Once there was a King 16 May 2022: Dilshad is left alone, is super tensed at the realisation of where she is staying, as the memories come haunting back. she says that there’s no sign of those memories anywhere and hence it isnt her house anymore, but the place where sanam works.
Dilshad resolves to never tell sanam about the murder of her parents’ here. she is oblivious to tanveer’s photo behind her. haya comes upto her and dilshad assures her that despite the crying, she is okay and is waiting for sanam to come with water.
As sanam is getting water, the lights go off. In the darkness of the night, while sanam lights up a candle, she is face to face with tanveer. sanam, is surprised while tanveer is frustrated. tanveer asks her who is she, and approaches close
to her. Sanam realises that she is blind, when she starts talking to herself, that she felt as if she heard someone. She turns the candle in front of her eyes, and notices no pupil movement, which shocks her as she gets to know this truth about tanveer. As tanveer begins to turn around, sanam calls out to her, saying that she’s here. tanveer says that her voice seems familiar, and feels like she has heard this voice after a long time. She recognises sanam as the new cook, talking to ahil some time back. sanam asks how she knew. tanv eer says that she may not see, but can hear very nicely, and asks about her meeting with badi ammi. sanam tells about her health and then says that she called them here.
Meanwhile, rehaan comes and asks if she needs anything else. tanveer refuses and tells him about sanam’s health and offers to go and see her. sanam says that it isnt needed. tanveer says that she is a part of this house, as long as she’s here, as she feels that she is related to her from a long time. She tells rehaan to go and see that she and her relatives are properly taken care of. sanam is overwhelmed with gratitude, as she turns around to and begins to go. she is about to step in the pool, and both of them are shocked. tanveer says that she knows every inch and corner of this house, as they have a depp connection. She asks them both to go. They comply.
Rehaan and sanam come to dilshad. The lights come back too. Dilshad is overwhlemed with rehaan taking care of her, and offering to take her home, as begum sahiba has told to takle care of them. Rehaan says that he would have done this to someone who was his own too. Dilshas tells that she is very happy to see such a mannered guy. Meanwhile, tanveer, taking a stroll in the lobby, overhears and thinks that she recognises this voice as if they have a deep connection. Sanam talks to hay and they all go out, hearing whom tanveer is frustrated, while dilshad oblivious that she is right behind her. Dilshad turns around to greet sanam, and hence is unable to see tanveer. they bid each other goodbye.
While the party draws to an end, ahil too suggests that they should now retire for the night. tanveer however says that they shouldnt as there hasnt been any celebrations yet and no drama and festivities yet. She says that the function is incomplete without songs and dance. Latif offers to sing, but tanveer tells her not to, and insists sanam to sing. she refuses but then complies. As she begiings, latif gets everyone to dance, while shazia accompanies her on the guitar. Sanam sings a song, while ahil listens instently, and others enjoy. After the celebrations are over, tanveer bids everyone goodbye with her return gift. tanveer asks for sanam for ahil, asking if she wont take her gift. ahil is frustrated and says that she’s busy working. When she insists, he reminds her that its a servant. Tanveer tells him that he didnt have a problem with latif getting a gift. Ahil is left speechless. He takes her to her room, while sanam is angry.
In the room, ahil is taking super care of tanveer. Tanveer tells ahil that he doesnt know where she has spent all these years. Ahil says that he knows he cant reverse the time that has gone by, but he can afford to give her the happiness and peace, that she deserves. she is overwhelmed with his care, while he reciprocates saying that she sacrificed everything for him, and even his life wont be sufficient to repay it back. tanveer says that she thanks the lord for having been given a son like him. She kisses his forehead and he asks her to lie down. he excuses himself, while she asks if he’s going outside. He is surprised that she knows it. She says that she knows that the friend is a girl, who wants to meet him in a disco. Ahil is flustered, while she says that she just wants that marriage being in the house, and he being the elder should participate. He says that if she refuses then he wont go. she says that she isnt refusing and wants him to live life his own way. He leaves, while tanveer is still tensed.
Location: Munisa’s residence
Dilshad narrates out her heart to haya, knowing how concerned she is for sanam, and how she had thought tht she wont tell sanam anything about that haveli. munisa comes in holding her neck pretending to have a terrible ache and asks her to prepare food. haya is shocked while dilshad agrees. She offers to go instead of dilshad, but munisa takes her for a different work. Dilshad is tensed while haya leaves.
The next morning, while haya is working in the drawing are, munisa’s husband comes and finds her alone and begins to approach her with two beautiful bracelets. He sneaks in behind her, anmd while she gets scared, he shows her the bangles that he got for her, but haya jerks off her hand. He forcibly takes haya’s hand and tries to make her wear it. just then, rahat comes and he snaps his hand away. He makes an excuse that he was asking haya if she needed any stuff. He leaves in a haste, while rahat too leaves for his room. Haya stands distraught.
Later, while rahat is playing the mouth organ, he hears a knock on the door, and finding that its haya with te, he tells her to buzz off as he doesnt want tea. but qwhen she doesnt hear, and continues to knock, he comes and reprimands her for being an idiot and not understand anything when told to her. He slams the door shut on her face, while she stands mute. While he is composing poems, he hears a noise of tghe electric circuit going off, and notices a spark right around the place where haya is working obliviously. he runs and gets haya away, while she is shocked. then he douses the fire that ensues in the circuit.
Rahat gets angry and turns around to reprimand haya for being so careless about her life and her family, as people go but their memories remain. he again asks her if she’s deaf and dumb, as she doesnt respond. Finally dilshad comes and says that she cant listen or speak. following his gaze, she finds dilshad standing behind her. She hugs dilshad, while she apologises for haya’s behalf, if she did anything wrong unintentionally.
rahat asks how did she understand what he said. dilshad says that haya is helpless, but not that much even. Dilshad tells that god may have not given her speecha nd hearing, but she knows to comprehend signals and knows lip reading too. rahat leaves tensed, while haya hugs dilshad, as she composes haya. In his room, rahat is super angry at himself for having reprimanded haya on so many occassions, without knowing about her. He goes to apologise but then wonders how to, as what can he possible say to her. He stops himself.
Scene 2:
Location: Ahil’s residence
Sanam is all galore praises for Begum and tauns ahil, but latif comes in saying that things arent always as they seem to be. Sanam says that dilshad also says this but in this case they both are wrong. Latif still sticks to what she maintains. Sanam asks if she implies that begum isnt good. latif says that she was talking about ahil. They get into a verbal arguement about how ahil is good and how latif is wrong about ahil. Sanam says that she hopes that she gets a lot of money so that she can throw it on ahil’s face and get away with his slavery. Latif says that in real life, the god is never that giving. sanam says that the lord shall have to be favourable to her, and help her find anwar, so that she can get a hold of her money. she is determined.
The next morning, while sanam is working in the kitchen, tanveer comes and identifies her saying that she recognised her from her singing. She says that she feels that she knows her from a long time. Tanveer says that singing is hereditary, and that definitely one of her parents would be into singing. She asks about sanam’s father. Before she reveals too much, azhar’s mother comes into distract her by giving her the gift that she had wanted for sanam.
Sanam raises questions about ahil, but tanveer assures her that ahil maybe bad in words, but has a golden heart. Sanam opens it to find a beautiful saree, seeing which azhar’s mother is surprised too. Sanam thanks her profusely, and requests to go and see how it looks on her. Azhar’s mother tries to banter, while tanveer asks if she got info on sanam. She tries to make an excuse, while tanveer says that they have to find everything about her, as she isnt ordinary, and there’s something about her, which irks her, and asks her to go and find it. As she leaves, tanveer is still tensed.
As sanam is walking in the lobby, she hears a noise coming from the door thats locked from outside, and where she has been forbidden to go to. Sanam thinks that if the door is locked from outside, then how can there be a noise from the inside. She peeps in through the keyhole and is shocked at what she finds. Later, sanam tries one by one all the keys in the bunch, wondering how can someone be locked inside like this, and then is surprised when finally one of the keys opens the lock. She is about to enter inside, when she is stopped by latif, who eyes her reprimandingly.
In tanveer’s room, while azhar’s parents are bantering, assuring tanveer that everything is okay here, tanveer asks about a special room. Azhar’s parents assure her completely, that the room is completely safe and forbidden from everyone else’s reach. they are oblivious that sanam is in fact going through it right now. tanveer says that she knows its inhumane to keep someone in such a cage, but all this she is doing for ahil, as its in his and the family’s benefit only. She says that she very well knows the boredom and torture of being in jail, and she knows this is inhuman, torturous and a sin but for the benefit of this family, she accepts to committing this sin. The screen freezes on her tensed face.
