After Raza’s Death, Pamaal Shifts Focus to Malika’s Reawakening and Journey of Self-Discovery

While Raza’s story had our heart and tears, and while online debates navigated Raza’s untempered rage with his loving, protective husband vibes, and even as our drama memories nudged our conscience that THIS was the same man who forbid his wife from working, driving or hiring a maid unless he approved, this was also the man who cared for his family with an overpowering love and whose tragic life story evoked sympathy from the toughest hearts – in short, if you didn’t shed a tear, or mourned Raza’s demise and felt a deep, painful ache tearing at your insides, you certainly missed the plot. But now that Raza’s gone, one wonders,… what now? We’ve been though the emotions and while we thought it’s Malika’s story at the outset, dreamy, carefree Malika, who penned vintage love stories, more like fairy tales, of a prince charming to lift her off her feet,i t was essential to remind us that it still is in fact, Malika’s story… just a bit side-tracked by Raza, as it so happens in real life – the man overpowers the woman’s narrative once she weds, and then if she’s fortunate or unfortunate (in Malika’s case), she continues writing the chapters from where she left off… eventually. And that’s the story Pamaal is writing now. Know this, that if the drama had drawn the curtains on Pamaal after Raza’s story, the heart would been heavy, and many women who related to Malika’s life with Raza, who loved him yet despised him all at the same time (yes, it’s possible), wouldn’t have witnessed a journey of a woman who pulled it all together, wouldn’t have drawn hope, courage and a second chance at life… had it not been for Malika. In locking up for the night, in checking in on her mother before she went to bed, in finding the truest friend and support system in her, in seeking a livelihood as a possible means to giving her daughter everything her father would have, in finding an identity, in reliving the old one (just as Raza had asked her: ‘tum shadi se pehle wali Malika bunjao), in standing up for herself as a woman, and in speaking her mind on her first day at work, Malika’s journey after Raza, spoke volumes for the woman she could have become, or maybe, the woman she will become now. And even though the cynics among us feel Raza was a hindrance, who’s to say that perhaps Raza’s existence in her life propelled her to feel deeply, speak freely and write passionately – because when you have been through hell and back, there’s no stopping you now. This part of Pamaal, the 24th episode onwards, is possibly Malika’s reawakening. She’s unstoppable now and her journey as the woman who will collect herself, fight her battles and possibly win, starts now. It was also heartening to see the supportive characters who will facilitate Malika’s journey; from her mother without whom she couldn’t have come this far, to Nazia and even her cousin Zamin. Moreover, Malika’s conversation with Anas where she silently encourages him to forge a future without her, was perhaps one of the silent heroes of Pamaal’s storytelling – she can go it alone now, and she will not take the support of a man to do it. Even in this quiet act of Malika’s we see not just a brave woman but a woman who loved with all her heart – from not taking Shahood’s help, to drawing a clear line with Anas, to gradually becoming a powerful version of the Malika before her marriage to Raza, Malika’s actions might be guided by self respect, but they are also a quiet tribute to, and possibly deep regard for the man she loved and lost, and the one who will perhaps, always have her heart.