Pamaal: Just when you thought Malika would finally walk out of the marriage, the drama took an entirely different turn and Raza ended up being arrested. A huge shoutout to the director and writer of Pamaal for keeping the pace fast and the story crisp. Every week we see a different POV in the drama. Malika will rise and discover herself, but not in the way we expected her to.
The drama also reminds you that this is how Allah’s plans work. Malika will stand up for herself and her daughter, but not in the way we all thought. This will also teach Raza a lesson maybe, to appreciate her the way in which she deserves, to realise he should have helped her grow instead of stopping her. It brings back your trust in Allah’s plans.
How Malika was so terrified when she forgot to pick up Hadia from school, how she was more worried about Raza’s reaction than Hadia’s safety, is a classic case of mental and psychological abuse. The way Raza plans to put Hadia to sleep and then gets angry at Malika so Hadia doesn’t see his behaviour should also be noted. Later he apologises to Malika. These are classic signs of abuse. Even after the miscarriage, Malika asks Raza if he is angry at her.
The drama also makes you realise that abuse is sometimes not apparent. It is done under the guise of care and love, and sometimes the abuser himself isn’t aware of his actions. But the effect this has on Malika is devastating. She has completely lost her confidence. She is lost, scattered, and mentally exhausted. The rebellion inside her is rising to emerge with full force, but she puts it back to sleep every time.
Many viewers are complaining about why Malika is doing all the household work or why she seems overwhelmed when she has a maid. We forget that Raza doesn’t like anyone touching his things or performing tasks for him. Even when they were fighting, he asked her to iron his clothes. Even after shifting to a big house, Malika is shown doing most of the work. We hardly see any servants.
Why do so many people especially women think Malika is being ungrateful? Why are they frustrated that she can’t stand up for herself? Why is she so lost, why does she act “dumb” sometimes, and why can’t she manage the house despite having help?
This is what slow and constant mental abuse does to you. Abuse that is often disguised as care and protectiveness so we don’t even recognise it, even while many women are experiencing it daily.
The drama also tells us why Raza is the way he is in the scene where he talks to his brother. The fact that Safia made Shahood send him to a hostel shows how it affected Raza as a young boy. It made him decide never to let his wife or anyone rule over him, especially when it comes to his daughter. While Raza may think this way because of his childhood, many men are like Raza simply because society encourages men to rule and women to be patient.
A big lesson we hope everyone learns is this: when you cripple a woman, when you make her dependent on one person—whether her father, husband, or son—and when life throws a challenge at her, her world collapses and she is unable to cope. Instead of teaching women to be patient and obedient, teach them how to deal with the world.
The drama has shown the struggle of a new mother, struggles many of us ignore. We only focus on telling her to be thankful that she has been blessed with a child, when many cannot become mothers. But in this process, we forget the toll motherhood and marriage take on her mental and physical health. If she is going through postpartum depression, we fail to recognise it or accept it.
Her mother is probably one of the biggest contributors to Malika’s emotional and mental agony. She has failed to guide her, support her, or simply be her friend. Malika doesn’t even have someone to vent to, because her mother will always tell her not to be ungrateful and not to make matters worse.
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Pamaal is a Multiverse Entertainment production, written by Zanjabeel Asim and directed by Khizer Idrees, with Tehreem Chaudhary serving as producer. The cast includes Saba Qamar, Usman Mukhtar, Haris Waheed, Salma Asim, Adnan Jaffar, Faiza Gillani, Naima Khan, Shahnawaz Zaidi, and Fatiq.