We all commit mistakes or take wrong decisions in our lives at one point or the other, sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly. We don’t regret our mistakes until it is too late. Before making a mistake, we never think of the consequences. We are oblivious of the damage caused to others by our silly mistakes or wrong decisions, or maybe we just don’t care. Perhaps, we are hypnotized by the wishful thinking that life is long and will give us a chance to make amends whenever we wish to. But unfortunately that’s not how just life is. Alas and alack! Death can be just moments away disallowing you to beg for forgiveness for your mistakes, errors and decisions. Two back-to-back heart-attacks of the two important characters drive home point, setting the tone and temperament of Pakistan’s powerful drama ‘Diyar-e-dil’.
‘Diyar-e-dil’, a powerful story written by Farhta Ishtiaq, takes its audience through a bumpy journey of highs and lows which is mired with patches of happiness & sadness, love and betrayal, satisfaction & sacrifice.
Undoubtedly, the drama does begin with a clichéd start of an egoistic father disowning his disobedient elder son and throwing him out of his ancestral house. The son, on his part, walks away adamantly without looking a backward glance. Quite obvious, the reunion of the family— of the father with his elder son— is at the heart of the story, but how artistically it has been executed is something not only something to watch but also to take lessons from. Yes, there are some patches, some episodes when you lose interest but the new unexpected twists from the blue leaves you dumbfounded.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this drama comes as a breath of fresh air at a time when soap operas focus on soppy love stories, saas-bahu bickering. Of course there is a love story, but the male bonding in the family is the main highlight of the drama. The male-bonding just touches your heart. The reunion which takes place after 20 years or so happens at the cost of the two important lives, when the father loses both his sons, he does feel guilty but to no avail.
The death of the elder son due to a heart-attack just after having a minor brawl with his wife leaves not only his family shell-shocked, but even the audience feel the pain as it is a grim reminder of death being at the door with its mouth wide open.
How the reunion takes will be left for the viewers to watch, but what message the drama send is that one should always be the first one to push his or her ego to the wall mend the broken pieces of relation. The other key message is that asking for forgiveness can always heal the wounds, no matter how deep they are. Of course, those are the hard things to do, but its fruit is always cherishing and revered.
The drama focuses on the values of a close-knit families which in this purportedly ‘fast-world’ we seem to have lost. It shows the beauty and importance of a family, their love, care and affection for each other.
‘Diyar-e-Dil’ comes close to the real life and reaffirms the old aphorism ‘blood is thicker than water’ sending a strong message that family bonds are sacrosanct that cannot be broken by any major or minor hiccups. Lastly, it also offers a method for reconciliation, that is, we should ‘let bygones be bygones.’