"Because there was a hunger in me to see everything and do everything. I wanted to be everyone I saw. I wasn't enough for me. Can you understand that?"
Sidney Sheldon, Bloodline
I think we can all agree, unanimously, that among the three main characters of the show it is Arjun we feel the least connected to. He is, till now, the least developed character and yet the most important tether to the story. In a way, this whole story is built around him. Useless, without him. Which is why, understanding him is so important.
Arjun is the third point of view in the show. We have seen the switch of narration between both Maya and Saanjh, time and time again, which is why we all know the innerworkings of both of them. We know exactly how they feel at a certain moment because it is revealed to us. They narrate their stories to us in first person. But come to think of it, we never know that for Arjun.
It is rare to have a scene setup where we get Arjun's personal exposition or his journal-thoughts. We do not get his emotions given to us in his pov. We see it when Saanjh is conveying her inner most turmoils and we see the wildness Maya feels but we've never gotten that with Arjun.
And now that I think of it, probably, because the CVs do not want us to. Arjun is the mystery. You can analyze him, perceive his actions through his dialogues and his gestures. You can see his reactions to a certain event but he is always reacting. Either to Maya's conflicting emotions as we witness her state of mind or either to Saanjh's. We do not pause in the moment to live through Arjun's because his pov is kept in the dark. You get the actions not the emotions.
Therein where the mystery and allure takes birth. Which is why, we in our bafflements, wander searching what is it exactly Arjun feels? Does he, perhaps, covertly like Saanjh and is unaware? Or will he fall head over heels in love with Maya? That question is shaped and cultivated behind a veil that refuses to let his most personal thoughts be revealed.
And yet we have subtle hints to the kind of person he is.
The way I see Arjun I see three things.
Ambition. Loyalty. Hunger.
Arjun is driven, obsessively, by ambition. One of the most revealing moments of his life happened in a hospital where he watched his father give into oblivion. And he was helpless. Perhaps he didn't have the financial means to help him, or the emotional but that moment has shaped his life in the most powerful of ways. He's sworn to never, ever feel that helpless again. To never ever sit uselessly while a loved one wastes away.
It is this maddening need to correct a situation.
It is this obsessiveness to erase helplessness.
It is this abyss he's insane about fulfilling.
He loathes money in the way he desires it. Financial empowerment represents the blackest days of his life. It represents his weaknesses. His failures. And it also represents his freedom. He is like a wingless bird denied of the endless soaring skies. He yearns for the wings.
Which brings us back to the same point. Ambition. Arjun is ruthlessly driven by ambition to the point where it is all he sees. He wants success. He yearns to carve a name for himself. Endorse his abilities. Prove his mettle. He wants, more than most, to never sit by and watch fate usher him into a whirlwind. He seeks security.
Arjun, like any other man, is deaf to his surroundings because like any other man he doesn't feel fulfilled or worthy of himself in his eyes yet. He's not at the point in his life where he can look into the mirror and feel complete. Absolute.
Most men do not romantically pursue women until they're satisfied in their careers. Even if they do, they're not completely invested. For them standing their ground financially or in the ways they seek provides the satisfaction and security for them to finally do the rest. It provides them comfort and confidence.
For Arjun at this moment the only thing that truly matters is reaching that ground. He's building himself up and it is all he can think about.
Which also brings us to the next point and again the same.
Ambition. Arjun is attracted to ambition. And Maya embodies ambition. She's everything he idealizes. She's who he wants to be. Strong. Confident. Successful. Ambitious.
He sees an idol in her. He on a subconscious level perhaps, yearns to be her someday. To him, ambition is attractive. It is a challenge. and it is Maya. Which is why we can surmise that on some level he is attracted to her. And the reason he doesn't see beyond overt words and actions because he idealizes them and covets them.
Which is why I think Arjun never saw Saanjh the way a man sees a woman. Because in his own words, saanjh doesn't have a single ambitious bone in her body.' Saanjh, simply put, has no ambition. She doesn't share his hunger or his drive. She's a simple girl. Everything that attracts him, challenges him, allures him"ambition and glory"saanjh is deficient of. And that's exactly everything Maya represents.
Coming back to Saanjh, she still is his home turf. Arjun has never been close to anybody really. He lost his parents. He does not form a bond with his stepmother. Which leaves us with Ayan and Saanjh. Ayaan is his brother but Saanjh is his soulmate. And I don't mean it in a romantic way. He loves Saanjh. And not all kinds of love is romantic. He loves her because she's a part of him. She's been there when no one else was. He let her in and denied all the rest. She became his tether in the loneliest of his moments. She's his semblance of sanity. On a subconscious level, he always seeks her. Whenever he's with someone else he's talking about her because there isn't a moment of his life she's not been a part of. She's his comfort zone. The soft cushion. His best friend.
But she's also his normal. The normal he takes for granted. He believes that she's always going to be there. Their friendship is always going to be same. It doesn't matter if she's married or not, what they have would always stay so. Which is wrong. Because when people grow up and evolve they also change.
If Saanjh does get involved with someone her equation with Arjun would be affected too. Which is the same for him. It doesn't matter which of them gets romantically involved, their relationship is bound to see a change. A change Arjun and Saanjh both might not find comfortable. Because it'll be so different from the normal they're used to.
It's how close we are to our best friends, or mother, or siblings. We expect it to always be so. But we all change. We move on, get married, into relationships and we realize it's not exactly how it used to be. Some of us feel the gulf and resent it.
Which all leads to very interesting and possible equations in the future.
We still are unaware of Arjun's inner most workings which creates mystery and interpretations.
But we know that he's most driven by desire. And ambition and his ultimate destination is glory. That's what he truly seeks.
And Arjun will have to learn lessons on his way.
Relationships will be lost.
Glory will be baffling.
Pain will welcome him.
Love would confuse him.
And that is how he will evolve.
And that is how, he must evolve.
"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
GAH I KNOW THIS GOT TOO LONG. I got a bit carried away. Anyway, I'm sorry for any mistakes. I didn't recheck it. And also, I still haven't watched a big chunk of the episodes so I'm sorry if there's anything wrongly interpreted
Much love,
Rida.
.
CID
Bigg Boss 19
