While the first episode of “Pyari Mona” won over viewers with its fresh presentation and light-hearted treatment, episode two almost immediately gets to work tackling slightly more serious subjects related to the storyline. Is “Pyari Mona” about body shaming and how women with flesh on their bones are seen by society? Yes, that much is obvious – but under the “obvious,” there’s a much deeper story being told, a story of how society places expectations on how a woman should look….and are those women always happy with living up to those expectations? Starring Sanam Jung as Mona, the show also stars Sabeeka Imam, Adeel Hussain, Uzma Beg, Adnan Jaffar, Muhammad Hanbal, Shaheen Khan and, later, Mashal Khan. The story has been written by Haseeb Ahmed and directed by Ali Hassan.
In episode two, Mona (Sanam Jung) is reeling after being presented with an “appropriate match” by Babar (Adeel Hussain) and Samia (Sabeeka Imam) in the form of Yawar. Yawar is a divorcee with a young child who “needs a mother.” Of course, Yawar seems like a perfectly nice man and the exchange between Yawar and Mona is quite nice to watch as Mona neither indulges in a screaming match nor does Yawar take offense to Mona being caught off guard. The conversation is a polite exchange between adults, which is refreshing to see. And yet, Mona’s point of view and sentiments are completely understandable. At a point when Mona’s family has barely begun looking for proposals for her, why is a divorcee with a child one of the first ones to come her way? Mona’s frustration is exactly how any normal person would react, even if Yawar is a nice guy. Are curvy women not worthy of being loved for themselves?
Of course, in the episode, we also see some wonderful bonding moments between Mona and her father. While Mona’s mother has not been a supportive figure in her life, it’s easy to see where Mona gets her confidence from, as she has her father’s love and support. Adnan Jaffar is a perfect fit for this role, his kindness and love for his daughter really shining through Adnan’s performance. Fortunately, this father does not play favorites and is also equally concerned about Samia, upset that Babar will not allow Samia to seek treatment for her current health issues.
This is where the story takes an interesting turn. In episode one, we knew there were cracks in Babar and Samia’s marriage, particularly from Samia’s side. However, in episode 2, we get a true picture of how things are. Samia has Mona for a sister and she obviously likes to eat and have fun. The two sisters have been raised together. However, Samia has fallen into society’s expectations of her and, most importantly, Babar’s expectations for her. Babar is visibly disgusted by Mona’s appearance and the way she chooses to live her life. In order to keep his “perfect trophy wife” from falling into that mold, he has her eating what he wants, drinking what he wants, working out how he wants and conducting herself the way he wants. She is basically a showpiece. However, it’s worse than that. In this episode, we see – and hear – how he casually puts Samia down, not only to her face, but also in front of others. He demotivates her, demeans her and reduces her own perception of self-worth. This has, in turn, caused Samia to fall into depression. It’s beautiful to see how Mona takes the time out to recognize what’s going on with her sister and tries to encourage her to get out – but to no avail. Samia is another product of society, the kind who conforms to how the “perfect woman” is supposed to be and spends her life pleasing those around her, particularly her husband and mother, and neglecting herself in the process.
Adeel Hussain is perfect as the “villain,” Babar – and he is a villain, the sort that exists in real life. Babar’s disgust towards Mona doesn’t stop just at Mona, rather it is now trickling down to his own young daughter, Ayaan. He sees her similarities to Mona, both physically and interest-wise, and believes Mona to be a bad influence, lashing out at her for every mistake his daughter makes, not only hurting Mona, but also ruining Ayaan’s confidence in the process. Adeel Hussain deserves a round of applause for how convincingly he’s playing this character without making him “evil.” Sanam Jung is just wonderful as Mona, really embracing the part and making us root for this sweet, full-of-life young girl. Also, props to the team for showing that Mona is about more than just eating and sitting around. She is a physically active girl who plays tennis and goes for bike rides. Sabeeka Imam makes her mark in this episode as Samia struggles with her mental health and keeping up appearances. She’s a character caught up in her love for her sister and trying to please Babar, the central individual in her life. Honestly, episode two of “Pyari Mona” is even better than the first and we can only hope it will only get stronger from here on out.