Sultan in Shiddat is sending out shades of grey. The creators have succeeded so far in painting a character that is not totally black nor white, the moment he leans towards one side, the narrative seems to pull him back, reminding us of the other… and to top it all, many of his actions seem justified, so that we understand the motives that drive his eccentricities.
Shiddat is a project of 7th Sky Entertainment, the brainchild of Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi.
Where many Pakistani drama characters are shown as overtly toxic, viewers often struggle to see a history or a backstory to explain their actions. But in Shiddat, Sultan is well-crafted, making his actions all the more credible in the larger scheme of things. Here’s why the character, played convincingly by none other than Muneeb Butt, strikes a more believable note.
1. Sultan’s Heartbreak Has A Past
Sultan as a young school kid cut an innocent picture. Intense, earnest, unsuspecting, desperately in love and easy prey for anyone who wants to exploit his pure intentions. The flashback was placed at choice moments in the episode to make us sympathize with, and understand the journey of a young soul yet untainted by the negativities of the world. The ensuing heartbreak will be hard to bear, but it will also come in handy when audiences need to understand the quirks in his grown up personality.
Is Sultan on a quest to make girls fall for him the way he fell for Pari at school? Does he have a sense of inferiority when he realized he was being used and is he now turning that around to use it as a weapon on others, just so that he can feel good?
2. The Case Of The Missing Earrings
Sultan manages to get what he wants. His strategy to hand the money for the missing earrings to Asra, call her up from Hala’s phone, stage a missing earring and achieve his objective by planning the entire mystery from start to finish did not surprise us. Why?
Because Sultan has already been established as that character who knows how to manipulate situations to his advantage. From winning at horse-racing to earning a wall of certificates and medals, and nailing the housing presentation before Asra’s brother, Sultan is your top achiever and achieve he does. Audiences don’t question where and how he brought it all about because, well, he’s Sultan, and he’s capable of thinking beyond the obvious!
3. From White To Grey To Black
Sultan makes us do a double take on his intentions. One moment rude and stand-offish, the other moment calm and facilitating, Sultan is as slippery as an eel when it comes to boxing his character in any one mould.
He’s helping Asra with her IT project at one point, then reprimands his sister for snacking in between work, he converses with Asra casually in his room, then asks them to leave abruptly as he turns back to work. Sultan makes us wonder if he’s really that bad, or just needs some intensive therapy to overcome childhood trauma. Are his actions guided by his own inadequacies and can they and he, be mended in time to reveal the soft-feel hero we glimpse at times?
Does his flip reveal his own tortured childhood where his parents shared an abusive relationship which has spilled onto his sensibilities? Sultan is a puzzle but not without clues from his past to help us understand him.
4. Sultan’s Actions Have Motives
When Sultan aced the presentation before Asra’s brother, it almost seemed as if he’s planned it. He seems to anticipate what’s coming next and does the needful to manipulate circumstances in his favour.
Sultan impressed Asra’s brother, almost making it seem like he knew what’s coming. Is making Asra fall for him a grand plan from the start?
His behaviour though mysterious, keeps us hooked. Sultan is that hero who leaves us intrigued as the mood shifts from his toxicity to the ways in which he ensures situations and people come around exactly as and where he wants them to be. It is almost as if he will never allow a situation to slip away from his grip, because, at the end of the day, he wants to feel in total control – something he has learnt after losing to love earlier in life.
5. Is Sultan Caring For Pari Or Is He Responsible For Her Situation?
Sultan plays it subtle with Pari, even shedding a tear and making us wonder, is he really looking after her or, is he responsible for bringing her to this state?
His interaction with Asra makes us fear him, and yet, at times, we feel Asra is in safe hands if only because he flips all of a sudden and makes her feel she’s safe and looked after. The teddy bear at the orphanage was one example of how Sultan can be soothing sweet, a harmless, warm-feel interaction that makes us nearly forget the coldness that resurfaces from time to time.
Sultan definitely has us intrigued. But despite his conflicting behaviour, we see the complexities in his character, we understand where they come from, abusive childhood, bickering parents and a will to succeed to make himself feel he is, after all, worth everything other people made him feel he’s not!
If you’re not watching Shiddat, perhaps you’d like to give it a watch. Tell us what you think about Asra and Sultan and where the relationship will go from here. Tell us if you get Sultan’s character, his complex behaviour and the white to grey to black mood shifts that keep us guessing all along the episode.
Shiddat is written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah, produced under 7th Sky Entertainment. It is produced by Abdullah Kadwani & Asad Qureshi and directed by Zeeshan Ahmed. The cast includes Muneeb Butt, Anmol Baloch, Noor ul Hassan, Erum Akhtar, Minsa Malik, Hiba Ali Khan, Shamyl Khan, Ismat Zaidi, Namra Shahid, Fajjer Khan, Zain Afzal, Sami Khan child actor, Sohail Masood and others.
