Zeba’s dadi saying that in her days, “larka kuch karay na karay, ghar chalte rehtay thay” and then further cementing her logic by telling Zeba not to tell her father she advised against leaving Jami, was painful to watch. Umera Ahmed’s magic is in the works as you hear Zeba’s father uttering dialogues that melt your heart and make you wish that every daughter would have a father like him.
However, Yasmeen is probably the most delusional mother we have ever come across.
Oh Zeba, we cry for you and every Zeba that has to go through what you are going through, making marriage a living hell rather than a beautiful stage of life.
Jami is that guy who cannot see anyone but himself, selfishness and shamelessness at its peak. Jami acting super courteous before Jawad and flipping the moment he’s in the car alone with Zeba, bad mouthing her family, and she instantly thinking about her father’s words, that Jami will never change, and then Jami being super sweet over the phone with Zeba just to achieve his purpose of getting her back – all these interactions were not only testimony to Jami’s toxicity but possibly also triggered audiences who might have experienced or are caught in a similar relationship in real life, with no place to go and no one to turn to.
Love, love how Umera Ahmed’s script sends out much-needed messages to all the families watching, especially fathers. A father has to be there for his daughter. The dialogue “No one will cry over Zeba’s divorce” was the most impactful dialogue and the best message given by the drama. Divorce is sad and when families break, it is heartbreaking, but if your life is a living hell, where no one values you as a person, then rather than dying in such a relationship, divorce is the door to life which many girls need opened.
Thank you for giving us a strong, positive, and uplifting father figure. As we had said before, even though the drama shows the characters to be in the 90’s, the messages and situations are extremely relevant even today to so many girls who need their fathers’ support.
The Characters in Kafeel
A big shout-out to Kashif Mehmood, the actor playing Jawad – Zeba’s father, for such a beautiful and heart-winning performance. His expressions, his body language, especially his tone — his voice is heavy with emotion and communicates what he is feeling more than anything else. The authority with which he speaks to Jami, his tone carrying a hint of threat as well, is so heart-warming — that yes, no one can harm a daughter if a father is standing behind her.
Zeba’s father is rational yet emotional, his conversation with Jami is both firm and measured, restraining his anger at his daughter’s husband yet becoming the shield that Zeba needs if she is ever in need of one, and that too, against her husband and in-laws. Jawad asking Zeba how she is when he comes over and she serves him a cold drink, and Zeba’s subsequent slight shaking of the head said it all. He takes a quick decision then and it was so heartening to see that courage, strength decisiveness and yet composure in a father. Jawad is serving father goals in monumental ways.
Yasmeen gave us some hope by standing up to her friend Farhana, but then again, she is influenced by Dadi. Instead of staunchly standing behind her daughter, she wavers. To top it all, it was so frustrating to see her assume that since Zeba has returned to her susraal, everything must be fine and she never bothered checking up on her daughter. Even the father, for that matter.
Yasmeen likening a girl’s Kismet to a ‘bund mutthi’ and the dadi shunning divorce like the plague, weeping over the possibility of Zeba filing for one, reminded us how it is important to counteract this cobwebbed mindset with characters like Jawad, Zeba’s father.
The actual culprit and enabler of Jami’s red flags is his father who protects him, spoils him, hides his flaws, and never lets him grow up and take responsibility. We wonder, is this because of love or selfishness? If Jami becomes independent, he will also not stay with him, so then who will be his support in old age?
Reasons for Divorce Delivered Responsibly
The drama maps the gradual process through which Zeba and her family go through before finally deciding to go for a divorce. The father speaks to Jami, hoping he will change. Zeba goes back, giving Jami a chance, hoping for a miracle, and then the father even mentions that the lawyer will try first try to sort things out. Really appreciate the drama for showing this step-by-step process to remind us that divorce is and will always be the last resort for any girl or family.
Jami is a master manipulator, in addition to being a selfish person. No one really knows him other than Zeba, who thinks to herself how Jami is all bout himself, and perhaps his only otehr focus in life is Aasma. and probably she too cannot really estimate the extent to which he can go to get what he wants. His theory is so simple: bring Zeba back and get her so involved in housework that she has no time to do anything else or think about anything else.
Amazingly, the drama is highlighting a behaviour that many women mirror in real life — how she spends her entire youth doing household chores only to realise that at the end, she has lost herself in all this time, with nothing to show for all those years of her life. The drama also showed the resorting to sort-out-the-cupboard moment, which is relatable for many women, and if you consider psychology, it is probably therapeutic as well, because it calms you and distracts you from an issue you might not be able to resolve immediately.
Nobody knows that not Jami, but Zeba has been paying for everything. Jami has been stealing from his own father, not paying the milkman or the helper. Also, the way Jami mentions the helper, abusing her, shows he has no respect for women or people who help him or work with him.
Now that Aasma is getting married, what will Jami do? Sadly, Zeba will return to him now that she is pregnant.
Tell us if we missed something in the latest episodes from Kafeel and drop us a comment below.
