Qayamat Episode 22: Neelam Muneer’s Ifrah Is A Strong Female Lead

“Qayamat” initially had the shroud of misery surrounding it – however, in recent weeks, Neelam Muneer’s Ifrah has taken charge, seeking revenge against her in-laws for the mistreatment her sister suffered at their hands. Starring Ahsan Khan, Neelam Muneer, Amar Khan and Haroon Shahid in lead roles, “Qayamat” has been written by Sarwat Nazeer and directed by Ali Faizan. In the last episode, we saw that Ifrah, struggling to come to her parents’ aid financially, stumbles across some information that could change their lives around.

It goes without question to say that Neelam Muneer’s Ifrah is the highlight of “Qayamat.” In Episode 22, the show tends to follow a single track – that of the family property distributed between the two brothers, played by Shabbir Jan and Noor Ul Hassan. Ifrah is enraged after her in-laws refuse any real financial help while her mother is in need of a major operation and in a desperate moment, she rifles through her Taaya’s (Shabbir Jan) files and discovers something alarming. With the help of Saad (Haris Waheed), who has come to be a faithful friend and brother to her, Ifrah discovers that her father’s signature was forged on family property papers years ago and continues to be forged while being sold off by her Taaya. Shocked that her father never got his rightful inheritance, a rather large amount that would have put Ifrah’s family on equal footing as her Taaya’s, Ifrah is rightly angry. What’s great about Ifrah is that she is strong, unbending and does not care about notions of being rude or stepping out of line with “elders.” She knows right from wrong and she does not waste a single breath apologizing to those who have done her family wrong.

It’s unfortunate that the rest of her family is unable to think this way and her father, after discovering the truth, is more broken-hearted over the deceit he has been served at the hands of his own brother. He angrily signs over the property rightfully to his brother, but makes it clear that he has lost all respect for his brother before tearfully walking out. This part is ridiculous, considering his daughter has gone through so much to uncover the truth and his other daughter suffered a tragic death at the hands of this family. Not only was this a great moment to get his finances back on track, but could have also served as a great “punishing” moment for Rashid and his family. But no, alas, this “ghareeb” father continues to sacrifice his children in his own sacrificial ways – since he doesn’t have anything else to sacrifice, why not continuously sacrifice daughters? Logical way of thinking. Now Ifrah is left there in a house with perpetual abusers (in one way or another) and there wasn’t even any financial gain from it.

Still, this is Ifrah we are dealing with and there isn’t any doubt that Ifrah will continue to punish this family for their misdeeds. Neelam Muneer is the embodiment of the strong, vocal woman with a strong mind and will. She has played this role before in “Bikhray Moti,” but her character did have her hands tied with the fate of three children resting on her shoulders. This time around, Ifrah is not a sitting duck and it’s great to see a girl give it back to her abusive in-laws in the way that they deserve. What makes it even more wonderful is how aware Ifrah is of the abuse Rashid inflicted upon Samra – and she makes sure he knows she is disgusted looking at him. “Qayamat” isn’t a perfect show and is horribly over the top, but Neelam Muneer and Ahsan Khan’s characters certainly do maintain viewer interest and have been well-written.