Life Is not a garden of roses, you know!. Review on Zindagi Gulzaar Hai

Two siblings estranged  at birth from the mother, ravaged by neglected infancy and deprived childhood, grow up in an atmosphere of animosity and hatred towards each other. However, the umbilical chords still tied to the roots, surprisingly, bind them together in a kind of love-hate relationship. Its not one of those run-of-the-mill-patented-formula-films.  Its the story of two promising, neighbouring nations fighting endlessly on misguided missions - Hindusthan and Pakistan. And how best to remind them that their diversity is just skin deep and fraternity deeper than the darker motives of fundamentalism but to recall their cultural legacy - their music, art, food, literature and above all their tehzeeb which carry known flavors relished and cherished on either sides of the LOC.

The newly aired Zindagi Channel is doing right that. It is telecasting Pakistani serials and tele-films which suit best the Indian sensibilities.(However, unfortunately the exchange is just one-sided; I do not know whether there is similar sharing in Pakistan from our side too).  The most popular amongst these, till now, is Zindagi Gulzaar Hai - the story of Kashaf(Sanam Saeed) and Zaroon( Fawad Afzal Khan)  hailing from two different strata of society, their love-hate relationship blooming into heart-in-the-mouth-kind-of-romance and later marriage which in no way is made in heaven. This is not the they-happily-lived-ever-after-love-story. This is the emerging Pakistan transitioning from medieval to modern. A Pakistan which we empathize with as we too are going through a similar transcendence.

Kashaf comes from a broken family. She and her two sisters have been brought up by her mother, Rafia(Sameena Peerzada), a school teacher, with typical age-old middle class values. Her abba(Waseem Abbas) has moved apart to marry a second time and maintains just a formal relation with his daughters and first wife. Kashaf, a brilliant student but financially weak, has been struggling throughout to stand on her two feet so that she can help her mother rear the family and marry off her other two siblings, Sidra and Shehnila. However, Kashaf's confident exterior hides a vulnerable, fearful and insecure child inside. She is afraid of love, commitment, marriage and above all men. She craves for fatherly attention and finds her anchor in Sir Abraar, her professor. But when it comes to making up her mind about a life partner, she is vague, diffident, doubtful and disbelieving. Can anyone really love her truthfully and loyally? Or love is just an illusion, a fool's Utopia?  Are all men essentially like her father - mean and motivated, disloyal defectors?

Zaroon is the good looking, rich, arrogant, spoilt brat of a well-to-do family who has not known the word'struggle' in his entire life. His mother, a career woman, has more than often sacrificed  family and children at the altar of her personal ambitions.  Zaroon has zillions of girl friends, travelled widely across the globe and is supposedly the most eligible bachelor of the upper echelon of the society. Yet, both he and his sister Sarah(Ayesh Omar), are  indecisive, unsteady in relationship, self-centred and lack the quality of devoted home-makers. While Zaroon's fiance, Asmara(Mehreen Raheel) breaks off their engagement accusing Zaroon of being narrow minded and idealizing a puppet of a wife, Sarah, his sister goes through a divorce unable to handle the pressures of marriage.

Both, Kashaf and Zaroon, have their prejudices, inhibitions, complexes and drawbacks. Pitted against each other, they are like fire and ice. What happens when two seeking souls come together is to be watched to be known. Bound in wedlock will their love survive their own weaknesses and society's preconceived notion of an ideal marriage. In order to find the answer, you will have to follow Zindagi Gulzaar Hai, at 08.00 PM, prime time, on Zindagi channel. The serial has been allotted an hour's time with reasonable breaks in-between which allows just the right kind of pace for the narrative to flow in seamless continuity.

Besides having a strong plot, attractive story-line, gripping narrative, rich, quotable dialogues, Pakistani serials and tele-films have the wonderful quality of maintaining a self-demarcated lakshmanrekha which they seldom cross over. There is substance and meaningful message without bordering on didactics. Unlike, Indian Soaps which either go overboard in the name of modernism given the Ekta Kapoor(in)sensibilities or indulge in irritating moral policing treating the audience like school kids, Pakistani serials have quality programming, a clean yet clear cut agenda absolutely suitable for family viewership and remarkably, wisely edited presentation in terms of length of a serial, in tandem with the sweep and survey of the plot. The latter at times leaves the Indian audience grappling for  perhaps a little more detailed narration as understandably they are now so used to dragging sequences, interminable panning on single frames, especially the expressionless countenances of male or female protagonists and stand-still action as the hands of the clock tick by till the episode-writer accidentally pounces on the long-lost clue to the next twist and turn in the story before the next ad-break. Given the hapless condition and mediocre quality of Hindi Soaps(I would go on to add Regional as well because they are no less bizarre, in every sense of the term), the serials from the other side of the barbed wires are a refreshing change. I shall be doing a great disfavor to this review if I do not write a few words in honour of the subtly nuanced performances of the protagonists and other important characters of this serial. And mind it, there is no sudden wild card entry in the midst of the series - a long forgotten brother / son/ husband/ betrothed with an ulterior motive or vengeance or that desperate savior of the peace without whom the entire train of events will have crumbled down like a pack of cards. In fact, such intrusions are not in the least required as the story is too consistent, well-knit and meticulously thought of obviating such diversions.

Coming back to the performances, Sanam Saeed as Kashaf is so dignified and restrained that one cannot dissociate the character from the artist. Sameena Peerzada as the calm and poised sufferer Rafia, who is endowed with the towering strength of endurance and the enviable tenacity to surf through the turbulences of life without uttering a single accusatory word of offence towards her husband or fate, leaves a long lasting impression. She is resilient and soft but at the same time strong and possessor of cool courage. Zaroon. with his overwhelming good looks, overshadowing screen presence and gullible charm, of course, is a bonus in every respect. Every character is so relatable - from the class conscious mother-in-law to the opportunist stepmother - that we cannot complaint of entertainment'imported from heathen land' not making an iota of sense to our sensitivities. In fact, it all does and does so perfectly because, as I said in the beginning of this review, the soil that holds the roots together within is the same - "jo des hai tera wohi des hai mera".

Based on the same named novel written by Umera Ahmed and directed by Sultana Siddiqui, the serial is woman-centric yet not overtly feministic. The men in the story are as much flawful as respectful towards their womenfolk and social institutions like marriage, parental duties, social obligations etc. and rather act as adhesions wherever the women fail to keep the familial fabric from tearing apart. Here there is no lavish set, larger than life persona or unnecessary song and dance extravaganza. The beauty of visual lies in understated elegance. The strength of narration lies in its underlying social comment. The characters are of flesh and blood whom we have known all along and are in existence around us. Above all, Zindagi Gulzar Hai is  an incorrigibly romantic love story. It has, unintentionally, ushered in the era of undiluted romance, that nostalgia of unforgettable fragrance from the fifties and the sixties, which is conspicuous by its absence, in our story telling be it serials, telefilms or movies.

Do please hurry if your interest is tickled as the serial is coming to a close on 18th July, 2014. But of course, you can enjoy the recap on You Tube anytime.

Cheerio!