Cannot compare Barkha with Rakhi

Rakhi is shown to be a successful and independent businesswoman. Barkha is a freeloader who is staying at her devrani's house (legally) and she is causing losses in her devar's business for 7 months after her and her husband's business ended.

Rakhi has raised a well mannered, emotional and intelligent daughter who has a good business sense like her mother. Barkha's daughter is less important to her compared to her brother. She has spoilt her brother and did not mind him manipulating Pakhi to get hands at a gold mine. Her brother physically abuses his wife and has caused huge losses. Unlike Kinjal, he has poor business sense and is a scheming, conniving creature.

Rakhi has built her empire with HER OWN efforts. Barkha always eyes on someone else's well established business and causes losses wherever she goes.

Rakhi has her own house and has full rights to control the affairs there but Barkha desires to control the affairs of someone else's house. She gets flustered whenever a newcomer arrives to live there. Barkha eve tried to kick out the legal owner of the house in which she was staying in.

Rakhi stayed in a loveless marriage for her daughter. Barkha stayed in a loveless marriage for money.

Rakhi likes being called Naagin and even called herself kamini once but whenever Shahs and Kapadias are in genuinely serious problems, she forgets all her animosity and tries to help them. Barkha on the other hand finds opportunity to get rich.

Rakhi never used her tragic marriage to gain sympathy but Barkha uses all chances to get sympathy for her own gain.

In short, Rakhi is driven by her DAUGHTER's best interests but Barkha is driven by selfish reasons. In a way, Rakhi is the real good MAA and Barkha is the real EVIL woman (besides Baa).

Finally, someone who thinks like me. I think only Rakhi was the sane woman in this show.

Yes, the character trajectories can't be compared after some superficial similarities. Barkha has time and again supported wrong. The latest being when Adhik is assaulting Makkhi, her support for him cannot be excused.

Rakhi has rarely done anything like that. Her only focus was protecting her daughter and her fears were justified. Apart from a couple of times when she manipulated or used strong language against Tamashahs (which is what they deserve), she has been quite correct overall and supportive when needed. With time she mellowed down and accepted the situation, as well. Can't be compared to Barkha who has been shown to be unrepentant.

Rakhi is more like Romil than evil Barkha. Even Baa would feel ashamed if her son indulged in DV and if Rakhi was in same situation, she would have some sympathy for DV victim but won't go against the abuser.

Also, BB is not half as entertaining as Rakhi. Rakhi's witty comebacks and comic timing have been unbeatable even when she was shown as a nicer person. And also, Rakhi was never treacherous.

Rakhi just wanted to show the Tamashahs the mirror and have them acknowledge their doglapan.
Also she was a fierce mother who rightfully did not want her daughter to marry into this clown family full of cheaters and abusers.

It was really sad that Kinjal always rejected her mother's very sound advice. It would have been nice had Rakhi been shown taking Kinjal away with her grand daughter post discovery of Toshu EMA. It would have been a better arc than what actually happened. Missed opportunity

I haven't seen enough episodes with BB to judge her because at the point I just got fed up with the show overall. She does make sense every now and then but her character like most characters post Anupama's second marriage flips personalities depending on the writer's mood. She definitely does expect a lot but gives very little in return.

But then again when has Anupama ever respected or listened to BB that she should show Anupama any loyalty? (I think at this point I just hate Anupama so much any character who opposes her feels right to me)

Nidhi Shah would have to leave if that happens and no one wants that but they should have done it in a better way. Maybe RD is Anuj's long lost cousin or an adopted sister he had in orphanage so that RD and Kinjal lived in KM after divorce.

Instead of BB's pseudo victimization or Kavya 's pseudo redemption ,they could focus on RD and Maa becoming BFFs and Maa being inspired by the way Rakhiben divorced her victimizer and showed him is rightful place UNLIKE her. Maa can't be a full time teacher. It would be nice if she has an equal as a friend instead of cheerleaders.

Originally posted by: HoneyBee7312

Rakhi just wanted to show the Tamashahs the mirror and have them acknowledge their doglapan.
Also she was a fierce mother who rightfully did not want her daughter to marry into this clown family full of cheaters and abusers.

It was really sad that Kinjal always rejected her mother's very sound advice. It would have been nice had Rakhi been shown taking Kinjal away with her grand daughter post discovery of Toshu EMA. It would have been a better arc than what actually happened. Missed opportunity

I haven't seen enough episodes with BB to judge her because at the point I just got fed up with the show overall. She does make sense every now and then but her character like most characters post Anupama's second marriage flips personalities depending on the writer's mood. She definitely does expect a lot but gives very little in return.

But then again when has Anupama ever respected or listened to BB that she should show Anupama any loyalty? (I think at this point I just hate Anupama so much any character who opposes her feels right to me)

The problem with this show is it depicts people, including Anuj and Anupamaa, to be messed up people but then also glorifies Anupamaa's every action. Anuj ka arc mujhe kabhi samajh nahi aaya and honestly, the doctor played by Apoorva, would have been a much better love interest if they ever wanted to focus on Anupamaa's second chance love story. But the problem remains ki every character is sacrified to glorify Anupamaa when her actions aren't even normal most of the time. Pakhi was turned from an underage teenager to a runaway bride without any rhyme or reason. Samar turns from a sensitive son to just an insufferable tool. Mukku disappears and a nonexistent family appears— all to glorify Anupamaa. 'Good' women empowerment stories have been written on itv. Anandi was a great heroine even before they sketched Shiv, and the show made great money too.

But this show seems to aim at caricaturing feminist issues so that the audience at large ends up thinking of them as ott itv cringe.

Sex workers' rights and safety is a major issue in feminist movements across the world and in India. If Shahi thought of it as a very modern thing for itv audience, he could have avoided the Chhoti Anu -Maya arc altogether. But, then, he chooses to caricature it with that chudi banging scene which not only glorified Anupama at the expense of Maya but reduced the whole issue to a cringe meme that went viral on social media.

Then, he turned the sex worker into the man-eating vamp too. Btw, Anuj was absolutely wrong in the whole scenario but the narrative ends up blaming the wom(e)n.

Then he took up the issue of r*pe survival with Dimpy and made Anupamaa curing her PTSD as if she were a doctor or psychologist. They had to make Anupamaa give ample lectures on rehabilation of r*pe survivors, their pursuit of justice etc. Ironically, all her lectures are moot because Dimpy didn't actually get an arc where her own family gets over the trauma and offers her unconditional love. Then the narrative villainises Dimpy for being a normal human being who is somewhat selfish and loud?

One might respond that this is itv, and Shahi's here to make money and not give PSAs. Agreed. He doesn't have to pick up sensitive issues and deliberately mock them either. Doli Armaano ki was an itv show that dealt with DV, second marriage, adoptive parenthood, and even a r*pe survivor's journey of healing and love without mocking the issues. You know how many films and soaps get made without a mention of rape and/or sex work? Literally so many.

Then there is Pakhi DV arc where the mahaan FL of the show can rightly be heartbroken and even enraged at her own daughter being slapped in her marital home but has a dissonance when she did the same to Dimpy just few days back. Because Pakhi is her daughter, but she was mahaan to Dimpy, the rude r*pe survivor, once so she gets to slap her.

Classic 90s villain here Anupamaa.

I have a working theory that Divy hates writing for this show and lampoons it to vent his frustration while writing Pushpa

TL: dr : I hate the show, thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Originally posted by: Partyc

Rakhi is shown to be a successful and independent businesswoman. Barkha is a freeloader who is staying at her devrani's house (legally) and she is causing losses in her devar's business for 7 months after her and her husband's business ended.

Rakhi has raised a well mannered, emotional and intelligent daughter who has a good business sense like her mother. Barkha's daughter is less important to her compared to her brother. She has spoilt her brother and did not mind him manipulating Pakhi to get hands at a gold mine. Her brother physically abuses his wife and has caused huge losses. Unlike Kinjal, he has poor business sense and is a scheming, conniving creature.

Rakhi has built her empire with HER OWN efforts. Barkha always eyes on someone else's well established business and causes losses wherever she goes.

Rakhi has her own house and has full rights to control the affairs there but Barkha desires to control the affairs of someone else's house. She gets flustered whenever a newcomer arrives to live there. Barkha eve tried to kick out the legal owner of the house in which she was staying in.

Rakhi stayed in a loveless marriage for her daughter. Barkha stayed in a loveless marriage for money.

Rakhi likes being called Naagin and even called herself kamini once but whenever Shahs and Kapadias are in genuinely serious problems, she forgets all her animosity and tries to help them. Barkha on the other hand finds opportunity to get rich.

Rakhi never used her tragic marriage to gain sympathy but Barkha uses all chances to get sympathy for her own gain.

In short, Rakhi is driven by her DAUGHTER's best interests but Barkha is driven by selfish reasons. In a way, Rakhi is the real good MAA and Barkha is the real EVIL woman (besides Baa).

I genuinely enjoyed Rakhi Dave. She was entertaining.

Barkha is a leech.

Never thought about it that way but agree with you. Rakhi is a much better character than Barkha. I love Ashlesha's portrayal of Barkha so tend to overlook what Barkha does 😆

I also dislike greatly that while initially both Barkha and Ankush were shown to be problematic, Ankush has been whitewashed in that matter. Kind of similar to Dimpy - Samar where now Samar is shown to be more of a 'family person' than Dimpy even though both had agreed for division of property. Makes me sympathetic towards the female even if I know what she is doing is wrong. 🤔

Originally posted by: Snowfally

Never thought about it that way but agree with you. Rakhi is a much better character than Barkha. I love Ashlesha's portrayal of Barkha so tend to overlook what Barkha does 😆

I also dislike greatly that while initially both Barkha and Ankush were shown to be problematic, Ankush has been whitewashed in that matter. Kind of similar to Dimpy - Samar where now Samar is shown to be more of a 'family person' than Dimpy even though both had agreed for division of property. Makes me sympathetic towards the female even if I know what she is doing is wrong. 🤔

Also, division of property is not necessarily wrong if no one is being mistreated or cheated of their righrs lol

Joint family is no less or no more moral than any other way to live. To villainise adults for wanting to sort out their finances is hilarious. Lol

Especially when Barkha and co are villainised for living with MaAn.