From the moment Nisa discovered Meeran was married, and that too, to Gul Mehar, the Biryani world took a spin, not just for Nisa but for the rest of the audiences who couldn’t figure out if the man they had grown to love was indeed, a red flag. Had Meeran lied to Nisa? Was Gul Mehar manipulative or merely, protective, and more importantly, hopelessly in love? And where does all this leave Nisa, our dear Nisa who knew nothing of Meeran’s past – the past of a man who had so sincerely committed to her, despite already being committed to another.
Biryani is not a new story, but the characters have grown upon us, and the story is all heart, depending on which lens you wear – the one that feels that forced cousin marriages need a long, hard look, the one that feels Meeran just switched colours, chameleon-like, from red to green flag, or the one that feels intensely for Nisa’s betrayal, her anger finding no release, her sense of utter embarrassment, and also of being fooled perhaps. How could she, Nisa who was so clever, rational, focused, with zero tolerance for any kind of unnecessary love feels, how could she fall for what millions before her have and millions after her will – that thing called love? Or are you the one whose heart belongs to Gul Mehar?
It is a painful realization when one feels one has been cheated in love, when one has become vulnerable, confessed one’s feelings and is mentally planning a life together, to get THIS in return – falling in love with a married man – and not knowing that he’s married – yes, that’s the full horror of what descended upon Nisa and it needs to be written out in bold, black letters, for anyone who feels she was too hard on Meeran. Perhaps not hard enough? Say those who feel for her deep sense of betrayal.
But then there’s Gul Mehar. The woman who planned selflessly to help Meeran win over the love of his life. The woman who is married to Meeran, and who, by the looks of it, is hopelessly, undeniably, yet secretly in love with him – the one-sided love that knows only heartbreak, that sacrifices one’s love for another, because well, to see your beloved happy, is perhaps the closest thing to being loved back. Meeran has no clue Gul Mehar loves him, and in this complicated love story, audiences react with equal passion – blaming Meeran not only for hiding the truth from Nisa, but also for depriving Gul Mehar of a fulfilling (and blissful) married life.
But as Gul Mehar put it – a woman who comes from a place of knowledge, that love does not take into account language, status, religion, class or so much else; love transcends all boundaries, and all limits that we place on ourselves in our rational, human lives – just like it hit Nisa, who thought love had no place in her life plans, she wasn’t coded for love, (or so she thought), or Meeran, who was perhaps, running away from it, or Gul Mehar, who has given into it but feels its throbbing pain every living moment.
Can we then, blame Meeran for falling to Cupid’s arrow, and that it hit him not where the Nikah nama meant it to, but where Fate led him?
But can a wrong committed by one person be excused because he or she were themselves victims of a past wrong?
While cousin marriage is not something to be condoned, hiding your first marriage from the person you plan to marry, from the person you confess to committing to, cannot be excused either. Can one feel sorry for Nisa and not for Gul Mehar. And the trick question – is anyone feeling sorry for Meeran?
Gul Mehar revealing further that Meeran and herself could not move beyond the sibling bond they shared was perhaps, more for Meeran than herself. But it was a quiet call out to cousin marriages, as she went on to explain how their ancestors had carried on the same tradition in the family. One also wonders at Haroon’s disabilities in the same breath and if the story will take on the narrative on a larger scale to address the issue and also focus on the elders in the family, namely Baba Saeen and Meeran’s mother who are more or less oblivious of the pain they have inflicted on this couple.
But whether Nisa will get over the heartbreak, whether Meeran will manage to win her over again, and how, and whether he will truly understand Gul Mehar’s feelings, one must not forget, in our intense sympathies for both Nisa and Gul Mehar, that accepting Meeran as part of her life, (if Nisa ever comes to that), would mean always having Gul Mehar as part of her life too. The fact that Meeran wanted to tell Nisa about his past, but waited, because Gul Mehar advised him not to, the fact that he shares his deepest feelings with her, even the way he feels about Nisa, his triumphs and disappointments, makes one wonder if this relationship itself is more of a red flag for any future wife or love interest of Meeran than anything else. Meeran might refer to Nisa as the love of his life, but it is to Gul Mehar he will always turn when he needs advice, help, or seeks to find a way forward from a knotty moment in life – isn’t that what a life partner is all about? And in that case, does he not already have one in Gul Mehar, just that he can’t see it?
And against this complex backdrop resides the story of migration, of the multicultural climate upon which Biryani builds its narrative – and where Meeran and his tribe might still be okay with second marriages, but it is not something Nisa and her family are used to taking in their stride. Where mammoo might have received a hit of cultural nostalgia, thriving in nature, music, eloquent interactions, culinary flavours, and fresh air, he seems to have lost sight that the congenial air and courteous interactions that marked his visit to the Sindhi camp, are far removed from the politician, the feudal perspective, the patriarchy that lies at the heart of Baba Saeen’s entire existence. And just because being hospitable is in his DNA, being overbearing and unforgiving can also be a mark of his lineage, one that Nisa and her family might encounter soon.
But can love conquer all. And has it already conquered mammoo?
One waits to see how Biryani will wriggle itself out of this one. The story has reached a point where our main characters are placed in water-tight corners, with now where to run. But run is everything Nisa can do right now, and she will, with all the life left in her. So where do they go from here?
And isn’t it ironic that here is a girl who planned to dodge the cousin marriage bullet, yet unknowingly, landed herself right in the middle of another? Life finds us in unexpected and tragically poetic moments even as we think we have escaped them.
One thing is clear though, every one of our beloved Biryani characters have reached a turning point now, what happens from here is all about the journey – a maturing, a coming of age that will make them carve out their destinies while we watch, hoping the story doesn’t disappoint and the storytellers, the players that is, achieve their heart’s desire – how is that even possible in a love triangle such as this one?
Oh well, we’ll leave that one to the art of storytelling – only time will tell how it all unravels!
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