As I just finished watching the last episode of Yakeen Ka Safar with mixed emotions, I sat down to analyse my journey with the serial over a cup of hot chai and French toast.
My very first glimpse of YKS was several months ago, when I was passing by my mum’s sofa where she was sitting and intently watching something on her ipad. I saw Sajal Aly crying and I thought OMG, I can’t take another “damsel in distress character†so I didn’t even bother asking mum what she was watching. It was not before mid August that I started hearing the buzz around Dr. Asfi (Ahad Raza Mir’s character from YKS famously known as Dr. Asfi) and the aura of his character that dominates the plot of this play. There was so much hype that piqued my interest and to be honest, Dr. Asfi made me binge-watch the previous episodes to catch up to the 20th and the purpose was just to see who is Dr. Asfi and what is the fuss all about.
Frankly speaking, in the first few episodes there was nothing out of the ordinary about the play and I had to skim through them to be able to keep watching episode after episode. I don’t mean to undermine the subject, in fact the multiple subjects that were touched upon and raised in those early episodes, but today, watching the last episode if I take an overview of YKS and have to pinpoint the aspect which made it magical, then undoubtedly it would be the romantic chemistry shared between Dr. Asfi and Dr. Zobia. Both the artists (Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly) played their roles beautifully. They overshadowed the actual story and honestly speaking Ahad Raza Mir stayed one step ahead of Sajal. I am a huge fan of Sajal Aly’s acting skills but maybe her role did not have that kind of a scope for performance.
Sajal as Dr Zobia
I personally feel that there was no need to stretch the play to 29 odd episodes when maybe the same outcome could have been achieved in 22. Why do we feel the need to have a very complex plot for the success of a story. Why can’t it be a simple story where the viewers can have more of what they enjoy watching, which is the onscreen romantic frames between the lead roles. Even in the last episode, stupid Rehan (Dr. Zobia’s brother in YKS) gets a minute long frame with Dr. Asfi whereas Dr. Asfi and Dr. Zobia only get to exchange a few romantic dialogues between them. Well, we should be grateful for the 10 second long hug in the last four minutes of the play, which was quite groundbreaking for our television.
Frankly speaking, at the end of the drama I couldn’t even remember the Noori case (Rape Victim) which was so powerfully built in the first 10 episodes. I feel that there were too many issues that were touched upon in the beginning, starting from the plight of the rape victim, the regressive atmosphere of Zobia’s house hold, Dr. Asfi’s brother’s solo fight against the rapist and not to forget the never ending saga of Zobia’s character which was taken a bit too far. I mean, she didn’t have to go through facing the accusations of both her bhabhi’s cousin and her khala’s daughter-in-law before she landed in Dr. Asfi’s hospital. That torture could have been easily been skipped. The misery of the viewer did not end here; they had to complete a whole cycle all over again with the introduction of Khajista and her crazy husband, but thankfully in an attempt to prove that the eventual victory is always of the truth, Khajista’s husband meets his end without any harm being done to the victim and the hero.
Anyways, all in all everyone loved the play but the strongest element we take away from it – the break through, if you may, is Ahad Raza Mir. Dr. Asfandyar-Asfi has left a strong impression in the minds of the viewers as a perfect model of a hero and good luck to Ahad Raza Mir for his future roles as Dr. Asfi shall not be easily substituted. After all, we are a nation of hero worshippers.
