'The choice isn't the issue, judging it is': Durefishan weighs in on Dar-e-Nijaat sleeveless dress scene
It seems there’s something new to talk about every week after popular drama Dar-e-Nijaat drops a new episode, and this weekend was no different.
A scene where the female lead Zaryab Habib (Durefishan Saleem) refuses to wear a sleeveless dress, saying she’s no longer comfortable wearing such clothes, has sparked a fair amount of discourse on social media and even Saleem has jumped in.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, the actor explained that the point of the scene was to show Zaryab’s own relationship with faith changing, and she should have the freedom to go through that change.
Saleem said she considered faith to be an internal transformation which manifests in external actions — including how someone chooses to dress themselves.
A woman’s right to choose how she dresses must be extended to all women in various clothing styles, the actor pointed out.
The real issue, Saleem said, is not what Zaryab chooses to wear; it was how people “begin questioning, scrutinising or judging her choices instead of simply respecting them”.
Dar-e-Nijaat, she said, was Zaryab’s story: “her imperfections, her flaws, her contradictions as a woman”. The actor said the audience was entitled to their opinion on it.
She did, however, question the need to blow a narrative choice out of proportion and make it a national emergency. “Not every character arc needs a panel discussion, a jury and a final verdict from the internet.”
“You don’t have to agree with Zaryab, you don’t have to relate to her, and you certainly don’t have to make her journey your own… Sometimes, it is simply someone else’s story.”
Unlike her character, she said, she was okay with wearing clothing without sleeves and had been for some time. “That’s my personal relationship with modesty and someone else’s may look very different to it,” Saleem said.
Her faith did not grant her the right to judge others, she said, nor did it give others the right to judge her. What she chooses to wear, be comfortable with and change about herself is her own business, she reiterated.
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