’s having to conform to the constrained conventions of Ibrahim’s household, and it’s honestly really aching to watch – it isn’t easy spending your entire life in the luxuries of a life abroad and suddenly trying to remold into a lower economic setting in Pakistan, but she wholeheartedly tries her best.
Her maturity is admiring when she tries to talk Ibrahim out of marrying her just to please both their fathers. She teases him about living in the “sixteenth century,” and urges him to not abide by his parent’s wishes. You’ve got to hand it to her, she’s got more of a brain than most in the drama.
Deena, unfortunately, marries Ibrahim to maker her father happy, and while it’s all a somber moment of sadness what follows is further alienation. Ibrahim isn’t emotionally present nor is he available – he spends his days longing after Sophia, trying to keep her in his life. She’s broken, but she isn’t the only one. Deena’s wasting away at home, with a mother-in-law who continues to disparage her and a father who’s also beginning to distance himself.
Saheefa is fantastic, truly remarkable and quite unbelievable that this is her debut considering the fact it feels like she’s been acting for a lifetime. Honestly, watch ‘Teri Meri Kahani’ for her.
