Hi Gaurav. I'm here to write down my pick of the scenes but i wanted a little leeway.... i want to do this over two days.... i saw some 12 episodes today and have to head back to corrections... so will just post reactions based on these 12, catch up with the others and then write another post for them over the weekend. Ordinarily, i would have written from memory but as i saw these episodes again today, i realised that there were scenes that i had originally liked but was less impressed with this time round and scenes that i had not noticed earlier but liked more this time round. So i want to watch the rest of the episodes again before i write about them.
Also, Teena, Muneeza and Maria have done an excellent job of choosing and analysing... i agree with almost everything they've said and have tried to avoid repetiton as far as possible... ie not picked some scenes not because i liked them less but because i think they've been very well dealt with.
I'm going to start with the emotional category first.. i like that scene a lot where you say 'Maut ka saamna aadmi ko akele karna padta hai'.... for one, the line was very good... because it was simple, it had the power to hit harder.... and you said it very normally... in the same pitch and tone as you'd said two lines before it 'mujhe mere paapon ki sazaa mil rahi hai aur milni chahiye thi'.... in both these lines, the similarity of the pitch indicated a certain kind of inevitability.... this had to happen and is now happening... and in the middle of these two lines, you said 'magar yeh sazaa mein akele katoonga' and there was a slight difference....a very slight raising of voice, no pronounced or noticeable change.... but in that slight increase of volume was the arrogance of Samay... and that made the return to the slightly lower volume of 'maut ka saamna akele' all the more effective... i had not noticed this earlier.... but when i noticed it today, it made the scene very effective for me.... especially since your expression in the entire scene was very everyday, normal kind of expression... not trying to overtly express despair.... which is good, since the scene actually becomes more powerful by this... the sense of resignation taking over becomes almost palpable because you are not overtly expressive.... and the weariness suggested by your body langauge becomes overt when you lean against the door after she leaves.... unlike other emotional scenes, where there may be more or better dialogues or you have to be more overtly expressive and emote more through your eyes or face, this scene impressed me today by the subtlety of the acting... i dont even know if the variation in the volume is conscious or not.
I dont know how to distinguish emotional from intense but there is this long sequence which i would pick for the intense scene category. this is the funeral of the grandfather episode... i think i would start from where you say 'kis se pyaar nahi kiya?'.... actually right before that, when benjamin gilani is enumerating Samay's various faults, they did this three times cut to face thing which i find extremely irritating... camera and lighting are not good acting.... but then immediately after that, you wiped a tear that you did not let roll down... vry effective, though also reminiscent of a certain long legged father in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.... again, this entire scene where you are saying 'kiski parwah nahi ki?' etc etc... listing things that you have done but without aggression, without hostility.... with a tiredness almost, a frown in the forehead, a conviction that you'll still not be understood but saying this nevertheless.... becuase the statements have hurt and you need to say this out loud, not because you think it would convince the man who is your father.... of course, the alag alag sone wala comment ruins the scene as far as the dialogue is concerned because that cannot be the only indication of a happy marriage or vice versa... but again your reaction to that inane dialogue is good... you just square your shoulders and stand up straighter... interesting psychology too.... any mention of sexual prowess or otherwise and men tend to stand up straighter, whereas this is not just a mention but a potentially explosive situation.... and when Krutika Desai questions you, you dont look at her in the eye and walk away.... as i said, long sequence.... when you close the door to your room and again lean on it, the suggestion of weariness continues.... but this weariness and the frown and the stress are different from the resignation that your body language suggested post discovery of tumour... again, this is something that i realised today... this pre tumour weariness is more stress/problems of life than resignation.... there is a touch of petulance as well to your expressions at one particular moment... ke maine itna bhi bura kya kiya hai... though that disappears, doesnt really stay... interestingly, the idea of repentance has still not really entered the tone of the scene.... weariness, stress, some degree of incomprehension in a way, in the sense that you know what you have done but how can it evoke so much hostility, all of that is there so far... but the sense of regret and repentance enters now...
This is when Saumya is crying behind the chair.... i thought that was a very nice touch... though this is her own home (her father's house), she feels physically alienated from it.... i wish she'd sat in a foetal position though, as all of us tend to do when we're unhappy or lonely.... would have added to the scene.... anyway, it is now that the sense of regret appears... when there is a sense of someone else's pain.... and when she brushes your hand off and gets up, you go absolutely still... i liked that a lot.... i mean, you had shown all possible reactions in the scene with your dad... there is no room for further weariness or further sadness.... even when she says 'kabhi sukhi nahi rah sakte tum', there is no reaction, which makes it clear just how hard its hit.... now this is going to sound very deluded, but when she says 'aaj tmhaari wajah se i couldnt cry over my grandfahter's body' and 'sab kuch cheen liya tumne', you still do not react physically in any way... but i still felt a sense of regret for what you'd done, which hadnt been there when she said 'kabhi sukhi nahi rah sakte tum'.... then it had been shock and hurt, now there was regret as well.... while there was no actual movement.. perhaps a slight slackening of the jaws to relieve the harshness... yes i'm probably delusional... and then she goes on the shraap giving spree, (and i've mentioned this earlier) and all you do is shut your eyes.... i have to hear his, but let me not see you doing this to me, let me not have to see how someone i love can hate me so strongly... and again the closed eyelids are far more effective than any dialogue, any expression could have been... and after that, suddenly the scene went into the thrice mode and the horribly intrusive background noise and effects for her voice and suddenly becoming black and white and that broke the intensity for me.... this was followed by the crying in the rain scene and while that didnt begin too well, in the middle of it you did this dazed expression very well.... in fact, the dazed expression was better than the crying expression and the final nahi....
For intensity, i would also have to mention the fits... what i liked was that you stuck to one pattern throughout.... there was a jerk of the body, always to the same direction, the same hand went up everytime to the same side of the hand, the other hand followed soon after and then the clutching started... because it was done the same way every time, it became believable.... the one time that i thought the fit was not well done was the fit in the 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' sequence... one jerk here, one jerk there and done, almost in tune with three beats of the song... that was the one time it wasnt well done.... but otherwise i liked it.... i think you showed pain well.
Have nothing in my negative, positive categories right now, so will go on to romantic. While i have yet to see the major romantic episodes, i want to talk about the funeral scene.... its been a personal fav for a long time.... this is the scene where Soni Razdaan is being buried.... you and Saumya are the last ones left behind.... you're looking at her with concern in your eyes... then her dupatta falls.... again, majorly inane idea.. but completely redeemed for me by the way the scene works without dialogues....you lower your eyes.... then you look up again... becuase you are concerned about her, you cant look away.... and then she looks up, notices your gaze on her and gets all worked up.... and there was this sense of puzzlement in your eyes even before she started screaming... which was well done since her anger was apparent even before she opened her mouth.... and when she puts her dupatta back in place (uff), there was the attempt to explain.... a shake of the head to indicate that 'its not what you think it is'.... and when she comes close, still before she's said anything, there is also a sense of confrontation.... again, no major dialogues but very effectively done.... i wish Saumya had shown a sense of guilt or confusion.... i mean she suspects that the nature of his gaze is sexual.... but this very suspicion shows an awareness of the gaze.... and to be aware of such a gaze at such a point of time would demand a more ambivalent reaction than simple anger.... as i said, this scene had been a persona fav and among the ones that initially got me interested in the show, but today when i saw it again, while it was still powerful, i also realised that i like the scene i've analysed just before this one equally, if not more.
My second choice for the romantic scene would be the gurudwara wala scene.... you walk in but do not sit down immediately, look at her sitting down and the fervency with which she is praying.... the dialogues are not spoken aloud and while they are being heard, there is the same expression on your face.... what is interesting here is that the lines range over quite a few emotions.... first there is forgive me, i love her, then if only she would forgive me,a yearning for if only she were once to say that she loves me, i could fight death then, then i know its not going to happen, then well then let me die with her near me.... now if you had changed expression according to each line, would have looked supremely silly... whereas your expression in these scene does not really fit in with any one of these emotions.... i find your face in a sense inscrutable while these lines play in the background and i like that... some emotions and some moments in life mean so much that they cant be captured in conventional ways.... i just find this scene powerfully moving and i think that is largely due to the inscrutability of your expression.... as it is, i think unlike pain or anger or shame or desire, love or rather some deeply felt moments of love are difficult to convey.... even the emotion is your eyes is subdued, you've expressed greater levels of love through your eyes in other scenes.... but i like the lesser levels here.... they add to the poignancy of the scene.... the expression of your face gets crystallised only towards the end when you come to a resolution: that you shall not flinch from punishment for your crimes... then a note of determination enters the eyes....but its still not that pronounced.... and of course the wiped tear again when she assures you that you'll be all right.
As far as action scenes go, liked the beating up dhongi baba as well as the completely unnecessary kick to the security gaurd at the Gudgaon mall.... liked both but i think Muneeza has analysed them quite well so will not repeat that.... as it is, this post resembles a thesis i'm sure. As far as the train sequence is concerned, more than the sequence itself, i actually like the absolute bewilderment on your face after she saves you.... there's no immediate 'Hooray you saved me therefore you must love me', there's more of waiting for it to sink in... and since killing oneself also requires a certain kind of courage, a sense of shock at being alive and a realisation of what one had been about to do was required.... and it is there in the bewilderment of your expression.
Oh god should never have started this.... anyway, optional scenes.... the entire sequence from where you get the doctor early morning for rusty to reaching the mumbai hospital.... why... simple.... black T shirt 😊.... it should be made cumpulsory for every good looking guy to wear black 😃
Similarly, the scene where you order breakfast in the hotel.... for actually placing an order, congratulations... am sure thats a first for indian television.... seriously though, liked the playfulness of 'kaun tha jo abhi mujhe kah raha tha... kaun tha?'.... broke the heavy handedness of some of the romantic scenes.
Also, earlier episode... when he waylays her while she going to the mandir.... and says 'Mujhe aapse lagaav ho gaya hai'.... the beginning of this scene is very rougish.... and still not over the top... and that tone of rougishness is maintained on your part for most of the scene.... where you're saying suggestive things but saying them charmingly rather than suggestively... but there is also a consciousness to the charm, a deliberation ... in the sense that the wit and the tone are not effortless but want to charm her... and that is why the wit is dropped and he becomes ernest when he tells her that he is trying to help.... having seen very few of the earlier episodes, i dont have a comparative frame of reference... but in this episode there is a shift between this kind of attempt to charm, ernest appeal and anger and frustration when misunderstood.... dont know if this shift was part of all of the courtship episodes but it is conveyed well.
Well, thats about it for today. You know, before i started this i had thought i would write about other scenes.... for instance, i was so sure that the 'darti ho tum' scene would find a mention.... its not that i now think it is badly done.... its just that in such scenes the effect comes as much from the dialogues as from the acting.... those scenes are still interesting and well done and romantic in the conventional sense of the word.... i still think 'main rahoon na rahoon, tumhe toh rahna hai' is a very powerful line....but in terms of expression, again, i prefer the scene after it, when she's walked out and there is this despair and regret at what you said on your face...these are the kind of things by which i got all excited today... hence this gigantic post.
One last thing... am i over reading? am i reading nuances that may not have been intended? perhaps. but once a scene is created and broadcast, meaning depends equally on the viewer and on how the viewer is reading the scene....
Finally, all the best to everyone who's going to try and read this post... and even more so to those who are going to try and make sense of it 😃
Edited by whynot - 18 years ago
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