Chandra Nandini 56-60:Dawnbreak

Next, I see that the last time I did a post, albeit only a mini one, was 2 weeks ago, but it feels like forever! This probably shows how much I am attached to all of you, my gentle readers, so much so that I have withdrawal symptoms when I am away from the forum and from you for a while. But these days, it is my RA which prevails, and I had a very bad flare up these 2 last weeks.

It seems to be receding a bit, so I am going to give this post my best shot while this lasts. But the time is already past 11 pm - it is only now that our guests have retired - so I do not think I will be able to finish it tonight. This will be Part 1, and the rest will follow tomorrow as Part 2.

The title is an indication of how I feel about Chandra Nandini this last week, which was Week 12. After the script yo-yoing for several weeks between surprisingly well written scenes and characters, and the abysmal versions thereof, often both in the same episode, I was driven to name my last full post Theatre of the absurd. Week 11 was only a slight improvement, for though it had some excellent scenes that gladdened my heart, they were bogged down in a sea of often crass melodrama, centred for the most part on Malayaketu's villainy and Chandragupta's strange credulousness in swallowing his pretensions, echoed even more strangely by Chanakya. It was only with this last week that the light of dawnbreak has begun to spread over the script, the actors, and the show as a whole.

Before I begin with the standout scenes, that too in reverse order, starting with Episode 60, I wanted to share with you some positives about Chandra Nandini that occurred to me, ranging from the trivial to the substantive. It is an indicative list, and you folks might like to think of some more positives to add to it.

-The latest montage is very nice, with the classic pose beloved of royal portraiture:the graceful, bright-eyed queen in the front, a very slight smile quivering on her lips, and the remote, cool king just behind her, eyes level and unreadable, mouth firm and unyielding, the whole pose that of one totally in control. We are free at last of the nari shakti and nayi soch affliction of a solo Nandini montage of the chimerical warrior princess.😉

-The title chant. Blessedly, this does not exist. After months and months of enduring Jodhaaa Akkkbar!, or Ashoka hai, Ashoka hai!, it is a real relief to have a silent montage!😉

- It is Chandragupta who gives the bhashans - like the one about the need for the king to retain a sense of balance, and be ready to apologise to anyone he has wronged - and not, as is the SOP in an Ekta serial, the mahaan heroine. Nandini has not as yet branched out into this area, and I hope she never does. Chandra would tackle any such bhashans as might be forthcoming much better, and the hero will, for once, get some brownie points and a thin coat of gilt on his persona!😉

-Till now, the equation between Chandragupta and Nandini is not tilted heavily in her favour, nor has any attempt been made as yet to show her as determinedly flawless, and as a preceptor to Chandragupta in assorted matters within and without her ken.

In fact, it is he who dominates most of the time, most recently as the strict Mauryan Henry Higgins to her Eliza Doolittle (both of My Fair Lady fame). He admires her courage and her intelligence, pushes her to use the latter and come thru the very tough exam of the Takshashila gurukul, and lauds her as a sampoorna stree, but this is without any of the sense of subordination of the hero that was so characteristic of the Jalal-Jodha equation, with its perennial Jodha Begum kabhi galat nahin ho saktin mantra.

Instead, Chandra often teases Nandini with relish, as after the daasi auction, and she is left without any comeback. And his handling of her fits and starts, many like those of a nervous filly, at the Baalgram Ashram (apparently a branch of the Takshashila gurukul that is much closer to Pataliputra), is masterly and a delight to behold!

-Rajat has, in this role, a far greater range of emotions and expressions to explore than he had in the only other outing in which I have seen him, as Jalal. The comic segments abound, and he attacks them with lip smacking relish; the Henry Higgins track is a superb example of this. But even a snippet, like the one where he expatiates on the indispensability of daasis for a royal establishment, is rendered side-splitting by the mischief that bubbles in his eyes as he comes out with sabse mahatvapoorna, snaan kaun karayega? 😉

-After a long spell of mediocre showings which made one despair of her touted acting prowess, Shweta's Nandini has begun to show distinct improvement. I am not yet ready to give her high marks - she fell down in that seminal scene in Episode 58 that I shall be taking up here, and her tic of biting her lower lip and widening her eyes under any and all circumstances continues - but she is getting to be far better than earlier, and one can now breathe a little easier.

Saanjha snaan (Episode 60): OK, that is enough of my list. Let us get on with the standout scenes, beginning with, what else, the absolutely delightful, 05:43 minute segment of Chandra and Nandini trying to bathe in the same enclosure while strictly preserving the proprieties, which had me, and you too, I am sure, rolling in the aisles.🤣

It was like a slomo version of a Charlie Chaplin classic silent movie segment. Beginning with the moment when Chandra trundles the shell-shocked but helpless Nandini into the bathing shed meant for two, to the closing shot of the two of them fixing their false beards and moustaches, it was one long round of pure comedy, all the more effective for being wordless.

There is Chandra's monastic effort to keep his word and not look back at Nandini in her deshabille, no matter how she drags her feet on the cold water snaan, or what sort of mess she creates with sandalwood paste or whatever it is that she drops.

This reaches its comic apogee when she slips and lands, as usual, on top of him, and he, catching an unintended glimpse of her undies, is shocked into promptly and tightly closing his eyes, and refusing to open them till she has taken herself off. 😆This was such an unexpected inversion of the genders in this kind of scene that I was in stitches!

The way in which Nandini periodically reaches out backwards and prods Chandra's midriff to attract his attention. The way in which she nods obediently after he has dunked her in cold water, and then proceeds to do what she could not get herself to do till then, take a really cold bath!

I am not going into what must have had 90% of the female viewers in ecstasy: the thoroughgoing display of the results of Rajat's very serious gymming over several months. It has clearly been very effective, and as for me, I was pleased to see, with his bedsheet dupatta now reduced to manageable proportions and leaving both shoulders free, that he looks extremely trim and sleek.

Finally, the look of total relief on both their faces when they have got thru the ordeal in good shape, with Chandra looking the more relieved of the two! 😉

All in all, a peach of a scene, conceived, directed and enacted to perfection.

I will pass over the rest of the episode, noting only that Nandini's ability to shut out the raging confusion stirred in her mind by Vakranaas' instructions that she should lead Chandra to his death, and to focus on the exam, and that too so successfully, was admirable. And that Chandra's barely suppressed pride in her excellent performance was delightful. It was odd, however, that he left her to her own devices after the exam ended, but for which she would never have ended up in the smashaan imbroglio.

A split level tour de force (Episode 58): This was an almost schizophrenic episode, with the two segments so sharply different in tone and mood that one did not know what to make of the lack of logic and consistency. But the quality of both the segments was outstanding, to phir aur kya chahiye? And the two lead actors played off each other exceedingly well. If, by the end, Chandra seemed to have won out, after all Rajat is a master of nuance, and the director highlights this with endless close ups of his micrometer changes of expression.

There is the initial awkwardness, the hesitant sidling up to a deliberately standoffish Nandini, the desperation in his face when she marches off with her books and he is left facing a dead end. The way in which he finally screws his courage to the sticking point (with apologies to Macbeth!) and, like a rider taking a high fence in a rush, launches abruptly into an apology. The way in which his awkwardness wears off as he begins to speak about the imperatives of rajadharma under such circumstances.

Nandini does well here, but her response shots are just about adequate. Still, she gives Chandra a way out by saying that in his place, she would have done the same thing.

Now comes the real McCoy, the fully 3 minute segment that just blew me away.

The deliberate, elegiac repetition of Yadi mein Chandra na hota, yadi tum Nandini na hoti, which seems at times too repetitive to begin with, acquires, by the end of the scene, the force and resonance of a tolling temple bell. And Rajat's Chandra reinforces this impact by delivering the exquisite lines levelly, eyes looking almost impersonal, the gaze not so much penetrating or probing as matter of fact for the most part, but at the very end, with a hidden regret in them that looks almost like longing.

Yadi ab hum is sansaar mein nahin hote..Yadi hamari paristithi kuch aur hoti..Yadi hamari kahani, hamari katha, kuch aur hote..Yadi main Chandra na hota, yadi tum Nandini na hoti..

Then the solemn, frank listing of all that divides them, the spilt blood that lies between them.. Yadi mein yeh purush na hota, yadi tum yeh stree na hoti... his eyes half closed, the gaze level but trying to make a connection with her thoughts...Tab kadachit hamari kahani kuch aur hi hoti..

Then comes the core of what he is seeking to convey to her: Kyonki, Nandini, tum mein wo saare gun hain jo ek sampoorna stree mein hone chahiye..This too as a matter of fact statement, made as much to himself as to her. The recounting of all which he had admired and still admires in her, her loyalty to her loved ones, her courage on the battlefield and off it... Yeh sab ek achche raja ke gun hain..

He reverts to the insurmountable barrier of their shared quest for revenge that will keep them apart forever. The unvoiced regret at this seeps thru the lines: Yadi hamare bhagya mein ek doosre ke liye pratishodh na hota, to avashya - note the shift to this from the earlier kadachit - hamara prarabdha kuch aur hi hota.

Then the almost bitter refrain: Parantu ab in baaton ka koyi arth nahin hai, kyonki main Chandra hoon aur tum Nandini ho..Shayad is jeevankaal mein sambhav nahin hai..Satya yahi hai ki hum donon ek doosre ke shatru hain, the, aur rahenge..Satya yahi hai ki hamare bhagya ko koyi nahin badal sakta..

Chandra is marvellous in the whole of this very demanding segment, never allowing the tone of his speech to waver and tip over into OTT posturing, and letting the unspoken regret, the almost sad sense of what might have been, seep thru into the viewer's mind without any overt stress or emphasis.

Nandini is not able to match him at all in this segment, which is a great pity. There is hardly any nuanced reaction in her face and her eyes, neither while he is speaking nor when she is thinking back about his words later.

The Henry Higgins avatar: The sudden , 180 degrees change of tone from the above to what follows immediately afterwards - for Chandra is in the same costume, so it has to be on the same day- is startling, and is left unexplained. However, as the latter half of the episode is as superb as the first, one hardly cares!

The sly look of self-satisfaction in Chandra's eyes as he leaves Nandini's room, after having planted the idea of going to the Baalgram ashram in male disguise to take the exam, is delightful.

The swar change operation would have thrown an ENT specialist into a fit😉, but the smile of pure pleasure on Chandra's face, as he watches Nandini's reaction to her new voice, is reflected in her eyes.

Equally delightful is Chandra's tutoring her on the haav bhaav, bartaav, chaal, chalan, dheel dhaal and the other traits of the male of the species, and on how she has to absorb these traits so thoroughly as to pass off convincingly as a man. If Nandini's initial exaggeratedly swaying gait - which is hardly the way she walks normally! - is played for laughs, Chandra's admonitions to her as she learns to walk like a man: Bhaybheet kyon ho?Haath seedhe, seena baahar, kandhe chaudhe, chehre par tej! , and the way in which he launches her on the path like a battleship, are so funny that one is in tears of laughter.😆

Finally, as she masters the male gait, and Chandra, arms crossed proudly, approves: Ab tum chali ek purush ki bhanti! , I was irresistibly reminded of an exhausted Eliza Doolittle finally mastering The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain!

And as Nandini's stance, arms crossed exactly like her mentor's, mirrored Chandra's own, their new found camaraderie lit up the screen.

OK, folks, this is it for Part 1. My hand is screaming blue murder, and I am too tired to read this thru and correct any mistakes. Or to send the PMs. Just go thru it, would you, and I will be back tomorrow to finish Part 2, and clean up any spelling or syntax slips in this one?

Kal phir milte hain. Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.

Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di

Chandra Nandini 56-60:Dawnbreak

Part 2

Folks,

Here we go again, to cover what I felt were the standout scenes in the 3 episodes of last week not taken up in Part 1.

I am also including a closing section on what I loved in Week 11, ie the episodes 51-55.

Episode 59: Pleasant fluff

Apart from the magisterial manner in which Chandra handles the guilty auctioneer of the 3 daasis - looking at him from under level brows with eyes as hard as agates and as keen as those of an eagle - and the genuinely comic turn he gives to his brief exchange with an angry Nandini immediately thereafter, which has been discussed already, there was nothing much till they reach the ashram.

It is noteworthy, however, that Nandini, unlike Chandra earlier, does not apologise for having thought him guilty of colluding in and fostering something so nasty as the trafficking of women. Chandra does not seem to expect her to do it either, for he contents himself with regarding her from below, eyes dancing with wicked mischief as he asks her where she is going, and then smiling with smug satisfaction when told that she is going to the ashram to give her exam.

The scene outside the Acharya's room, as they two of them await his arrival, is an extension of Chandra's Higgins act, the only striking thing being how pliable and obedient to his dictatorial instructions apni Nandini has become by now! This extends to the way in which she nods her head like an abashed schoolgirl when he tells her not to get to puffed up because the entrance test had gone off so well.

The stuff about the sleeping arrangements was like something out of a Shammi Kapoor comedy of the 1960s.

Episode 57: Holmesian tactics.

While the way in which Chandra recovers from his initial, kneejerk reaction against Nandini as the one guilty of engineering Durdhara's fall - and the two of them snarl at each other with convincing fury in the accusation segment- was most reassuring, in that it was not Chanakya's stratagem but Chandra's alone, it was the following two bits that I liked the best.

-Chandra simulates the grief of a man who has lost his unborn child most convincingly. I was reminded of an even more moving rendering of similar grief by Jalal after Ruqaiya's miscarriage, but then I reminded myself that it was a real loss and real pain that time. Now it is fake, and yet Chandra manages to make it look almost real even to those like us who know the truth.

-The Chandra-Gautami confrontation. He handles it all with assured, calculated assertiveness, with no raising of his voice, either when he is explaining his stratagem or when he finally confronts the ranting Gautami. The expression on his face , as he tells her that her plan had failed, is inimitable. His eyes are as bright as those of a bird, half pitying, half alight with quiet triumph.

I could not understand why he barks so harshly at Nandini as she voices her shock at what her Bhabhi has done, nor how the terrible punishment he swears he will impose ends up as just expulsion from the palace. She could simply wander around till one of Rakshas'spies rescues her. But I wonder if Padmanand, even were Gautami able to reach him, would be glad to see her!😉

At the very end, Chandra looks across at a bewildered and distraught Nandini. The expression in his eyes and face is very odd, one cannot make it out. Is it instant regret? Or an apology in the works? A fascinating little puzzle.

Episode 56: Blatant betrayal

The only segment that was really well conceived and enacted was the one where Nandini, after engaging in an extended internal struggle, finally decides to reveal the truth about Malayaketu's treachery to Chandra.

It was not the outcome of her move that came as a surprise, for all that it was bizarre to see Chandra suddenly producing Malayaketu like a magician bringing a rabbit out of a hat. How on earth did he know when, or even if Nandini was going to come to him with her story? Was he going to keep Malayaketu hanging around in a corner of the room indefinitely, waiting for Nandini's arrival? Nuts!😡

It was rather the trick that Chandra uses to get Nandini to come clean and reiterate her desire to be revenged on him.

It is quite startling, the way in which he moves from a request for a tel maalish - for a moment I thought Dabur Amla had joined the list of sponsors!😆 - to a display of such overt, effortless physical sensuality that no wonder poor Nandini must have felt the ambient temperature becoming uncomfortably hot! 😉He clinches the matter with the wickedly teasing Mujhe to lagta hai ki tumhein mujhse prem ho gaya hai...Tum bhi mujhe bhaane lagi ho!!

As she struggles and manages to break free of his embrace, the switch in Chandra's eyes, from the seductive to coolly contemptuous assurance, is more than dramatic.

And he roars at her from a foot away, lips drawn back in a savage snarl: Jis se mera sparsh nahin saha ja raha hai,wo mere liye chintit hone ka dhong kar raha hai?. With that, Nandini is summarily relegated to the category of those he would not trust, not now, not ever.

One feels like clobbering him for his credulousness where Malayaketu is concerned, but in this segment, in terms of the performance, Rajat's Chandra is tops.

Week 11: Episodes 51-55

Episode 55: Change of heart?

The choice of the standout section here is a no brainer.It is the two segments between Chandra and Nandini, which really form a whole though they are divided by Chandragupta's session with Chanakya and the announcement that Durdhara is expecting. And together, they could represent a certain change of attitude on Chandra's part towards Nandini, which then leads seamlessly to Week 12 and their journey to Takshashila (? The actual location of the Baalgram ashram is very confusing, judging from how quickly the couple manages to ride across!).

Let us dispose of the Durdhara-Chandra bit first. While she, liberated temporarily from the interminable foolish blabberings that are wished on her, is very convincing, it is the slow spreading delight on Chandra's face that gets to one.

There is the initial wide-eyed incredulity, giving way to the dawning realization that yes, he is to become a father, as his eyes fill with tears of joy. Then the widening smile, as he blinks the tears away , and sheer wonderment at his good fortune suffuses his face. Finally, the wordless joy in his eyes as he smiles even wider and embraces Durdhara.

In short, one of Rajat's patented MS Powerpoint presentations.

Achilles' heel: With Nandini, Part 1 is important for one revelation - from the horse's mouth, aka Chandra himself- that explains a lot of his future actions.

After Nandini's frantic nautanki of servile obedience, a reaction to his initially abrupt question as to why she is crying, Chandra - after philosophizing about the need to avoid excessive moh, in this case for Nandini wrt the death of her brothers - reveals his Achilles' heel. In an exasperated comment that seems to be wrenched out of him, he blurts out, forefinger raised for emphasis and with a despairing grimace that seems to mock at this weakness of his: Na jaane kyon, tumhein rota hua dekhta hoon to mujhse saha nahin jaata!

This then is why he gets the idea of making her take the exam at the Takshashila gurukul, to divert her mind from the grief at the death of her brothers, and thus secure his own peace of mind.

Though the segment ends with Nandini reverting to her real self, to Chandra's relief - he shakes his head at the impossibility of making her see things as they are - a seminal point has been made.

Part 2 follows from this. The collecting and dumping of all the books in Nandini's lap, the announcement that she can take the exam studying from Pataliputra itself, all are linked to this one central fact, that Chandra cannot bear Nandini to be visibly unhappy.

His parting line voices the hope that this shiksha would teach her to ascertain the truth about himself and about her father. But as she insists on having the last word, raising tear-filled eyes to his, he is once again pushed on to the backfoot. As he leaves, he looks distinctly troubled and uncertain.

For once, Nandini too was very good, especially in the very last snippet, where she also managed to look beautiful.

Episode 54: Aversion to prem

Well, most of the episode looked and sounded as if there was nothing else on everyone's minds but to emphasise that Chandra's hriday had gone AWOL a long time ago, and stayed that way😉Chandra too underlines this conviction by sending up a heartfelt request to the Almighty to keep prem as far away from him as possible. 😉😉

Still, there was a very touching bit when Chandra is escorting Chhaya to the bridal chamber. As she says that her heart is no longer hers, as it had been given away to Satyajit, Chandra's eyes are pools of infinite sadness.He no longer argues with her about the need for her to leave her lost love behind and begin a new life. Instead, his face reflects his despair at his inability to wipe away the grief and pain that Chhaya is now suffering.

An amusing snippet: When the priest, at Chhaya's wedding, asks the kanyadaan couple to come forward, Nandini automatically moves forward, coming up short only when Chandra calls on Helena to do the honours with him. Kya baat hai!😉

But why not Durdhara? Odd.

Episode 53: Nil

Episode 52: Double domination

I loved the Chandra-Helena confrontation. She is really in the right, and what he says in the end - that her revenge was over the minute he defeated Padmanand and Malayaketu and she thus became what she had wanted to be, the Maharani of Magadha - is a fudge. There was a second part to his agreement with her, to bring Malayaketu to her feet so that she could take her revenge on him, and this part has now fallen by the wayside.

Chandra has now learnt the fine art of sophistry. Instead of honestly accepting his having abandoned part 2 of the programme in his sandhi with Helena, he traps her in a web of words, that ends up making her look unreasonable and a hindrance to his functioning as the Samrat.

When he concludes by stating, with a cold emphasis in his words which is reflected in his eyes and on his face, Ab tum Magadha ki Maharani aur meri patni ho.Tum apne pati aur Maharaj ke nirnay ka sammaan karo!, his eyes are bright and commanding, indeed demanding, and the firm, level voice, plus the finality in the words, silence even the tempestuous Helena. Chandra nods his head to drive the point home, turns on his heel, and leaves the room.

From that moment onwards, the equation between them is changed for good, and Helena realises that. This is reflected in every scene between them from now on, as she stoops to coax and win him over, while ostentatiously affirming her total solidarity with his aims and her support for them. Never again will she make the mistake of trying to take him head on.

Episode 51: Violent grief

I loved the pyre side scene, where Chandra initially refuses to do the funeral rites for Dhananand, and has to be brought round to complying with tradition by Chanakya.

For one thing, the background chants at the beginning is very well done, a wonderful change from the usual crowlike croaking. 😡

Then the desolation on Chandra's face is heart-wrenching. The eyes clouded by grief and loss, and in the end, when he is forced to yield to his guru wrt Dhananand, lips that curl in sudden disgust. As the flames of the twin pyres cast a ruddy light on his face, his eyes look cold and vengeful.

The subsequent part, as he barges into Nandini's room and explodes in blind rage, manhandling her and swearing dire vengeance on her escapee father - whose lack of purushatva he mocks in his turn - was really violent and unpleasant. I did not like the physical shoving and hurtfulness at all, especially as Chandra had seen with his own eyes how Nandini had tried her level best to save Satyajit's life, and this should have moderated his anger towards her personally. But he is too far gone to draw such distinctions.

Nor do I like the extravagant threats Chandra makes about the punishment he will inflict on Padmanand, of a kind that would, he asserts, shock both Mahadev and Yamaraj. Especially as the latter came to nothing but the expulsion of the guilty party, Gautami, from the Pataliputra palace!

However, this criticism of the script is not to devalue Rajat's masterly handling of Chandra's uncontrollable anger and grief.

OK, folks, we have now caught up with all the highlights in the ten episodes that I had missed out on over the last 2 weeks. Tonight's was pale and pedestrian in comparison to the superb No.58. But one cannot expect to to be served kheer all the time, and should be grateful when it is not karela!😉😉

Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.

See you again soon, most likely over the coming weekend, when I will try to cover the week's 5 episodes.

Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My hand is screaming blue murder, and I am too tired to read this thru and correct any mistakes.

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Part 1

Folks,

Of course the first and most important thing is to wish you all, and your families, a happy, healthy, peaceful and fulfilling 2017!

Next, I see that the last time I did a post, albeit only a mini one, was 2 weeks ago, but it feels like forever! This probably shows how much I am attached to all of you, my gentle readers, so much so that I have withdrawal symptoms when I am away from the forum and from you for a while. But these days, it is my RA which prevails, and I had a very bad flare up these 2 last weeks.

I can understand you Shyamala!

It seems to be receding a bit, so I am going to give this post my best shot while this lasts. But the time is already past 11 pm - it is only now that our guests have retired - so I do not think I will be able to finish it tonight. This will be Part 1, and the rest will follow tomorrow as Part 2.

The title is an indication of how I feel about Chandra Nandini this last week, which was Week 12. After the script yo-yoing for several weeks between surprisingly well written scenes and characters, and the abysmal versions thereof, often both in the same episode, I was driven to name my last full post Theatre of the absurd. Week 11 was only a slight improvement, for though it had some excellent scenes that gladdened my heart, they were bogged down in a sea of often crass melodrama, centred for the most part on Malayaketu's villainy and Chandragupta's strange credulousness in swallowing his pretensions, echoed even more stran gely by Chanakya. It was only with this last week that the light of dawnbreak has begun to spread over the script, the actors, and the show as a whole.

So I have to wait a little more to read your take on it..

Before I begin with the standout scenes, that too in reverse order, starting with Episode 60, I wanted to share with you some positives about Chandra Nandini that occurred to me, ranging from the trivial to the substantive. It is an indicative list, and you folks might like to think of some more positives to add to it.

-The latest montage is very nice, with the classic pose beloved of royal portraiture:the graceful, bright-eyed queen in the front, a very slight smile quivering on her lips, and the remote, cool king just behind her, eyes level and unreadable, mouth firm and unyielding, the whole pose that of one totally in control. We are free at last of the nari shakti and nayi soch affliction of a solo Nandini montage of the chimerical warrior princess.😉

-The title chant. Blessedly, this does not exist. After months and months of enduring Jodhaaa Akkkbar!, or Ashoka hai, Ashoka hai!, it is a real relief to have a silent montage!😉

hmmm!(sigh) I am not fortunate enough to view all these from the recorded things I get in "Badtameezdil" or in "Green Network"

- It is Chandragupta who gives the bhashans - like the one about the need for the king to retain a sense of balance, and be ready to apologise to anyone he has wronged - and not, as is the SOP in an Ekta serial, the mahaan heroine. Nandini has not as yet branched out into this area, and I hope she never does. Chandra would tackle any such bhashans as might be forthcoming much better, and the hero will, for once, get some brownie points and a thin coat of gilt on his persona!😉

-Till now, the equation between Chandragupta and Nandini is not tilted heavily in her favour, nor has any attempt been made as yet to show her as determinedly flawless, and as a preceptor to Chandragupta in assorted matters within and without her ken.

In fact, it is he who dominates most of the time, most recently as the strict Mauryan Henry Higgins to her Eliza Doolittle (both of My Fair Lady fame). He admires her courage and her intelligence, pushes her to use the latter and come thru the very tough exam of the Takshashila gurukul, and lauds her as a sampoorna stree, but this is without any of the sense of subordination of the hero that was so characteristic of the Jalal-Jodha equation, with its perennial Jodha Begum kabhi galat nahin ho saktin mantra.

Shyamala, you have also inadvertantly (?) started to compare this show with the earlier one..😉.We must remember that it is only 60 episodes old...And it is the same PH...

Instead, Chandra often teases Nandini with relish, as after the daasi auction, and she is left without any comeback. And his handling of her fits and starts, many like those of a nervous filly, at the Baalgram Ashram (apparently a branch of the Takshashila gurukul that is much closer to Pataliputra), is masterly and a delight to behold!

Nandini's behaviour is also similar to other heroines of Ekta..Doubting the king without waiting to see what happens in the end...Remember Jodha in Jalal's Dharbar where he sentences the parents of the little boy ...but later withdraws it out of sympathy over that boy..

-Rajat has, in this role, a far greater range of emotions and expressions to explore than he had in the only other outing in which I have seen him, as Jalal. The comic segments abound, and he attacks them with lip smacking relish; the Henry Higgins track is a superb example of this. But even a snippet, like the one where he expatiates on the indispensability of daasis for a royal establishment, is rendered side-splitting by the mischief that bubbles in his eyes as he comes out with sabse mahatvapoorna, snaan kaun karayega? 😉

One thing I do not understand about how Chandragupt is portrayed.. He is shown as a very serious person in his younger days, groomed as a serious person by his Acharya, seen as a serious person by and with Helena initially and subsequently.. The only place where he shows his lighter mood is in the few scenes with Dhurdara..At least she is his childhood friend..But this Nandini is his arch enemy and where is the special occasion that has made his mind take a UTurn in favour of her? He is already aware of her attachment towards her father and brothers and had seen and heard about her love for books..Even after that he considered her as his enemy to be kept at a distance.. though not to be eliminated.. In fact his Acharya advises him to use her as a trump card to bring Nand and Dhan out from their hiding place..Then how come he is shown as taking keen interest in her advanced studies and taking the prohibited step of making her, a female, sit for the examination in a strictly male-oriented Institute?

-After a long spell of mediocre showings which made one despair of her touted acting prowess, Shweta's Nandini has begun to show distinct improvement. I am not yet ready to give her high marks - she fell down in that seminal scene in Episode 58 that I shall be taking up here, and her tic of biting her lower lip and widening her eyes under any and all circumstances continues - but she is getting to be far better than earlier, and one can now breathe a little easier.

May be Chandra will groom her facial expressions and voice modulations like Prof Higgins..and make her Pukka..😉

Saanjha snaan (Episode 60): OK, that is enough of my list. Let us get on with the standout scenes, beginning with, what else, the absolutely delightful, 05:43 minute segment of Chandra and Nandini trying to bathe in the same enclosure while strictly preserving the proprieties, which had me, and you too, I am sure, rolling in the aisles.🤣

No Shyamala.. I , being older to you by a decade, am not able to roll on the floor and laugh..😉 if they have taken these scenes keeping the starry eyed romantics in mind ..

It was like a slomo version of a Charlie Chaplin classic silent movie segment. Beginning with the moment when Chandra trundles the shell-shocked but helpless Nandini into the bathing shed meant for two, to the closing shot of the two of them fixing their false beards and moustaches, it was one long round of pure comedy, all the more effective for being wordless.

There is Chandra's monastic effort to keep his word and not look back at Nandini in her deshabille, no matter how she drags her feet on the cold water snaan, or what sort of mess she creates with sandalwood paste or whatever it is that she drops.

SBS said it was multani mitti..

This reaches its comic apogee when she slips and lands, as usual, on top of him, and he, catching an unintended glimpse of her undies, is shocked into promptly and tightly closing his eyes, and refusing to open them till she has taken herself off. 😆This was such an unexpected inversion of the genders in this kind of scene that I was in stitches!

The way in which Nandini periodically reaches out backwards and prods Chandra's midriff to attract his attention. The way in which she nods obediently after he has dunked her in cold water, and then proceeds to do what she could not get herself to do till then, take a really cold bath!

I am not going into what must have had 90% of the female viewers in ecstasy: the thoroughgoing display of the results of Rajat's very serious gymming over several months. It has clearly been very effective, and as for me, I was pleased to see, with his bedsheet dupatta now reduced to manageable proportions and leaving both shoulders free, that he looks extremely trim and sleek.

Finally, the look of total relief on both their faces when they have got thru the ordeal in good shape, with Chandra looking the more relieved of the two! 😉

All in all, a peach of a scene, conceived, directed and enacted to perfection.

A very detailed description of the scene, Shyamala

I will pass over the rest of the episode, noting only that Nandini's ability to shut out the raging confusion stirred in her mind by Vakranaas' instructions that she should lead Chandra to his death, and to focus on the exam, and that too so successfully, was admirable. And that Chandra's barely suppressed pride in her excellent performance was delightful. It was odd, however, that he left her to her own devices after the exam ended, but for which she would never have ended up in the smashaan imbroglio.

A split level tour de force (Episode 58): This was an almost schizophrenic episode, with the two segments so sharply different in tone and mood that one did not know what to make of the lack of logic and consistency. But the quality of both the segments was outstanding, to phir aur kya chahiye? And the two lead actors played off each other exceedingly well. If, by the end, Chandra seemed to have won out, after all Rajat is a master of nuance, and the director highlights this with endless close ups of his micrometer changes of expression.

There is the initial awkwardness, the hesistant sidling up to a deliberately standoffish Nandini, the desperation in his face when she marches off with her books and he is left facing a dead end. The way in which he finally screws his courage to the sticking point (with apologies to Macbeth!) and, like a rider taking a high fence in a rush, launches abruptly into an apology. The way in which his awkwardness wears off as he begins to speak about the imperatives of rajadharma under such circumstances.

Nandini does well here, but her response shots are just about adequate. Still, she gives Chandra a way out by saying that in his place, she would have done the same thing.

Now comes the real McCoy, the fully 3 minute segment that just blew me away.

The deliberate, elegiac repetition of Yadi mein Chandra na hota, yadi tum Nandini na hoti, which seems at times too repetitive to begin with, acquires, by the end of the scene, the force and resonance of a tolling temple bell. And Rajat's Chandra reinforces this impact by delivering the exquisite lines levelly, eyes looking almost impersonal, the gaze not so much penetrating or probing as matter of fact for the most part, but at the very end, with a hidden regret in them that looks almost like longing.

Yadi ab hum is sansaar mein nahin hote..Yadi hamari paristithi kuch aur hoti..Yadi hamari kahani, hamari katha, kuch aur hote..Yadi main Chandra na hota, yadi tum Nandini na hoti..

Then the solemn, frank listing of all that divides them, the spilt blood that lies between them.. Yadi mein yeh purush na hota, yadi tum yeh stree na hoti... his eyes half closed, the gaze level but trying to make a connection with her thoughts...Tab kadachit hamari kahani kuch aur hi hoti..

Then comes the core of what he is seeking to convey to her: Kyonki, Nandini, tum mein wo saare gun hain jo ek sampoorna stree mein hone chahiye..This too as a matter of fact statement, made as much to himself as to her. The recounting of all which he had admired and still admires in her, her loyalty to her loved ones, her courage on the battlefield and off it... Yeh sab ek achche raja ke gun hain..

He reverts to the insurmountable barrier of their shared quest for revenge that will keep them apart forever. The unvoiced regret at this seeps thru the lines: Yadi hamare bhagya mein ek doosre ke liye pratishodh na hota, to avashya - note the shift to this from the earlier kadachit - hamara prarabdha kuch aur hi hota.

Then the almost bitter refrain: Parantu ab in baaton ka koyi arth nahin hai, kyonki main Chandra hoon aur tum Nandini ho..Shayad is jeevankaal mein sambhav nahin hai..Satya yahi hai ki hum donon ek doosre ke shatru hain, the, aur rahenge..Satya yahi hai ki hamare bhagya ko koyi nahin badal sakta..

Bold above:

I do not know why, but it reminds me of:

"Hum humara ek doosre se hi wajood hai ..aapke bina hum nahin hai aur hamare bina aap nahin hai."

Chandra is marvellous in the whole of this very demanding segment, never allowing the tone of his speech to and tip over into OTT posturing, and letting the unspoken regret, the almost sad sense of what might have been, seep thru into the viewer's mind without any overt stress or emphasi

Nandini is not able to match him at all in this segment, which is a great pity. There is hardly any nuanced reaction in her face and her eyes, neither while he is speaking nor when she is thinking back about his words later.

The Henry Higgins avatar: The sudden , 180 degrees change of tone from the above to what follows immediately afterwards - for Chandra is in the same costume, so it has to be on the same day- is startling, and is left unexplained. However, as the latter half of the episode is as superb as the first, one hardly cares!

The sly look of self-satisfaction in Chandra's eyes as he leaves Nandini's room after having planted the idea of going to the Baalgram ashram in male disguise to take the exam is delightful.

The swar change operation would have thrown an ENT specialist into a fit😉, but the smile of pure pleasure on Chandra's face, as he watches Nandini's reaction to her new voice, is reflected in her eyes.

How did it come in her room?

Equally delightful is Chandra's tutoring her on the haav bhaav, bartaav, chaal, chalan, and the other traits of the male of the species, and on how she has to absorb these traits so thoroughly as to pass off convincingly as a man. If Nandini's initial exaggeratedly swaying gait - which is hardly the way she walks normally! - is played for laughs, Chandra's admonitions to her as she learns to walk like a man: Bhaybheet kyon ho?Haath seedhe, seena baahar, kandhe chaudhe, chehre par tej! , and the way in which he launches her on the path like a battleship, are so funny that one is in tears of laughter.😆

Shyamala, it is an age old technique of a girl disguising as a boy. It looks silly as to how any girl can hide her physical identity and pose as a man with attached beard for a no. of days. When every student in the Ashram is bare bodied and bare headed, this girl is seen with all these accessories . And her top looks like a modern "kurti". In villages in South India I have seen men who wear turbans( mundaasu) used to remove them and tie it around their waists and do pranams to elders, whenever they meet any elderly person...I couldn't enjoy these scenes..

I remember the review of the film "Nandanar"( 1930's) where a woman actor ( K.B.Sundarambal) was doing the role of the slave ( Nandan). She was wearing a big dupatta to cover her top. It was strongly criticised by "Kalki" who reviewed it. . So also there were women like M. S. Subhulakshmi and N.C Vasanthakokilam doing sage Naradha's role in films and also singing in female voice!

Finally, as she masters the male gait, and Chandra, arms crossed proudly, approves: Ab tum chali ek purush ki bhanti! , I was irresistibly reminded of an exhausted Eliza Doolittle finally mastering The rain in Spain falls gently on the plain.

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!

If Prof. Higgins was an Australian, it would be,

"The rine in Spine sties minely in the pline!"

And as Nandini's stance, arms crossed exactly like her mentor's, mirrored Chandra's own, their new found camaraderie lit up the screen.

OK, folks, this is it for Part 1. My hand is screaming blue murder, and I am too tired to read this thru and correct any mistakes. Or to send the PMs. Just go thru it, would you, and I will be back tomorrow to finish Part 2, and clean up any spelling or syntax slips in this one?

Babloo is here to edit it!😆

Kal phir milte hain.

The consolation!

Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di

You're posting your takes again, and all's right with the world 😆🤗 It really does feel like I haven't read your posts in ages, aunty, even though it has just been a couple of weeks.

Gentle reader...awww <3 You reminded me of one of my favourite authors, Ruskin Bond.

Loved the way you've penned these lines -

...the graceful, bright-eyed queen in the front, a very slight smile quivering on her lips, and the remote, cool king just behind her, eyes level and unreadable, mouth firm and unyielding, the whole pose that of one totally in control.

...is not tilted heavily in her favour, nor has any attempt been made as yet to show her as determinedly flawless, and as a preceptor to Chandragupta in assorted matters within and without her ken.

...handling of her fits and starts, many like those of a nervous filly, at the Baalgram Ashram (apparently a branch of the Takshashila gurukul that is much closer to Pataliputra), is masterly and a delight to behold!

The Saanjha snaan and The Henry Higgins avatar parts were soooperb⭐️. I was laughing while reading those two sections😆😆.

And the first part of a split level tour de force (Episode 58) had a lovely soulful quality. These lines, especially, were written so amazingly -

... which seems at times too repetitive to begin with, acquires, by the end of the scene, the force and resonance of a tolling temple bell.

... the gaze not so much penetrating or probing as matter of fact for the most part, but at the very end, with a hidden regret in them that looks almost like longing.

Beautiful :)

Look forward to reading the next part. But it's awful to think of you typing away when you're in so much pain. So, please take your time and don't put too much strain on your hands. 🤗