We have seen many Cinderella-esque stories on our screens, stories that rely on feeding the audience a steady dose of misery, hooking them to the eventuality that the lead character will eventually find happiness. “Dil Awaiz” is another such story, not particularly innovative, but providing an interesting twist to the female lead’s background. Starring Kinza Hashmi, Affan Waheed, Seemi Raheel, Kashif Mehmood, Javeria Abbasi, Fazeela Qazi, Farhan Ali Agha, Raeed Aslam, Yasra Rizvi, Ayesha Gul, Saife Hassan and others, the story has been written by Madiha Shahid and directed by Mazhar Moin.
After five episodes, we have now been introduced to Dil Awaiz (Kinza Hashmi), a young girl who lives as the household help (complete with a muddy hut as her residence), cared for by another elderly maid. However, Dil Awaiz is the first born of Shahab Uddin (Kashif Mehmood), a rich man who refuses to acknowledge his daughter due to her mother’s murky past. It has already been revealed that Dil Awaiz’s mother was a “tawaif” (courtesan), but one has to wonder why Shahab Uddin, a man who was visibly besotted by Dil Awaiz’s mother, would reject his daughter with so much hatred due to his own actions? Shahab Uddin is a downright disgusting character, equating his daughter with a black cat, his day “destroyed” when Dil Awaiz crosses his path or is even visible to him. Of course, his behavior towards his own daughter has fueled the attitudes of everyone else in the family towards her as well and she isn’t simply treated as the household help, but as an object of scorn and ridicule. This is all very much over the top and several of these characters seem to be completely lacking a moral compass in their treatment of Dil Awaiz, particularly the character essayed by Sabeena Farooq, who is mistreating her (older) sister due to “class” and yet…..is carrying on a relationship with the actual household help!
In recent episodes, Dil Awaiz has been sent to her Phupo’s house to help with her cousin Maryam’s (Qudsia Ali) wedding preparations, where she meets Sikandar (Affan Waheed). There’s a lot to unpack here, because Sikandar spots Dil Awaiz in a field with a dupatta covering her face and “falls in love” with her. He is now treasuring her anklet in hopes of finding the woman it belongs to – and she very well could be a married woman with 3 children. There isn’t any logic here. This love story is not destined to be very moving or root-worthy.
The most humorous part of “Dil Awaiz” is that the lead character is not lovable at all. She is a young woman who purposely puts herself the way of criticism, knowing she will be mistreated and yet doing it anyway. Kinza Hashmi is beautiful, but her character is ridiculous. “Dil Awaiz” could essentially have been a good show, highlighting class differences within families themselves. It could have highlighted how the rich look down upon those from different strata, despite mingling with them (Shahab and Dil Awaiz’s mother). But unfortunately, as viewers, we will just have to relegate ourselves to watching this story as an entertaining, melodramatic guilty pleasure.