Bakhtawar: challenging stereotypes in society

Read time: approx 10-15mins

Bakhtawar is a very relatable story of every woman in Pakistan and the societal issues she faces due to double standards. The storyline covers issues of harassment in the workplace, acid attacks, underage marriage and abuse. These issues highlighted are pretty consistent in Pakistani households and the drama tried to challenge why women must face these issues and when society will bring about change in their attitudes towards women. Let's take a closer look at how successfully the drama tried to combat the societal issues women face and how we must bring about this change...

Women in our society

Bakhawar's storyline did somewhat initially appear inspired by the popular drama serial Parizaad. The authenticity, messages and relevance to the audience did seem like a female spin-off at some points to Parizaad but with its own narrative from a female's perspective and her journey of hardships.

The drama started off with Yumna Zaidi adopting different roles working as a bus hostess where she had to face issues of inappropriate male behaviour that made her uncomfortable. Why do guys like this feel the need to take advantage and abuse someone who is just doing their job to get food on the table? But then why do we say that such behaviour is 'natural' and unavoidable in these workplaces or for women in general? WHEN will call out men for workplace harassment due to the power trip they feel and extreme pleasure because 'professsionally' it's really NOT on. To my surprise, when Bakhtawar became Bakhtu and so worked at a tea house (as a male) the character STILL was put in uncomfortable situations- why? Just because he came across 'soft' and not very masculine? Why can't people let others do their job in peace, why do these people always have buri nazar and feel the need to manipulate and take advantage of the person in front of them? When will men STOP power-tripping girls in the workplace taking advantage of their helplessness and entertaining their lustful desires? 

Politics, Media and the Police- The real deal

I absolutely loved the real and raw representation of the influence of politics, media and the police and the power misuse that comes with such positions. Our system is continuously known to be corrupted where those with power, misuse this in their own favour and it's really no secret now. The drama through a political lens showed so much truth behind the reality in Pakistan and the need for change which I believe has been underappreciated by the audience.

Okay, let's talk about this all together because realistically these all interact to cause a huge blow in society. Hooriya's role in particular is very...conniving and hypocritical. How can she work for women's rights with all these campaigns yet be unjust in Bakhtawar's situation because she may feel personally inferior? Hooriya basically is two-faced with the work she portrays she is doing and what she really is doing and it's honestly just upsetting to see women pulling down other women. Especially in Bakhtawar's case with acid attacks and witnessing Nora's incident Hooriya just tries to cover up or back off from the truth by manipulating the situation in her haq/fayda. So this selfish woman decided to stay quiet during the acid attack situation because she didn't like Dilawar's involvement and passion for the case...so her own insecurities were continuously feeding off and it's honestly just appalling to see. Then, when it came to her brother Salaar being the abuser and in the wrong, she didn't have it in her to do what was right? So Hooriya bibi what role do you play in society as a women's advocate for such campaigns when you do not have the strength to fight for what's right and call out what's wrong? It's just saddening to see how so-called women advocates who may have a higher social status do not share an open or welcoming mindset even in their work that literally asks them of this so I mean personally, I really don't understand why she was in this job when she was basically misusing her position for fame and money? It's really just a shame how women are ignorant of other women in society with issues they all share and face daily and we'd hope they would be most understanding of the situation.

Next, the media whose job honestly is just to make a mess with their masale-daar kahanis. It just didn't sit right with me when Hooriya's media friend wanted to make a documentary on Bakhtwar but alter the storyline to fit how she like liked it? Doesn't that just absolutely miss the whole point then? Also, realistically, why does everything have to be wrongfully done by the media by infringing the individual's privacy. Bakhtawar simply set out of her house to provide for her family in which she had to change her identity- but not to be a media star or icon. Her story could've been used in a better more meaningful way to educate rather than entertain- the media should be able to do both together and separately when needed.

Okay in terms of police I don't have anything negative to say actually- let's flip the switch and praise the role of police in this drama. Time and time again I've repeatedly only seen corrupted and lazy policemen in drama serials to the point that my belief in the entire justice system in Pakistan is just negative. BUT I was so happy and actually surprised to see the way the police were portrayed and used in a better light in Bakhtawar. I'd also like to take this moment to praise the actor himself, Shamoon Abbasi, as police officer Mohsin who carried the role well and with authenticity. His character was determined to use a friendly rather than frightening approach to logically explain why Bakhtawar became Bakhtu and even tried to explain this to Dilawar as a friend. He stood with Bakhtawar during the case as a shield till the very end and began to unpick and understand the reason through his understanding approach.

Yumna Zaidi as Bakhtawar/Bakhtu

Yumna Zaidi, without a doubt, has proven a number of times that she is probably one of the most versatile actresses in the industry. She is passionate about her work and bold and inspiring in choosing different roles carefully rather than the typical crying bahu...and that is EXACTLY what we love about her! We love how multi-layered her character was in this drama alone- that is enough to prove to anyone who is watching Yumna perhaps for the first time how versatile she really is with her work. Yumna well and truly adopted the mannerisms and body language of a man when she played Bakhtu, and, well, let's be honest the hair and oversized shirts did really suit her too 😅. But I would say it's more so her firmness in maintaining her role and emotions she made an audience feel through meaningful issues in society and how we too felt the pain in her eyes.

Zaviyar Nauman Ijaz as Malik Dilawar

Okay, personally I think there are mixed reviews here from what I've read and from what I believe about Zaviyar's performance. At the start, I was really impressed to see him in such a role that almost reminded me of his father's role as Behroze Karim in Parizaad. I felt like he stepped into the role and looked like his dad which I loved. However, over the course of the drama, I feel like his acting started to flatten and it was losing substance to create the necessary impact. I feel like there was possibly room to improve or cast someone more experienced...who do you think would've been a better fit for this role?

Okay let's talk more so about the character now and what it meant for the bigger picture. Malik Dilawar was from an affluent family involved in politics but internally disagreed with his father's views. He was very down-to-earth and the character came across with an important message to viewers. At no point did we feel Malik Dilawar's high status because he treated Bakhtu like a friend and they trusted one another, which naturally caused a casual work relationship. Additionally, Malik Dilawar represented that man in society (the lack of such men infact) that we must appreciate because ultimately behind every successful woman are men like Malik Dilawar. It is his character that has revoked trust and hope in men in this world that there are certain gems (limited number😆) of men that will simply stand by women in respect for who they are with no wrongful intentions. I'd like to urge us all at this point to really look at these such men in our own lives and thank them for their support- because it's very rare (although probably the minimum we expect) to find such men whom I feel are well and truly underappreciated and overlooked by us sadly.

Haji Nazar and his wife- an entertaining side storyline

Without a doubt, Saqib Sumeer and Mizna Waqas worked well together to nail their scenes with a natural and reflective message to society. Their scenes were the little bit of side entertainment for me that always made me laugh but ultimately probably came with the most important message for viewers. Their household, attitudes and behaviour reflected pretty much every household's attitudes in Pakistan. They were both very nosey about other people's business and judgemental in sharing stereotypical views of women in society which Bakhtu's character came to change in her mashra. Some of Nazar saab's dialogues really were out of the box and funny but just pushed the boundaries of respect with his wife. Then (when he probably manipulated his second wife's parents into asking for their daughter) he bought home an underage girl who would quietly obey him and do his proper khidmat because his wife became too outspoken for his liking. His views were actually quite one-sided and hypocritical where he believed women should stay in the house and serve the husband and that educated women got 'too brave'...so he knew what he was going with the underage girl was wrong but didn't fear anyone because nobody was superior enough to stand up to him. It really was a change of events when both his wives teamed up against him in the end and had him arrested. I also loved that his first wife became caring and understanding for the girl and began to speak nicely with her because none of the situation was even her fault, she too was helpless.

Ending

I do feel at some point towards the end of the drama episodes were slightly dragged off/repetitive which could've easily been avoided. It kind of felt like the episodes had plateaued over and there wasn't that excitement (for me personally) to sit and watch a new episode. I just wanted to see Dilawar's reaction to Bakhtu being a girl but I also felt there wasn't enough climatic focus there and more so the drama was pushing down on Hooriya and Sheedys' storyline.

Okay as much as we were all probably rooting for Bakhtawar and Dilawar to perhaps unite at the end of the drama (and this did not happen) this in itself sends out a beautiful and meaningful message for the audience. This actually proves that not every relationship between a man and woman must end in direct shaadi- it mostly all comes down to the mutual respect that Dilawar and Bakhtu had for one another and sometimes in order to maintain that relationship and not ruin anything its better left the way it is without prompting romantic desires. I think Dilawar respected the fact that Bakhtawar had a fiance from ages ago who was waiting for her and so never let any of Hooriya's stupid remarks get to him like that. Although I did wish to see some sort of togetherness of an ending for Bakhtu and Dilawar's relationship- perhaps working together maybe setting up their own political party for women's rights or opening the schools together- which might've given more closure to their relationship for the audience as well.