‘Noor Jahan’ quickly became the talk of the town because for once, a drama took on the toxic desi mother-in-law tropes and flipped it to make a powerful feminist drama about sisterhood. But most importantly, the underdog of the drama was Safeena, a woman who came from nothing and rose to become the most powerful player in the show. It is mostly due to the powerful acting by Alina Abbas, that took such a vulnerable character and made her into an unforgettable figure by the end of the show.
Here are some reasons why Safeena had some of the best character development we have ever witnessed on our television screens.
1 Safeena represents every young woman who is married into a toxic family.
The audience meets Safeena as a vulnerable woman who comes from a lower class background, and is married to Hunaid simply so that her mother-in-law has one more person to handle the chores and cleaning of their household. Safeena is unable to change the circumstances she is living in. The most painful moment for audiences was when she loses her unborn child, and has to bear with her mother-in-law’s taunts for giving birth to daughters.
2 How she eventually takes a stand against Hunaid, and her mother-in-law’s toxic mindset.
Safeena slowly begins taking matters into her own hands by standing up to her husband’s misogynist mindset and in doing so establishing her place in the family she was once afraid of. Twitter users have shared clips such as the one below where they highlighted the brilliant way Safeena question’s her husband’s toxic attitude towards her daughter-in-laws.
Safina has to keep schooling her husband, who is a raging misogynist or simply a mummy’s idiot. We can see Hunaid slowly but w/ difficulty addressing his mom’s ideology. #NoorJahan handling generations of toxicity & healing w/ subtlety. pic.twitter.com/L6l9X5zerx
— mishal (@lafz_ilfaz) August 11, 2024
Another clip that received a lot of fanfare from audiences was from episode 18, where Safeena lashes out at the way Hunaid expresses his distaste towards Murad prioritising his wife’s needs over his mother and brothers. Safeena’s outburst is monumental here because she is finally expressing all the anger that she bottled up inside for so long.
3. The way Safeena and the rest of the women in the family were an example of strong sisterhood.
There is no doubt that when a woman forms a close friendship with another woman, she is able to overcome her biggest fears and find her true self. The highlight of the show that gained it so much love was how the daughter-in-laws of the family kept supporting each other. Despite the fact that these women came from different households, they continued to back each other up when it was needed so. In fact, it was through Noor Bano’s willingness to stand up to Noor Jahan that encouraged Safeena to step out of her shell and assert her own mindset.
i understand the praises for Safina’s character in #NoorJahan-in one dialogue, she’s been able to express a whole range of emotions. “haar firon ke liya kahi na kahi musa to ata hai” was one heck of a line lol pic.twitter.com/DX5qFCkyq7
— bagel bytes (@bagel__bytes) August 25, 2024
Read more here if you would like to get a glimpse of Alina Abbas’s acting range:
