mullah/musician dichotomy in Bōl

Bōl is a performance of contrasts and parallels. It is able to articulate itself better by showing two extreme versions of the same problem. In that sense, I would critique it to be perhaps a bit too polarized. In particular I find the two dominant male characters, Hakim Sāhib and Mustafa to be in direction competition with each other. The third important male character, Ishāq Chaudhry, seems to belong outside the mainstream national narrative and thus is not as good a foil to the character of Hakim Sāhib as Mustafa is. While the Hakim practices a traditional form of medical practice, Mustafa is an aspiring doctor. It is interesting how their professions are the same, yet are on either end of the spectrum. Mustafa is ethnically a Punjabi and religion-wise, a Shia Muslim. The Hakim is a Muhajir, ahl-e-sunnat, who takes great pride in being a Sayyed.  Their worlds are so far apart that the two never feature in the same scene together- such is the distance between the two. Hakim Sahib exists in the past “Delhi mai hamaray ghar ke bahar haathi howa kartay thay”, while Mustafa is fashionable and modern (ref: plays guitar, gifts the girls a cellphone so that they can hear music).Mustafa is everybody’s savior- providing Saifi with a job (the unfortunate outcome he could not have foreseen), marrying Ayesha and showering her family with gifts and so on. Hakim Sahib is the veritable bête noire, detested by all.

What strikes me about the portrayal of these two characters is that the fate of their female relatives is so inextricably tied to their actions and decisions. Both in terms of happiness and grief, these characters are like fulcrums around which the plot moves. The implicit patriarchy becomes difficult to ignore. Is this an accurate representation or problematic screenplay?