Humsafar (Pakistan T.V. Time)

Hello, hello, hello, Dear Readers! I would like to talk about Humsafar tonight. I just finished watching this on U.S.A. Netflix. It is a drama that was produced in 2011. It ran from September 2011- March 2012. 
Humsafar means Companion in Urdu. 
This is a T.V. series that was produced by a female producer who owns her own Channel and the first female producer in all of Asia, to own her own channel and to have her own production company. (This is quite and accomplishment!)
I kept watching Humsafar because I kept hoping there was a happy ending. And there was. But I had a love/ hate relationship with the T.V. series throughout it all. I was frustrated in how the heroine was constantly belittled throughout the entire show, I was annoyed that her husband was a jerk hole throughout the entire show, and he didn't stand up to his mother until the very end. I was irritated that poor innocent Khadir had to endure suffering, humiliation, grief, was reproved in public,and all because her husband didn't even bother to stick up for her. That is the biggest grief I have with this. If her husband loved her so much, why wasn't he soft and kind with her from the beginning? Where was his loyalty? Why didn't he trust her from the beginning? 
I also had a problem with the lead mother, Khadir's mother in law. Khadir is married to her first cousin because on her mother's death bed, her mother and uncle decided to marry Khadir to Ashar, her mother's nephew.
Khadir and Ashar married, and Ashar had a best friend named Sarah who was extremely jealous, and wanted to marry Ashar and have him for herself. 
What I could not gather was why they painted Sarah out to be so bad? Was it her western clothing? Her obsession over Ashar? Her lack of propriety  in social and workplace settings, and often at home, when she was unable to grasp that her childhood friend was in a marriage? Why did the producers even "go there"? And why did Sarah's mother coddle her so much, making her unable to deal with the fact that Ashar had told her several times he did not love her "in that way, only as friends"...
One tends to wonder about so many things... 
The other thing that bothered me was how rude Ashar's mother was towards Khadir. She was awful the entire T.V. show. This woman was not only cruel, but, just a total bitch. Is this how Pakistani producers of a huge Television series wants to portray the Pakistani elite? As attention whores, with no sense of dignity, who hate the social lower classes, and are out to get into their son's marriages, and destroy their grand-daughters life's? I don't get that. Then at the end, the mother of Ashar ends up going mental. Why didn't they address that she was completely wacko from the beginning, and also, did the producers think about how grievous mental illnesses are? How did she have schizophrenia just after Ashar told her she lied and was the worst. mom. ever. Ashar was emotionally detached to his wife before she was accused of being with another man, and he didn't try to stop Khadir's fate... Not once did he come to her aide, yet, he was ever so concerned with Sarah and her lack of being able to move past him, why didn't he, upon marrying Khadir, stop all contact with Sarah, tell her to F off, and fire her if he had to to get his point across. Then spend more time with his wife, get to know her, and love the fact she is independent, strong, intelligent,and went with this? But, instead, they had to go with cutting Khadir to the core, stripping her of dignity, and use the fact she comes from a village and lower class than Ashar. (Which is strange because Ashar's father and Khadir's mother are brother and sister... So he had to have come from the same village and upbringing...) Which the last note tends me to think that If a man in Pakistan makes a name for himself, a woman doesn't matter? It this how men treat their women in Pakistan? I highly don't think so. Of course, I am talking about a soap opera. But, this is something in Downton Abbey in the early 1900's in England, social classes and wealth and how the poor is looked upon. Right? Well, sadly, this T.V. series comes from 2011, in Pakistan. So, can we assume that in 100 years from now they will be up to where we are as far as women are concerned? Is this really a T.V. series that addresses social issues, mental health, suicide, and how women are treated in Pakistan's society? I hope not. I think we tend to objectify the poor, the weak in ALL Societies, not just Pakistan's T.V. series, however, they do it in U.S.A. as well. It's always the "woman" that is mentally ill, the woman who does something wrong, the woman who is the bad person. And the man is considered the savior of woman, the redeemer, man is the one who can make everything alright in the end. Or can he? Does he really? 
This is a question we all, in every society must address. Whether we are man or woman, poor or rich... How do we treat each other? How do we judge those around us? Are we right in our judging? Do we feel shame when we are wrong in our assumptions with people that we don't know? 
I wouldn't watch the series again if asked. Not because I didn't think that the acting was not well, because the actors were fabulous. I would not watch it because I had the hardest time watching the people with the social upper hand condemn the lower classes. It was gritty and frustrating. Was this what the producers wanted?   
I am updating this... 
I have done a little researching and Humsafar is the T.V. version of a novel of the same name, written by Farhat Ishitag, a female author who writes novels and plays. In all actuality, I would love to read the book, as she wrote it from the perspective of Ashar, then of Khadir, written in flashback setting, as though the two are remembering what took place in the past, and their daughter Hareem, bringing them back together. Now, I don't know about you, I would have loved to see more like that.  
The written style of flashbacks don't resonate well with Eastern and Asian audiences however, and so probably it is my frustration in Ashar's immaturity and being a petty guy (maybe?) that has me so critical of Ashar. No doubt, Humsafar is a series that will continue to steal the heart of many women world wide.

Happy New Year (Another Movie Review)

Hey, readers! 
I watched another Bollywood movie.. It's called "Happy New Year" It is produced by Red Chili Entertainment. It was filmed about 3 years ago. Location is India and Dubai. 
 The ratings is conflicting. See, the critics gave it a low rating, and didn't really like the movie, however, it is to this day one of the highest grossing films yet. Fans love this movie. 
I am kind of in the middle. Shah Rhuk Khan is in it, so you know it is going to be a big movie. (And everyone by now should know, I am an SRK fan) 
This movie is about a man, Charlie,  who, 8 years before, lost his father in prison, and it was caused by a set up by Charan Grover. Charlie wanted to get revenge on Charan, and he does it through a few friends and a beautiful dancer who teaches the team how to dance and win the World Dance Championship that takes place in Dubai. 
There's parts that are funny, and cheesy. I do have to add that the Martial Arts in this was pretty good. Shah Rukh Khan does a lot off screen to keep up his physique, and you can see that on screen. He also does his own stunts, and you can see that on screen. SRK puts 150% of everything he does into his movies, and this one is no exception.
I think that this movie is good for a younger crowd, and the humor is all the way through it, but, it doesn't hang on with me like others that SRK has done in the past. I do appreciate this piece of work, It just didn't captivate me from the beginning to end, and that is ok for me, not all movies will. I put the list of cast and characters below, because each one of them deserves an applause.   
Cast as follows: 
Shah Rukh Khan as Chandramohan "Charlie" Sharma
Deepika Padukone as Mohini Joshi
Abhishek Bachchan as Nandu Bhide/Vikki Grover (double role)
Sonu Sood as Captain Jagmohan "Jag" Prakash
Boman Irani as Tremhton "Tammy" Irani
Vivaan Shah as Rohan Singh, Jag's nephew
Jackie Shroff as Charan Grover
Varun Pruthi as Charan's Assistant
Kavi Shastri as Mr Gupta
(Special Appearances)
  Anupam Kher as Manohar Sharma (Charlie's dad) 
Daisy Irani as Tammy's mother
Sarah- Jane Dias as Laila
Dino Morea as host of World Dance Champion
Kiku Sharda as Saroj Khan/ (dance choreographer)
Prabhu Deva as dance instructor
Malaika Arora Khan as the heroine of a film
Anrung Kashyap as himself, a Judge of the World Dance Championship
Vishal Dadlani as himself, a judge of the World Dance Championship
Sajid Khan as director of a film
Geeta Kapoor as Judge of World Dance Championship  
Vishal Malhotra as host of the World Dance Championship Auditions
Gauri Khan as herself (cameo in the end credits)
AbRam Khan as himself (end credits, first debut)
Farah Khan as the worst dance championship judge (cameo in the end credits)

Pink (Another Movie Review)

India. The land of many cultures and many enchantments. The land of many colors and smells and so many festivals. Also, renowned around the world for it's (lack) of human rights: and the hot topic here, women's rights. 
Pink addresses this in a movie on Netflix. 
The stars, are three girls (I say girls because they are about 23-25 years old) 
Taapsee Panu, Kirti Kulhari, and Andrea Taring star  with Ambitah Bachchan in this story about a retired lawyer and three girls who were wrongfully accused of attempted murder because a group of guys raped one of the girls, and the girls went to the police to complain. 

This is an up close and very uncomfortable movie, showing what it is like in a rape culture society, and how these girls fight back with the law. (which are really poorly devised for women). 
This movie is frustrating because I am a woman and love justice for anyone. But, it makes sit that much more in your face with the raw-ness and that is what the producers and directors want. For people to be out raged at how women are treated in not just India, but many cultures. 
Long Rock and I had a discussion about this topic a couple days ago. I was saying how throughout time, "No" meant "No" to a woman and how men don't take it seriously. In fact, women are objectified, and I have deep feelings about this.
So, this Netflix movie definitely gets my vote! It left me in tears and was really profound. 
Thank you to the producers for making such a gut wrenching movie. I am just going to say  "Wow".