Drama serial Dobara loses ground after screening a false harassment scene

It has been six months since Dobara made its way onto our T.V screens and into the hearts of so many viewers who loved the profound message the drama stood for throughout.

With its narrative of condemning forced, under-age marriages and encouraging weddings of widows in Pakistan, there was hardly a drama aficionado who didn’t praise Dobara for being an out-of-the-box, refreshing story.

Furthermore, the plot drove significant conversations on various social media platforms that our society needs to liberate women into marrying younger men. It, in its own way, began a movement to help empower single women, widows, and divorcees to pursue the life they desire and choose partners of their own free will.

Making us fall in love with the drama, even more, was a scene where the hero of the story Mahir, played by Bilal Abbass, stands up for the housemaid and saves her from the sly ways of the elderly male servant in the house.

Then Alas! The ill-fated happened and a beautiful story was under fire due to a plot development none welcomed in their favorite drama.

 A rookie mistake or a deliberate twist?

In the much recent episodes of Dobara, we witness how the vile phuppo in the story, essayed by the veteran Sakina Samo, is pushing Sehar- the daughter-in-law of the family, portrayed by the rising Sabeena Syed, to frame Mahir for harassment.

Initially, we see Sehar hesitant of doing so. Though they all want Mahir out of their lives- especially that of Mehru, played by Hadiqa Kiani; the young Sehar feels reluctant of telling lie so massive. Nevertheless, the nefarious phuppo pressurizes her to the core, and eventually, an educated, cultured Sehar- belonging to Gen Z- ended up falsely accusing her father-in-law of all people of making wrongful advances toward her.

Of course, social media exploded with outrage for a scene so contentious and perceived this as a mindful turn in the story by the makers. The founder of Soul Sisters Pakistan, Kanwal Ahmed was an ardent fan of the serial. However, she was amongst the first to shun the plot twist.

What our T.V critics and writers have to say

Renowned writer, Sidra Sehar Imran who penned the popular drama Jalan believes that we need to admit that men also get harassed and such incidents happen in real life.

“Even when Jalan was released, a lot of people criticized that such a tale should not be aired as it will spread more vice in society. Speaking of Dobara, don’t such false harassment allegations happen in real life? Men go through this too. I believe that we need to show the dark side of our society on the screens. Far worse is happening behind the curtains and such incidents in dramas are also an aspect of awareness for the viewers. If we are being advocates of equality between men and women, we need to accept that like women, even men have respect that needs to be honored.”

Senior entertainment journalist, Vlogger, and Social Media Editor at Khaleej Times, Mahwash Aijaz thinks that there is a whole context to the scene that the audience needs to consider.

“There is a reason and a way to show these scenes and of course harassment is a reality. The writer Sarwat Nazir is very experienced and a very sensitive person to these kinds of issues as well. In an earlier episode, she showed how Mahir stood up for the female servant in the house and when Mahir is falsely accused, there is a giant distrust against him.” 

‘In our dramas, there is a context and greater backstories. Sarwat Nazir did a brilliant job at creating a weighable context for the viral scene. However, there have been other dramas where false allegations were held irresponsibly. But specifically, to Dobara, it is a nuanced show and it rightly showed that people do grapple with their conscience when they manipulate a situation so huge. It is also important to understand that such stories along with those of harassment also happen in real. Hence, Sarwat has explored all angles of the story. And the hero needs to come out of it with dignity and with harassment being a reality. “

Karachi-Based Broadcast Entertainment Journalist, Omair Alavi thinks that viewers need to wait for more to follow post the plot twist.

“Like in dramas all over the world, Pakistani dramas also show conflicts in stories- that too have various reasons. The harassment scene in Dobara is a twist by the makers because not many viewers follow the story to the end with no surprise development. The writer has penned it with a purpose in mind and the audience show waits for the true reason to unfold. What’s more, true and false allegations on both men and women, by both men and women, happen in real life. We have also seen it happening in the life of celebrities and common people. While we do get upset at such scenes shown in the dramas, let’s not forget that these tales also end up bringing the villain to the book when the drama ends.”

Opinion of the mass audience

At the end of the day, no matter how many plotlines and ground realities such a controversial scene will hold, most female viewers are bound to reject the narrative.

On the other hand, a huge chunk of the male audience will only grasp the scene as a characterisation that women across Pakistan of all ages and spheres are not always truthful when it comes to sexual harassment.

A glimpse at the churning social media conversation reflects that there is a dire need for Dobara to pay attention to the representative of the contemporary generation of the country i.e. Sehar in the story. She is essayed as a reckless conventionalist who looks down upon remarriages of widows in the earlier episodes. She is also someone who disregards harassment as a sensitive matter.

While Dobara is breaking so many stereotypes, it would have been incredible if Sehar’s character would have been revealed as an exemplary woman. She could have been someone who stands for women empowerment, believes in freedom, and is a strong supporter of the worldwide #metoo movement that condemns harassment happening to both genders. Maybe this one of the thing that our audience also needs to see- a woke character that they could find solace in!