Written by: Hurmat Majid
Posted on: October 13, 2022 | 
| 中文
Komal Meer as Sobia and Khushal Khan as Asif in Wehshi
Wehshi (wild) explores inner conflict created by childhood trauma, but does it deliver? Starring Khushal Khan, Komal Meer, Nadia Khan, Babar Ali, Shamil Khan and Tahira Awan, the drama promises to discuss the turmoil that becomes part of people’s personalities when they go through traumas in the formative years of their life.
The story revolves around the shaping of Sobia (Meer) and Asif’s (Khushal Khan) childhood. On one hand, Sobia’s father is abusive because he believes her birth was the reason for all his misfortune. On the other hand, Asif lives in a fairytale world with doting parents and everything that life has to offer. Both fathers end up dead, and while Sobia thrives in the absence of her abusive parent, Asif suffers when his mother is married off to Sobia’s widowed Taya. A timelapse shows that both Sobia and Asif are now older, and Sobia has moved into her Taya's house to concentrate on her studies.
Nadia Khan as Muneera with young Asif (Khushal Khan)
The story explores various aspects of Asif’s personality, and Sobia’s self-confidence at having “saved herself” and lived well after her dad passed away. The first reservation we have about this theme is the fact that women are not rehabilitation centers for psychologically scarred men, and their projection on TV as the people who bring men out of their dark phases is a big reason why a lot of young women believe they can essentially “fix” men.
Secondly, while the drama is showing Asif as an erratic person, and we see him indulging in drugs and unprescribed medication, they don’t really address the nature of his psychological disorders. This is also a dangerous trend we have witnessed in both Bollywood and in Pakistan. Something similar happened in Sabaat, where a character was shown to have some psychological issues but the nature of those issues was not discussed or addressed. A young 20-something woman can surely not deal with a man with deep-rooted psychological issues, and neither should she try.
Violence scene in young Asif's life in Wehshi
Since our dramas are starting to explore themes once alien to our society, especially in terms of psychological issues, one thing makers should consider is getting a trained psychologist or psychiatrist on board while scripting the play. Consulting them on the depiction and outcomes of disorders being discussed in the dramas would bring sensitivity towards the illness itself and also keep makers from suggesting false cures for psychological disorders. The bottom line is that love is not the cure for mental illness, and it is highly irresponsible for producers to show that a woman is attempting to ‘fix’ a psychologically troubled man, especially in this day and age when we see so many women losing their lives because they thought they were safe in the presence of men with deep-rooted psychological issues.
Khushal Khan as Asif and Nadia Khan as Muneera
Another problematic theme is the fact that when her husband died, Asif’s mother briefly lived with her brother and then was forced to marry a widowed man without ever seeing him or talking to him. The man had a son, Amir, who was around the same age as her son, Asif, and he refused to see Asif as anything more than a financial burden. The question is, why could Asif’s mom not have been independent with a means to live on her own, comfortably? Why did she have no choice but to marry a second time? When will we move on from dramas that encourage this line of reasoning?
Subhan Awan as Amir, Babar Ali as Majeed and Khushal Khan as Asif in Wehshi
In terms of production quality, the drama is okay. It is shot in the same house as Qissa Meherbano Ka, and we don’t understand the fixation of the producers on this house. It is built in a weird way and looks really off, and it gives the whole production a very set-like feel.
In terms of acting, Khushal and Komal have done well, although Komal still speaks in a very artificial manner in some scenes. All of the other women must have been directed to speak in a very ‘air hostess-like’ manner, and it is annoying. Had they not been acting so artificially; they would have been able to engage the audiences better. All of the child actors playing the younger version of Khushal and his age mates, are also not cast well, a pity because we now have a healthy pool of good child actors. The only redeeming factor is that Sobia’s grandmother is a good mother-in-law and sees the flaws of her son, and does not spend her time pressuring her daughter-in-law to fix Sobia’s father.
Komal Meer as Sobia and Khushal Khan as Asif
The drama, even though it airs twice a week, has failed to leave any impact on the audience. It has not been able to hold the attention of the audience, or hold the audience in suspense about the next 13 episodes. Wehshi is an attempt at discussing the repercussions of parents’ hasty remarriage of their children and women who think that they can heal mentally sick spouses.
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