Ruswai is a Pakistani drama, airing on Ary-digital these days. The cast includes brilliant actors like Sana Javed, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Osama Tahir and senior actors like Seemi Raheel, Usman Peerzada, and Mohammad Ahmed.
Sana Javed is one of the best actresses of Pakistan that has given a fabulous performance and depicted the role of a rape victim with amazing acting skills. Sana as Sameera has done a remarkable job from the beginning until now, where she has the courage to seek justice.
In the beginning, people were optimistic regarding the drama concept and with the cast that there will soon be justice for rape victim played by Sana Javed. However, with the passage of time, we realized it is not going as we expected.
It became more like a family drama and focused shift towards exchange marriages in which if one couple gets divorce due to some reason, it directly affects the other couple. Exchange marriage is common in Pakistani culture in which the sister of a man is married to his wife’s brother or the opposite.
Exchange marriage is no doubt a good concept but here it is totally injustice to the issue of the rape victim. If drama makers wanted to focus on exchange marriage, they should never highlight the issue of rape. They could use hundreds of other excuses for divorce and problems.
In the beginning, the audience was hopeful that they are showing us the miseries and problems of rape victims and how it is difficult for her to survive. When her blood relations get tired to seek justice and reject to see her as a normal person, how life has become unbearable for a rape victim.
The issue with drama makers is the makers think rape is some minor issue and they took this concept of rape with such ease and then turn into usual Saas/Bahu drama. If we look at the recent episodes, everything is about how because Sameera got divorced and her father died because he could not bear the misery of his daughter. Now her brother who is married to Sameera’s husband’s sister, doing the same to his wife.
However, the recent promo of Ruswai shows us that Sameera is back to her justice-seeking self where she will focus on herself. Her husband Salman who once claimed to love Sameera does not support her. Even he mistreats her, cheats on her and finally divorces her. Sameera’s husband married the second time, however, he will go through the same that he did to Sameera in the hands of his second wife.
The hopes that were losing in the term that the audience was looking towards justice are coming back. It seemed that by focusing the shift to marriage problems, the writer had forgotten about the real concept, however, the hope is back.
They have shown in Ruswai that it is hard to seek justice and it is even harder to get the support of near ones who because of the fear of people try to keep their mouth shut.
However, if someone wants to see what kind of support they should give to rape victims, they should look at the character of Sameera’s brother played by Osama Tahir. Sameera’s brother not only tried to stand with her when she was gang-raped but also when her husband divorced her. He was also ready to leave his wife because of the treatment her sister got in the hands of his wife’s husband. Although his wife could not understand which side she should be on and this is the reason he thought to leave her.
Ruswai on one side shows us that even if some female is educated and something heinous like rape occurs to her, it will be the same. Society cannot allow her to move on in her life and if she is married, her husband cannot take her back.
We already know that life becomes hell for rape victims, but maybe there will be one day when dramas will focus by showing us the hopes rather than the miseries.
After watching the latest promo of Ruswai, the audience is hopeful that now Sameera will get justice because as she says she has done enough for other people and could not even get happiness in return. The only thing that audience is waiting to see that whether the man (Dr.Feroze) who claimed to love and support her will stick by her side or he will be afraid of the society. (Watch here)
