“Log ladte hai Milne ke khaatir, par apni toh bated Jaane ki ladaai thi”
In the show, which goes live on ZEE5 from Saturday, Dia essays a young Pakistani mother who comes to India under a strange series of circumstances and is unable to go back home. The show revolves around the relationship between the woman, who is accused of militancy, and a journalist-turned-lawyer (Mohit Raina) who makes her justice his sole objective.
On her decision to play a Pakistani character, Dia said here: “This show is trying to address prejudices that we have in our society. When people ask me, ‘Weren’t you afraid of playing a Pakistani character in the show?’ I say that I feel that our show is trying to question that fear and we are trying to remove that fear from people’s minds.”
Kainaaz’s relationship with her husband Farouq Qureshi (Rahul Choudhary), with her rapist Mohammed Siddiqui (Umar Sharif), and Vedant are projected as starkly different and nuanced from each other. Dia’s abandon while performing emotional sequences of a woman clearly suffering from an acute case of deferred traumatic stress is commendable. The actress plays to her strengths of portraying the pleasant, sensible victim of border politics. Kainaaz’s voice shines bright in the narrative, that too in a manner that evokes empathy rather than pity.
Kaafir can undoubtedly be considered as one of the best performances in Dia Mirza’s career. From her body language to her expressions, everything just seems so natural and effortless in her embodiment of Kainaaz. Dia makes sure that the viewer feels the emotions and struggles of Kainaaz alongside her with her dialogue delivery.
Kaafir is an amazing series and if you haven’t yet watched it, you have to and we assure you, you won’t be disappointed.