Not understanding Nadia's reasons for the breakup, her mother starts blaming her and constantly laments the fact that her daughter has missed the boat since she is already in her late 20s. Lady Luck comes knocking and Nadia is coerced into marrying a middle aged father of two, the extremely vile and misogynist businessman Faizan Ali Shah (Asif Raza Mir). On their wedding night, he gifts her an apartment and some other property as munh-dikhai, but shuns her gift of a poetry book by telling her that he never read such immature stuff even as a teen.
Not willing to take any chances, he then asks her to get a hysterectomy but after a lot of pleading Nadia is spared the fate. As the days go by, she realises that she is nothing more than a trophy wife but yet she goes on to play the role of the dutiful other half. Winning the approval of her two stepchildren, Hamza and Haniya, she bears Faizan's constant insults regarding her middle class background.
Fast forward eight TV years and Haniya (Neelam) and Hamza (Baber) are both grown up. Haniya is madly in love with a boy her age, but things go haywire when Faizan arranges for her marriage to a friend's brother, Asfand (Adnan Siddiqui). A misunderstanding ensues as Asfand thinks that Nadia is Haniya and ends up falling for her. As things clear up, Faizan blames Nadia for messing up his daughter's proposal and Nadia decides its time to leave him. In walks Seemab (Maria Wasti), a women's rights activist whom Faizan despises from an earlier interaction, with her own agenda as she goes all out to help Nadia.
Standing at the crossroads with Asfand willing to marry her and a remorseful Faizan realising his mistake, Nadia has to make the choice that will set her free.
Produced by Asif Raza Mir and Babar Javed, Diya Jalay's script by Faiza Akhter relies heavily on the good woman-bad man theme. With a goodhearted girl trapped in a perfect yet fissured marriage, Nadia's character at times reminds one of the gold-hearted courtesans known for their selfless loving in Indo-Pak films.
With the glitz and glamour and the added tears to entice female viewers, it's the stock characterisation that leaves a lot of questions unanswered. For instance, no mention is ever made as to why Faizan hates middle class people so much yet marries a girl from that particular stratum of the society. Also, Nadia is shown as a girl who thinks a lot about right and wrong yet she agrees to marry a much older man and continues to live in an abusive relationship.
Babar Javed has directed some of the best dramas in the past few years but somehow Diya Jalay moves very slowly. Shot beautifully with awesome indoor settings, one is distracted that the story at times seems stuck. Also, the jarring title track of Diya Jalay after every few minutes is irritating as more than highlighting the lead characters pain and sorrow it leaves you with a bad earache.
Acting wise, Savera not only emotes well but looks smashing after Inkaar. Somehow from being the nation's heartthrob, Zain in Tanhaiyan, to one of the most hated men on TV these days in his outing as Faizan Shah, Asif is good as the bad guy. However, one thing that Asif needs to do is stop playing the much older husband with a younger second wife (he already plays one in the ongoing Barish Kay Aansoo) as it reeks of mid-life crises.
Adnan Siddiqui as the lovelorn Asfand is something to watch. As cheesy as it may sound, he seems to have found a perfect character where he gives his best and as one viewer said, “You seriously want to hug Asfand and tell him 'It's going to be okay'!”
However, it's Maria Wasti as Seemab who is someone to watch out for. In one of the earlier brief appearance in the serial, she stole the show as the fast-talking, fast-moving 'liberated' woman. As the serial progresses, it would be worth watching as to how Maria tackles on the stereotypical character of an NGOwali.
Diya Jalay is a case of slow burn but it's the “what next” twist that keeps one glued.
(Diya Jalay is on air every Sunday night on ARY Digital at 8pm)
