Zeba is married to Jami and has to deal with the reality that he’s not the Jami she met at the event. Not just that, but her feelings for him are known only to her as even Jamal the singer doesn’t really know how she feels. As fate would have it, she meets him not once but twice, and the second time, as a proposal for her younger sister Aliya. Thankfully, Jamal refused the proposal himself and the interesting thing is, that we have developed a liking for this character despite the fact that he’s hardly spoken to our heroine. Hasan Khan is giving off soft hero vibes and we wait to see how the story pans out.
Kafeel dropped episodes 3 and 4 this week and while the drama carries a signature vintage feel – submissive, suffering heroine, toxic husband and parents who can’t wait to pack off their daughters in marriage, sweet and tragic coincidences and performances to match, one wonders if the period setting harks to a time before the 90s. But 90s it is and we’ll take it with all the Umera Ahmed dialogue and Meesam Naqvi directorial flair. Join us as we unpack the latest Kafeel episodes.
But what confuses us is the manner in which Zeba’s parents seem to be totally ignorant of her feelings, not being able to discern that she seems visibly disturbed after her marriage to Jami. It was a heartfelt moment when Zeba came home after the wedding and Aliya and Usman felt something was not right. The sibling bond here can be a great talking point for the drama and we hope it is explored in more detail as both Zeba’s siblings, Usman and Aliya are delivering great performances.
When Zeba discovers Jamal is the prospective proposal for her sister, Sanam Saeed pulls off an impressive scene where she reveals her utter shock and horror at the discovery, alone in the room, she cannot show her feelings to anyone, and in fact, feels guilty late night when she wakes up thinking of Jami.
It seems obvious that Farzana is aware of her brother Jami’s character and hence approaches Zeba first to confide in her if there is a problem between them. But then she turns on Zeba when the furniture issue comes up, did she do that on purpose just to control Zeba or did she genuinely believe Jami did not demand the furniture? Zeba’s mom Yasmeen certainly didn’t believe Zeba and possibly suspects Jami and Farzana but did not react at the moment. We hope she has a talk with Zeba soon.
One wishes though that Zeba had been shown to be a more protected, docile young girl in the beginning as her silence and guilt do not sit well with the initial character we watched onscreen in the first episode. Zeba being bullied by her husband Jami and Farzana to lie to her mother that she asked for the furniture herself wasn’t too believable as she didn’t come off as the girl who could be bullied so easily, especially since this was an arranged marriage and she could have told her mother the truth. Zeba’s parents too, getting their eldest daughter married without even investigating what Farzana’s brother does for a living seemed very strange and a forced plot to drive Zeba into a toxic relationship because that’s what the story is all about.
Added to this is the distance created between Zeba and her father between whom we witnessed a very close bond earlier. That bond seems to have vanished as he fails to notice the torment his daughter is going through now. Also, Jami’s family is known to be wealthy and living in a grand house. However, this grandness wasn’t too evident on the screen. In fact, one could not tell the difference between Zeba’s house and Jami’s, hence when Zeba’s mother Yasmeen was all excited about marrying her off to Farzana’s brother, he living in a big house, one wonders why the home did not seem anything like what we imagined. Even if the family is not that wealthy anymore, the maid mentioning to Zeba that she’s lucky to be wed in a big house made little sense.
However, the shock value for Zeba remains. Not only is she wed to the wrong Jami but she keeps meeting the real one in unexpected circumstances. Jami, her husband seems to have many secrets in his closet and one of them is the gitl he’s in love with, Asma. What else will life throw at Zeba? The drama makes us curious to know more.