When Zubia and Shahida ‘baji’ locked horns on the debate for a non existent grandchild, I was hoping Jama Taqseem would send out messages for the newly married couple, their challenges, lifestyle, work mode and susraal mode all rolled into one big life lesson – and how motherhood and parenthood, though a blessing in the life of any newly married couple, must come at a time that sits in well with the relationship timeline of the parents. While accidents happen, and preganancies come unannounced, Jama Taqseem, a script that has been fine-tuned to reflect the dated and modern world views of Pakistani joint families, one was hoping that the pregnancy debate would follow the same path – but unfortunately, that was not to be.
But let’s start from the beginning. Shahida knitting a first for her non existent grandchild – Laila and Qais’s child, was a bit alarming yet believable keeping in mind her desi and dated mindset. But then Zubia countered the perspective as Zubia would, with her working woman agenda. She bulldozed Laila into rebellion so that she stood her ground against Qais to bear children so soon after their marriage, and…, you almost believed her.
At this point, while both mothers in-law could be guilty of interfering, one felt Laila, having just started a new job, and Qais, just having lost his, was not the best time for both couples to add a new member to the family. Their troubled home front, hosting two sets of in-laws and a new catastrophic event daily, with both Laila and Qais lingering on the brink of multiple arguments, only to be resolved by Laila’s calm, cool aura and forever wise approach towards all things catastropic – Qais seemed to be losing points here, but Laila always won.
But then came the sudden news of Laila’s pregnancy, which was also believable, like I said, accidents do happen. But it was Laila’s reaction, the twist in the script, where we expected Jama Taqseem to send out messages to newly married couples and their parents, that the narrative seemed to make a safe choice – telling us that mothers in-law like Shahida, pressurizing their children for a grandchild, are not always wrong.
And they shouldn’t be, if only… Qais wasn’t jobless, and Laila wasn’t positioned as a career woman who was super happy to start a job, one she went against her in-laws’ wishes to begin with.
But while every pregnancy is a blessing no doubt, I questioned the wisdom of Laila’s reaction to the pregnancy, who, at the time, did not know that her husband would be reinstated in his job. Not once did I see her worry about how she would balance a new pregnancy with a new job, she being the sole earner in the family for the time being. I also know that Jama Taqseem, predictably, will find ways to navigate this tight corner – with both sets of in-laws contributing to help out with the grandchild. But in an imprefect world, many women do not have it so easy, many wives are not as wise as Laila, many husbands do not react as pliantly as Qais and many do not land a job the instant their wife gets pregnant – hence one wonders at the miraculous plot twists and if Jama Taqseem set itself up for handing perfect solutions in a life that’s far from perfect. And in so doing, also set perfectly unattainable goals for young couples just starting out on a wonderful new phase of life.
Let’s pause a moment and rethink this.
If Laila and Qais were living in the real world, Laila’s mother in-law would make sure she stays at home to look after her new born baby, Laila’s employers would have a tough time managing her new job and new baby, Qais would not find a job instantly after his wife was pregnant and Laila and Qais would have endless meltdowns as they navigated the ups and downs of married life with in-laws and a new baby. Things would get messy before they got happy – and yes, they might still get messy in the screen version of Jama Taqseem, the messaging might still be on point, but the fact that Laila and Qais did not feel the need to build a life together for at least a year or more, become wiser in their relationship, progress in their careers, and settle down with their respective in-laws, let alone take a vacation together before they procreate, is not what Gen Z relationships are made of – and I am assuming Gen Z has a big part to play in the way Laila approaches her life problems.
To add the cherry on top, and to counteract the entire narrative is Laila’s desire to have a large family because she was an only child at home. Hence, the argument stops right there. Not only will Qais and Laila have a large family, but they will also provide for that family, without any landed heritage in existence – neither of the parents seem to own a fortune to hand down, and one wonders if Qais will manage to be promoted as CEO within a few years to tend to these 5 children, or Laila will manage a side hustle along with her brood, to make sure everyone lives happily ever after?
Yes, the idea of 5 children is both romantic and fun, but it is an idea ungrounded in the hard facts of life – a reality Gen Zs are very aware of. The young people of today who want to see themselves in Laila and Qais want their coffee brewed just right – a life that balances home, work, leisure, me and couple time, a home they build together bit by bit, savouring every moment and bonus earned with hard work and even harder ambitions, will not welcome a sudden pregnancy. They will surely navigate it subsequently and plan out their lives to accommodate the new blessing, but in reality, surprise pregnancies that are celebrated when one partner is jobless, and both sets of in-laws feuding childlike while living with the newly-wed couple, then calling a ceaasefire, is a dream that only exists onscreen.
So while Jama Taqseem is sending out precious messages on joint family dynamics – has it gone too far pacifying the dated mindsets among us, silently empowering the Shahida bajis of this world, that a child is a blessing and strengthens a relationship, makes your bond stronger and should always take precedence over a career, newly-married bonds and relationships. That a mother in-law’s determination that her bahu procreates above all else will ensure her worth in the family.
If that were the case, married couples with children would never divorce, because their bond would be so strong, and world population day would never mark the sad reality that women in Pakistan have declining access to healthcare, often risking their lives in child birth and their mothers in-law subjecting them to domestic abuse or forcing their sons to remarry if they do not bear them grandchildren or a grandson, would all be a dream – something the Shahida’s of this world would never understand, but we had hoped the Laila’s of this world, for all their wisdom, would.
But maybe, just maybe, we’re being too harsh and dampening the storyteller’s spirit. Maybe, Laila will figure it all out as she always does, and maybe, all young women will look upto Laila – a strong and silent message that women must know how to juggle marriage, in-laws, a job and motherhood with as much grace and without a crease on their forehead, just like Laila – the face of the new Gen Z woman – undefeated in every challenge life throws her, and doing it all with a smile!
Is that really you or the Gen Z version that only goods onscreen?
Jama Taqseem is written by Sarwat Nazir and directed by Ali Hassan. It is a project of MD Productions and is airing on HUM TV. The cast includes Mawra Hocane, Talha Chahour, Javed Sheikh, Deepak Perwani, Madiha Rizvi, Hassan Ahmed, Tazeen Hussain, Amna Khan, Beo Rana Zafar, and more.
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