Normally I don’t watch many Pakistan TV dramas but strolling through my YouTube feed I came upon several videos that piqued my interest in ‘Meray Pass Tum Ho’. I concurred that this particular drama is the current sensation. Giving into my curiosity I decided to watch it and was subsequently not only disappointed but alarmed.
Meray Pass Tum Ho is entertaining but the story line and plot seem to be written for misogynistic and xenophobic people.
The acting is good enough and the soundtrack pleasant but all the that glamour cannot save it. It’s sad to see that the best our TV industry, which gave us gems like Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Udaari and Humsafar, now offers a sad tale that people, mostly women, are going gaga over.
On one hand we talk about breaking stereotypes, women empowerment and have launched great initiatives as the women’s march, and on the other, hand we are watching and validating, a drama that propagates tropes of what it means to be a ‘good woman’.
Dialogues like ‘2 takay ki aurat, jis aurat may haya nahi wuh Khubsurat nahi’ and my ‘favourite khuda Talak lenay wali auratien sen khush nahi hota’ should be highly offensive if you are a woman.
The story of Meray Pass Tum Hu is about a married woman (Mehwish) who is unsatisfied with her life and therefore decides to leave her devoted husband for a charming playboy. Its makers could have been nuanced with her motives and hence grounded it in reality. After all, married people do change, drift away and have affairs but no, Mehwish is ‘evil’ because she is doing it for money. Meanwhile her husband, Danish is a paragon of virtues. A government worker who does not take bribes and even makes tea for his wife, what a saint. He does not even beat her after he discovers she is cheating. Give this man a medal. Let’s forget his possessive and suspicious behavior and instead focus on the evil woman whose only crime is that she is no longer in love with her husband and wants out. Something that our religion totally allows.
This stupid and pointless conflict is the weak foundation of Meray Paas Tum Ho. It is sad to see that even in 2019 we as a society are still watching dramas with such weak and misogynistic story lines. There is no accounting for taste but please my fellow ladies don’t disrespect your gender by watching this. Don’t forget we live in a society where male egos get hurt by posters like Apna Khana Khud Garam Garo (Heat your own food). We need to stick together, not buy into narratives that say that women who leave their husbands are bad. Women have a right to leave at any time they want, it’s their choice. They are entitled to make their own mistakes, choose their own paths and to cross their own hurdles. Let us not boo them but cheer them on as they each acre their own individual path.
Meray Pass Tum Ho is entertaining but the story line and plot seem to be written for misogynistic and xenophobic people.
The acting is good enough and the soundtrack pleasant but all the that glamour cannot save it. It’s sad to see that the best our TV industry, which gave us gems like Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Udaari and Humsafar, now offers a sad tale that people, mostly women, are going gaga over.
On one hand we talk about breaking stereotypes, women empowerment and have launched great initiatives as the women’s march, and on the other, hand we are watching and validating, a drama that propagates tropes of what it means to be a ‘good woman’.
Dialogues like ‘2 takay ki aurat, jis aurat may haya nahi wuh Khubsurat nahi’ and my ‘favourite khuda Talak lenay wali auratien sen khush nahi hota’ should be highly offensive if you are a woman.
The story of Meray Pass Tum Hu is about a married woman (Mehwish) who is unsatisfied with her life and therefore decides to leave her devoted husband for a charming playboy. Its makers could have been nuanced with her motives and hence grounded it in reality. After all, married people do change, drift away and have affairs but no, Mehwish is ‘evil’ because she is doing it for money. Meanwhile her husband, Danish is a paragon of virtues. A government worker who does not take bribes and even makes tea for his wife, what a saint. He does not even beat her after he discovers she is cheating. Give this man a medal. Let’s forget his possessive and suspicious behavior and instead focus on the evil woman whose only crime is that she is no longer in love with her husband and wants out. Something that our religion totally allows.
This stupid and pointless conflict is the weak foundation of Meray Paas Tum Ho. It is sad to see that even in 2019 we as a society are still watching dramas with such weak and misogynistic story lines. There is no accounting for taste but please my fellow ladies don’t disrespect your gender by watching this. Don’t forget we live in a society where male egos get hurt by posters like Apna Khana Khud Garam Garo (Heat your own food). We need to stick together, not buy into narratives that say that women who leave their husbands are bad. Women have a right to leave at any time they want, it’s their choice. They are entitled to make their own mistakes, choose their own paths and to cross their own hurdles. Let us not boo them but cheer them on as they each acre their own individual path.