Ranjha Ranjha Kardi has got to be the most watched and talked about TV drama these days. And why wouldn’t it be. Lead actors Imran Ashraf and Iqra Aziz are outstanding as Bhola and Noori, the script is excellent, the direction is superlative and the supporting cast — Asma Abbas, Kashif Mehmood, Syed Jibran — adds great value to the project.
A particular sequence in one of the episodes, involving Bhola and Noori, however was a bit problematic. I am of course referring to Bhola — a mentally challenged husband — sexually assaulting Noori — his wife. Actually, it’s not the sequence that was problematic but how the act of marital rape was addressed in the aftermath.
In fact, Bhola himself is the only character who realises he’s done something terribly wrong when he wakes up the morning after. The usually very vocal mother of his chooses to remain silent and later even pushes Noori to “fulfill her duties towards her husband”. Noori, though traumatized, chooses to partner with her former lover in his quest to eliminate Bhola for financial gains, instead of straight away ending the marriage. Rest of the characters, don’t care.
“I am so glad you looked at it the way I see it,” Iqra said in a recent chat with Something Haute. “I have been thinking… I really don’t want to talk about is because people don’t want to listen. I once tried talking about it but people weren’t willing to hear that this [martial rape] is something that exists,” she added.
“I have played that character. I know what Noori went through, what she felt… It’s fine that people don’t want to talk about it but that doesn’t mean it’s not there,” Iqra said.
She did reveal that Ranjha Ranjha Kardi will have a happy ending for both Noori and Bhola. Do check out our complete chat if you want to know all about Iqra’s experience of working on this project:
