The Rise and Fall of Murtasim Khan
Tere Bin - I have been saying that post E20 this show has stopped making sense, logic has gone out of the window, the character development has stopped, the relationship has not grown and my IQ has dropped to negative.
I have long stayed away from Indian soaps and Pakistani dramas which have had nonsensical tracks, toxic leads, misogyny and medieval plot lines. My only hook to Tere Bin was Wahaj Ali’s performance as Murtasim and him softening towards Meerab played by Yumna Zaidi. Of the 30 odd Pak dramas I have watched, I haven’t seen such sizzling chemistry amongst the leads.
Meerab was already the worst written female lead in all the dramas I have watched - Indian, Pakistani, Korean, Western. You can read my rant on her in my earlier posts on this blog.
I wasn’t first taken in by Murtasim Khan as a lead cause he showed the typical toxic traits that most sub continent dramas focus on - rich, arrogant, alpha male, controlling, egoistic and worst here with serious anger management issues. I’m sorry but using physical violence, even a slap is simply not acceptable.
But I’m willing to tolerate them, if they show a good development arc , redemption and acknowledgment of their misgivings, and IF the actor is stellar. Murtasim’s arc and Wahaj Ali’s performance excelled on both accounts. Until E46, Murtasim was the only person trying to make the forced marriage work, he accepted it and put his heart and soul to abide by it, his growth into softening as a person, falling in love, empathising with her plight, tolerating her arrogance and stupid antics (where she put his life in danger, not once but twice), trusting her no matter what (even though there was proof she helped his sister elope with his arch enemy), understanding her point of view, giving her benefit of the doubt, were all on display for us to fall in love with. Wahaj being ace at romance also added to us loving Murtasim.
Murtasim in Wahaj’s vision was in stark contrast to what Nooran had written. Wahaj said in an interview that Murtasim was logical and they tried every bit to make him less toxic.
All that the audience was holding their breath for, was for Meerab to realise her love for Murtasim and then see their journey together. Murtasim supporting her law career, Meerab helping him open up from his conservative mindset and together fixing their flaws , their marriage and grow as a couple. It’s not hard to write a positive arc for two hot headed, egoistic people who realise their mistakes and make amends. The audience will forgive the toxicity if they see positivity, growth and genuine repentance.
But Nooran the writer is the villain of this story - we have all established now that she is twisted in her head and seeks some kind of sadistic pleasure in making her female leads look bad; but derives even more pleasure in kicking the male lead from the cliff after elevating him to be one of the best male leads in dramas.
Male leads remained toxic and we never warmed up to them. Some got redemption arcs and we made some peace. Consent and agency were missing for the female leads and it frustrated us. Handful of shows started reflecting on showing strong female leads and we naturally lapped up those shows. But Tere Bin showed what no other drama did before - the biggest downfall of a male lead in television history.
The amount of toxicity that has been brought into Murtasim’s character in the last 12 episodes is beyond my imagination. How can a guy who kept harping about consent force his wife, that was clearly the original track because nothing makes sense post E47. If assuming they consummated in anger but with mutual consent , the separation makes no sense. Her pining for his love makes zero sense in both scenarios. Post the separation he is doubting that she ran away with her male college friend. The trust issues this lead couple has and their inability to have a single meaningful conversation in 58 episodes is totally baffling.
His need to find Meerab is not because he loves her, but because it’s matter of his family’s reputation. He is announcing to the whole world that she ran away with a man without any evidence. The worst straw for me is that he gives Haya a complete free pass. This is the same woman who has physically harmed his wife (even when it was a false pregnancy) and is obsessed with him to the extent she has left no stone unturned to destroy his and Meerab’s relationship. He is now willingly marrying her - there is no pressure from anyone to make him do so. For all the talks about Meerab will be my wife till end of my lifetime and I will live my life in memory of her love - his lifetime surely lasted a few months/years (honestly I’m confused what the timeline is now between Meerab leaving, giving birth and Murtasim getting married to Haya).
For a supposedly logical and non toxic character, this U Turn has impacted the fans like no other and rightly so. You cannot mislead an audience to love a character and dump garbage all over him. That’s not bad writing , that just pure evil sadism.
Kudos to Wahaj for pouring his heart and soul in Murtasim, but post E46 even his acting is reflective of the fact that he no longer believes in his character. The difference is evident.
Murtasim Khan was set to charm his way into every woman’s heart (and he did given how much popularity this show got and the discussions we have seen on TV and social media). This is full credit to Wahaj’s superior acting skills and on screen charm. But he ended up now as the worst villain in the history of television thanks to Nooran’s impeccable sadistic writing skills.
I will be eternally grateful for discovering Wahaj through Tere Bin, it was always a trash show and I didn’t have any expectations from it, but it was my guilty pleasure for Wahaj and Yumna’s fine onscreen chemistry. However, the fall of Murtasim Khan has been immensely jarring to watch and now Tere Bin has has done permanent , irreparable damage to the joy and pleasure it had brought viewers worldwide.
