Folks,
The first thing is to ascertain how many of the young ladies here have got over the daze induced by the grown up Chandragupta's unexpectedly early descent on us midway thru last night's episode.😉 This is not an irrelevant question, for I have to work hard at my posts, and there is no use my expending all that effort if most of you are still daydreaming. Even Saraswathi Akka, who is possibly thinking of a photo of Chandra in that saffron costume for The Album. 😉😉
You are mostly all up and about? Sure? OK, then, here goes.
The Entry of the Emperor: Oh, all right, emperor in the works. Never mind. At the risk of displeasing a whole lot of you, I must confess that Rajat's fantasy intro - for that is what it was, complete with incredible leaps and twirls and spinning in the air that would have won any contestant the top award in Jhalak Dikhla Ja - seemed to me to be rather underwhelming. It was all wonky camera work, and the mid-air creation of that seven-spears-turned-into-one-lethal-wheel was less than convincing.
Why the devil, since Chanakya is clearly training his students in sword fighting, did they simply not cut Chandra loose with his sword? Then it would have been like a deadly, literally, combination of balletic grace and lethally swift and unerring swordsmanship.
Instead, we got this bizarre fight choreography where all those seven thugs, soldiers, mercenaries, bandits, whatever, stood stock still, their spears all extended to almost touch Chandra, without moving to attack him till he dropped to his knees, preparatory to attacking them. They could have reduced him to a pincushion if they had all moved in unison at the first moment itself. Ratna, my Bahubali encylopaedia, where are you? Do tell me if this too was an inspiration' from Bahubali!😉
Never mind, Rajat's Chandragupta compensated for all this to a large extent. During the fight, his eyes were grimly narrowed under straight brows, with the sharp planes of the face heightening its already hard look. But once it was over, his whole aspect changed. Not to a smiling pleasantness, but to a relaxed stillness.
The face, framed by an abundance of wavy curls, looked more like the head of one of the statues in the Athens Museum than anything Indian. And unexpectedly young. He could have been eighteen instead of the twenty four he is supposed to be.
A unique equation: Chandragupta's whole body language throughout that segment is superbly fine-tuned. When he is addressing Chanakya, his eyes are lowered out of respect for his guru, and the voice, though firm, is never raised. He takes the slap without flinching and without protest. When he disagrees with the guru, this too is done with all possible respect, eyes still lowered.
But he is totally matter of fact in his recital of how things happened, neither striving for effect nor trying to convince Chanakya. It is clear that he is sure of how Chanakya will receive what he has to say. What all this shows is the unique relationship the two of them share, a relationship of complete mutual faith and trust, but not one of equality, which is how it should be.
Rampant nepotism: I got an unpleasant shock when the gigantic Chetan Hansraj, aka Malayaketu, hove into view without warning, Chandra's sword at his neck in a lightning defensive move. Does Ekta have to thrust this chap down the gullets of the viewers in every historical of hers? I only hope she does not have Ashwini Kalsekar and Lavina Tandon too waiting in the wings, ready to bounce into this show at the first opportunity. That would be really too much!
Now I suppose we shall have to endure this Malayaketu for God knows how many dozens of episodes. He looks far too old to be any kind of shishya, despite all the efforts of the Balaji makeup department, with a clean shave and what is undoubtedly the application of a lot of face cream, face powder and the rest of the works.
Plus the punishment for his misbehavior is ridiculously light - one missed meal?. That too is dodged, thanks to the pathetic disciplinary follow up system in this ashram. At the very least, he should have been made to run 10 kos, with a large backpack.😆 And why is this chap allowed to wear silk and zari clothes and jewellery, instead of the regular saffron outfit of the other students?
Beyond the script: There was not much scope of emoting last night as far as Chandragupta was concerned, but still Rajat produced two delightful titbits. One was the slight smile and pitying headshake with which he greets the smouldering Malayaketu in the bhojanshala. It dripped with relaxed, amused contempt.
The other was the absolute insouciance, the total denial of attention, with which he dealt with the snide remarks of Malayaketu and his chamchas during the dinner. He looked up at them, his face and eyes still and placid like a lake at dawn, then reapplied himself to the meal, eating it steadily with every evidence of enjoyment.
It was a fascinating instance of an actor going beyond the script.
Kautilya Neeti: I almost regretted it when the light eyed, skinny young Chandra finally passed out of our ken. He was no actor, all things said and done, but I had grown to like his steady, clear-eyed look, and the sudden flaring of anger in the thin face, as also the steely determination he could summon up at times.
I loved the way in which he took leave of his foster parents, with his grim warning to that scum of a Javali sounding almost like a slap in his face. I have absolutely no confidence in that dumb woman, his foster mother, hanging on to the dhan that Chandra hands her, but at least he has done his best.
The whole sequence that follows, when Chanakya and Chandragupta are looking down on their ultimate target, Pataliputra, from their position on a hillock, was wonderfully scripted and the lines wonderfully delivered. Chanakya's plan for this brahmastra that he has chanced on is crystal clear: total control by the guru, and total samarpan from the shishya.
Main hi tumhara pita, tumhara guru, tumhara swami, sab kuch main hi hoon. Bhujayein tumhari hongi parantu mastishk mera hoga. Shastra tumhare haathon mein honge, par unhein kis para chalana hai , iska aadesh mera hoga. ..
Then the warning against the least softness creeping into the warrior's make up, and the confident assertion that the guru's Kautilya Neeti would, one day, make Chandragupta the Magadh Samrat.
Finally, the ringing declaration of their shared destiny, and that of the land they both love, that almost gives one goose pimples. For it was as if one could hear, in the wind on that hilltop., the rush of the footsteps of history.
Hum donon milke a naye Bharat ka nirman karenge! Aaj ke paschat, Drona aur Arjun ki bhanti, Chanakya aur Chandragupta ke naam sadaiva saath liye jaayenge!!
The training sequences that follow, with the repeated emphasis, and this even more on Chandra's side than on Chanakya's, of the mastishk ever prevailing over the hriday, were all too brief. I for one would have liked at least the rest of the episode, if not another whole one, to have been devoted to these lessons. Since that was not to be so, I hope they will at least have extended sessions at what could be called the senior level between the guru and his shishya extraordinaire. The precap, with a grim faced Chandragupta, brows drawn into a straight line, listening intently, in the pouring rain, to Chanakya, might be one such.
Princess nonpareil : That is to say, without an equal. To wit, Rajnandini, the apple of her father's eye.We are thus treated to extensive sessions of pita-putri bonding between Padmanand and his darling daughter.
First when she is a cutesy cute, nasally challenged little girl of 5, outdoing her clumsy brothers and scoring a bullseye in true Arjuna style. Then delivering an impeccable mini-bhashan to a bewildered but proud Padmanand about how prem is the greatest shakti there is, and how she will always fight from the heart. Just as she earlier informs Acharya Rakhas that she hit the bullseye because she had aimed with her heart. I have no idea what she meant in either case, nor, I suspect, did the scriptwriter. 😆
Later when she, presumably now 16,rushes headlong out of the palace to get - hold your breath ! - imli for daddy dearest. The look of cloying affection on his face as he contemplates this proof of daughterly love is a sight to behold. No, I am not being sarcastic. In fact , but for the overkill, these father-daughter scenes come off quite well, and Arpit is surprisingly good at them.
But I am getting the sequence all wrong. First, we see Nandini cutting a dash thru the palace grounds like a combination of Usain Bolt in the 400 metres race and Paro in the last scene in Devdas, trailing about 40 yards of fabric on the ground.
Next, after a tantalizing muh dikhayi for the benefit of the viewer - and she does look quite pretty then, and even more so later when she is dripping wet - she makes a dive into a well for no visible purpose.
It turns out that she was saving a baby goat, though there was no indication of any struggling animal in the water when she dived in, nor of any unheroic bystanders either. But let that pass. At least the object of the compassion of Ekta's latest heroine was a more unusual choice than the standard issue wounded pigeon saved by her last historical leading lady! 😉
Besides, she does not deliver bhashan No.2 on the quality of mercy which is not strained, which droppeth like gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath, a la Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. For which, though there is no surety that she will stick to this sound practice in the future, I was devoutly grateful. 😉
Now if she would only go a little easy with the perennial hand on the heart gesture, clearly meant to drive home to us that is her hriday from where all her actions spring! We have all got it, sweetheart, you can relax now!
OK, folks, this is it. With her Tun Tun clone of a sister-in-law nagging at her, Nandini has now agreed to marry the veer who can defeat her brother in a duel with swords. I suppose the CVs hopes we will all be on pins wondering about the candidate favoured by Padmanand. But I for one am not holding my breath!
See you again soon. For now,please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.
Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di
PS: I forgot to mention a signal merit of last night's episode. It was blessedly Mura-free.
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
