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Random musings... because they are just that...
Jumping straightaway into the middle of it all...
Then, the CVs drop in their favourite bits - Rajnikanthish Earth-shattering stomping that leads to the bee-hive being disturbed. 🤔They could have come up with something else, couldn't they?
Having said that - I thought the soldier being forced to put the paayal on the woman as a believable-enough occurrence. It was done to show the baap-beti arrogance rather than anything else. Also, this was at a time when women were not veiled or segregated from men the way they were after that. [Besides, I have heard tales about Bangle sellers (men) wrapping their fingers around the ladies' wrists to first measure the right wrist-size of a bangle before slipping the bangles on. So, cinematic liberty perhaps?]
Malayaketu-Helena
After having read many posts on how Helena is shaping out as an interesting character, I must admit, I did find her obsession with the rabbit in the introductory scene , almost freaky..
As for Malayaketu - shame on you mister, for arriving to a date, stone cold drunk.🤓 I don't know how he planned for the rest of the evening to go on, (ahem) seeing how the dude wasn't even able to stand straight for a second! Nevertheless, what better way to get him to a state of instant sobriety than the arrival of a tiger - and better still - his date playing volleyball with the wild cat?😆
On that note, I would have thought Mohan 2 would be next generation of Mohan 1... but it seems to be the other way around. 😕
And then comes the flashback of their love story (the one point where I was glad this serial moves fast) - Helena...my dear lady, you just fought, defeated and killed a tiger using a hairpin... and you fell for Malay because he caught your spear, did a few fancy moves and threw it backwards? Talk of aiming low!
Not to mention the 3rd century BC college-love story that follows, where the guy goes away for graduation and the lovelorn couple are forced to keep up with e-mails, I mean scroll-mails!
Yuvrajyabhishek
Is it me or is does anyone else feel this? In a room with numerous princes and other supposedly handsome young men, the person who stands out the most is daddy dearest Maha Padmanand himself! Does not help that he probably spends the most time at the gym. And it definitely does not help that he poses like a model with one hand on his hips most of the time! Quite un-kingly, very model-like!😛
The cat fight was errrmmm like a cat fight, I guess...🤔
And while this borrowed-for-one-scene-Rajkumari seemed fine to me, both Helena and Nandini have a long way to go before they can be termed as warrior princesses!🤔 No? By the way, Ekta, will you ever learn that audience don't need Ma Durga enforcing the fact upon them, every time a woman is 'trying' to be strong on screen?
Now thanks to the reviews here, I was mentally prepared to watch the great swords-women turn friends. Strangely enough, the scene wasn't that unbelievable either - rivals on the field are known to be great admirers of each other, off it. What made the scene look artificial though was how Nandini suddenly jumps at the opportunity of having found a new BFF and hugs her like it was a reunion of sorts! Of course, it follows with more pinching of cheeks and even more hugging later on. Please note Helena's 'subtly-startled' expressions when said cuddliness follows!😆
Kidnapping
I went awww at the scene where Chandra is torn between the two principles he must follow - save a lady, or protect his Acharya's goals. Actually, he would appear quite silly if his character hadn't been etched like a robot till this stage - but it has. It is as though he has been built and programmed for one purpose alone. So his monotone sentences, his eyes scanning the surroundings, his mind working through the options like it were a flow-chart - it all makes sense. Thus, deviating from the norm, is like a robot trying to imbibe some human qualities.
Now, where were the soldiers around the royal tents when you need them? I looked hard and I think I spotted one! Besides, these guards have been doing more cooking duties than guarding duties since the day they arrived.🤓
Nandini following Helena was noble, but the sword fight... And where did the Helena-who-killed-a-tiger-with-a-hairpin disappear off to? Because this one suddenly turned all coy Bharatiya Naari in her Bharatiya Vastra - flinching at the sight of blood and standing afar with the infamous shocked palms-on-face pose!
But then came the dude... that somehow managed to erase all the other bloopers I'd watched on my laptop screen till then. It was almost therapeutic... watching how a REAL sword fight is done... with the right kind of BGM... and without VFX! I guess this was the only advantage of Chandra was wearing a skirt - they obviously had to ditch the flying stunts due to practicalities! 😆
The flying hair.. the slo-mo jump off the horse... the swishing of metal... Oooh la la!😉
Of course, I also loved the matter-of-fact flair with which he approached the women thereon, saved Nandini, and then placed her on her bed. He took care of her on the horse because she was an entity that he had to deliver safely and that was it!
The proximity did not affect him - not one bit!😊
Now that I've finished with his positives, I have a major gripe 😡(as I can see many others do too) - why does he shoot off his mouth to anyone and everyone he sees? I guess Acharya forgot to press the 'stop talking' button in this robot during the fine-tuning process, before packing him off to the Greeks!
Chanakya
Chanakya's ploys... his get up... his scenes with Chandra.. his acting... they remain the most logical and thus the best part of the serial👏... continues to be the one thing that can pull us towards the episodes (apart from RT's ever-increasing handsomeness, of course☺️). For all the goof-ups that Chandra has been doing, I like how he doesn't even blink an eye before recognising his Acharya despite the dramatic avtaars he pops up with anywhere, and at anytime! No wonder these two have the best chemistry so far!😉
The engagement
Why is Helena roaming around this place... from one tent to the next - like it's her backyard? I wish the CVs would step-up the direction and have a few namesake maids/guards (even recycled faces will do) assigned to the royals.
I wasn't planning to spend any energy on writing something about Gautami bhabhi and how/why Dhananand puts up with her ever-so-willingly, till I saw the part where he hugs her at the end. It was so unintentionally funny - almost like how a wrestler does a chokehold around an opponent's neck!😆
After all of the drama that happens in between - the Pita-putri emotional blackmail, heroine-villain mangni, side heroine-in-the-making-of-a-vamp etc etc, we were gifted one tender moment. Between Chandra and Helena in the rain.😳
The circumstances and the scene - both were very unusual. And not only for this serial, but an unusual relationship by the standards of any serial I've seen. It wasn't romantic. It wasn't friendship. It wasn't a man trying to be gallant and chivalrous. It wasn't attraction. It wasn't a 'forced' dramatic meeting between the two. It was a casual encounter between a man, who's almost robotic in his feelings - and an adamant lady who's suffering. All it had was the sprinklings of humanity to counter her unsavoury misfortunes, but it conveyed so much more. It conveyed the kind of relationship that I take it, they will share in future! Whether friends or foe, Chandra will always have a soft-corner for this Grecian, and Helena will always have something she likes about Sandrocottus!
Well done CVs for thinking out of the box on this one... 👏
'Magadh ki raani banke dikhaaongi' Hmm futuristic words much? Somehow, by this scene, I was rooting for her.
Ok this may sound petty... 😆but one aspect I've been missing in this serial is the true grandeur that can be expected from a historical. It's almost beginning to feel like a low-budget version of Ekta's other serials (which is a shame since she has got prime slot for CN) If there was one scene that compensated in small part for this - it was the one where the women were busy comparing yards and yards of silk sarees... maybe it's the girl in me, but I liked the visual it created!
Underwater stunts
Chandra going through all that effort to slip underwater, totally undetected (of course defying a few physio-biological laws that I know of) like a handsome mermaid, to steal a Raksha kavach from Nandini - was more for dramatic effect by the CVs.😛 But it did make for a different backdrop. How timely that he swoops in and takes her most precious thing (ta dah - kavach/the heart) just when she prays to the Lord asking to be blessed with 'love'!😉
Of course, we know he did it because he's trying to get into Helena's good books.
And the positive effect of it - he stands with soaking wet hair, next moment, in Helena's tent! Sadly though, Helena terms this visual treat as 'Kyaa haalat banaa rakhaa hai 😡' instead of 'Oooh la la kyaa haalat banaa rakhaa hai'.
Then again, that's why I'm finding this Helena girl interesting - she's clearly not smitten by him. If she likes him, it's for different reasons altogether.😛
Chandra-Helena
Chandra telling Helena everything (BUT THE FACT that he wants the Greeks out of India) makes somewhat sense - he wants her trust & support.
But preaching the soldiers just outside her tent - how is that sensible?😡 Even if he didn't know she was in there, there would be others out there who could hear him or sell him out! Which is what happened. What is he trying to gain by ruining the very plans his acharya's making for him? We need to find that 'stop talking' button for this robot immediately!😡
I loved the Helena-tutoring-Sandrocottus part of it... was that spear-jousting? I really wish they'd have extended this...😭
And Chandra must be glad that the CVs decided to make this Alexander - who was obviously struggling with his Hindi phrases just as much as he was struggling with lung infection - such a kind-hearted conqueror. I'm guessing that the original would have sliced Chandra's throat in one go had he made such claims in front of the Greek conqueror! 😳
No wonder Helena impressed me in the scene that followed, more than any other scenes of hers - especially when she called him an innocent fool to his face! All the more so, in response to his 'you're unique!'😆
And yes, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the smart-looking Bharatiya vastra back on our Emperor-to-be.. with that I hope the smart-mind returns too!👏
P.S.
I'm finding Vaishali really cute... anyone else found her so? In fact, I found her the prettiest-looking of the entire female lot... casting directors wakey wakey! You made the prettiest looking girl his sister? Like really?😳
