Aliya and Ibrahim’s love story is finding its feet like the hushed whispering of trees in a dark forest, intense, yet subtle. Each of them dwell in the presence of the other, feeling a comfort that transcends words. But where Aliya, the self-assured one, started this love conversation, Ibrahim is now getting to the world he’d never experienced before.
Trust & Letting Go In Relationships
It is hard for Aliya to trust their fledgling relationship when he is so far away from her. Love means to allow the other person to grow, and while Aliya looks out for him, and is growing to love him dearly, allowing Ibrahim to become independent, letting him spread his wings is perhaps, harder for her than she’d imagined.
The New Ibrahim
As audiences, we love that Ibrahim seems more confident, comfortable in the real world, not afraid to go about among new people, even having the courage to dress up and take Aliya to a café and sing for her. But with all this, also comes a sense of independence, of forming other relationships, bonds that are separate from Aliya, from what they know together, and perhaps that is the reason for her fear – her insecurity that she might wake up and not find him there anymore. Because, one day, Ibrahim might not be dependent on her anymore.
Allowing someone to spread their wings and taking the risk that they might, in fact, grow away from us, and even though knowing it is better for them, makes this act, the most selfless form of love – because it involves knowing that your beloved might not need you anymore.
It is about trusting your love. That he will stay, despite not needing you. He will stay of his own free will. Because, he loves you?
Aliya’s Dilemma
And this is the dilemma Aliya finds herself in. She knows she must let go, but fears losing Ibrahim. Now that Ibrahim has lost his job, how will he react? Will Aliya realize her selfishness in love? Do they really need to earn more money to stay happy? Is it not but natural that couple look towards building a brighter future and hence, avail the opportunities they get in life, just like Ibrahim did by taking up a job at Anita’s office? When is wanting more, wanting too much in a relationship?
These are the questions Mann Jogi makes us ask this week.
The Purest Form Of Love
Aliya making Ibrahim sleep on the bed and sleeping on the floor all week was a gesture steeped in deep love and regard for someone. It is not about bringing him flowers, or cooking his favourite dish (which she did anyway), it is about feeling what he feels, living how lives and finding comfort in the same experience. Mann Jogi takes us back to the very essence of really and truly caring for someone else, not even knowing that this, what Aliya did when sleeping on the floor, is perhaps, the purest form of love.
Shabbir’s Vulnerable Side
Watching Shabbir lay his head on his mother’s lap reveals once more, how a seeming tyrant, is really a terrified monster inside. He fears for his status and political image, the only life he has known, and through which he commands the self-worth he has worked so hard to build. His dialogue that it’s better now if Ibrahim and Aliya are not found, shows his deep fear at losing his standing in society and politics. He knows he will be a broken man. However, one still fears his wrath now that he knows of Anita’s workplace.
We were looking forward to Ibrahim singing a few notes for Aliya. But unfortunately, that was not to be. Their conversation in the café, Ibrahim admitting to liking her was such a pure, endearing expression of love.
Reality Bites
The hostel supervisor, offering them both a job at compromised salary is a reflection of how we often exploit the underprivileged under the garb of “doing good’ for them. Anita is the voice of conscience our society needs and we’re so glad she is present like a guardian anger, to look over both Ibrahim an Aliya, even at moments when they don’t realize we need them.
Ibrahim being asked to work overtime despite his resistance is another example of how we disregard rules of employment and force those who have no choice to follow our command. Later, his dismissal from the job, though unfair, is also a harsh reality we have normalized in our society. At the end of the day, Ibrahim will be blamed for leaving his job on a day that was, officially his off day.
It is unfortunate how the maulvi sahab is assisting Shabbir in wrongfully incriminating Ibrahim whereas Anita and her parents have helped save his life. This is yet another message the drama send out, in muted whispers. There are multiple ways in highlighting the religious minorities amongst us, and Mann Jogi is taking a sensitive yet heartfelt route.
Mann Jogi is a story that peels back the fears and bonds that tie our deepest relationships, telling us how we make a simple relationship into a complex journey, well, because, we are after all, human!
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Catch Up More On Drama Gup With FUCHSIA
Mann Jogi is directed by Kashif Nisar and written by Zafar Miraj. It is produced by Sultana Siddiqui. The cast includes a star-studded ensemble featuring Bilal Abbas Khan, Sabeena Farooq, Gohar Rasheed, Asma Abbas, Adnan Shah Tipu, Saad Azhar, Tahira Imam, Syed Tanveer Hussain, Shehrezad Peerzada, Chaudhary Muhammad Usman, Jannat Asad, and Shabana Qureshi. It airs, every Saturday on HUM TV at 8 pm.
