Kafeel: Umera Ahmed redefines the concept of love, sacrifice and true masculinity

Kafeel, another magnificent script of Umera Ahmed, comes to an end; the storyline left no crumbs behind.

Every character played their role well. Umera Ahmed defined the concept of Kafeel with male characters like Jamal, Jamshed, Subuk, Usman, and also lets just not forget about Saif. All five men played different dimensions of kafeel.

Umera Ahmed, through the drama, drew a very distinct line of what a true Kafeel, aka ahead of the family, should look like. A kafeel should look like Zeba’s father, who would nourish his children with kindness and guide them between right and wrong. He stood beside what was right for Zeba and supported her to get a divorce despite his own mother and wife pulling him back just because Loag kia kahein gae. Even though the decision dangled between taking a bold step or spending the rest of her life as a feeble sheep, being afraid of society. Her father stood beside her and supported her financially through all four of her children’s births.

After his death, Usman supported her, though Zeba is shown in multiple scenes that she was on her own, earning her own living, even later, her children were earning through online work, Subuk doing odd jobs and completing his studies simultaneously, yet again standing beside his mother. Usman supported her when she finally decided to get a divorce. He provided the furniture to their new apartment, also when Jamal came with his proposal for Zeba, at that time he confronted his mother and became an advocate for his sister. Kahan thea ye loag jab mere bhn k bache faqe kaat rahe thea.

Subuk, on the other hand, was the true charm and hero of the whole drama. He was seen as the backbone of Zeba. She, being a mother, might stumble over her decisions, but Subuk stood firm with his focused and grounded vision.

He was the one who first took a step and convinced his mother to get a divorce. He was there to defend his mother from the statement Ye hamare khandan ki pehli talaq hai. He later became the one who also started the search for a suitable suitor for Zeba, before he knew the fairytale about Jamal and his mother.

He, being the eldest, understood that even though he can be the breadwinner for the family and Kafeel for his sisters, he can’t play the role of life partner for his mother, the void that only a partner like Jamal could fill it in.

But in all this hustle, he surrendered his own dreams of love to the somber reality that he could never be an ideal Kafeel to a “princess” like Daneen. This is where the actual role of Daneen’s father came into play, a true father figure who is well protective of his only daughter and wants to give her all the luxuries of life, yet he still chose Subuk as his son-in-law, hamare dil ko tu Subuk bhaa gia hai.

In the 2^nd last episode, he delivered the final version of Kafeel, that being kafeel of the house doesn’t mean it will always be picture perfect, having a lavish villa, fine dining table, AC-ed rooms, cars, instead kafeel means to provide and be able to strive for the family and try to do one’s level best. Exactly, just like Saif, where Warda took her sweet time to understand the same philosophy of life.

To wrap up my argument, Umera Ahmed took a strategic approach in writing a script in an era of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, where these youngsters are going through an identity crisis. Men are becoming more feminine than women. On the other hand, women are becoming more hyper independent and more masculine in energy,  just because men are not providing for the house and taking up their roles as they should. She also raised a point from the character of Warda, that people should be gratefull with what they have.

Another myth she successfully shattered through the characters of this drama was Loag Kia Kahein gae. A most important fact about taking the life based decisions is to consider only if that decision is fruitful for your own soul. These people will be busy in their own lives and might forget the incident, but making decisions based on their visions and opinions might end up with consequences, like Zeba or worse!