Originally posted by: sashashyam
My dear Stephy,
Thanks a lot for your very kind comments. You have no idea how refreshing it is to have such an interesting and constructive exchange on a post!
Though what you have said about Arjun being familiar with the whole gamut of human misery thru his work is quite correct, I think it still makes a difference when it is a colleague, just as it would have a greater impact if it happened to a family member as compared to an outsider. That is why I thought that Chotu's revelations (which seems a tad abrupt and forced, and were not helped by the fact that the actor is rather limited in his facial expressions ) had been inserted for that purpose.
It makes sense. As of now, they haven't shown Arjun reflecting on Chottu's story... but I guess they might show it at a later point...
It remains to be seen when Rathore's back story emerges; Shree, with his bubbling sense of mischief, does not seem to be a promising candidate for a tragic back story! Riya would have been one, especially with that mental block of hers about shooting, but that door has now been firmly closed.
Yes, it would be interesting to see other's back stories. Even if Shree doesn't have a tragic story associated with him, I think it'll still be interesting to know some background info about him.
I had always thought that Riya would have some story behind her... but yeah, with Riya's death, it doesn't seem anything would be shown.
I see that we are of one mind re:Rathore, and I do hope the CVs try and balance things out a bit. As things are, this sort of equation would be intolerable to any boss, and especially in the police, which is a very hierarchical and rank-conscious service, for they need to maintain strict internal discipline more than any other government service except the armed forces. I was rewatching some of the old episodes, and there, even when Arjun offers counter theories, he does it less bluntly, and it is Rathore who issues the action orders, makes the team division etc. Since this last weekend, even that is gone, and Arjun is shown issuing all the orders and he commandeers both Shree and Chotu, so who then is there to work with Rathore? He is being made out to be a Watson to Arjun's Holmes , but then Holmes was not a police officer and Watson was not his boss!😉
In the Holmes-Watson equation, it made sense if Holmes always had the upperhand because Holmes was the detective and Watson was just a friend accompanying Holmes duing the cases and not a detective himself. Here both Arjun and Rathore are ETF officers and moreover, Rathore is the chief. So it doesn't reflect well on Rathore if he is always shown to be incompetent in order to make Arjun seem like the 'hero'.
I agree completely with you about the shooting scenes, which are excessive and over long, as are the fisticuffs scenes, come to think of it. When Rathore bashes someone up in style, I used to feel that he is imagining that it is Arjun at the receiving end and feeling a bit better! You would have seen my strong comments on the scene of Chotu shooting that thug in this post, but many other police forces also use excessive force, especially the American cops, with the New York and Los Angeles police being the harshest.
In India, police shooting is strictly regulated, and these kinds of fusillades would occur only against terrorists or in hostage taking situations. Here it is shown that way to enhance the macho quotient and to show many loving slow mo shots of unbelievably accurate ambidextrous shooting by a chap leaping out at the thugs and seemingly suspended in mid air! The bank van robbery case was a case in point for Arjun, and this one for Rathore.
Yes, these shooting scenes are way too exaggerated and all the flying shots, etc. seem something out of a Bollwood movie. That scene in the bank van robbery case where Arjun was suspended mid-air for far too long... just made me laugh and somehow it didn't seem like the right reaction for such a serious scene!!
This apart, the head shots shown very often are far too gruesome for an 8 pm show, a time when kids are still around. Remember the head shot by the contract killer in the Stolen Ganesha episode, which was repeated so many times in flashbacks? And the head shot by Riya in the swimming pool murder case? That too was repeated umpteen times. I feel they should tone down these awful close up shots, which must be off putting even for adults. They are like something from a Quentin Tarantino film, or from Anurag Kashyap's The Gangs of Wasseypur, not like something in a normal crime serial.
The makers should indeed tone down these gun-shot scenes. It does seem a bit too much for an 8pm show.
As for the open questions, I agree that even by exerting our collective imagination, we would not be able to answer the half of them!
It was fun discussing all this with you, and I hope you will find time to go thru any other analyses that I might write in the future as well. I was pleased to see that you had liked my post on the dead stockbroker case, but did you look at the other one, on the swimming pool murder (I have done just 3 so far)? If you have not, and you would be interested, it is at
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3220402
Thanks for the link. I'll read through it.
And thanks for your reply.
Take care.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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