Qalb Asaib Deed (Mahek Khan/ Mahi Khan)- Story Review by Shoby
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
(A Stanza Taken From Song Blow'in In The Wind)
Singer: Bob Dylan
Trust and Truth haunts you at times and they badly haunt you especially when they are said so daringly straight away. Doesn't it take a lot of courage to say and believe on these defining but opposing phenomenons:
Arzuon Ka Khak hona samar...
Hasti ka dagh hona amar...
Muhabbaton ka zawal... Kamaal...
(Naima Ghazal)
Mahek Khan (aka Mahi Khan) is strong enough to believe in this and she has literally proved it in her very challenging story tentatively titled as "Qalb Asaib Deed". Lets explore the world of Mehar Mah and Fabiha Tabassum. A world, full of emotions and expressions. A world, where Mahr is shown madly in love with Fiya.
Let me pause you here for a moment and discuss some unique aspects of this unorthodox and complex relationship. Mahr is shown having no visible real life relationship with Fiya (her Facebook friemd) except the universally accepted likeness (i.e. love). Honestly speaking, I couldn't connect with the complexity of this very different relation, may be, because I have not witnessed anything like this in the real world. Having said this, I would like to confess that it doesn't matter at all, if I have not experienced it. These type of relationships & stories do exists in our society. I shall shed some more light on this later on. Now lets go back to the world of Mahr & Fiya.
While reading Qalb Asaib Deed, you feel how lucky was Fiya, to have this amazing love & respect from someone who she didn't even knew in real world of human relationships. And instantly you realize that how unlucky she was, for not having good hold on it. She literally took this sheer emotion of pure love embedded in immense respect for granted.
Coming towards the narrative part, let me tell you one amazing thing about Qalb Asaib Deed. Not for a single moment, it looked like I am reading a novice. Mahi has that tendency to keep you hooked with the read through her gripping narrative. Amazing script-writing and hard hitting dialogues are the USP of this awesomely written read. Looks like, the writer has really lived the characters and felt the incidents, presented in the story. And this has resulted into some pitch perfect depiction and dialogues coming straight out of heart.
Every section of the story has at least one hard hitting one-liner monologue that takes the standard of the story to new level. See, how beautifully & brutally Mahi explores the human relations web. Kuch rishton ki ragon mein khoon nahi, zarurat dorti hai.. Some one-liners are so innocent. Waqt bht zalim hota hai... Kambakht acha ho to dor ker guzer jata hai... Bura ho to reengney lagta hai... Magar thamta kabhi nahi... And... Khushi ke ansoo sukoon ata kertey hain... Udassi ke ansoo sukoon cheen liya kertey hain...
Still I feel, there is a lot of room for improvement in dialogue delivery as far as Mahi's writing is concerned. Considering Qalb Asaib Deed as her very first attempt in writing, I surely believe she can write with more power. She just needs to observe the phenomenon more and before penning a dialogue, I feel, she should focus on the style & structure of sentence to make it more visible and loud. She has unique ideas and a little experiments with her projection can make her reads more interesting. Waadey bhi rishton ki tarha hotey hain... Jin ki shuruaat kerna to asaan hota hai magar inko nibhana...
Script writing, here is, yet another grand affair. Some scenes looks like paintings in motion. So delicately woven in fabrics of emotions. I fell in love with the Gift Unboxing scene. What a fascinating way of picturing an amazing detailed description of a pertinent scene in the story. Beauty of the narrative is, Mahi slowly & steadily made us think about whats coming next from the very first scene and drama unfolds completely, when we come to know that all was done for this one gift. To me, this one gift was the mirror of the story. It showed how deep was the love of Mahi for her friend Fiya.
The scene where Mahr tells Maria about Fia and a sparrow is shown feeding another little sparrow in the background, is symbolism at its best. Father's reaction at dining table shows the actual dilemma of society. To me, this one specific scene is the real hypothesis builder of the story. It tells us the hidden story behind Mahi's behavior.
Have you thought what made Mahi so over ambitious to love, respect & regard a complete alien . What made her come too closer to an unknown person, to whom she was connected only on Social Media. I believe, when you are not connected with your family, the others took benefit out of it and make you feel like they are your only true well wisher. Mahr's father's behavior at the dining table shows she was not given due love & respect, what she deserved. This is why, she got attracted towards Fiya. And rest is the history. This is the factual impasse of our society. In fact, it is a plague, which is ruining our society badly. If we possess a solid bond with our near ones, our blood relations, our family members, we really don't need anyone else. And above all, we just need ALLAH. The stronger we are connected with our creator ALLAH PAK, the stronger we feel and then we would not be feeling any need of anyone else. This is what Mahi explains in the prayer of Mahr, ALLAH main Fiya se tere liye muhabbat kerti hoon... Unhon ne meri TUJH se asal pehchaan kerwai...
My verdict, Qalb Asaib Deed is a story of complex relationship which was neither elaborated nor disclosed by the writer. Who were the characters & what brought them together and why were they attached & detached in moments is still a mystery. I waited till the very last moment to open up the relationship thread but it was never on. Have the writer clarified the scenario, the story would have been a great affair. Some excellent dialogues & few amazingly conceived scenes are a true breather here. Writer have the tendency to picture the atmosphere and perhaps this is her biggest strength which she used very smartly all over the story. I would have given the story full marks, provided if the relationship between protagonists was made clear.
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