Zee World’s The Heir: Where A Mother Is Forced To Raise Her Girl Child As A Boy

The insane and archaic discrimination against women’s freedom, equality and the protection of women’s rights takes center stage in Zee World’s new series The Heir, which replaces Twist of Fate on Sunday, June 9.

The show’s Hindi title is Waaris, which means Heir.

The Heir is described as a social thriller and tells the story of Amba Pawaniya (played by Aarti Singh) whose daughter Manpreet lives her life on the brink of death because she’s a girl.

The Heir tells about the story of Amba Pawaniya, a Punjabi mother who is forced to raise her girl child, Manpreet Pawaniya, as a boy, in an effort to maintain peace in the village and prevent her violent brother-in-law Jaggan Pawaniya (Akshay Dogra) from taking leadership.

It shows that horrible gender discrimination is still popular in society, along with every mother’s protective nature towards her child.  Amba will go to any lengths in order to protect her daughter.

Synopsis

Amba is a pregnant widow to the former chieftain, Charan – a benevolent leader. He loses his life in a battle with an opposing clan and Jagan, his brother, takes over from him as the chief but their styles of leadership are very different.

Amba vows that she is pregnant with a son who will take over the chieftainship. Her family hopes that this time, she will give birth to the heir; a boy who will carry on ruling after his father.

While fighting to keep her husband’s legacy, Amba goes into labour. It is announced to the village that she has given birth to a boy.

The family matriarch promises to kill the child if it turns out to be a girl. Faced with two insurmountable threats, Amba, after giving birth to a girl, lies about the gender of her child.

She announces that she has given birth to a boy. Lying about a child’s gender is one thing, the challenge of keeping this lie up on a daily basis is quite another.

She is faced with her mother-in-law’s impatience, her brother-in-law’s threats and her daughter’s frustration at having to grow up as a boy.

Jagan is convinced that Amba’s brother is helping her to deceive the family. Mannu ( Amba’s daughter) is presented to the village as the new head. Jagan and Raavi take extreme measures to get rid of Mannu. Jagan disagrees with the way Amba leads the village, her thoughtful ways do not match up to his sinister expectations.

Seven years have gone by and Mannu has grown up to live as a 7-year-old boy and it seems that Raavi and Jagan haven’t given up on their plans to get rid of her. Mannu tries to compel Amba into sending her to school, but this could lead to their secret being exposed. Amba stands before the village council to plead for her daughter to have access to further education. Jagan tries to get Mannu kidnapped.

After a close call, Amba has to remind Mannu that she cannot go to the school bathroom, for fear that she will be discovered for being a girl. Deena challenges Amba and whoever wins the challenge gets full control of Mannu.

The concept of girls and women dressing as boys and men to protect themselves and their families is a cultural practice in Afghanistan known as Bacha posh.

Amba must raise her girl as a boy in order to keep her reign. But for how long can she keep up the charade? Find out as the series premieres on Sunday, June 9 at 20h00.