The first episode of Barzakh ended with a young Jaffer Khanzada coming back to his village to find Mahtab had passed away, and he was taken towards her grave as well. The young man had waited for years to receive her response to the letters he had sent from the city yet her death was the only closure he got. It is presumed that he was never the same after Mahtab’s passing.
Spoilers Ahead
Did a young Saifullah feel he had sinned?
Barzakh episode 2 began with Saifullah, who, as a child, knew he was attracted to men, and he was seen peeking at male employees hired by his father. He was also a witness to his father mistreating his mother, and he was unable to come to terms with the fact that his parents never got along. His father was a rich businessman, and his mother was an educated woman herself, but their constant clashes only made their relationship worse, and it had a bad impact on him. Saifullah had a pet dove, which he took care of. On his father’s exit, he read the book left by him about the land of nowhere. Young Saifullah was influenced by what he read in the book and assumed the universe would know of his deep secret, and for it to unsee it, he would have to make sacrifices. A terrified Saifullah, afraid of what the universe had in store for him, killed his dove, and this became a recurring motif in his life ever since.
Did Saifullah take care of his mother?
The prologue also showcased that Saifullah was the only person taking care of his aging mother. He spent most of his time feeding her and looking after her health from a very young age. It was her that he was hallucinating as an angel. He had mentioned to his father that his mother was dying of loneliness, but he’d never bothered to attend her funeral. Saifullah’s mother eventually became like a vegetable by the end of her life. He was the only person by her side, and his father never turned up for them. As the story progressed, we believed Shehryar and Saifullah were stepbrothers, which could be the reason why they were distant. The next scene in the current timeline saw Saifullah waking up to a painting kept in his room by the painter in the lobby. The painting was of his hands killing the dove, and the man was in shock. How could a woman draw something out of his memory that he had not shared with anyone?
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Does the family go on the trek as planned?
Jaffer Khanzada, even in old age, was known to go on treks with Scheherazade and his other employees. This trek was just a trial run to the wedding of Jaffer and Mahtab during the lunar eclipse which would take place on the top of the mountain. Saifullah did not join them, but Shehryar and his son Haris had joined. Scheherazade was a believer, and Shehryar, who was a psychiatrist, was a skeptic about his father’s delusion. On the same trip, Jaffer and Shehryar had a falling out over the subject of first love. It was understood that Shehryar’s wife had also passed, and he had been through rough times. As a psychiatrist himself, he had struggled, and his father was being insensitive about the subject by bragging that his love for Mahtab would finally get a conclusion.
Does Saifullah enjoy Lorenzo’s company?
Saifullah was back home, enjoying his loneliness, when the chef, Lorenzo, asked him to join him on his trip around the town. Both began to converse about Jaffer and his plans to get married again. There was also the subject of love that came up from time to time between them. This friendship was established to indicate the fact that Saifullah was attracted to Lorenzo, and there was a possibility that the latter was feeling the same. Their attraction, which was brewing, could have been the reason both agreed to spend time conversing around the town. When they were in town, they learned of Daulat Khan’s daughter, who had disappeared, with the news spreading like wildfire in the town.
What was Dukhtaran-e-Posheeda?
It was during the later part of the trek that Jaffer, Scheherazade, and Niazi were discussing women disappearing from their village, and Daulat Khan’s daughter was the first one in many years. Dukhtaran-e-Posheeda could be loosely translated to lost daughters, referring to women who were mistreated by family members and then one day nowhere to be seen, and it was believed they were taken away to the other side of the world. It all began with Mahtab’s death, but so far, no one, including Jaffer, was aware of how she passed. However, this discussion fascinated Haris, but Shehryar was not keen on his father yapping about the meeting of two souls: one from the other side and the other from the mortal world.
Where did the red cloth lead Scheherazade?
As Scheherazade kept exploring the place, she noticed red roots taking over the stones around the hills. She also came across a red cloth, and it led her towards a peculiar spot where she noticed a cloud of red smoke. It felt like she was familiar with their color and the phenomenon she was witnessing. The red cloth that landed on her quickly flew away and turned into a red cloud as well.
What was Lumberdaar planning?
Lumberdaar was a local leader and the younger brother of Jaffer, who was gathering the support of the locals to fight against his older sibling and the plans he had for the land. He had spoken about the women being lured out of their homes and disappearing, and he hoped to bring them back. He and the villagers also did not believe in the myth that was being spread about the world perishing on the night of the lunar eclipse. Lumberdaar had gathered enough support and wanted to continue his protest against Jaffer for not respecting the villagers and their connection to the land he was planning to acquire.
Who was Wali?
Wali was a priest who was in contact with the other world and claimed to know the status of the daughters who had gotten lost over the years. He was also shown being in touch with Daulat Khan’s daughter. Wali claimed she was happy on the other side, while her father was pleading with him to let her know he would do anything to get her back to this side of the world. Wali was powerful, and only as the show progressed his characters would be able to convey more about the angels and the daughters who got lost. Barzakh so far has emphasized the fact that the women were constantly mistreated by men and other family members, and that could be the reason why they disappeared. The disappearance is another way to describe the women who being rescued from a bad situation. It also indicates the fact that family could be their worst enemy, as seen in Shehryar and Saifullah cases as well.
Did Saifullah and his father begin to bond?
On returning from the trek, Shehryar was quick to learn his father did have dementia. Jaffer had mixed up his son’ stories while sharing them with his grandson Haris. Saifullah was apologetic to his father, and they spent quality time together. Father and son bonded over Saifullah’s craze for a particular song. He was amazed that his father had remembered it and made it a point to bring it up many years later. This was probably the first step towards Saifullah and his father rebuilding their relationship. Lorenzo’s conversation may have changed Saifullah’s mind, and he was willing to look at his father from another perspective.
Why did Shehryar and his son Haris argue?
On the same night, Shehryar and Haris had a brief argument as the young boy was questioning his father’s sour relationship with Jaffer. Haris was a smart kid who could see things for what they were. Haris had heard his father constantly not accepting all the supernatural stuff Jaffer was talking about. Shehryar, being the skeptic, had to give his son a clear picture instead of letting the poor boy believe everything Jaffer was setting out about the transcendental love with the deceased Mahtab. The argument between Shehryar and Haris also led to the former slapping his son, and the matter escalated. The argument had become about Leena, Shehryar’s wife and Haris’s mother. They yelled at each other about missing her. This was the first time the subject of Leena had come up in the show, as there was no discussion on who she was or how she passed. It seems all the men in the family had no luck with long-lasting marriages, and Shehryar was the most deeply affected by the death of his spouse, but he refused to talk about it. He was the only man in the family who wasn’t suffering from any hallucinations, at least so far.
What was Saifullah feeling guilty for?
Saifullah finally confronted the memory he had of his mother, who was haunting him in the form of an angel. She’d followed him to the hotel, and he had begun to question everything around him on arrival. Saifullah’s memory of his mother clearly indicated that he smothered her to death using a pillow, a crime to which there was no witness. Saifullah had to kill her because he was the only witness to his mother being put through years of emotional abuse as she became a silent person in the household. Her mind and body were clearly in pain, and she might have been in deep depression after the way his father had unceremoniously left them.
Jaffer never bothered to look back, and it was only Saifullah who had the responsibility of making sure the mother stayed alive for his sake. Saifullah may have thought it was better to get rid of the emotional pain of his mother. Her almost numb state was a reminder of the fact that Jaffer was not a good husband or father. For someone who was speaking in favor of women who had disappeared due to harassment, Jaffer was a hypocrite who did not notice the turmoil he put his family through in his quest for a woman who had passed years ago. Saifullah, back in his bedroom at the hotel, remembered he had killed his mother and let out a loud wail. This was the sound of guilt, which would stay with him for the rest of his life. He wanted to blame his father for his mother’s sadness, but it was him who had ended her life, and it would be considered a crime if he confessed.
Barzakh episode 2 ended with Scheherazade informing some people about her heading to her village the next day. This was the first time the show revealed the dark circle on her forearm, which could be a tattoo. There were also several marks on her forearm above her tattoo, which could further indicate something about the phenomenon she witnessed that day in the morning. There were also two angels in the hotel who were consuming mangoes, which were symbolic fruit in “Barzakh” from the start. The painter too drew a painting of the red cloth turning into a red cloud at the mountain that day. A lot of secrets about the family and the rest of the hotel will be out in the open.
The show is currently streaming on YouTube and Zee5 Global.
