If the first episode of Sar-e-Rah was about the impact one woman makes when she stands up for herself, the next episode shows us how she can keep on inspiring women from different backgrounds to take a stand for themselves.
In this episode, our protagonist Rabia meets Dr Muzna, a woman who has longed for a child has kept her husband’s infertility a secret from the rest of their family. Muzna faces the burden of this secret because of the taunts her mother-in-law gives her for not being able to give the family a child, and because she decides to go back to her job and refuses to abandon her practice.
In this episode, Sar-e-Rah explores how empowered women who broke away from the shackles of patriarchy are able to recognize the burden society puts on women who chose alternative paths towards motherhood. In one scene, when a grandmother and her child scold Muzna in a cafe for bringing her newborn child along with her, Rabia takes a stand by telling them that Muzna did a noble thing by choosing to give shelter to a child that had been abandoned.
In the rest of the episode, we watch the two women find solace in one another as Muzna faces opposition from her husband and mother-in-law for choosing to adopt a baby with taunts telling her that bringing home another woman’s child won’t make her a mother, but Razia keeps reminding her that what she is doing is quite noble. Their wholesome bond remains steady as Rabia helps Muzna in facing her husband and the rest of the family, and also to search for the mother’s child.
At a time when triggering topics like domestic violence, child abuse and forced marriages are not treated with the sensitivity and depth they deserve, it is heartening that a show like Sar-e-Rah isn’t shying away from exploring such tabooed topics and reminding women that they can find the strength they needed in each other.
