Even words like heartbreaking and gut-wrenching seem like an understatement to describe how traumatizing and nerve-racking this week’s episode of Jo Bichar Gaye was. We lost two of our favorite characters in this episode and there is no ignominy in accepting that by the end of the episode we were in tears.
Haissam Hussain has absolutely nailed it with his ace direction in Jo Bichar Gaye, but then again we cannot get away without mentioning the sublime performance given by each of the actors in the drama who have aptly developed a bond with their audience and have won hearts hands down!
About The Episode
In my opinion, never has a drama been able to so successfully depict violence with this sensitivity the way Jo Bichar Gaye has done. Without showing any disturbing images or graphics, Haissam Hussain was able to translate the brutality and violence at the time without overplaying graphic scenes yet, not losing any impact.
Perhaps, other drama makers can take a page or two from Jo Bichar Gaye’s direction that it is perfectly possible to cultivate certain feelings and emotions in the audience without exposing them to disturbing scenes that may depict violence, suicide etc.
This episode made us bid farewell to two of the gem characters in the drama, Haroon played by Fazal Hussain and Capt. Salahuddin Baig potrayed by Rana Majid, who died with their heads held high, making it more difficult for us to come to terms with their fate.
As Dhaka University is under attack, Rumi (Wahaj Ali) and Haroon (Fazal Hussain) try to flee the scene but Haroon gets shot on the way. The entire sequence was so heartbreaking that it is hard to put it in words. Wahaj’s expression as Fazal’s hands slip from his hands and the disbelief that his cousin has been hit were perfectly essayed. Likewise, Fazal also won us over and we could not help but feel sorry for the young boy who had a future ahead of him. Our mind went back to so many young boys like Haroon who did not make it in those tumultuous times of revolt & widespread bloodshed.
Again, Talha Chahour was as excellent as ever. Talha’s body language and expressions have been so on point throughout the drama that we cannot imagine anyone besides Talha in the role of Captain Farukh. His scenes at the beginning of the episode from where he strangles the officer in the DG house to the side glances thrown at the Bengali officer as dread and fear took him over completely (of what might happen) till the final scene where he is shattered after learning the news of his friend’s passing and discovering all those people massacred in Ghazipur. His voice-over was so powerful that it teleported us to another space, enabling us to understand and feel the pain, fear, and heartbreak of the people at that time.
A shout out to the direction
Directorially, all 3 action scenes, Dhaka University, Ghazipur & DG House were executed sharply. The silence was as riveting as the action as we sat on the edge of our seats, our heart in our mouth, not able to completely comprehend the utter tragedy of it all.
Lastly, the figures and the short clip from PTV added the realistic element to the whole narrative, making us realize that unfortunately nothing is fictional.
