Hum TV entertainment channel in Pakistan is renowned for breaking stereotypes, and immensely focuses on making dramas that must create awareness about the issues, which are considered taboos in our society. The drama ‘Sammi,’ in this context is a brilliant initiative that gives a thoughtful insight to the wicked custom of ‘Vani.’ This project is a joint venture of Hum TV with America’s John Hopkins University.
The drama Sammi is basically story of a girl (Sammi), who is shown fighting the evil mindset of male dominance and their practices, that are prevalent in most of the villages of our country. In that process, Sammi dares against the false traditions and customs since she has been marked as ‘Vani,’ as a compensation for a murder done by his brother. As a result, Sammi’s whole life is smashed, but her determination to survive is what this story is all about.
To understand Vani more, it is basically a Pashto word derived from “Vanay,” that stands for blood. It is form of a child marriage that is very common in rural areas of Pakistan. It in fact is a method of resolving disputes like Qatal (murder) and Zana (rape), between families and tribes. According to this tradition, the female who is the member of the criminal male’s family, is forcefully married or given to the victim’s family as a compensation to his crime. If the other family does not have any son then, the girl is married with an elder person usually head of that family. These judgments are often made by a Jirga (tribal council responsible for settling disputes).
The production team of this play deserve a huge round of applause for beautifully executing this drama. Saife Hassan we all know is a brilliant director, as he again and again proves his mettle by directing plays that especially are very tricky in terms of storyline. Noor-ul-Huda Shah is considered a benchmark name when it comes to drama writing, and you surely need someone like Saife Hassan to perfectly implement his script. To prove this, when Sammi is aired, it grabbed 4.5 ratings, the highest compared with 3.0 (ARY Digital), 1.2 (GEO Entertainment) and 0.4 (Urdu 1) on that specific day.
We also must not forget the superb cast of this play, who have done complete justice to the roles assigned to them. Mawra Hocane as Sammi, Adnan Siddiqui as Rashid, Irfan Khoosat as Riaz Jutt, Rehan Sheikh as Choudhary Rabnawaz, Sania Saeed as Chandni, Haris Waheed as Waqas Jutt and Saman Ansari as Salima, are treat to watch in this drama. Well done Hum TV!!!
Ahmed Raza is a frequent traveler and loves cricket. He has completed M. Phil in Mass Communication and works as Travel Editor for Kluchit.com
