“Did he ever hit you or bad mouthed you, was rude to you? No. Then what torture are you talking about?” When Asra was interrogated in court, she couldn’t come up with a satisfactory answer to the question. Why did she want a khula (divorce) from Sultan? Shiddat is educating audiences on mental vs physical abuse, a critical lesson indeed!
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.
The drama informs audiences on the distinction between mental and physical abuse and that both forms can lead to trauma for the victim, resulting in mental torture. This, bundled with Sultan’s narcissistic personality, aptly portrayed by Muneeb Butt, is sending out messages to many families and couples who might be undergoing a similar situation but fail to escape from it.
The Relationship Dynamics
Shiddat depicts the story of a young girl, Asra, who fell in love with a high achiever, seemingly dynamic and self-assured man, Sultan. Sultan’s confidence, his life achievements, medals and certificates that he celebrates very publicly, impressed Asra who failed to see the underlying personality disorder plaguing Sultan.
But it is interesting to note that Asra was not the only one who did not note the narcissistic traits in Sultan’s personality. He managed to convince his work peers and Asra’s family too, to some extent. Sultan, at the outset, might just come across as a self assured, highly eligible bachelor with maybe, certain quirky traits, but nothing really alarming to be worried about. This is because narcissists are usually quite clever at hiding these traits when they want to. They are also adept at playing mind games, mental manipulation, isolating their victims from their near and dear ones, and can eventually lead their partners to start doubting their decisions, lower their self confidence and systematically destroy their ability to function independently.
Asra’s character essayed by Anmol Baloch, aptly mirrored the episode by episode mental breakdown, as she is subjected to repeated emotional and mental torture by Sultan.
Mental vs Physical Abuse
The drama is now at a crossroads as Asra’s family files for khula and Sultan fights the case to keep his wife – she is, after all, his biggest achievement, he says. Narcissists can often not tolerate defeat and losing Asra will be a defeat for Sultan’s very large ego. It is perhaps, an unfortunate reality in our society that awareness of mental abuse is still very limited, (yet, the incidence is alarmingly high) and hence, when a partner expresses a desire to part ways with her husband, it is hard to convince her own family and friends since the partner seems apparently normal, a high achiever and there is no conventional proof of abuse or torture – no marks on the victim, no evidence of mental manipulation or emotional abuse, events that are very hard to prove for any victim and subsequently, in a court of law.
Diagnosis & Messages For Families With Abuse Victims
It is only after Asra underwent a therapy session that she was diagnosed with the trauma she had been suffering, even her family members needed to understand that staying in the relationship could be fatal for her mental and emotional stability. The narrative went further to explain that Sultan’s condition needs medical treatment and it might take several years or never for him to function as a normal human being.
This message was very critical for families who refrain from encouraging a divorce when relationships seem to be visibly normal.
“But he doesn’t hit you or prevent you from doing anything, is the obvious response.” Victims are often convinced that their desire to break away from the relationship is also a mistake.
Educating Audiences
Furthermore, the ongoing court proceedings give an insight into how the law works, so that Asra must meet Sultan a few times outside court and try to give her marriage a final chance before the court can help implement her desire to break away.
These meetings are a mental torture for Asra, who cannot verbally express how much she fears Sultan’s presence, more so because of the emotional and mental intimidation he has subjected her to previously; again, something that is hard to prove in a court of law.
As Shiddat approaches the final few episodes, audiences wait to see how Asra will manage to find her voice and gather up the courage to battle Sultan’s mental manipulation. The drama has been giving us great and convincing performances, especially from the lead pair. Do watch if you haven’t already.
Although the narrative has been unduly stretched at points, one can always binge-watch and skip some episodes, yet manage to get the gist of the story and many takeaways from the drama narrative as it addresses critical relationship issues amidst us. One of them being men like Sultan – the ultimate, yet not visibly apparent red flag every young girl should be aware of.
