A mirror to the realities that characterise a society like ours, Sar-e-Rah takes aim at different social stereotypes and their implications

Karachi: After a series of hit drama serials, director Ahmed Bhatti has come up with “Sar-e-Rah,” a new TV series written by Adeel Razzaq. Since the airing of its first episode,  Sar-e-Rah has become the talk of the town, due to the intensity of grave realities of a typical Pakistani society, as shown in the TV series.

An amalgamation of reality check and everyday drama that happen in our lives, Sar-e-Rah, an eight-episode series, aims at touching  every layer of a hierarchal social mindset and portraying  such ubiquitous phenomena as male chauvinism, humiliation of women, and the like. The first scene, for instance, unfolds the story with an uneducated daughter-in-house, played by Saba Qamar, who makes a bold decision to drive a taxi to support the family. Other than  accentuating the potential of a woman as a breadwinner, the opening scene also highlights the manipulative role of a male family member who, directly or indirectly, seems to enjoy all benefits in life due to his strong position in the society. Her brother, unable to arrange the fee of his of BBA programme,  is shown as refraining from doing an odd, part-time job and playing his due role  as a bread earner just like his father does.

Coming across different people as a taxi driver, Saba Qamar’s story shows how hard it is for a woman to work with dignity in a button-downed society like ours. In addition to that, her courageous stand makes her a source of inspiration to the other women when where she breaks her 6-year-old engagement out of frustration while waiting for her cousin to get married.

Starring Saba Qamar, Hareem Farooq, Saboor Aly, Muneeb Butt and Sunita Marshall, each episode is based on a different story and highlights the prevailing social realities and how people are confronted with a range of societal taboos in different forms.

The art direction of the show is exemplary as well as the set design, lighting and the whole shebang.

Featuring truly a relatable story to the audience, the TV series Sar-e-Rah represents the story of every girl who faces financial constraints, of every parent who invests  on their sons but ignores their daughters, and of every passenger who tends to share his or her story with the taxi driver.

The idea behind showing a female taxi driver is heartening as it injects the feeling of respect for those  who are not financially sound and are trying to make their ends meet, irrespective of their gender identities.  Defying gender stereotypes,  Sar-e-Rah takes aim at obscure facts that characterise a society like ours by revealing the way it functions with all merits and demerits.