Can Sajal & Ahad keep us hooked? To ship or not to ship Aina and Amaan?
That is the question
As we – my mother, my sister, and I – sat huddled in front of a screen this Wednesday, a thought crossed my mind: “What exactly in Yeh Dil Mera has forced us to come out of our respective rooms, put our phones aside, and sit in questionable proximity of each other?”
If anyone dared entered the room, a collective “shhh” was issued. If someone dared point out that Aina’s “Mein tumhare saath safe feel karti hoon” is getting too repetitive, they got a glare. This was not the time to reflect. It was time to absorb the somewhat choppy scenes, Amaan’s green shirt (which even made an appearance in my dream), and Aina’s dormant, rather lovesick, prefrontal cortex – a part of brain home to critical thinking.
Then what is it that has kept three ladies – two of which who watch a drama a year on average – hooked?
The too good to be true cutesy romance? Nah, I think all three of us are too old and grumpy for that.
It is the performances and the chemistry between the Sajal & Ahad. Even Ali Bux and Amaan have electric chemistry as they semi-stare each other down in one scene.
Farhat Ishtiaq has maintained one thing since the very beginning, that Noor-e-Jaan (Aina) is pampered and sheltered and certainly isn’t street smart. My common sense argues, “But she has a brain and a set of eyes!” I refuse to believe that she’s oblivious to the change in Amaan’s facial expressions – they go from dobby-esque to dark in broad day light. It couldn’t be more obvious if he suddenly pronounced, “I am here to harm you and your draconian dad.”
Then …
Why is she not calling him out or calling the engagement off?
The only explanation is, that she’s under the influence of dear Mr. Cupid, who by the way, has the ability to make even the sanest of individuals behave like Priyanka Chopra at Beautycon.
Also, Aina isn’t completely oblivious to Amaan’s issues, because Aina’s expression went all, “There’s definitely something wrong with your childhood, but I won’t bring it up because it clearly hurts you,” when she asked Amaan to share his life story in the restaurant.
Aina knows that Amaan isn’t coming clean, and she does question him for his psychotic behaviour, but then she’s more than willing to believe his bogus reasons. They seem bogus to us, because we see more of Amaan than she does. Why wouldn’t a young girl in love believe that her fiancé got edgy and upset because one of his business rivals walked into the restaurant?
Aina surely has questions – from her father and her husband-to-be – but the twist in the tale is that she loves them both dearly. Her quest has only begun. And here’s to wishing that she’ll emerge victorious amidst the two despicable men in her life.
Another sub plot that progressed, in YDM
was Sahira having her James Bond moment with Amaan. Sunglasses, all-black attires, spy cameras, and hidden phone recordings were involved. Amaan was unforgiving and Sahira equally uninhibited.
She spoke to Amaan as if he was her bestie, sharing her “haye meri tou zindagi barbaad hogayi bhai saab” complaints, even though he continued to explicitly threaten her.
The meeting was a classic case of “I won’t scratch your back but you scratch mine” and Sahira agrees to scratch Amaan’s back – only proverbially I hope – because she’s been in a confinement of sorts for the past seven years. Her ego has taken a hit. So, after getting her right to motherhood being brutally disregarded by Farooq, here she is, joining hands with Farooq’s only enemy who has ever crossed her path: Amaan.
Sahira, too, has a lot of valid questions like why marry Farooq’s daughter if you hate him so much? But Amaan seems to have a manufacturing fault where he doesn’t entertain questions. How is this man getting away with not being honest with a single soul in his universe, unless you count Sheroo, is beyond me!
From what we saw in the last scene of the latest episode, Amaan plans to sexually assault Aina to get back to Farooq. If Aina and Amaan are childhood friends then how can that thought even cross his mind? He was definitely worried for Aina after the dream sequence, then how can he plan to hurt her, that too so deeply and irrevocably? How can he plan to harm ANY woman like that? Because Amaan might be anything, but he doesn’t seem to suffer from toxic ideals of masculinity. He understands the importance of consent. Then how can his plan include something so disgustingly inhumane? If he does intend to do what we think he intends to, then how will we ever forgive him for even thinking about it?
We’ll have to hope for a miraculous twist in the tale for that. His good looks can blind needy Aina, but not us.
Coming back to from where it all started:
Do we enjoy the surface romance or we call Aina out for choosing to stay so annoyingly ignorant about human behavior?
The makers want us to fall in love with Aina’s unconditional love for Amaan, but they want us to be wary of the latter’s next move too, because it’s a thriller after all. Also, there’s a tiny problem with Aina suddenly deciding to be all practical and fishing Amaan out from her life: We won’t be left with a show if that happens.
Aina will be made to choose between her husband and her father eventually. Hopefully, she’ll choose herself. But till then, we’ll continue to oscillate between frustration and fulfillment. And as my mother said after the latest episode: “Ab asli maza shuru hua hai.”
