Of daughters and dragons

Just what makes a good villain? Is it their pathological obsession with wealth and power? Their delightfully delicious inner monologue? The supercilious side-eye when hatching a crafty plan? An undying devotion to committing evil, consequences be damned? A combination of all four?

The perfect villain

When it comes to villains – proper old-school, black-and-white villains standing firmly on the side of wrong – few can spit them out better than the Pakistani drama industry. Some of you may be sick to the back teeth of confused morally grey villains now haunting Netflix, Disney and Hollywood. These are-they-aren't-they villains start on the side of good and, due to forces beyond their control in their sad little lives, slide into the murky abyss of the ne'er do well.

A traditional villain, on the other hand – the kind employed by the likes of Shakespeare – starts out as a baddie and remains staunchly that way to the bitter end. Sometimes, that is all we want during these difficult times: characters we can freely hate. In this vein, just like Disney cannot leave the princess trope alone, the black-and-white saas-bahu trope will always have a place in Pakistani dramas. Without further ado, here is a closer look at two of our favourite baddies in 2024: one conniving daughter-in-law, and a (completely separate) dragon mother-in-law.

Rubab

Rubab from Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum has all the qualities of your classic villain. Wealthy, whiny, obsessive, and devious. Her own husband describes her as a 'conniving aurat'. Just how Rubab is never pushed down a well is a mystery. Rubab makes it clear from the start that her driving force is exercising unremitting control – be it over her gold-digger husband, her (very substantial) finances, or the husband's long-suffering former fiancée, Sharjeena. To that end, Rubab hatches a scheme to get her brother-in-law (and by de factor, poor Sharjeena) kicked out of their own house by dipping into the oldest trick in the book: planting her money in their room and then kicking up a fabulously hysterical fuss about it being 'stolen'. Even if the puppets in her world remained clueless about her evil plans, Rubab's posh outfits, casual free-wheeling between English and Urdu and ludicrous hairstyles are enough to put her firmly in the villain category where she belongs. Throw in her sycophantic sucking up to her mother-in-law, and it is difficult to endure her screen presence without bursting into flames.

Noor Jahan

Matriarch Noor Jahan from the aptly named Noor Jahan is the dictionary definition of domineering. She is a rallying symbol of one of the most feared creatures in the Pakistani cultural tapestry: a mother-in-law. To be more specific, a battle-axe mother-in-law with a penchant for tyranny. For anyone wanting to take notes about how to run a tight ship in a house infested with daughters-in-law, look no further than Noor Jahan. Not only does Noor Jahan know how to accumulate wives for her sons, but she also has a laser-focused ability to exercise her reign over them all. Via the medium of a fiery glare, a cocked eyebrow and a steely tone that leaves no room for argument, Noor Jahan exerts as much power as is humanly possible over her hapless sons and their equally hapless wives, ruining lives willy-nilly in the process. As Noor Jahan explains in the show's finale, she has her reasons for outward toxicity – namely, her own history with in-laws as a young daughter-in-law – but by this point, we don't really care. The damage has already been done. Her heart has already been corrupted. There is no pulling Noor Jahan back from the clutches of villainhood. She cannot be morphed into a heroine. We are free to hate her as much as we please, and for that, this Voldemort of mothers-in-law deserves a spot on this list.