I didn't know if I would be able to get this done... but since I had a spare half-an-hour, I wanted to.. especially because I know it feels nice to discuss with a reader, something that's hot off the press... 2 weeks later would not have the same effect, na?
Do you remember the last time you drove on a switchback road in the mountains? I was a good driver, but when I finally got out in front of a hotel to get a room, my eyes were still focussed on looking 20 yards ahead. So I walked straight into the plate glass entrance door that had been cleaned spotlessly.
I was stunned, literally, and and I split the skin over my left eyebrow. I did not realise this at all, and walked over to the reception. Surface cuts sometimes bleed very badly, and I am afraid that besides scaring the poor folks there stiff, I did not do the reception area carpet much good! I was pretty tough in those days, so after they patched me up, I drove on to Milan the next day for my date with The Last Supper. However, for that evening and night, things were bad.
Such an interesting tale!!! Truly enjoyed reading it...But what a different... hatke analogy this turned out to be... Comparing the seesawing episodes of CN with the corkscrew bends on a mountain road...👏The hundred yard stretches of easy driving and the sudden sharp bends... relating them to the nature of the episodes... Like Srividya has mentioned, this is probably one of the best and most unusual analogies describing a set of serial episodes that I've come across
Lep Scene No. 1 (these are going to be numerous, whence the advance numbering!)
😆
Especially when - after a disorienting interlude between Roopa and Chandra in the garden,
Personally, I thought the scene between Roopa and Chandra was very abrupt
we got another pleasant scene in the court, with our Odd Couple discreetly sharing their first, secret insider joke about the vaanar.
The Vaanar seems to have become a favourite for many-a-viewer😳
the vipareet vyaktitva vyadhi (clearly that old crone is a fan of alliteration!😆) .
OMG!😲
Involuntary romance: Right again, with a mehendi snippet out of the blue, The raat mein keeda sequence was another disconnected comic interlude
Agree!
Next came Roopa's serendipitous switch of the gift thalis, for which she got quite unwarranted kudos from none less than Aapama, while I forbore from asking the one pertinent question: How on earth did Roopa know about the existence of those two switchable (sic) gifts anyway?
Periyamma, your standard of language is soaring higher and higher with each take... And there's so much I get a learn from your lines and expressions...👏
OK, then comes the actual gift giving ceremony, with Nandini being praised, predictably, by daadi for the choice of Chandra's gift. The sun is shining and all is well with the world. But not for long!
😆
The gift fiasco: So we have the next crisis, with Nandini being confronted by a weepy Mura, who has taken the trouble to tog herself out in that red joda, instead of doing what any sensible female would do, ie carry it with her.😕
Exactly...And maybe that entire scene seemed all the more bizarre because it had a seemingly respectable character like Mura playing it
Nandini, following the boilerplate conventions of our TV/films
😔
Follows the unexpected straight stretch in the road, as Chandra - though not, to my regret, using his own grey cells😉 - sorts out the problem and exculpates Nandini in style.
A Street stretch indeed... After all that had happened between them, I never expected that he would be the one coming to her rescue😉
Of diyas and kumkum: Not just that, but we get a special treat in the diya scene, which is not just visually lovely , but also shows our Odd Couple indulging in a rare bit of gentle and mutually revealing conversation.
Yes Periyamma... I agree I liked that scene too... I had mentioned it in my take on the episodes in the previous thread too...😳
Unbelievably distasteful: apna Chandra sits there as if he was at a performance and waiting for the curtain to come down.
😆
he moves so glacially
masochistic parade of lacerated feelings by two individuals
👏
Chandra's question - Who are you really, Nandini? - remained unanswered, and Nandini's fine sounding lines about her hriday made no real sense at all. We are here talking only of the scripting, not the acting, be it noted.
That question-and-answer session made for some interesting discussions in the previous thread too - thanks to AKT.JA... I think the person who was meant to script the dialogues for that scene was not able to strike a balance between keeping the conversations ambiguous and at the same time powerful/hard-hitting
Incomprehensible leniency ?: after that disgraceful public exhibition, Mura is busy trying to bring her son and this disgraceful bahu closer together!!!😡
Unbelievable!
The Chandra-Malay duel was not a patch on similar scenes between the two actors that we have seen before, perhaps because Rajat is still not quite fit.
🥺 I was so disheartened to see RT fighting this way
A quadrangular confrontation:There is first Roopa's rather oomphy turn as a would be seductress with Malay - she looked quite something, stretched out languidly on his bed 😉-
The likes of Helen from Bollywood?
Nandini, instead of informing the rest about her vipareet vyaktitva vyadhi , once more whimpers that she had not done nothing. One can only conclude that the girl has lost it.😡
I don't know about Nandini, but you sound/read very cute with this red-faced smiley😆
As for Chandra, he threatens Nandini for the umpteenth time with expulsion from the palace as soon as daadi has taken herself off to Piplivan (some hope!) . His is dharti se hi nirvaasit kar doonga threat of the day before has gone with the wind.😉
What?😕Periyamma, I did not understand this bit
My poor head felt, at this point, as if I had walked into that hotel door once more.
🤣
Champagne sparkle:
Not just the confused emotionalism of the exchange of farewell gifts between Chandra and Nandini, and the packing session, but far and away the best in a long time, the bubbly champagne gaiety of the scene where Chandra announces that Nandini was not to leave at once after all. The giggly chase around the room, ending in outright, full throated hilarity all round, was a real treat to behold, so very fresh and so very appealing.👏
My personal favourite was the exchanging of the supposed-farewell gifts😃
Crass and repetitive: Chandra deliberately goes out of his way to needle Nandini by, what else, making up to Helena in a style that was so OTT as to make me reach for a stout slipper. It was so crass, so stupid and so, so repetitive. Poor Rajat, he must be sick and tired of this stuff that is wished on him!
I could have tolerated all this better if Nandini had at least put up a decent show of indifference, and just got up and walked off. But no, she has to behave like a leaky watering pot, and keep looking at the lovey-dovey pair out of the corner of her eyes. I felt like clouting her too, in fact even before Chandra. 😡
Hayooo😆
She caps this lachrymose display by walking up to Chandra to assure him that she would ensure that tumhari priya patni Helena won the competition. In her place, I would have put my chin up, and assured Chandra that I would beat Helena hollow. The girl is a certified masochist. Ugh...😡😡
😆
*NB: The Mukhya Maharani pratiyogita: Many of my readers might see no reason for the paras that follow, reasoning, logically, that no one in their senses would think of admitting Durdhara to any competition, seeing that this would inevitably reduce it to a single point pratiyogita in foolish babbling.😉
😆
Thai Sowing Festival: As for the concept of the king ploughing the field and the queen planting the seeds, I, and the bulk of the Bangkok diplomatic corps, have seen this done every year at the Spring Sowing Festival in Bangkok. After the king had finished going three times round the field behind a pair of bullocks, he used to stop. Seven bowls containing different foodgrains - rice, wheat, rye, barley etc. - were then placed before the bullocks. Depending on which grain or grains they chose to eat, the nature of the harvest for that year would be predicted by the royal priests.
This just goes to underline the traditional cultural links between India and Thailand, of which this is only a small example.
Very interesting!Never heard about it... Thanks for this bit Periyamma..😃
And I also enjoyed reading your take on daadi's reasoning behind the MMP contest...
The whole pratiyogita shindy is clearly meant to get Chandra and Nandini away from Pataliputra for a while, which is something of which I approve whole-heartedly.
The silver lining🥳
I wonder about only one thing: Roopa would have to be kept corked up in that secret room while Nandini is out of the palace. She is perennially like a tea kettle on the boil, so I am sure that her minders are going to have a tough time keeping her in line! In fact, that is one of my consistent delights these days - watching the helpless duo of Sunanda and Aapama try to cope with Roopa's uncontrollable and destructive rages, especially when they are to the detriment of Aapama's Macedonian objets d'art!😆
Again, we share the same views on this... If I choose not to look at her nails, I find her scenes quite entertaining
Chanakya: Unexpected revelations: He was mostly invisible during this period, and then took us all aback by turning up at the very end, that too with his family.
Yes... 😆 and he adopts the same stern/smile towards his wife too, but it doesn't work upon her like it works on Chandra
Now one cannot hold it against the poor man that he made the colossal mistake of marrying this shrewish female in his salad years.
Salad years? 😲 Never came across this term before!
It can happen to the wisest of men, and often does! One presumes that like Mr.Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, he was taken in by her good looks when she was young, and by the appearance of good humour which youth and good looks often produce, and by the time he realised her true nature it was too late. 😆
😆
The two females will be a welcome addition to the Pataliputra paagalkhaana, 😉 and I expect that the daughter will in due course fall for Chandra, being the 5th to do so after his three wives and Roopa. The more the merrier, and it will be interesting to see what Roopa makes of her and vice versa.
🤣
Impeccable probity:As for Chanakya's little illustration of strict probity, it reminded me of US President Harry Truman. He always kept a separate folder of 3 cent stamps, which he had paid for, in his office. His secretary used these stamps for President Truman's private letters.
👏
Nandini: Caught in a trap: About Nandini, we know one thing: she is truly, deeply, irrevocably in love with Chandra. The interesting thing about this is that contrary to my own original expectations, she does this without having learnt the truth about Padmanand. Her love for Chandra is sui generis, or swayambhu.
That is one thing everyone has to give it to her...
Unfortunately, while the onset of this grand passion has done wonders for Shweta's performance, it has not made Nandini either more sensible and practical, or happier, in fact quite the opposite. At times, one begins to wonder how anyone can have so little commonsense!😡
She makes an idiotic promise to Sunanda - the rationale offered for which by that devious female should never have fooled her - that she would not talk to Chandra or anyone else about her alleged split personality disorder, something in which she believes firmly by now.
God! It drove me up the wall, ceiling roof and chimneys too... it is not like Chandra is someone who never hears her out... if not for their ego tiffs, they do share an affable/understanding bond!
clutches at every straw of fleeting happiness that her interactions with Chandra throw up, and revels in them while they last, with the transparent joy of a kid clutching at balloons . But like the balloons, these joys float away from the poor girl all too soon. 😭
Beautiful! Simply beautiful...👏
She has no ego where he is concerned, and never tries to turn the tables on him by ignoring him while he is flirting with Helena in order to rile her . In her place, I would have refused flat, or dumped the plate six inches from Chandra's head and left!😡
What a scene that would have made...😆
For now, Nandini is very lonely and lost. She has no friend with whom she can discuss her terrible problem, no one to hold her hand, no one to comfort her and advise her wisely. And the man she loves unconditionally is not only as confused and impractical as she is, but he also has a sadistic streak that surfaces every time he feels, with considerable justification, that she is a two timing Jezebel.
It will probably have to be Lady Luck who eventually pulls her out the chakravyuh in which she is trapped.
Having said that, Chandra is putting up with the worst possible crime/sin that a lady could be accused of in that era (and even in this era, in some places) when Chandra comes to know that she is truly innocent, he will be just as love-struck as she is... And this sadistic streak will be a long-forgotten phase altogether...
Roopa: An angry, wild spirit: This might surprise many, but I really feel very sorry for Roopa.
Oh I am not surprised! and for the same reasons that you've outlined...
I wrote a post supporting her in your previous thread, Periyamma...
In short, instead of being a pampered princess of Magadha, she has been forced to become a lowlife gangster.
But somewhere deep inside her, there might well be a different feeling, the need to be accepted and loved by the very father she now professes to hate. And because of the duality of her feelings vis a vis her father, her virulent hatred towards Nandini - the one whom that very father loves more than himself - gains in strength.
What interesting take!
The sticky point will come when she really falls for Chandra. For to cut Nandini off from Chandra without exposing herself would mean cutting herself, Roopa, off from him as well. Will she accept this ? Or would she switch plans, try to eliminate Nandini altogether and replace her in Chandra's life, however tough such a transformation might seem for Roopa to pull off? We have to wait and watch.
Somehow, I do not think that Rupa is going to obsess over Chandra too much... I still think her mission to eradicate Nandini remains her prime fixation
Chandragupta :Crippling obsession: I am using the full name partly to remind myself of who he is😉. Otherwise, one could be excused for forgetting that he is the samrat of Magadha. The fact is that for all his periodic assertions that he is a samrat, Chandra, as of now, neither looks nor behaves like a king.
Right now, he resembles nothing so much as a raft on storm-tossed seas, pulled this way and that by the waves. The love for Nandini that has taken determined possession of him, despite every effort of his to deny it and dislodge it, is a source of endless frustration and misery. This was so even earlier, due to his stupid readiness to believe the canard that she was still in love with Malayketu. But now, with the Roopa factor added on, matters have become much worse, as Chandra is beset with daily scandals, in which Nandini is seen as besmirching his honour as a king and a husband.
Now he cannot be blamed for his fury at Nandini, and has in fact to be applauded for the moderation of his protest to her after the drunken shindy in court , and the sober tone in which he demands an explanation of her behavioural swings. Thanks to Nandini's persistent folly, he gets no real answer, bar weak denials that only drive him to despair, since he has "seen" Nandini doing all the things she now asserts that she did not do.
Yet, no matter how great the humiliation he has to suffer on her account - and this cannot get worse than after Roopa's drunken display in front of the whole court - he cannot bring himself to punish Nandini as he would have done with any other woman. He threatens her repeatedly with condign punishment, even death, were she to try to entice Malayketu any longer, but when push comes to shove, all he does is to exile her, and that too with the greatest reluctance.
And it needs only some display of caring for him and his family on Nandini's part to move him to happy, genuine gratitude, as in the diya scene on the terrace. Or to a sudden hopeful lurch of his heart as he listens to Roopa talk about a new beginning.
On the other hand, his inner demons make him periodically treat Nandini in an extra harsh, at times sadistic manner, repeatedly humiliating her, in front of Helena and otherwise.
Frozen grey cells: All in all, Chandra is, right now, in an almighty mess. Anne (AJSharma79) probably put it the best when she wrote on my last thread:
Chandra is going through the 'walking' phase...you know when babies learn to walk...they want to walk but they are wobbly and unsteady and they fall, but despite the hurt they still will want to walk. To me that is what Chandra is doing. He is in love, he likes being in love, it hurts to be in love and yet he cannot stop being in love.
Babies usually begin to walk at about 10 months. Given this, I would only add that Chandra must have been dropped on his head, probably by his foster father, at about 3 months. The effects of that impact still linger, and have most likely seriously affected his cerebral processes. 😉😉
Thus, it never even occurs to him to consult a Vaidya about the bizarre and diametrically opposite ways in which Nandini behaves from one day to another, and at times within the same day.
Especially when a drugged Nandini, whom he tries to quiz angrily on the drunken nritya, hugs him and then, her hand clinging to his, scolds him: Main ek suhagan stree hoon, tumhari ardhangini hoon! Baar baar Malay ka naam mere saamne mat lo! Mujhe achcha nahin lagta! Chandra looks terminally confused, as well he might, but this seminal statement does not seem to really register with him and make him think about the possibilities.
This is deeply dismaying. Just as Mura, faced with Nandini's strong denial that she had ever smoked, immediately thinks of the sleepwalking explanation, so too one would have expected Chandra to think of some mental disturbance, if not the vipareet vyaktitva vyadhi, as the reason for Nandini's behaviour.But he does no such thing.
Instead, by Episode 85, he is back at his puerile game of making Nandini jealous of Helena. 😡To what end is unclear, seeing that Nandini is set to leave Pataliputra in the near future. Nor does he seem to have made any arrangements for Nandini being settled safely somewhere else, and not left to wander around the countryside as she had done the last time. Now that she has all these loaded sandooks, that would in any case be a non -starter!😆
To sum things up as far as Chandra is concerned, I begin to despair of the boy. He is plainly cuckoo. As the poet put it so pithily:
Ishq ne Ghalib nikamma kar diya,
Varna hum bhi aadmi the kaam ke!
The only saving grace is the subtlety, the emotional nuances, and the panache with which Rajat portrays this troubled, confused, frustrated, and at times despairing Chandra, who cannot understand either himself or the forces that drive him.
I started reading about Chandra... and I thought of stopping after one para.. then, the next... then, the next... but didn't realise that I'd stopped only at the end!
👏
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
