ARY Digital’s latest presentation “Aisi Hai Tanhai” generated quite a buzz long before it was aired for two simple reasons, a unique topic and Nadia Khan’s comeback.
Four episodes down (it is being aired two episodes a time), the drama has proven to be a lot more than just another drama on a unique topic.
Starring Sonya Hussyn, Sami Khan, Nadia Khan and Saba Hamid; the play’s multi-dimensional plot is not only showing our society’s struggle with modernity but the youth’s abuse of social media and the younger generation’s blind following of whatever the western culture has to offer.
The drama’s handling of these topics in one go is impressive as it deals with all this unseemingly; not getting decisive, not delivering judgments and keeping it lifelike.
First things first, “Aisi Hai Tanhai”, in its first and second episode raised two questions.
‘SOCIAL MEDIA ABUSE AND THE CLASH BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY’
The makers sublimely showed the way our youth is misusing technology and why internet to them is just chatting, sending pictures and using social media.That they should be trained or at least told their limits while using the medium is still a debate, ethics teachers should be encouraged to develop such a course.
Boys and girls think being in a relationship is cool so they enter into one and copy what they see online without even realizing that the society they live in follows and different code and even they follow the code when at home.
Everyone knows that the society too forces them to live two lives at the same time but if they believe what they do, they should also stand with each other when people object to it.
A girl commits suicide when her boyfriend leaks her photos but the boyfriend lives… so why is honour only associated with women. It there was ever a thing called “true love” between them, then the boy should have taken a stand for her lady love.
As if this was not enough, the male lead Hamza (Sami Khan) asks Pakeezah (Sonya Hussyn) to do the same despite her reluctance and makes it a “trust” issue. By this instance, drama shows how youth blindly follows what they see online or what they learn from peers but actually believes in standards set by parents or society.
Though Hamza doesn’t see pictures taken by Pakeezah, what follows is the stuff of nightmares as Pakeezah’s cell phone is snatched and the robbers leak those photos on social media.
Hamza’s mother clearly tells him that she can’t accept Pakeezah as her daughter in law and none helps Hamza, not even his otherwise broad-minded father.
‘WATCH AND BLAME’
As the pictures go viral, there comes the most relevant scene of the drama, something we all can relate to as we all have seen it at some point since the internet arrived in our lives only to be limited to devices.
Everyone from the elderly ladies to the chai walla watches it and then only blames the girl not himself/herself for watching such stuff. Not only that, everyone thinks it is his/her responsibility to share them regardless of how it can ruin someone’s life.
In short, the drama reminds us of Urdu’s famous poet and thinker Jaun Elia, who famously said that:
“اکیسویں صدی ہمارے یہاں آئی نہیں بلکہ اغوا کر کے لائی گئی”
“We did not enter the 21st century but it was abducted and brought to us,”
We have the technology but the younger generation is mostly misusing it, the elder ones don’t think it is their business to educate the youth at least about basic ethics.Educators are still in denial about social media abuse.
The youth, on the other hand, is living the 21st century’s dream on social media, but have to comply with the moral standards set by the society.
It is time we realize hat denying social media’s existence and impact will not do the job but accepting it and finding solutions to overcome its drawbacks will!
