Joining the race for the coveted Eid festival slot, Director Wajahat Rauf – the man behind films with a high commercial quotient (such as the Karachi Se Lahore series and Chhalawa) has just dropped his latest offering, titled Parde Mein Rehne Do.
Touted as a social dramedy that tackles the rather serious issue of male infertility and how our society deals with it, the film might be a detour from what Wajahat Rauf has been doing to date. Unlike his earlier works, this trailer relies more on dramatic elements, and the issue at its core, rather than cheeky one-liners and heavily ornate choreographic sequences.
Cast And Plot
Parde Mein Rehne Do stars Hania Aamir – Pakistani TV and film’s well-known face – who is cast opposite the Parchi star, Ali Rehman Khan. They play a married couple that struggles to conceive and has to face multiple difficulties, including accepting medical issues faced by the male lead.
There are also tensions due to the ego of the male protagonist, as well as the traditional ideas of the patriarch – a role played by Javed Sheikh – who pressurizes his son and daughter-in-law, all the while insisting on having a male grand-child to continue their lineage.
Ali’s character then falls prey to various quacks who claim to solve his problem. Yet, instead of addressing the main issue, the couple starts encountering further seemingly grave problems that compromise the integrity of their marital life. The whole narrative seems to be peppered with situational jokes to make it look light-hearted.
There are, of course, the quintessential elements that make a Wajahat Rauf film truly his, such as song and dance sequences, an emotional groom that is shown to leave in the middle of a wedding ceremony, and of course, Yasir Hussain.
Challenging Social Stigmas
Although the makers seem to give away too much of the story from the trailer, the idea of infusing a genuine social issue like male infertility, in a light-hearted way, does make the film unique and relevant. The difficulties faced by a married couple, who fails to get pregnant, and the ensuing unnecessary social pressure by their acquaintances, regardless of their social and educational background, seems to be a promising premise that may just be well addressed in the film.
The couple not only faces pressure from their orthodox elders, but also the seemingly well-educated colleagues at work who have a tendency to unnecessarily stress the importance of having a child onto a distressed couple who want to move on from their dilemma.
It will be interesting to see how Wajahat Rauf treats the issue as a whole in the film since it requires a lot of nuances. From a social point of view, Parde Mein Rehne Do does appear to have substance and relevance. At the end of the day, it would be the content of the film that will decide its fate.
Written by Mohsin Ali and produced by Shazia Wajahat, Parde Mein Rehne Do, also stars Munazza Arif, Hasan Raza, Sadia Faisal, and Saifee Hasan, with music by Aashir Wajahat and Hassan Ali. It will be released across cinemas in Pakistan on Eid Ul Fitr.
