Folks,
In last night's episode, there was one major plus for me, in my role as an analyst. There were so many faltu scenes of Nandini, her sakhis, her Tun Tun Bhabhi, clearly slotted in as Comic Relief (caps intentional), and her assorted nine brothers (of whom not more than 6 have been shown so far, obviously as an economy measure of Balaji's😆), that I could filter all that out and focus on just three substantial scenes, and a snippet at the very end.
Two of these were between Chanakya and Chandragupta, which effectively bookended the significant portion of the episode, and went a long way towards illuminating the vital relationship between the guru and his chosen shishya. The third, meant as a tangy filler for this sandwich, was the unexpectedly humorous one between Chandragupta and Malayaketu.
Let us take them ad seriatim.
Kuyog aur uchit prayog: In the scene of the archery contest, which Malayaketu wins in technical terms, three things stood out, apart from the explanation that Chandragupta offers as to why he aimed at the flag and not at the flagstaff.
One, Chandra maintains his aseem vinamrata towards his guru, never looking at him directly when addressing him but keeping his eyes lowered. The voice too is at a low pitch, and though he speaks fast, he also speaks very clearly. It is only when mentioning that the guru had taught them that their real target was the king, not the praja, that he looks up at the flag for a fleeting moment. And what he says demonstrates his ability to absorb Chanakya's teachings and apply them to entirely new scenarios, which is the mark of a nimble and intelligent mind.
Two, when he loses, there is no anger at the loss, not even for one fleeting instant, no frustration, nothing at all. He offers an explanation only when asked to do so by Chanakya, otherwise he would have done nothing. Similarly, when the guru praises him for being able to think like a king, there is none of the exultation that one would expect, or an instant of glee at Malayaketu's discomfiture. Chandragupta does not react at all.
It is as if, as Niki (mistofshadows) had noted perceptively on my last thread, Chandra has tamed the anger that used to flare up at any provocation in his younger self. He has learnt to control it, undoubtedly so as not to either waste his energy on it, or to let it cloud his judgement. As I wrote in my response to her, our Chandra has really grown up. It is as if usne apni indriyon par kaboo kar liya hai, khas kar uske krodh par.
He face, his eyes, his expressions, are still all the time, but it is not the stillness of inertia, It is the stillness at the centre of a spinning top, stillness in the midst of frenetic inner motion. Or as Lord Krishna says in the Gita, when you move but nothing moves within you.
It is, as a character device, amazing in both concept and execution.
Three, note the look that Chanakya casts at Chandragupta just as he is leaving, after having given Malayaketu a dressing down. Chandra does not notice it, for his eyes are downcast as usual. It is a fleeting glance, but it brims over with the pride and the unexpectedly open affection that Chanakya feels for his prize pupil. It is a wonderful little bit of emoting.
Cheeky sally: To watch Chandra pulling Malayaketu's leg in style was a treat. Mostly because it was not only funny, but it was never allowed to become OTT. At first, when Malayaketu is boasting about his rank and what it has got him in terms of the invitation to the swayamvar of the princess of Magadha, Chandra looks at him with the kind of blank inattention that is more of a put down that any words could have been. Then he changes tack, and begins to enumerate the manifold charms of the princess in the most comic manner imaginable, but with an almost straight face. It was ludicrous to watch poor Malayaketu's face fall, while Chandra walks off with a throwaway Badhaayi ho!
In such an otherwise almost grim-faced young man, this lighthearted streak was as surprising as it was appealing.
The call to action: But the piece de resistance (the choice part) in the whole episode was that gripping, indeed intoxicating scene in the pouring rain between Chandragupta and his mentor, where Chanakya, caught up in the fever of what Ankita (BrienneOfTarth) calls the righteous insanity of deshbhakti, summons his brahmastra and prepares to launch him, first against Magadha, and then against the invading Macedonian warlord and his hosts.
Two things struck me right at the beginning of that scene. One, when Chanakya is awakened from slumber by what looks like a premonition of evil, the sloka in the background is, for once, entirely appropriate.
It is the one beginning Yada yada hi dharmasya, glanirbhavati Bharata, and thought it does not carry through into the vital second stanza, that is implied. This is the stanza in which the Lord promises the righteous on the earth that he will be incarnated in every yuga when evil becomes dominant, to destroy it and to re-establish dharma.
Paritraanaaya sadhoonaam,
Vinashaayacha dushkrutaam
Dharma sansthaapanaarthaaya,
Sambhavaami yuge yuge
The inference is clear. The time has come for the destruction of evil and the restoration of the good and of dharma. And the instrument of the Divine will are, this time, going to be our Odd Couple: a lean, ascetic scholar, in whom deshbhakti burns like a consuming flame, and his extraordinary and totally samarpit shishya who, though nominally a shepherd's son, is more royal in looks and in prowess than royalty could ever be.
Two, though Chanakya does not call him, but leaves the ashram alone, in the rain, Chandragupta awakens as well, as if there was a symbiotic bond between him and his guru that would not let him sleep in peace while his guru was restless and disturbed. He then joins Chanakya on the open plain, and what follows is the stuff of history.
The righteous insanity of deshbhakti: Chanakya's words, which pour out in a fast moving , turbulent stream, are a verbalisation of his distilled agony. Agony at the enslavement that he sees threatening his beloved motherland, at the hands of forces whom there seems to be no one at hand capable of stopping. He is as one possessed, almost in a trance.
As Chandragupta listens to his mentor with fierce concentration, heedless of the pouring rain, Chanakya, in the grip of that trance, is able to sense the latest, threatening happenings even before his aide comes to tell him about them. That Alexander has won over Ambhi of Takshashila, and is going to enter the landmass of Bharat through the gateway of Takshashila.
Predictably, Chanakya, shocked by the speed of these disastrous developments, rails against the arrogant folly of Maha Padmanand of Magadha, whom he, Chanakya, had tried to warn against precisely the same threat years ago. What he says then is very significant, for it negates the popularly held concept that the whole campaign of Chanakya's to overthrow Padmanand and seize the throne of Magadha for Chandragupta was merely one of personal revenge for the gross insults heaped on him by Padmanand.
Main use kabhi kshama nahin karoonga. Isliye nahin ki usne mera apmaan kiya, apitu isliye ki usne meri matrubhoomi ka apmaan kiya!
Nor is he anything but pitilessly realistic in his assessment of the present situation and what it will take to tackle the dangers that lie ahead.
Yeh pawan koyi sukh ki anubhooti nahin laya hai, Chandra. Vayu ko rokne ke liye chattaan ki aavashyakta hoti hai. Aur yahan na koyi chattaan ki oonchaayi itni hai ki ise rok sake, aur na hi kisi chattaan mein itna bal ki iske samaksh teher sake.
Then comes the one and only solution: Humein Bharat ke liye ek aisa raja chahiye jo Himalay ke samaan kathor aur balshaali ho. Which means Chandragupta, who now has to move, sheegraati sheegra, from learning to action. The time has come, his mentor intones, for him to take control of all the kingdoms in Bharatvarsha, beginning with Magadha.
Chandragupta, who has been standing like a statue all this while, his face and eyes set in unwinking concentration as he takes in all that his Acharya has been telling him, now looks across at his guru. His eyes are rock hard under brows drawn into a single straight line. He nods immediate assent: Ji, Acharya!
Chanakya goes on to explain, with lucid precision, the need for them to learn everything possible about the security arrangements and the overall lie of the land in Magadha before attacking it. For shatru ko todna hai to uske bal to aankhna hoga, and to gain this knowledge, they would have to spy out all these details.
Chandra neither seeks clarifications nor does he voice any doubts. He has only one question : To nikalne ka aadesh kab hai, Acharya? On hearing Chanakya's emphatic, almost frantic, Tumhein abhi jaana hoga, Chandra! ABHI!!, Chandragupta's gimlet like eyes stare for one long moment into his mentor's eyes. Then he turns away sharply. He is ready.
Unquestioning samarpan: To those who wonder why Chandragupta, even at 13, does not question the role that Chanakya has designated for him after taking him under his wing, and ask if so young a boy can really be motivated to share the kind of burning patriotism that propels Chanakya to action against the enemies of his motherland, and in particular against Padmanand, I can only say this.
I do not think Chandra needed to be convinced re: Padmanand or indeed about anything else. At 13, he sees himself as having been bought by Chanakya, and thus as belonging to his guru, body and soul. So the question of his having an independent opinion or will does not arise. That is the rationale for his total samarpan right at the beginning. Chanakya too makes it clear to Chandra that he expects total obedience from his shishya.
Over the years that follow, this kind of obligatory obedience acquires a solid overlay, in Chandra's psyche, of tremendous respect and loyalty towards Chanakya. This then cements the earlier samarpan on to an unbreakable foundation, leading to the kind of unquestioning loyalty and obedience towards his guru that are seen in the above sequence.
A master of nuance: Now for the last, but choice snippet. It is the look on Chandragupta's face as he turns to look at the disguised Nandini in her male get up. The camera lovingly showcases his classic profile, and then the extremely handsome features, with the sharply angled planes enhancing the fine underlying bone structure.
Photo shared by Manasi (cute.manasi)
As he comes full face, the look on his face is inimitable. Is it curiosity? Perhaps, for the expression is half quizzical. Is there a hint of hidden nervousness? Perhaps, for the eyes seem a tad uncertain, which is not surprising in a boy of his background masquerading as a prince. He scans this "young man" from toe to top, but in the end, his eyes are lowered. Is he assessing what he has gathered from his visual inspection? Perhaps. Many questions, but no clear answers. That is the magic of a master of nuance.
Photo shared by Manasi (cute.manasi)
Nandini:A rare moment: Amidst all the giggling and the crooked pigtail and the pouting at her brothers and the melting in front of her pita Maharaj, poor Shweta got next to no chance to show off her acting chops. There was, however, one shot which hinted at what she could do if she got the opportunity. This was when her Tun Tun bhabhi - having had Newton's law of gravity demonstrated for her benefit in the classical manner, with a falling apple😉 - told her exasperatedly that a year later she would not be in Pataliputra to play such tricks on her.
Nandini's laughing face goes suddenly still. The eyes widen, but they do not seem to be focussing on anything. They look disturbed and uncomprehending. It is as if she were trying to peer into the future that had just been predicted for her, and it did not look at all pleasant. It was a neat bit of emoting, very nicely done.
The precap: With the two duellists at work, this closely resembled a Pantene Plus shampoo ad, seeing the quantity of wavy hair on display.😉 If one had to choose a winner, I would go with Chandragupta!
Pot pourri: Humour intentional and unintentional :
-Alexander's Bucephalus having far more good sense than its master, and jibbing so violently as he tries to cross into Bharatvarsha that he first gets thrown clean off.
-The chests full of tacky looking gold, pearls and assorted jewellery used by Alexander to buy up King Ambhi of Takshashila and his fellow rajas were very likely loot from his Persian campaign on the way from Greece to India.
- Nandini and her sakhis dressing up as men to trap the (pseudo) Parvathak Malayaketu. That was the sort of thing was Asha Parekh's specialty in the 1960s and 1970s films, and she had the same round face like this Nandini, which was not at all credible being passed off as a man's face!
-Dhananand's Tun Tun of a wife, clearly the CVs' idea of comic relief. It is again exactly like the 1960s and 1970s films, which always had a fat girl in the college picnic party who had to pushed into the bus sideways and dragged out the same way, as otherwise she would get stuck. I detested those scenes even in those politically incorrect days. Now, 40 years later, to see the same thing in a current TV serial is bizarre.
-Apples in the palace gardens at Pataliputra? Must be a fruit grower's paradise!
- Adivasis, of course of the nirdosh kind, waiting to be rescued from a location near Takshashila? Must be an anthropologist's dream come true! 😆
Question: From where does Chanakya produce the resources to equip Chandragupta, and his necessary retinue, sufficiently grandly for him to be able to pass himself off as Prince Parvathak Malayaketu?
Whatever the truth of that might be, I loved the way in which Chanakya summarily squashed Malayaketu's desire to go to Pataliputra for the swayamvar of Nandini, and reminded him that in the Takshashila gurukul, only his decisions counted and he had refused his permission.Now if only he would force him to wear the standard saffron uniform as well!
Much fun and games awaits us tonight, folks, as Chandragupta finds himself, for the first time ever, in such close proximity to a very pretty young woman!
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: Another Mura-free episode last night. The CVs are really spoiling us!😉
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
