Home » Aangan | Episode 11 | Review | Sajal Aly | Ahad Raza Mir | Mawra Hocane

Aangan | Episode 11 | Review | Sajal Aly | Ahad Raza Mir | Mawra Hocane

Aangan episode 11 has recently aired and it stars Sajal Aly, Ahad Raza Mir, Hira Mani, Mawra Hocane and Zaib Rehman. The play is not on YouTube or any other digital media platform so far. So here’s our review and recap for those who are curious as to what’s happening!

The Story So Far:

The story begins with the love affair between Subhan (Ahsan Khan) and Salma (Sonya Hussayn). Subhan is a poor worker boy, Salma is the rich employer’s daughter. The person who calls the shot in the haveli is Maalikan (Zaib Rehman) who is angrily dealing with a philandering husband, Muzaffar (Abid Ali).

Muzaffar’s had two mistresses, Firdos and Akhtari who also have children with Muzaffar. Muzaffar has two daughters in law played by Madiha Rizvi and Uzma Baig. Muzaffar’s son, Mazhar (Omair Rana) is quite mean to his wife (Madiha Rizvi) and Azhar (Mustafa Afridi) is also not particularly fond of being around his wife and child because he is too busy fighting for a revolution against the British.

Salma runs off with Subhan, gives birth to Safdar and dies of tuberculosis. Muzaffar’s illegitimate children come to live with them. Some have died, only Israr (Hasan Noman) has have survived. Muzaffar and Azhar’s children have also grown up.

Safdar begins living with Mazhar and his family much to the chagrin of Mazhar’s wife. Najma has gone to study. Israr, Malik Muzaffar’s illegitimate son is also living with Azhar and his family with Maalkan. Mazhar has two daughters, Tehmina (Hira Mani) and Aalia (Mawra Hocane).

Tehmina and Safdar:

Tehmina has fallen in love with Safdar and confides about this to Kusum, a Hindu widow living nearby. Kusum is in love with a young man as well who has fallen in love with her despite knowing that Kusum is a widow. Tehmina and Safdar meet each other in the dead of the night (ahem) and Tehmina’s father finds out that Safdar and Tehmina are in love. He approves of the match but asks Tehmina not to meet Safdar secretly.

Safdar is sent to Aligarh to study. Tehmina’s mother and Jamil’s mother decide that Jamil and Tehmina will get married. Safdar barely writes back to Tehmina. On the night of her ubtan/mehndi however, Safdar writes to Tehmina’s mother and says that no matter who Tehmina gets married to, she will always belong to Safdar. Tehmina commits suicide the same night.

Mazhar is depressed as he is unable to cope with the loss of his daughter. His wife’s brother is insensitive and it is only Azhar who comes to actually empathize with Mazhar. In a fit of rage one day, Mazhar smashes a bottle on the head of his British superior and goes to jail. Mazhar’s family is then taken to live with Azhar. Mazhar’s wife continues to be bitter.

Chammi and Jamil:

Chammi (Sajal Aly) has grown up to be a spirited firecracker who gets money from her father, Zafar, back in Hyderabad. She’s full of life, not like the other girls in the house. Chammi is often the cause for lament for Maalikan (Zaib Rehman) who is mostly bed-ridden. Chammi gives her hard-saved money to Jamil to pay for his fees for FA. Jamil (Ahad Raza Mir) is Azhar’s son, attempting to do FA as the revolution roars and Azhar refuses to pay for any of Jamil’s college and education.

Chammi and Jamil have an odd relationship as Chammi helps Jamil pay for his BA. Jamil likes to take advantage of Chammi’s kindness and seeking of love. Jamil’s mother asks Maalkan/Dadi to talk to Choti Bahu and ask for Tehmina’s hand in marriage for Jamil now that he’s completed his BA. This leaves Chammi heartbroken – as she sees how Jamil is barely protesting at this.

Chammi and Alia:

Chammi is a little apologetic at Tehmina’s death. She is excited at the idea of Alia coming to live with them and forms a friendship with a slightly sad Alia. Their friendship will of course find a hiccup when Jamil will fall in love with Alia and Chammi will continue to be at the short end of the stick. Zaib Rehman’s character, Maalkan, finally lets it out at Chammi. She’s absolutely just had it with this girl and Maalkan herself is distraught with pain and grief.

Review:

One wonders if this episode should have happened far earlier in the series. It had a lot of meat but it was only offered to the audiences way after the first ten episodes had gone by.

Sajal’s performance in the episode is also on point and manages to bring up Aangan’s tempo. Mawra Hocane has done a considerably better job than the episodes before. It is also good to see Ahad Raza Mir finally having some acting chops to display. It often feels as if characters exist and act within a vacuum without much backstory even though there was 4-5 episodes worth of backstory given in the drama.

It will be interesting to see how this dynamic develops and unfolds. Chammi’s character has the most layers and it is definitely the most intriguing. How she’s dealing with loss and heartbreak are notes on how a broken person never really has the ability to deal with life in a normal way.

Another interesting comment in the episode can be be made on Mazhar’s character: a loving father who lost his daughter. He internalized the pain so much that he ended up lashing it out on some place completely inappropriate. That seems to be the essence of Aangan. Broken people always seem to act out in self-harm. However, there are still a lot of loose ends to tie here. Why didn’t Safdar ever return? Sure, he had a love for Tehmina that he even confessed but what stopped him from actually returning?

An underrated role/actor is Hasan Noman as Israr who cannot get the kind of exposure he deserves in this drama. His ill-treatment is closely tied to how even Chammi is treated. All of it is an indication of how despite the various pitfalls in life, no one seems to have learnt their lesson being kinder, more human and more compassionate.

 

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