Chandra Nandini 61-70: Mrigtrishna? - Page 3

Originally posted by: amina1

I see a lot of comfort level between the lead both on off screen and Im really liking the nayi soch girl falling for boy right now he's indeed a boy unless he makes a u turn 😲

Originally posted by: amina1

We had jallu becoming lap puppy and here chandu lost every bit of sense he had and poor boy hasnt even realised hes in love

Jallu at least knew he was in love 😆 heraan pareshaan episodes were dished out with

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Welcome back Periyamma and wishing you better health 🤗

mrigtrishna, or a mirage.

I never realised... have heard the word... but never bothered to look it up... now, I know..

That is exactly what it felt like to me at least, to have all this junk dumped on me after the high expectations stirred up by an unexpectedly charming interlude at the Takshashila ashram , followed by two incredibly beautiful scenes between our lead pair, of a quality rarely seen on TV. Well, quality is probably not what makes for high TRPs, and show business runs on TRPs. I can understand that.

Like AKT.JA had mentioned, the Mathura tracks after Badal Kajri😉

When one sits down to a meal, there is always a debate as to which to eat first, what one likes the best, or what one likes the least, to get that over and done with before moving on one's favourites. I choose the former, for unpalatable fare spoils the taste of even the most delicious offerings that follow.

I prefer the former too... but only because when I enjoy the first half of any meal the most... by the time I've reached half way through, I'm fullish... so don't want to fill the best part of my tummy with less-palatable fare.

You've unleashed the foodie in me again😔

Part 1: Promise abounding

Episodes 61-62

DDLJ rebooted: This was pure joy, especially Rajat's Chandra in an extended leg pulling spree that has him mouthing such side-splitting lines as Mujhe to kehte hue bhi lajja aa rahi hai!...Aise baath mat karo nahin to main kisi ko muh dikhane yogya nahin rahoonga! He went to town in style, with perfect comic timing that had me laughing non stop. It was equally delightful to see the way his teasing comes to an abrupt halt and his face melts in sudden regret when Nandini starts weeping. Or the comic half smile that twists his mouth as she storms off in the end.

Adorable!

New found camaraderie: A very important point for this show is that Chandra and Nandini now make a strikingly handsome pair.Plus they are by now completely at ease with each other, and she has developed an instinctive dependence on his presence as something to which she can hold on no matter how sticky the situation might be.

We'd discussed this point previously too, hadn't we? About she becoming 'dependant' on his presence... for good, bad or worse...

Thus, at several points during the final round of the exam and the award ceremony, Nandini turns back repeatedly towards Chandra seeking support, reassurance, and appreciation, which he provides unfailingly.

she looks across at him, exactly like a child coming first in class and looking to the parent for his reaction, and smiles broadly when he nods in silent approbation.

yes, we spoke of this too -

I'd equate them to being very good buddies at this point... the first bonds of camaraderie... like the first pista-sprinkled scoop of a rasmalai

There was also a very subtle shift in Chandra's expression when Jayant is declared the winner by Chanakya. His mouth relaxes very, very slightly in a trace of a smile, and the eyes reflect the same feeling. It was fascinating.

Then there is the lovely little snippet where he offers Nandini his hands as a stirrup to help her get on to the horse. It was a very unusual, yet not at all a lover-like gesture, more one of a friend to another. I loved the way in which she looks at his linked hands very seriously, then places her hand in his and guides his hand to the neck of the horse, so that he can help her get on to its back. Chandra is clearly taken aback, but his expression is hard to read. I never expected such an imaginative bit to pop up out of the blue!👏

You clearly loved this part a lot... but it feels just as nice reading it from you again...

Nandini was here most likely trying to rationalize her going against her father and saving Chandra.

Small steps..

The real purpose of this sequence, was of course to make Nandini realise that regardless of her determination to secure pratishodh for the killings of her brothers, when push comes to shove, she does not really want Chandra to die.

Exactly!

Episode 63

After I had digested Chandra's being shot (pun intended!) upwards in a gravity defying manner that would have sent Isaac Newton scurrying back to re-research his law of gravity, 😉

ROFL

She does it very competently, both in terms of the scripting, and that of her performance. She is clearly a very courageous, reliable and resourceful helpmate when the going gets rough.

Yes... the bullock cart was a neat trick by the CVs...

In her constant calls to him to try and get him to recover consciousness, Chandra! Chandra!, as his head lolls in her lap, one can feel her desperate determination to make sure that no matter what, he does not succumb. What a 180 degrees change this is from what she wanted just days earlier!

Exactly

Then there is Malayaketu, ruminating hopefully about Chandra's imminent demise, with his satisfaction showing in such a stupid and overt manner that it sets one's teeth on edge. The fellow has clearly never heard of putting on an act. 😡

Things haven't changed for aasthaana villains like Adham Khan (borrowing Saraswathi Periyamma's lines😆) who have to 'SHOW' their delight instead of letting the audience work it out for themselves.

Magic in the air:

Chandra - There is a sort of confusion in the look, but also an unspoken question - Why did you do all this for me? And a dim, dawning light - of gladness? I am not sure. He seems too tired for that.

I am on this magic ride with you... and just enjoying the scene through your words/eyes... have underlined all those parts I specially loved

Nandini - literally lit up from inside, her sheer relief and gladness bubbling out in the tone of her Chandra! Raises her eyes and looks Chandra full in the face. There is no shyness in those eyes, no reticence, no overt rejoicing as earlier.There is only a stillness, and something else. A kind of silent communion. Her gaze is steady and it never wavers. It is as if her eyes were clinging to his.

If SBP read this, she would be blushing... 😉

Her eyes clinging to his - have never read this one before - provides very powerful imagery...

As if, for those 30 seconds, the two of them are in a bubble all of their own, from which the external world has been shut out.

This is the beauty of attraction!😳

Quite extraordinary. There is nothing like a near death situation for clarifying confused feelings!

Totally agree😊

Magic renewed: The opening scene is delightfully comic to begin with, with Chandra's decidedly alarmed expression as Nandini bears down on him seeking the explanation' for a difficult sloka, and then the fake insouciance with which he tries to bluff his way thru that sticky patch, vying for top honours😉. A deadpan Nandini plays along perfectly with her mock seriousness.

Cute...

The way in which Chandra's eyes follow her, regardless of Helena literally looming over him at that moment!

Very difficult (even for a near-saint) to control two aspects about himself, when there is a person in his vicinity he's attracted to

One - the pulse😉

two - the eyes!😉

Btw Periyamma what's adhayayan?😕

It is not the entranced gaze of a lover, nor even the concerned, empathetic look of one friend supporting another. It is a questing, half curious, half impressed expression, the look of a debater

How much you observe each and every frame... each and every expression and then to try to write it down with such colourful descriptive prose... 👏

Instead she proceeds by the demonstration route, climbing across the bed and coming right next to him, and then placing her hand lightly on his wound.

AWWW😳

For these two, time is standing still , and the rest of the world has receded and left them in a gossamer cocoon of their own making.

Masterful!!!👏

It was such a mesmerizing scene that I was entranced all over again, and my hopes for what lay ahead soared in proportion. time starts moving once again.

Underlined - Excellent wording of an anticlimactic climax!👏

They are able to project that air of total, mesmerized absorption in each other that lies at the core of the divine passion. We can thus hope to (eventually) see something very special.

Part 2: Promise belied

Chandra 1 and Chandra 2: This sudden attack of schizophrenia, almost like the onset of a split personality disorder, or The Two Faces of Chandra ( a riff on the title of the classic film, The Three Faces of Eve) in Chandragupta Maurya is by far the worst aspect of the dumbing down of the script over this period.

There is , till Episode 64a, a thoughtful, considerate, intelligent (well, at least from time to time, as when he solved the mystery of Durdhara's fall by himself😉) and fair-minded ruler and man, whom I have named Chandra 1.

Chandra 2 is stupid, clueless, egotistic, and almost sadistic in his treatment of Nandini. Such grey cells as he still possesses seem to be in a state of permanent hibernation. 😡

You sound thoroughly frustrated about the characterisation of CGM over the past week... and rightfully so...

Why on earth would Nandini, who could have sent that letter to Malay at any time thru a daasi, be so stupid as to plant it in a bowl of laddus? But of course this simple piece of reasoning would never occur to Chandra 2.

As for Malayaketu, if any man had said to another about the latter's wife what he says to Chandra about Nandini, he would have ended up with a black eye and a bleeding lip. But apna Chandra 2 swallows that arrant impertinence without any reaction, and only charges faster than before towards Nandini's rooms.

how on earth did the two of them manage to read Nandini's heart and mind in such detail.

At this point, any man with an ounce of commonsense would have asked Helena why then did Nandini save his life just the other day, when she could very easily have let him die? It would have brought Helena up short, and would have spiked her guns for a while at least. But this simple question never occurs to our Chandra 2.

absolutely agree!

Endless folly: From then on, he goes from one benighted instance of crude behaviour towards Nandini to another.

When Nandini, driven by a fit of girlish anticipation in the idea of pleasing him - the sudden lighting up of her eyes at the very thought is delightful ! - trots across to his room with an armful of books, and very unaffectedly and sweetly offers to read them to him if he so wishes, he rebuffs her with a fury that makes her recoil in shock and almost paralyses her.

Nandini's supposed love for Malayaketu takes over and, feeding on itself, simply will not let go of him.

I loved this - not the drama - but the way you've worded how 'this invisible monster feeds on itself'..

When she asks him that piercingly pertinent question, as to what is actually making him so angry, the raj ghoshana or the Malayaketu angle, he loses it completely, and rants like there is no tomorrow...

Sometimes frustration brings out the funniest sides to us... 😆

Instead, he becomes the judge, the jury and the jailor all rolled into one, and declares that he knows that what he is saying is the truth.

😕

He made me feel sick. If I had been in Nandini's place, faced with such a gross insult to her honour as a woman, I would have slapped Chandra twice as hard as Roopa slaps Helena. 😡Unfortunately, Nandini is not the slapping kind.

the Mauryan equivalent of Jalal's bull with head lowered and about to charge stance for expressing fury, which I have critiqued so often in my Jodha Akbar posts. It simply does not suit Rajat, who can handle icy fury so well when he wants to, and it does nothing for Chandra as a character, to put it mildly.

Mukut farce and its conclusion: At the end of this, one thing is clear, that Chandra 2 is a champion ullu.

There were a few who'd believed that CGM had 'some' trick up his sleeve - but our dearest Sandy Begum (many times bitten so very very shy😛) was steadfast in her stance that that was not the case... and that he is being just that - an ullu. (like was in Tasneem and Benazir track)

Of course, I agreed with her though didn't voice it openly😉.

After all, it is the same set of makers who made JA and now CN.

Personally, I am of the opinion that neither Jalal nor CGM have done anything in the likes of the Sukanya marriage track - where the man dealt with and wrapped up a multilayered-problem with one clean sweep - neat and precise. A rare example where an Indian TV male lead tackled the issue singlehandedly - without using the female lead's help and without losing his cool - thus coming out shining like musk! (roses would be too feminine...)

And not just for his ranting at Nandini, but also, and even more so for the incomprehensibly extravagant, over the top promises he makes Helena - including that not just all the powers of running the palace, but he himself would, from now on, be all hers - within Nandini's earshot purely in order to make her jealous. He set my teeth on edge with all that insane babbling.😡

😆

Descent into near sadism:The affair of the sej was one segment where, having by now got used to Chandra 2's unrelenting stupidity and crassness, which has here descended into something perilously close to pure sadism, the person I felt like clouting was not him but Nandini. 😡

She looked so much like a lost little girl that despite my acute irritation, my heart went out to the poor thing.

Enter Chandra 2. His opening assertion of his version of satya manages to drive Nandini into making the one move she has avoided till then, a self-condemnatory confession that yes, she loves Malayaketu. It is exactly like the time when she makes a false confession that it was she who had engineered Durdhara's fall on the stairs.

There is something in her make up which makes her snap at a point when she can take no more of humiliation, and just wants out, even if this is by falsely incriminating herself in order to put an end to the torture. It is stupid, and she shortchanges herself to no purpose, but that is just the way she is.

Of course all this is only for drama... but, the thing is... this was an era where a confession was equivalent to a triple-DNA evidence today... so people never confessed (unless they were tortured into a confession)

A queen might be locked up in a tower for 5 years, 10 years, lifetime etc... but, she would never confess - even out of sheer frustration... one because of pride, two because it would effectively mean the end...

To sum things up bluntly, I had looked forward to Chandra doing an Othello in his jealous rage, or a Jalal in his Shakespearian heights sequence at the end of the Sujamal track, when he turned himself inside out in uncontrollable, self-destructive agony. I do not know about you folks, but what I got was a Shashi Kapoor take on a suspicious husband from a 1970s film! Poor Rajat, and even more so, poor me!

🤣

A peek ahead:

Chandra, riddled by guilt, will now go looking for Nandini.

Mathura ishtyle!

The precap itself should have put paid to the hopeful theory that he drives her out deliberately hoping that she will lead him to Nand. It is no such thing.

To revert, Nandini, even though she is not weighed down by anything as substantial as Jodha Begum's bronze Kanha😉😉 , would have collapsed artistically under the load of her grief, somewhere outside the palace, still hugging that potli.

Books😉

The spoiler about Malayaketu's molesting her and her fainting can fit neatly into this scenario. For Chandra will miraculously spot her despite having no idea in which direction she has wandered off.😉

He will then lug her back to the palace in his patented style, in his arms. He must be a tad out of practice, not having had to do that for days now, not since the exam days at the gurukul in Takshashila, so it will do him some good to get back into carrying form!😉

🤣

Next, he will start hanging around her rooms monitoring her recovery while Helena damages her tooth enamel by grinding her teeth in rage!😆

😆

Standout scene: Chandra-Chanakya: It is in this marvellous segment that I got back my Rajat, and I rejoiced! His dissolving into a puddle of helpless regret , the inimitable expression in his eyes and face as he exclaims, almost involuntarily, Aur waise bhi, wo Malay ko chahti hai!, were a tour de force.👏

His justification for pardoning Avantika is pure nonsense - at this rate all married women could get away with murder !

Agree!

But by the end of it, his eyes are brimming over with misery, and Chanakya spots that at once. He canes Chandra not to punish him but to test him, and his experiment succeeds, whence his parting warning to his shishya to take himself in hand while there is still time.

I would not blame Chanakya for that. He sees his life's mission of creating an Akhand Bharat endangered because of his star pupil's dangerous obsession, and naturally he moves to nip this threat in the bud if he can. It is another matter that he cannot pull it off.

There was a lot of uproar about the caning... but you seem to find it justified both as Chanakya and CGM's dilemma after that too.. 😊

It is in the ending snippet that Rajat is at his very best. As he exclaimes in confusion, Kya ho raha hai mujhe?, and wonders if perhaps his Acharya was not right after all, his face is a study in helpless indecision and misery.

It was a remarkable performance; something to remember for a long time.👏👏

Beautiful experience, Periyamma... thank you for gifting us this... 🤗