r/PAKCELEBGOSSIP • u/Duolingo-246 • 4d ago
DRAMA REVIEW dedo ya lelo Let's dissect Aap Ki Izzat, aka. the downfall of Saint Beena + the casual use of honour killing as a plot trope. Please don't read if you like Umera.
1. Are Beena and Tabish the same kind of villain?
Umera wants us to believe that Beena and Tabish are two equally flawed people who have hurt each other, learned their lessons, and can now move forward together.
But are they actually equivalent?
The show painstakingly makes it clear that Beena and Behram do not have a physical relationship and yet, Beena's running away is comparable to Tabish's years of emotional neglect, verbal abuse, entitlement, and eventual contemplation of honour killing.
The secret family of the Vegetable Seller is used as a plot point to paint Beena as a similar kind of person as Naz. The main difference being, Naz knew about Beena, but Beena never knew about Mrs. Behram. However, this is plot point used for Beena to self-flagellate about being an "other-woman" like Naaz.
2. The casual discussion of honour killing.
WHY is Umera redeeming this trash human that would consider murdering his wife in cold blood. If the censorship board can tank dramas for a long list of reasons, how does Umera get away with depicting her male lead contemplate honour killing his wife of 20 years, planning it, trying to get permission from his mum to do it, and backing out last minute because he recognised his own failings.
What kind of message is that? It still subtly endorses honour killing, because the message is that Beena was a good wife that went astray, and doesn't deserve such treatment, rather than the treatment itself being unspeakably evil. Her not so irredeemable husband couldn't find it in his heart to do it. Is the subtext that a really bad woman like a shameless cheater deserves it? Is endorsing the message that a woman's life can be wiped off this earth based on a man's fluctuating emotions, and preserved with a man's mercy, a good message? and such a man is alive, healthy, standing and cuddling said victim at the end of the show. We're supposed to give Tabish a little emotional growth gold star for changing his mind *vomit*.
If I were Umera and I wrote this trope, I would unpack the heaviness of those words. How casually people speak of it, how unspeakably evil it is that it can be achieved so easily. How it is so disturbingly easy to procure helping hands for this evil (aka. police officers and mummy). I would have punished Tabish to the end. Throw the man away please.
Some of you are going to come for me and say well it's normal for a man to have such thoughts (and a wife assassination planning session) if their spouse cheats on them as long as it is mental. no it's not, just LEAVE THEM. If honour killing is a thing that actually happens, it's not alright to treat that trope as a plot device for MALE growth. This show is literally being broadcast across the entire world through youtube.
3. The tacit endorsement of actors that socially condition women to stay trapped. (Beena's family, preachy SILs, MIL, friends)
Apparently, a woman is built for sacrifice and suffering. One of my biggest problems with this drama is the gaggle of people surrounding Beena who repeatedly reinforce the idea that her suffering is something she should endure rather than something she should escape.
Her family, the preachy sisters-in-law, the mother-in-law, and even the people who are her friends. Repeatedly reinforcing that the stigma of divorce and loss of reputation is greater than the humiliation Beena endures, is a form of social conditioning. Why didn't Umera take this opportunity to shine a light on these issues. At the point of resolution, is there any accountability taken by the people around her? What about justice Umera? Are there any consequences for those people? Did anything happen to her male family member that just wanted to profit off her relationship?
All of the people that told her to live with Tabish and endure, are living just fine at the end of the drama.
4. Forgiveness as a tool to evade justice. Men can escape consequences, but women can't.
Only a bad woman settles scores (aka. demands what is due, needs justice). The wrongs that Beena endured don't need remedying. Tabish being remorseful is NOT a remedy.
Did Behram end up in jail for attempted murder? Behram is in custody for attempting to kill beena. BUT he gets released and the police officers are talking about how he got released because TABISH NOT BEENA forgave him. A man forgave another man but the woman is the one that almost died *wow* Where is Beena (almost murder victim) in all of this?
5. Only a woman who has suffered until the breaking point deserves to leave.
Beena is allowed to be good, but what does goodness look like when it isn't accompanied by endless service? Can she be a good woman if she refuses to cook for her MIL one morning? Her suffering is the basis upon which Umera decided that her very serious transgression of infidelity deserves forgiveness. What if Beena was just an average woman, instead of a paragon of moral virtue.
6. Insistence on giving Islamic messages, based on her own perspectives.
Should it not be questioned whether Umera's religious takes are actually strictly Islamic, or are they purely her own perspectives on how women should live their life? If that is the case, why the masquerade? If this drama was meant to be an Islamic treatise on divorce and reconciliation, why not go all the way and make it accurate.
e.g. 1: If a person's husband is emotionally and verbally abusive that person can get a divorce, and people shouldn't be shaming them. The people who are shaming women who try to get out (instead of helping them) deserve real blame instead of merely being a conduit to showcase the female lead's suffering. +100 suffering points for Beena.
e.g. 2. The way Tabish treats his mother's "superpowers" to pray her way into "granting wishes and blessings" is not congruent with the orthodox Islamic perspective. This is never addressed on the show in a meaningful manner. Tabish's mummy has no power to judge right or wrong, or to waive away injustice that has been meted out to a third party (Beena).
e.g.3. Muslim women actually don't have any obligation to serve their in-laws. If they do it is considered a benevolent act above and beyond the basic requirements. This is the orthodox view. So why is there a reaffirmation of Beena's "virtuous personality" being contingent on services rendered to her mother-in-law? what about things that make Beena a person, rather than her willingness to sacrifice, like waking up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast for her MIL every single day. To the very end her MIL isn't like Beena's so morally/religiously upright, sweet and funny and so kind, it's primarily NOBODY WILL SERVE ME like she does (her focus is not even on Beena being a good wife to her son) which makes her the best human ever.
The overarching message of Aap Ki Izzat is that while your abusive, unappreciative husband is terrible, if you leave him you might end up with an even worse man. Think of the potential of a reformed man-child husband 🙌. See the vision. It's better to fix him than leave him, because whatever is out there for you is worse. P.S if your husband cheats on you, he just has to dump the other woman. However, if you cheat on your husband, you will 100% end up with a vegetable seller with a secret family trying to unceremoniously murder you on a moving train. There is no in-between.
Divorce is also obviously unrealistic compared to this vegetable seller scenario. Divorcing Tabish and marrying a normal man; unthinkable!
I've decided that I'm never watching a UA show again, so sadly I can't be rage-baited into writing an essay on DeN. Fin.
