The Pakistani drama ‘Dastak’ is receiving praises from social media users for shedding the spotlight on a single mother who is determined to become financially independent after coming out of a painful divorce.
The drama airs on ARY on Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and stars actors Ali Raza and Sohai Ali in titular roles. It revolves around a woman Kiran who divorces her abusive husband Saif (played by Feroze Kadri) after bearing with his cheating and emotional abuse throughout their two year marriage. In the recent episodes, Kiran decides to throw the towel and comes back home to her parents with her infant son after Saif marries his ex girlfriend in a secret wedding and demands that his current wife accept her in their home.
Despite facing pressure from her parents and her extended family that she must bear with her husband in order to avoid facing the stigma of being a divorced woman, Kiran decides to follow her own dreams to become financially independent so she may raise her son on her own. She becomes a wedding planner and works late nights while her son remains under her parents care.
On social media, users have praised ‘Dastak’ for highlighting the importance of women learning to stand on their own feet, rather than staying in abusive marriages where they were losing their agency.
“Finally a drama where the female lead is strong enough to not accept any demands of her family just under some emotional or societal pressure and even the mother’s strong enough to voice her opinion ,” one user wrote.
Drama critic Sadaf Haider shared that she was pleased to see how ‘Dastak’ highlighted the way parents emotionally manipulate their children into staying in abusive marriages that would wreck apart their lives, just as we see in the beginning of the drama that it was Saif’s parents who refused to pertain his request to marry his girlfriend, and instead pressured him to marry the girl they chose for him or get cut off from the inheritance.
“Happy to see both #Dastak & #Meritanhai pointing out the sheer devastation caused by zabardasti ki shadi & highlighting the cruelty & Selfishness behind these forced relationships without whitewashing the parents Its not “kismet ka khel” its your evil intentions that caused this train wreck,” she wrote.
We’re so glad that ‘Dastak’ is taking a stand against the stereotypical route and romanticizing a toxic relationship, the narrative is being re-written where a woman takes a stand and leaves her toxic in-laws behind to build up a life on her own, and does it beautifully.
