“Aye Musht E Khaak” has entered an odd phase now, leaving the audience wondering where the story is headed. Starring Feroze Khan and Sana Javed in lead roles, this is a story that has kept viewers intrigued due to its slightly over the top characterizations, but relevant storyline. Tackling marriage between a religious woman and an atheist, “Aye Musht E Khaak” has been written by Maha Malik and directed by Aehsun Talish.
In episode 18, Dayaan (Asad Siddiqui) has come out of his coma, bringing relief to the entire family. However, while Mustajab (Feroze Khan) happily approaches Duaa (Sana Javed) to congratulate her, she immediately withdraws and reminds him of their “pact” – that if Dayaan woke up, he would divorce her. This is shocking for Mustajab, as he made this horrible bet in an emotional moment and did not realize Duaa would hold him to it. Of course it’s a given that his behavior during Dayaan’s coma was atrocious. Sure, he stayed by her in the hospital, but he offered little support in the way of easing Duaa’s worries. Now the tables have turned with Mustajab now in a state of stress and anxiety, upset over Duaa’s decision to divorce him as both he and Shakeela (Iffat Omer) make attempts to smooth things over, but to no avail.
What I’ve seen over the course of the past few episodes of “Aye Musht E Khaak” is that viewers seem to be split in regards to team Mustajab and team Duaa, with more on Mustajab’s side than the latter. Why is this the case? If we look logically at the circumstances that have led Duaa here, they make sense. She was tricked into a speedy marriage. She was told Mustajab was someone very different from who he is – if not only told that he was at least a “basic” Muslim and a man who genuinely loved her. Upon arriving in his household, many problems have arisen – from finding out about his atheism, his live-in girlfriend, his hatred for Dayaan, his temper issues and his rude behavior towards her parents, these are all things that have deeply troubled Duaa. Of course, religion means a lot to Duaa and Mustajab has even threatened her Imam. Mustajab is not a good guy. So why do we not feel the sort of sympathy for Duaa that we should?
Unfortunately, it comes down to Duaa’s behavior in this entire situation. A woman has every right to make her own life decisions and being married to a religious man is a justified one. However, while Duaa did attempt to move past Mustajab’s shortcomings and flaws, overlooking his rude behavior towards her parents and brother, even trying to forgive his past transgressions, did she ever really try to change Mustajab through having a positive influence? She never let Mustajab into her life through practice, rather the two seemed to have a “you do what you need to, I’ll do what I need to” sort of relationship and this doesn’t work. So while many may argue that Sana Javed’s Duaa is strong, confident and self-assured and knows what she wants, which is something we aren’t used to seeing on our screens, this isn’t exactly the reason for many not being on the same page as her character. It’s simply her lack of trying to have a positive influence on her husband.
It will be interesting to see how the story progresses from here, considering Duaa is so certain she could never accept Mustajab. Will something happen in the future to change her mind or will these two be destined to spend their lives apart? And are we, as an audience, really rooting for them to get back together?