Sannata ~ Episode 28 ~ Finale Review

By SZ on April 24, 2014 • ( 75 Comments )

Dayan….!!
Apne wujood ki taarikiyon and tanha bhatakti hui dayan…!!
Jaisey apne hi  zeest ki ujaar khandaron and qaid sisaskti hui koi afreeyat…

Banjar baharon mein khizan ki tarah ris ris kar gardish karti veeraan maazi ki tahon ko khurachti…

Apni vehshat-zada phati phati surkh magar zard aankhon se waqt ki rahdariyan tatolti…
Jaise rihaee talaash karti…
Kisi afreeyat ki manind woh achanak ojhal hoti tau kisi bujhi hui mash’al ki tarah yakaayak bharak uthti…

Daro mat…!! Woh meri dayan!!
Band kirchiyon and bikhri hui khoobsurat guriya ki tarah haseen dayan…
Woh meri Pari thi…!!
Jiske haseen paron ko taqdeer ki aanch ney jhulas kar isey manhoos dayan bana diya tha…
Magar woh phir bhi haseen thi…
Bohot haseen…
Meri aur apni gird aalood boseeda varqon mein bati kahani ki tarah ….

Woh mar gayi…

Kaisey yeh koi nahin janta…  sivaye meray…
Yun tau loag kayee tarah se martay hain magar mohabbat se bhi mar jaatay hain yeh main ne Pari ki maut se jaana…

Tamam umar woh Ruqqya ban-nay ki koshish karti rahi…
Woh keh jati, kar jati jo khud Ruqqaya bhi nahin kar sakti thi…
Magar sab tha Ruqqaya ka…

Apa bi sahi kehti theen…
Ruqqaya ka naam, Ruqqaya ki gurya, Ruqqaya ka dulha, Ruqqaya ka hasad aur phir Ruqqaya ki maut bhi…
Sab cheen liya Dayan ne…

Magar us ne meri perchhai nahin chhori…
Ussay murjha kar bhi murjhana nahin aaya…
Husna khala ki kokh se phoot kar woh meri goad mein aayi thi…
Is baar woh phir se phoot nikli… meri kokh se…
Moajaza ban kar… meri beti… meri Pari… Meri Dayan

*******

Stunningly bookended between these two narrations (opening and closing) was the story of Sannata, an iDream Entertainment offering that ended its twenty-eight week run a few days ago. As far as can be from our routine gharelu dramas, this serial offered a fascinating exploration of that which resides in the deepest, hidden recesses of the soul. An absolute stillness which deafened with its silence, a darkness so complete it made black look grey, a desire so all-consuming nothing was allowed to stand in its way, such was the Sannata which gave birth to the intricately entangled story of two cousins, Ruqqaiya and Pari.

Pari was the one deemed mentally unstable right from the get go. The tragedy that stemmed from her mother Husna’s elopement, her subsequent return to the haveli,  her death during childbirth, Apa Bi’s subsequent ill-treatment of the young Pari, all justified the general assessment that Pari needed help. The young girl had issues, read severe issues, particularly when it came to sharing her beloved Apa. For Pari, Ruqqaiya represented the only anchor in her otherwise stormy life. Her clinging to Ruqqaiya was a serious cause of concern for others in the family, all of whom foresaw that no good was going to come out of such an unhealthy relationship. As feared, things came to a head when Azam entered the sheltered inner domain of the dilapidated haveli. As things panned out, while the adults were proved correct in their concerns, vis-à-vis the girls’ relationship, surprisingly it was Ruqqaiya, rather than Pari, who began to unravel at the first sign of stress in her bond with Pari.

So far we had seen Pari as the taker but as was later seen, rather than classic parent-child bond, where Ruqqaiya was the one doling out affection, their’s was  more of a codependent relationship. Far from being the benevolent, altruistic giver, consciously, perhaps more so unconsciously, Ruqqaiya needed Pari and depended on her just as much if not more so.  We had seen the obvious shortcomings in Pari’s life and made accommodations for her wayward behavior, but what about Ruqqaiya? Here was another child who had grown with a depressed mother, a taciturn grandmother, a kindly but busy housekeeper. Where were her peers? She did not attend school, had no friends, played with hand-me-down toys, and then at an age where she was barely able to take care of herself, she took on the responsibility of another living being! The years when she should have been happily playing mommy to her dolls she ended up being a surrogate mother for the newborn Pari. Just because she appeared more controlled and pulled together did not mean that Ruqqaiya wasn’t just as broken on the inside as the younger girl was on the outside? The question that then lay at the heart of the matter: Was it Pari’s darkness that engulfed Ruqqaiya’s life or was it the deafening silence of Ruqqaiya’s lost childhood that swallowed Pari’s  repeated cries for help. Everybody knew Pari needed help, why then did her treatment become a useful hand which Ruqqaiya played whenever she found herself in a tight spot? Who was the dayan here?  Was Pari becoming Ruqqaiya or was Ruqqaiya allowing her deepest darkest desires to be played out and actualized in Pari’s person? If Pari was mad then was Ruqqaiya stable?

Even as we grappled with these philosophical/psychological questions, Sannata was not merely a story of these two girls. Rather, Ruqqiaya and Pari’s stories in fact served to frame Naseeban, Shauki and Babban’s stories, all of which were rooted in the past but looped back to the present, adding context and texture to the larger narrative. While I found this an interesting story-telling device and loved Naseeban and Shauki’s stories and how these were woven into the main track, unfortunately by the time we got around to the last one, Babban’s story, I was suffering from a severe case of viewer fatigue.

No matter how fabulous a story, seven months is way too long. I don’t know about you all, but I had started off as an ardent supporter, but by episode 15 or so my attention started to lag and I could never find myself motivated enough to tune in as a rule. I infact enjoyed it so much more when I took a month or so off and then caught up with the rest in one go. There were many long-winded scenes that seemed to move at a snail’s pace. Shauki and Pari’s never-ending search for Babban in andaroon shehr, Babban’s torture in the police station, the entire Pari at the dabba peer’s dargah track, to cite a few sequences, could have been  edited tighter, helping the pace considerably. And on dragging bits, the entire Ambar Wajid and Shabbir Jan track in their ugly house was beyond painful to watch. Shabbir Jan is a fine actor, but by now he’s done so many of these roles that it is hard to distinguish between his various characters. As for Amber Wajid, let’s just say that I don’t think acting is her thing.

Another thing which was  huge turn off was the way the background score was utilized here. I loved the qawwali, Amir Khusraw’s  words were very apt, but the western/fusion instrumentation spoiled the ambiance for me. Played as it was against the backdrop of a rural shrine and the galis of andaroon shehr, the “foreign” elements stood out like a sore thumb. The blaring music, the constant alaap spoiled the feel of many a scene. Another huge beef I had throughout this serial was with the horrible get ups.  The naqli peer’s wig looked even more fake than he was. Naseeban’s stainless steel colored wig, the problems with the get ups and accents in her back story, Apa Bi’s beautifully tied sarees even after her stroke, Salma’s raccoon eyed look, Ruqqaiya’s fully made up face and perfect hair throughout, particularly in the last scene even after her fall from the stairs, though minor details in and of themselves took a lot away from an otherwise very well done serial.

Back to what I did like, I thoroughly enjoyed Saji Gul’s  exposition on the manifold manifestations of love, the good the bad and ugly of it all. I also appreciated how the two dargahs and the two peers were compared and contrasted. My problem here was that naqli peer track went on for too long. Shauki’s death sequence, though long again, was beautifully done. The actors, almost all of them fit their characters very well. Simi Raheal and  Samina  Ahmed were an absolute delight. Nadia Afgan was great as was Nargis Rasheed. Adnan Shah Tipu was a rockstar, he was Shauki to a Tee.
To often we take character actors for granted, but here Tipu deserves a huge round of applause. While I did not much care for the Babban track, I did enjoy watch Salim Mairaj slip so easily into the skin of yet another character so effortlessly. Danish Taimoor did an adequate job, but I was never really able to warm up to his Azam.  His pairing with Saba left a lot to be desired, I was never convinced that theirs was a great love affair. Saba Qamar was good, her voiceovers were fabulous. I just wish our actresses could do without makeup and let their hair go once in a while. Sajal has the same issues as far as make up and hair goes. Throughout her seemingly never ending dargah track her clothes never got dirty, the dupatta was never creased and she always looked fresh, a far cry from how Pari was supposedly feeling. That said, Sajal was the shining star of Sannata. She was magnificent!

Coming to the behind the scenes people, Rashid Abbas the DOP did a magnificent job bringing Sannata to life. The shots in the haveli were spectacular as were the exterior shots , particularly the Naseeban and the tree man sequences and the nighttime/fog scenes with the dayan. Mehar Bano has never looked as stunning as she did here. The director Kashif Nisar did a fabulous job in narrating this very complex and nuanced story. And yes, a round of applause for Saji Gul, the writer whose story invited so much discussion and opened up so many avenues of thoughts. Not just the story, but his words, the narrations, the tree-man dialogues, the mannat wali chirya lines, Azam and Ruqqaiya’s  taqrar over the nature and meaning of muhabbat, all were a delight to hear, read, savor, and discuss – a rare treat in this age of stock phrases and trite lines.

As I wrap up, a well-deserved pat on the back for iDream Productions for bringing us such meaningful stories. I look forward to many more Sannatas and Ullu Baraye Farokht Nahins from this production house. Thank you also to ARY for airing this one – hope this is not the last of of its kind as the saas–bahu brigades seem to have taken over that channel. So yeah, some brickbats and quite a few bouquets for one of the most intense dramas in recent times.

Finally, as we close the book on Sannata a huge shout out to the dedicated commentators on this thread – we were a handful but our intense conversations more than made up for the lack of numbers. All your discussions made the Sannata ride that much more meaningful and enjoyable  – thanks guys!

Written by SZ~

Categories: Ary Digital, Entertainment, Pakistani Dramas, Popular Culture, Sannata

Tagged as: Adnan Shah Tipu, Danish Taimoor, Faiza Gillani, Kashif Nisar, Mehar Bano, Nadia Afgan, Nargis Rashid, Nauman Masood, Rashid Abbas, Rashid Mehmood, Saba Qamar, Sajal Aly, Saji Gul, Salim Mairaj, Samina Ahmed, Shabbir Jan, Simi Raheal, Tanvir Malik, Yumna Zaidi