Baala has his flaws, but one of the biggest ones is perhaps, his lack of self awareness, his ability to tear right into our souls so that we feel his, his actions that hurt all those lives he touches, be it zareena, Qamar un Nissa, Achhi, Joji, Kausar, or even Iqbal. Baala inhabits a living hell, even when in love, he’s a tortured soul – and the one person responsible for his ruin is none other than the woman he swore his life to, his first love. And then there’s the second marriage…
It all started when Baala visited Billo on her wedding night and discovered he had been fooled, betrayed and perhaps, even taken for a very long ride by our heroine who considered him one of her many suitors or, more to keep her amused ratehr than as a serious contender for the throne.
In an emotional interaction, not without its intense moments, it all ended with Baala spitting on her face, an injury Billo wouldn’t forget forever.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, they say. But Baala’s journey ahd just begun, in a downward spiral so to speak.
Then came the big reveal when Mai Phathan was employed to rid Billo of house, home and husband. And finally, the unkindest cut of all – teh second marriage. Zarina was the second woman scorned, but this time, it wasnt so black and white as Zarina was definitely the injured party here as well. She felt betrayed, emotionally, in love and spirit by a man who was never hers to begin with. It didn’t matter if he was ever involved with his Billo physically, the scars we cannot see, the years of devotion, trying to please her man, looking out for the tiniest approval, a tender look, a soft word from him, was all Zarina had lived on – and then this.
I feel it relevant to speak for Zarina because Baala has so many to speak for him, it’s a man’s world they say, and then, it’s also a Wahaj Ali world. So when Baala, a character enacted by none other than Wahaj Ali does the unspoken – marry a second time, the justice for Zarina hashtag seems to miss traction.
What we hear is, poor man, he was dispelled from his room, not once but twice. She never really udnerstood his pain. Yes, she was wronged, but was she a tad too difficult? Did she need to be the understanding, communicative woman Baala needed, ready with a shoulder (and a bed) to nurse his tired soul, and more.
Oh well, that done and dusted, Baala certainly didn’t waste time in getting himself a shoulder to rest on, and it wasn’t Zarina’s.
And then the second marriage – was it right to show one onscreen in a country where women try hard to denounce the practice, men tout it as a right, and still others, the wretched souls, the first wives who face their husbands walking into such an arrangement, must quietly bear the fallout, and sympathy votes for ‘poor Baala.’
Should the writer have shown our hero resorting to a second marriage? Or tried to mend his first? The sentence was out and everyone had a say. But most of all, team Baala seemed to be winning. Like I said, Wahaj Ali can play a murderer, which he was as Baala, and that didn;t seem to matter as much as the second marriage.
Because murderers can be chased by the law, but a man who marries a second time cannot. All’s fair in love… and falling in love again.
But here’s where the script took a genius turn. When the writer knows what she’s penned, and is aware of the responsibility of her words, she gives us a Zarina – a raging wife who utters just theright words, the right thoughts and defense that land right between all the sympathy votes for Baala.
Her grievances, from marrying every widowed woman, to how she too, was as loving as Qamar un Nissa, to why he needed to destroy another woman’s life, all aimed, and hit right on target. This is why Zarina was wronged and this is why Baala was the one who wronged her. There is no grey shade in a man who cheats on his wife, no matter how torn, pathetic and battered his life journey has been. He has wronged her.
And Zarina’s out pouring of anger, pain and resentment gave us just the right sentiments put into words – thanks to a sharp performance from Amar Khan.
And then there was Baala again. Despite feeling every word that hit like a knife from Zarina, one did not miss teh cluelsess expressions on baala’s face, as if, he had only the slightest idea why he had done wrong, or destroyed not one, but two lives – Qamar un Nissa and Zarina. Not two, but many more, if you count his child, and Qamar un Nissa’s.
But here’s the beauty in the writing. Baala’s cluelessness, his lack of self awareness, his detachment from the gravity of his actions, of marrying a second time – reckless, irresponsible and perhaps, too generous in life – just like the young Baala showed us why men like Baala, or even those less tormented as him resort to a second marriage.
It is easier to start afresh than to repair the wounds one must live with from a past relationship. It is easier to have a Qamar un Nissa treat you like a kinf than have a Zarina wanting to be your queen.
It is what many men do when they are tired, defeated and just for that moment, give in to teh weakness of their desires, and perhaps, in Baala, the goodness in him, the humanity that felt guilty for Qamar and the man who felt pity for himself – you see, that is exactly why many men marry a second time.
Fixing a relationship is hard. Starting a new one is easy. And Baala, dear Baala, did just that. The character just held up a life-sized mirror as to how men are nnot really from Mars, but right here, from earth. It is only the women, pure, forgiving souls like Qamar un Nissa, who can udnerstand his pain – they are the ones from Venus – the angels capable of immense grace and forgiveness – Qamar Un Nissa, you are one.
