CC# ~When You Say Nothing At All( Strictly IO) 3 # - Page 13

That was the scene that got me to watch the show… I had penned down my thoughts on a post long time ago. I'll post it here again… It's a bit long, I hope you don't get bored reading it!

I am not an avid Indian soap watcher and I would mock my mama for getting worked up and emotionally involved with fictional characters and shows. But that was until, one day I come home to see on TV a guy running behind an ambulance crying out 'Khushi..'. As usual, my attitude was 'Oh no! Another guy who is trying to act... Why do they bother running behind the ambulance; when logically, it's not possible to catch up unless you are superman!'. That was until the screen froze on the face of the actor. I was on my way to my room and the guy's expression stopped me midway.

I remember standing at the bottom of the stairs staring at the guy in the TV. I saw the pain; the shock (what he imagines is the worst in his life) which in turn freezes him into inaction. He doesn't know what to do, run behind the ambulance or go back to his vehicle. His shock changes to guilt when he remembers what the last thing he spoke to her was- 'You don't even exist for me, Khushi''. In his guilt, he inflicts pain on himself but still is unable to overcome the pain in his heart.

This is the scene that caught my attention and at the same time Mami comes to know about Paayal's broken marriage and they were showing those scenes as well. While watching this, what kept repeating in my mind was..'I don't want watch stupid saas bahu story, go away from the screen, I want to see that guy. But this hello hi bye bye is funny' . Then just like that, he is back on screen and I am intrigued again. He runs back to his vehicle and gets in the car and is about to start the car, when he hears a voice far away talking about channa. The confusion and then relief that is in his face just brought my heart rate back down to normal. What came next was anger, anger for what she put him through! He gets out of the car and approaches the woman. I see this dainty 5'4" lady turn around sensing his presence, she is surprised first but then sensing his anger, she is apprehensive. The man is roughly handles her - he pours out his emotions and cups her face in the process. The anger, the frustration, the fear of losing her, the pain that just the thought brings, the vulnerability that was in his voice and his expressions - I was hooked. To say that I was floored by that performance was an understatement. I went through all of those emotions just as the man was.

The rest of the scenes just went by in a blur and I sat up again when this man and woman was back on screen. I am anticipating what the lady's (who by this time I know now is Khushi) reaction would be. And low and behold, this dainty lady turns out to be firecracker and a feisty one at that. Khushi's kyo farq padtha hai, wakes the feminist in me and I am screaming 'Ha, take that you arrogant man, who doesn't know how to talk to a woman'. This is the same me who 5 -10 mins ago was feeling his pain!!! What I saw next was 2 people, who seem to be in love, but are angry at each other (for some reason) and are baiting each other. But neither one of them is picking up the other's bait. It was hot and cold at the same time and I had all these questions, why, who are these 2 people and why are they angry if they love each other so much?

Note: At this point, I have no idea who this man on screen was and who this lady was.

Come weekend and go online, and find out that the man is Barun Sobti and the woman is Sanaya Irani. I start to watch the soap from episode 1 and catch up to 177 episodes in 2 days. Not eating, no sleeping, I was so engrossed that I forgot the passing of time.

The scenes which I explained as crappy saas bahu was no longer saas bahu; every character left a mark on me and that is due to the incredible talent of all the actors in the show.

Yes, it was Barun Sobti's portrayal of Arnav Singh Raizada that caught my attention. But what made me analyse each character and each relationship was the entire cast. Sanaya Irani as Khushi, this feisty middle class woman who dared to stand up to the arrogant ASR. Had Sanaya's performance as Khushi been lacking then this show wouldn't be the success it is. Sanaya was just perfect as Khushi. It is because of both Barun and Sanaya's flawless performances that I was addicted to the show, that I deconstructed every character, every episode to understand them.

It was the entire team effort that made me glued to this show. Barun Sobti, Sanaya Irani, Abhaas Mehta, Daljeet Bhanot, Akshay Dogra, Deepali Pansare, Uthkarsha Naik, Jaishree T, Abhaa Parmar, Pyumori Mehta, Karan Goddwani and all the other cast had an excellent team of directors, producers, technicians and other staff that ensured the success of the show.