Sinf-e-Aahan
Sinf-e-Aahan is a Pakistani television series co-produced by Next Level Entertainment and Six Sigma Plus in collaboration with ISPR. It is directed by Nadeem Baig and written by Umera Ahmad. The serial stars Sajal Aly, Kubra Khan, Yumna Zaidi, Ramsha Khan and Syra Yousuf.
Sinf-e-Aahan is the story of seven girls from different backgrounds whose lives change after joining the army. The serial aired weekly on Saturday on ARY Digital from 27 November 2021 to 7 May 2022. It was the ninth most searched in the category of 'Movies & TV' on Google in Pakistan, in 2022.
At the 22nd Lux Style Awards, it received six nominations and won two awards: Best Emerging Talent in TV for Dananeer Mobeen and Best Ensemble Play.
Plot
Six girls from different backgrounds and walks of life abandon routine female duties to achieve something greater than themselves and the expectations of their families by responding to their country's call to duty. Though all are extremely competent both academically and socially, they find that there is more to life than what the world thinks of women to be. Taking it upon themselves to go through all the trials and tribulations that constitute the forging of an army officer, we see how they are transformed from soft rose-petal-like shy timid girls to Women of Steel Sinf-e-Aahan as the name suggests by going through the same rigours and furnaces as their male counterparts in order to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men in the service of their nation.Episodes 1 - 5
The story begins as we see the main characters enter the stage. Arzoo Daniel is a Catholic girl from Youhana Bagh neighbourhood of Lahore who lives with her parents, two sisters and brother in a relatively hostile area where girls are jeered upon and ridiculed. They live on rent in a house owned by Naurez's family. Naurez and Arzoo like each other. Second, Mahjabeen Mastaan – an Overseas Pakistani businessman's aristocratic minded daughter who has nothing but fashion on her mind, but idolizes the great women of Pakistan who have made their mark in the country's history – especially Lt. Gen. Nigar Johar. She has a very strained relationship with her parents and spends most of her time out with friends. She is very close to one of her cousins Kumail and the latter sees her as a possible life partner. Third, Pariwesh Jamal, the daughter of a labouring farmer under the yoke of the local landlord who has kept her father's land on mortgage against a loan with which Jamal has educated his daughter to Masters Level. Fourth, Rabia Safeer, an upper middle class pampered girl who aspires to do something else with her life apart from baking and entertaining guests, some of whom come for her hand in marriage, Fifth, Shaista Khanzada a Pakhtoon from Waziristan who is an artist. She joins the army to run away from home, but her fiancé cousin, Kaamil who has a soft corner for her, is always protective of her. Sixth, Syeda Sidra Batool, the comic member of the group who seemingly joins the Army to ‘Have a Good Time.’ The first 5 episodes open the canvas to show how each of these girls break the chains of normal ‘girl life’ and go through the rigours of the Pakistan Armed Forces selection process and meet first time at their nearest Inter-Services Selection Board Testing Centre. At their selection, each is overjoyed to run away from home. At the ISSB selection centre, as these girls spend close to 5 days under close evaluation for their physical, mental and psychological skills, each of them disclose their strengths and weaknesses in the personality interview. At the end of the 5 days at the ISSB selection centre, our six main characters receive their appointment letters and, due to them all being post grads in their respective field of study, they are inducted directly at the rank of Captain.As each of these six girls arrive at Pakistan Military Academy, they say goodbye to their parents and family members. Jamal comes to drop Pariwesh but is afraid of his daughter's future, as his landlord's son Subuk is also at PMA and Subuk may be a hindrance to Pariwesh's career. To settle this, the Commandant consoles Jamal and meets the landlord to congratulate him on giving permission for Pariwesh to join Pakistan Army. This increases the respect the landlord has in his heart for Jamal and Pariwesh.
As the story now moves for the first time to Kandy, Sri Lanka, we see our 7th main character, Nathmy Pereira as she comes home from Lankan Military Academy with a ‘letter of attachment’ with Pakistan Military Academy. Nathmy's mother is overjoyed at this news that her daughter is going to follow in her father's footsteps by going for training with PMA. As Nathmy thinks of her possible future there, her mother removes from her closet a much treasured memory of Nathmy's father's days at PMA with a photograph of Nathmy's father, Lankan Army Officer Tehaan Pereira and his platoon mates with Mujahid Saleem. Her mother also hands over an item of Mujahid Saleem's personal possession which needs to be returned to him. During this time, Nathmy has been polishing her command over the Urdu language so as to feel comfortable during her time in her second home.
Episodes 6 - 10
The beginning of Episode 6 continues in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where Nathmy Pereira who is selected for attachment to Pakistan Military Academy, an institution which is in no way alien to her, to her father and to the Republic of Sri Lanka from where cadets have been inducted for several years into PMA is preparing to leave for Pakistan. We are told that Nathmy's father trained at PMA. We see Nathmy prepare for her departure to PMA, as do all the other six girls. We also get to know that Nathmy's father, Tehaan Pereira had a dear friend from his days at PMA and who served with him during the Sri Lankan Army's joint coalition with Pak Army against the LTTE during 2008-2009 Terrorist Attacks, in which Nathmy's father was martyred.Our attention turns to a new cast member who joins to head the battalion command of the ladies wing at PMA - SSG Commando, Major Usama, and his wife, Kiran and their daughter. As Nathmy arrives in Pakistan, she receives a warm welcome by the representatives of Pak Army who are to escort her from Islamabad International Airport to PMA Kakul, Abbottabad. All Lady Cadets arrive at PMA and are heartily welcomed at the inaugural gala dinner where Nathmy meets a young Gentleman Cadet Shehryar, who relates his family link to the Sri Lankan culture and Sri Lankan Army via his father While all other lady Cadets marvel at the facilities, Mahjabeen is not amused. The mere thought of being tied down by rules immediately ignites an inner hostility against PMA's system, and she vows to run away the moment any pressure of compliance is placed upon her. Suddenly Mahjabeen sees Rabia's brother who was once her love interest, but chooses to ignore him. When the lady Cadets enter the company lines, their luggage is checked and all useless stuff is instructed to be sent back home. This meant that all flashy lady-like makeup / dresses / paraphernalia brought by Mahjabeen and spiritual items like amulets, rosaries, and talismans and the like brought by others were all impermissible.
The girls’ first company 'fall-in' left a lot to be desired and it was clear that this LCs batch would require the equivalent of a mountain to be climbed. For issues ranging from attitude, agility, stamina, mental tuning, motivation and overall military bearing, they had a long road ahead of them. It was clear that the next six months for them would be nothing short of ‘hell on earth’. The LC's ‘iron tough’ platoon commander Maj. Samia is seen in her private life as a tender mother of an ailing son, thus revealing the other side of her personality. The girls console each other as they are all home-sick and even wipe each other's tears. As Maj. Usama takes command of the LCs unit, he remembers his own days at PMA with his best friend Capt. Taimur.
At the early morning PT drill and 'fall-in', the girls are introduced to a literal meaning and paraphrase of each couplet in the Pakistan National Anthem to make their sense of commitment to their country even stronger. We are made to witness the beginning of the many rigours that these ‘rose petal- like’ flimsy girls would require in order to turn them into ‘Women of Steel’. At the end of each tough day they take turns in massaging one other's bruises and blisters. We are shown some of the mischief that the girls get up to – being girls. Major Usama watches the girls going through their drills and as they grunt, whimper and moan during which his mind wanders back to his own days along with Taimur. We see Usama's wife's own flashbacks of her first marriage with Usama's best friend Taimur. Pariwesh's father Jamal gets into trouble as his landlord finds out that without his permission, Jamal sent his daughter to enrol in the Pakistan Military Academy, but then the landlord, is internally glad at Jamal's desire for progress. At the end of the first week each LC writes a letter home which their department will dispatch.
Episodes 11 – 15
As each of the LCs write to their parents and family members, we – the viewers get a good insight to how good or otherwise their communication is with their families. For example, Mahjabeen who perhaps was writing to her parents for the first time, made not only her parents cry but also the viewers about how life - as she knew it - has turned on its head as she learned for the first time perhaps – what it means to be a complete Pakistani with purpose in life. By now the rest of the platoon have been able to understand that there is a strong sense of bad blood between Rabia and Mahjabeen, and they all in their own way try to ease the tension between the two. Meanwhile, Kiran's friend discusses with her husband possible reasons for the change in Kiran's manner after the death of her first husband Taimur. Shaista Khanzada, the second LC, writes to her grandma about her experiences and how she has become the disciplined young woman her grandma and parents wanted her to be. As the girls platoon change roommates, Nathmy moves in with Rabia who figures out that Nathmy can not only understand Urdu but can speak Urdu to considerable proficiency. The other LCs now are at ease in communicating with Nathmy in Urdu. As Rabia writes home to her brother, she shares the fact that no matter how strong she ever becomes after being trained by PMA, she will always remain his baby sister who is afraid of mice, and gets upset about the fact that the ladies may only get to serve Pak Army in support services – not in the front line combat zones or on the battlefield.As Usama watches the LCs during their drill again, and he thinks back to all the goof-ups he and Taimur used to be involved in, and that he too found the training at PMA unbearable at times. When we see Pariwesh writing home, she mentions more of her aspirations once she becomes a full-fledged soldier, the fact that she will send her salary home to pay off the mortgage on her father's land instead of using it. She tells her father that all the lessons of rifle shooting and marksmanship which she learnt as a child are now coming in handy. As the LCs are at the shooting range, Nathmy holding her rifle thinks back to when her father returned from PMA and taught her how to fire a pistol. Her present ability to wield a weapon and use it made her think back to when her father lay mortally wounded, shouting for her to hand over the pistol – but she stood there frozen, and watched him being shot to death as he lay on the ground and also that he would have indeed marvelled at her abilities and achievement.
Usama notices Kiran melancholy and in grief, but Kiran refuses to share the pain of Taimur's death and to discuss anything with him in that regard. In sympathy, all Usama can do is wait till she is ready to open up to him. Yet Kiran takes pride in watching Usama become the father to her daughter that she always wanted Taimur to be. The LCs get ready for a speech competition and Pariwesh is petrified, but Mahjabeen helps her to prepare. Arzoo writes home to tell her family that now she is old enough to uphold the household financial responsibilities. She has now found her life's objective: to not marry her landlord's son, Naurez.
The LCs go for their first assessment – the marching and saluting test. All LCs pass the test except Mahjabeen. All successful LCs are permitted to go home for the mid-term break after the assessment. Rabia asks the platoon commander for permission to take LC Nathmy home with her to Islamabad during the mid-term break. As Nathmy is an overseas cadet, prior approval is required from the Sri Lankan embassy, after which Nathmy is allowed to exit the grounds of PMA. Gladly, the Sri Lankan Embassy agree to allow Nathmy to leave the PMA grounds during vacations. Mahjabeen is heartbroken at her failure to perform and is determined to pass in the next attempt. As Pariwesh goes home, she and Jamal see the landlord awaiting his son, only to find out that GC Subuk has failed his marching and saluting test. Pariwesh request the landlord to return her father's land if she pays the mortgage from her salary. The landlord says nothing but is surprised at Pariwesh's sense of dignity and integrity, which he really admires. Shaista is picked up by her cousin and fiancé Kaamil to whom she requests to release her from her engagement commitment in return for the love he has for her, so that she can concentrate wholeheartedly on her Army career.
Arzoo beats up a bunch of hooligans in her neighbourhood showing that she doesn't tolerate crap from anyone. Nathmy is warmly welcomed at Rabia's house and she has a good time. Arzoo shows Naurez that she has better commitments with life than a marriage with him and tries to break off all links. As Usama, Kiran and their daughter go for a walk, she thinks about Taimur and how she wanted to be the wife of a commando to live in the most posh of Army neighbourhoods. Little did she know that her wish would one day come true after marrying Major Usama. Rabia and Nathmy go shopping and she bumps into her ex fiancé, Captain Nasar, who Nathmy beats up thinking he is a street mugger. Mahjabeen passes her marching and saluting test and goes home. When her car breaks down she shows her folks she can fix a car too. Naurez comes to Arzoo's house to attempt a patch up but she breaks up any remaining links by asking him to leave. Mahjabeen's friend Kumail also notes the change in her and is happy. Taimur's mother comes to visit Usama and Kiran and she treats Usama as if he was her own son. Kiran shares her grief with her ex-mother-in-law and the old woman in her wisdom tells her that she is the widow of one national hero and the wife of another. She should shed no tears or else no soldier will ever muster the courage to lay down his life for his country. Nathmy explores the Northern Areas of Pakistan towards Gilgit, Gilgit-Baltistan. As it is time for the LCs to go back to PMA, they all get ready to say goodbye to their families and loved-ones. While coming to say ‘goodbye’ to Mahjabeen, Captain Nasar confronts Mahjabeen for lying to him about Rabia that she is a ‘Bi-polar disordered patient’ thereby breaking up their engagement.