The Married Woman: Why We Love Peeplika, A Woman Way Ahead Of Her Time

ZEE5’s The Married Woman has created quite a ripple among the audience. While they’re loving the concept of the show, many are seen discussing particular characters and how they made them feel. While the story of The Married Woman mainly focuses on Astha and her journey to find her true self, simultaneously, Peeplika is also seen evolving as a person. Set in the 1990s, both Astha and Peeplika had to face a lot of restrictions. The difference between them was that, while Astha conformed to these societal rules, Peeplika rebelled against them.

Check out their unconventional love story here:

While girls like Peeplika who are free-spirited and highly opinionated, might not be a new thing these days, it was not the same back in the ’90s. And we feel that Peeplika surely had some interesting traits that were way ahead of her time.

Also Read: The Married Woman: Follow Peeplika’s Journey As She Discovered Hex Sexuality and Determination To Fight Patriarchy

Smoked As A Woman In The ’90s

A woman who is seen smoking even today is frowned upon in certain sections of society and Peeplika was bold enough to smoke back then when women weren’t supposed to be doing all that. But Peeplika was never a conformist, she always liked to challenge the societal norms and thus didn’t consider smoking to be something women can’t or shouldn’t do. In fact, she also drove her own car, whereas we saw Astha being chaperoned by her husband.

Painted Women’s Bodies As Art

Just when Peeplika hit puberty, she started getting attracted to art. When other girls were discovering makeup, Peeplika made idols of women in the mud. While even the teachers stopped her from doing that, Peeplika didn’t give up on her passion and continued painting women’s body as her form of art.

Rebelled Against Her Family For Love

The free-spirited Peeplika found love in a Muslim guy Aijaz, who never judged her but just loved her and accepted her for the way she is. Peeplika belonged to a wealthy family and when she told her Mom about Aijaz, the news wasn’t very well received. In an era where love marriages weren’t a thing, Peeplika rebelled against the objections of her family and married the love of her life.

Was Open About Being Pansexual

Peeplika never shied away from her sexuality. Even when being in a same-sex relationship was a crime in the ’90s, Peeplika loved freely, with all her heart. As she expressed in a conversation with Astha, she loves the soul and not the gender. Hence, despite facing objections from her family and society, she still continued to live her life as she wanted.

Dreamt Of Working In A Foreign Country

In the 1990s women were expected to stay at home, take care of their family and just remain stuck in their houses like cattle. In an area like that, Peeplika Khan dreamt of going to a foreign country to study and work. In fact, she wanted to pursue art, which even today is considered a non-conventional career.

Helped A Hindu-Muslim Couple Get Married

During an age and time where even inter-caste marriages weren’t allowed, Peeplika powered her way through everyone’s objections and got an inter-religious couple married. That too, when a communal war was brewing in the background.

Bashed A Man For Hitting His Daughter

Peeplika is a fearless woman and that is evident from this scene. She not only travels all the way to a relief camp to help the downtrodden with food and necessities but when she notices that a man was hitting his daughter, Peeplika immediately rushes to her rescue and bashes the man like a boss.

All these traits definitely prove that Peeplika isn’t just a character that was ahead of her times, she’s also someone who should be an inspiration for many women out there, who aren’t living their lives because of societal fear.

Catch her as she #BreaksTheBarriers on The Married Woman on ZEE5.