Actress Sania Saeed urges not to place burden of preserving family on women
In Pakistan, actress Sania Saeed said that responsibility for keeping a family together should not fall entirely on women, as this may come at the cost of their dignity, self-respect and sense of self-worth. She said this on the Heart to Haute podcast with Hassan Chaudhary, Dawn reports.
The role of a toxic mother-in-law
Saeed discussed her role in the HUM TV drama Aap Ki Izzat, where she plays the mother of Tabish, a character portrayed by Ahsan Khan. In the story, her character does not stop her son's neglect and mistreatment of his wife Beena, played by Urwa Hocane, but enables this behavior.
The actress said that she initially declined to take part in the drama because the work seemed too extensive to her. She later agreed at the insistence of director Saife Hassan, whom she considered a person capable of working with such a story. Saeed noted that complex characters require considerable internal effort and can exhaust actors during filming.
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Beena's story
According to Saeed, her character acts cruelly and manipulatively because of her own helplessness: this gives her a certain sense of power within a patriarchal family structure. At the same time, Beena is no less, and perhaps even more, helpless. This situation, the actress said, ultimately pushes the heroine to run away from home with another man.
Saeed said that Beena should not be judged for this decision. She believes that the heroine could have left Tabish much earlier if she had education, skills and time for herself. The actress stressed that parents should give their daughters education, skills and self-confidence, allow them to speak up and listen to them.
Answering a question about whether Beena should return to her husband, Saeed replied negatively. She noted that women who speak about unhappiness in marriage, a lack of respect and dignity are often not taken seriously until violence takes extreme forms. In her view, Tabish and Beena could be together only if they worked persistently and built a new relationship on new foundations.
