Last weekend, the 11th episode of ‘Pehli Si Mohabbat’ aired and the twists in the story were a sight to behold. More than that though, we thoroughly enjoyed HSY’s character development. Portrayed as a typical no-nonsense brute who will do anything in the name of honor and his family’s respect earlier, the latest episode shows a relatively new side of Akram.
We were so well adjusted to his blind rage towards anyone who went against his wishes, we couldn’t imagine that there was actually some form of sympathy behind his stoic demeanor.
Throughout the series, he was someone whose mindset seemed rigid and unchanging, but more recently, we can guarantee that (at the very least) he respects his mother’s wishes.
Although he remains stubborn about his views of the world, the latest episode showed a more human side of Akram as he expressed his disdain towards Zainab’s husband for the first time while deciding to step away from Aslam’s situation of marrying a girl of his choice even when she’s the daughter of a man he despises. Moreover, his mother agrees to offer a marriage proposal to Rakshi for Aslam.
However, Faizullah promptly declines, believing that Akram’s malicious intention is what made her request the proposal in the first place. He then tells her that Rakshi is already betrothed to someone else.
After hearing this news Akram feels righteous in his beliefs and gets his ‘I told you so’- attitude in full swing but he didn’t resort to violence as expected. Instead, he just reaffirms his suspicions of Faizullah.
At the end of the episode, Akram’s mom asks him why Faizullah was concerned about Akram knowing who Rakshi is marrying. He responds firmly that he doesn’t get involved in anyone’s personal matters.
His statement in itself is ironic because his entire feud with Faizullah started because the entire neighborhood was meddling in Faizullah’s personal affairs.
As the series progresses, Akram appears to be confused because he believes he’s doing what is morally right. However, because he sees the world as black and white, he doesn’t always understand others’ perspectives, especially when it comes to women. By doing this he keeps overlooking the mistakes he’s making along the way.
We can see this from the way he treats his wife as well as how he responds to matters related to women apart from his mother.
He is self-righteous in his views with a religious guise although his perspective is shaped more by society rather than religion. Will Akram change his mind? Or will he continue garnering resentment in his heart for those who challenge his rigid belief system? All we know is that Akram’s disciplinarian persona still remains strong and because of that, anything is possible in the upcoming episodes. We’ll just have to tune and see for ourselves, next Saturday at 8pm!
