'Change doesn't come overnight': Mawra Hocane responds to criticism of marital rape in Qissa Meherbano Ka

When it comes to regressive storylines and depictions of violence, there is no shortage of dramas in Pakistan. The latest drama to come under fire for showing and possibly condoning violence in the form of marital rape is Hum TV's Qissa Meherbano Ka starring Ahsan Khan, Mawra Hocane and Zaviyar Ejaz.

The drama that began by highlighting serious issues in its initial episodes, such as family separation, single-parenting and issues around inheritance, is now showing the downright abusive relationship between Meherbano (Hocane) and Murad (Khan). The last three minutes of the 15th episode, which aired two weeks ago, grabbed everyone's attention for a display of marital rape.

In the 16th episode that aired on December 18, Meherbano justified the rape and said it was Murad's "right" to be with her as he pleased.

A Twitter user wondered why the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was ignoring this. "It almost looks like an attempt to normalise this disgusting behaviour," the user said.

A netizen pointed out that Murad's offences were compounded by the fact that his wife was pregnant.

Another suggested that the TV channel needs to do better with the way they want to highlight certain topics.

One user wondered why Khan keeps taking these roles — he played an abusive spouse in Qayamat as well.

It would be one thing if Murad was painted entirely as the villain but he is the main character and there is a likelihood that the show's creators will try to redeem him later. The problem here is not that marital rape is shown — though there definitely should be a trigger warning before it. It is that this rapist is poised to possibly become the hero and is likely to be absolved of his crime.

One user tweeted that there's no harm in portraying an evil person as evil as long as they are labelled as such. "Murad is evil, not a hero," they wrote.

People were disgusted and triggered by the scene that definitely could have used a content warning.

Some were tired of the constant rehashing of misery and toxicity on our TV screens.

One user believed that with this scene, Murad is too far gone to be painted as the hero.

Hocane responded to the criticism of the show with a textbook definition of marital rape.

“Marital rape is defined as the forceful act of consummation by the husband with his wife without her explicit approval,” she wrote.

But while her tweet didn't make clear her stance on the scene, her Instagram post was clearer as she capitalised the word 'explicit'. She also responded to several comments on Instagram.

Regarding her character's justification of the rape, Hocane said those were the sarcastic words of a traumatised woman. "It takes a lifetime for women to see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said, calling the drama their "humble attempt to give a resolution while being practical and not take the dramatic licence and turn the woman into a hero overnight."

She also addressed why her character is still in the abusive relationship and said “change doesn’t come overnight”. We have to show a practical resolution, most women live with this reality for their entire lives, we shall InshaAllah attempt to give a solution for that.”

Amongst many comments praising her acting, Hocane also received criticism from viewers who found Meherbano's silence disturbing.

"To deal with an issue first we have to portray how deep rooted the issue is, the false beliefs that make a woman stay with someone, the guilt, the lack of awareness and finally the recognition of strength within. We can't show a heroic woman as that would be too non practical a solution to be preached to the remotest areas of our country," she replied.

However, her response one comment in which a user expressed how uncomfortable and angry they were to watch the rape scene, was rather baffling.

The user said the multiple rape scenes had made them feel uncomfortable and that she was angry at Hocane's character for being so scared. In response, the actor replied with a "we understand". We aren't sure what they understand because they clearly don't seem to understand the need for trigger warnings. We hope they understand that there is no coming back from this for Murad and that he cannot be turned into a hero.

We aren't sure where the drama is headed but we can only hope it ends with Murad in jail for his crimes and Meherbano free of this situation but judging from the way Pakistani dramas usually go, we aren't going to get what we want.