Known for bringing social issues onto mainstream television, HUM TV’s latest play ‘Dar Si Jati Hai Sila’ raises the curtain on the silent and horrible act of sexual and mental harassment in our society by the people one trusts the most. The story revolves around a joint family and highlights the mental state of the victim and the hardships she has to go through. Sila is engaged to her cousin Raheel, but ever since the engagement Sila has gone quiet and frightened. As the story progresses it is revealed that she has been harassed by Juwimamu, her Tai’s “munh bola bhai”. Sila’s mother Saadia tries to warn her husband working abroad, but he dismisses her concerns and orders her to stay quiet. Meanwhile, Juwi plays his mind games to destroy the mother-daughter relationship and to stop Sila’s wedding by proving to everyone that she’s mentally disturbed and not fit to be married. The drama will showcase ‘How far can a mother go to save her daughter. ‘Will Sila find the courage to stand up for herself and expose Juwi for the monster that he is?’ To find out, watch Dar siJati Hai Sila only on HUM. On every Wednesday at 8:00pm. The first episode was aired on Wednesday on 1st November.

This drama has some big shoes to fill since it is replacing one of the most loved drama serials of recent times. Dar Si Jati Hei Sila’s promos already revealed that it wasn’t going to be a journey like Yakeen Ka Safar since even though Yakeen Ka Safar had some strong messages, it was never a heavy-duty drama.

Dar Si Jati Hei Sila is the story of a big family living in Noor Manzil. The opening scene of the first episode was brilliantly written and executed since this short scene revealed a great deal about the relationship of three individuals, Joi (Nauman Ijaz), Sila ( Yumna Zaidi) and Sadia (Saman Ansari). Joi is a classic example of those male relatives who abuse girls from their family yet no one in the family ever doubts them for a second. On the contrary, everyone blamed Sila for acting strange. The way Sila looked at Sadia and the manner in which Sadia questioned Joi when she came in the room clearly showed that she knew everything yet somehow, she decided to keep this to herself. Later on, different scenes and dialogues also suggested that there was something going on between Joi and Sadia as well. Sadia’s husband is mostly away therefore she has raised Sila like a single parent which is why her sister-in-laws blamed her entirely for Sila’s flawed upbringing. Sila’s father was never there for her or her mother therefore her tayees consider both of them a responsibility.

The most powerful scenes in this episode were the ones which covered Sila’s interactions with her mother. The only time Sila spoke her mind was when she was with her mother otherwise she stayed quiet although she did not like the fact that everyone in the house was constantly judging her. Nauman Ijaz is also continuously experimenting with different roles and he always excels every time. He looks and acts completely different depending on the kind of role he is playing. Saman Ansari, Sakina Samo and Munazzah Arif also gave solid performances in this episode. The biggest disappointment however was that many of the scenes in this episode had already been shown repeatedly in promos.

This wasn’t the kind of episode which wins you over completely but it was definitely the sort of episode which gives you a reason to tune into the next episode. The topic of sexual abuse has been done-to-death lately therefore this drama will only hold the interest of the viewers if it offers something different and meaningful.

Additional info…

Writer: Bee Gul

Director: Kashif Nisar

Producer: MD Productions

Cast: Nauman Ejaz, Sakina Samoo, Saman Ansari, Yumna Zaidi, Noor ul Hassan, Kiran haq, Amna Malik, MunzaArif, Saleem Sheikh, Humayun gull and others.