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| Drama 'Tere Bin': 'Is this what remorse looks like after consensual or emotional sex with husband? |
After last night's episode of the Pakistani drama serial 'Tere Bin' aired, fans are left in a quandary as to why the two lovelorn characters Mireb and Murtsam are suffering from regret and remorse after allegedly having 'consensual' sex.
'Tere Bin' is currently trending on social media and the promo aired last week allegedly gave the impression that the popular and beloved character Murtisam has committed marital rape with his wife.
Mind you, a scene in the promo that would have reinforced this impression has apparently been removed from the episode.
After all this, social media users expressed their outrage, and after watching the latest episode, it seems that this reaction forced the producers of 'Tere Bun' to remove the 'marital rap' scenes.
The BBC could not independently confirm this and in this regard, the BBC tried to speak to the writer of the play, but he declined to talk.
Playwright Nooran Makhdoom is the creator of Tere Bin. Recently, while defending these scenes of marital rape, he told Arab News that 'It was the demand of the story and this is not the first time it has happened on TV screens.'
But after the backlash on social media, Tere Bin's producer Abdullah Qadwani tweeted, "We love and respect our viewers." We request them to wait for the next episode of Tere Bin and please stop jumping to conclusions.
In recent times, two popular TV dramas of Pakistan, Qasa Mehr Bano Ka, and Ranjha Ranjha Kurdi, have shown marital rape, but critics believe that in these two dramas, this serious issue in the story is handled in a very responsible manner. It was shown and told what effects this action had on the woman.
It should be noted that marital rape is a serious problem all over the world including Pakistan.
This term is used when a husband forces his wife to have sex against her will.
"Don't fool yourself into thinking marital rape wasn't written in the script."
In last night's episode of 'Tere Bin', the voiceovers of the protagonists Mirb and Murtisam were played, apparently trying to convey the message that the two had consensual sex. However, later both are shown regretting this, i.e. Murtasam injures himself by hitting his hands on the glass and Mireb leaves the house sitting in a ruined house.
Fans reacted on social media after the recent episode, asking if the makers of Tere Bin 'think people are stupid' and arguing that the consensual sex between the two characters in love is not a good idea. How about regretting later?
"Please don't tell a woman that this is what regret looks like after consensual or passionate sex with her husband," wrote one user, Farzeen, along with Mireb's photos.
Another user on Twitter wrote: 'Her shocked expression, her demeanor screams she's been sexually assaulted.
"Girls who want to praise Murtisam, do it because that's what they showed you, but don't fool yourself into thinking that marital rap wasn't written in the script."
Another user Morey Pia wrote that 'marital rap was in the script. Nowhere does Mirb's condition suggest that all this was done with consent.
Amina Haider Isani, editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel Something Hot, says that the problem here is that you have presented Murtasam Khan as a hero.
"He has shown an extraordinary and real man who has the pain of humanity, is charming and beautiful, and has an element of romance and responsibility in him. It was very irresponsible to show him in the realm of marital rape."
Critics have praised the producers and criticized them for removing the marital rap scenes from the latest episode of 'Tere Bin'.
"Marital rape should not be normalized the way it was or was going to be dramatized," says Amina Haider Isani. Then there's a baby (shown in BTS) and it's said you'll be very happy with the ending, which means there's going to be a happy ending?'
"If you've written a story and you're 100 percent confident about it, then you go with it and let it go and be ready for the backlash," he added.
In last week's episode, Meereb slaps Murtisam in anger after seeing Haya hugging Murtisam and then spits. A lot of people were unhappy with these scenes as well and it was said that Mirab was responsible for Murtasam's anger.
According to Amna Haider Isani, I had no problem with Merib slapping me because Mireb also slapped Murtsam.
He was wrong but let's say he took revenge. So far so good, but showing her spitting was pretty lame. It was better if he did not write.
Because people from good houses don't spit on each other. By the way, they don't even slap, but you have normalized slapping on TV and gradually it will come out of our system.
"You cannot suppress the voice of God's creation"
It should be noted that the recent two episodes of the drama serial 'Tere Bin' are at the top of the YouTube trending chart. The production house Seventh Sky tweeted about this from its Twitter handle what did you do?
Nooran Makhdoom, who has been a victim of trolls since last week, refused to talk about 'Tere Bin' and said, "When I wrote it, it was open-ended as to what the ending should be." The play has two endings and it remains to be seen what happens. And they do not even know which one is shown.
He told the fans of the drama that 'whatever issues you have will be addressed.'
Nooran further said that from the experience of this drama, he learned that 'you cannot suppress the voice of God's creation.'
Only a few episodes of 'Tere Bin' are left to be aired, after which it will be known whether Meerab was oppressed or Mirtasam in the drama.
However, after the reaction to Tere Bun, there is a hope that playwrights and producers will think twice when using serious social issues in dramas for sensationalism.