Saboor Aly will play a rape survivor in Hum TV's Naqab Zan

Will the drama put the shame where it belong — with the perpetrator?

22 Jul, 2019

Trigger Warning: Mention of Rape/Sexual Assault

The first teaser for Saboor Aly's upcoming drama, Naqab Zan is out and it seems like the actress will be playing the role of a sexual assault survivor.

The teaser shows Saboor running in a wedding dress and in the next frame, she seems to be in an isolated room. In the background, we hear a woman's voice saying that she had warned that it is a bad omen for the bride to leave the house before her wedding.

In the next scene, someone grabs her and she lays unconscious on the floor as the soundtrack, 'sunehri chaand ko kalak lagi hai' plays. That's an odd choice of a song; we need to stop seeing assault and rape survivors as tarnished individuals; the shame is the perpetrator's alone. We'll wait to watch the drama before we make any judgements though.

In a video released by Saboor on IGTV, she opens up about her character, playing the role of a rape survivor in which she states, "We need to teach them how to live, move forward, laugh and make them trust their lives again. We should tell them that they're not rape victims, but rape survivors, fighters and they are not alone."

The leading actor, Ali Abbas also talks about what rape victims have to go through in a similar video:

"A real man is not one who suppresses women, but one who walks beside a woman", said Ali Abbas.

The drama is directed by Adeel Siddiqui, featuring Ali Abbas, Hajra Yamin, and Ali Ansari among others; it will air on Hum TV though no release date has been announced yet.

Comments

Ghazal Jul 22, 2019 03:05pm

I wonder why our dramas confine to the social issues only specifically rape and child abuse, there are number of issues which should be raised by our media, the dire need of today's world is education, our dramas should reflect the role of lawyer, doctor, pharmacist, engineer, computer experts, psychologist and others in order to promote our people to be productive for the society. Try to learn from the world like South Korea, US, Japan and others...

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Boota Jul 22, 2019 10:07pm

HUM and GEO are pivotal in bringing down the erstwhile values of our society by airing such plays. They are ripping apart the weave of our social fabric and crossing the red line between decency and immorality. I live abroad and have 3 daughters. We nurtured the culture of watching Pakistani TV content only for entertainment to avoid local content. And then the dam broke..... in came the flood of immoral, indecent and cheap plays promoting women's exploitation through exaggerated portrayal of family issues, verbal and physical abuse, glamorized extra marital affairs, objectionable dialogues and body language etc. you name it. Who is allowing this content to be aired ? Where does Dawn stand in all this ? with ! or against ? Demonstrate .....

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sultan Jul 22, 2019 11:17pm

@Ghazal totally agree

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IWantHope Jul 23, 2019 01:00am

Stop sensationalising rape! It's a disgusting act and these idiotic dramas do nothing but help promote it further.

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Shariq Jul 23, 2019 05:43am

I applaud Pakistani media to bring up such social issues to limelight. We need to talk about it and with awareness tackle these evils.

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Osama Jul 24, 2019 02:24pm

@Ghazal totally agree. Majority of Pakistani drama stories are based on second marriage, extra martial affairs, saas bahu fights!! They need to explore a lot more areas!!

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