Thought about penning my reactions for the past week on Dev...one of the reasons I stopped commenting was Dev was being destroyed and I had no patience to comment on this destruction. They were giving him the same dialogues that Barkha has to forgive Radhika which was reminding me of Abhays biwi bacha slogan and I do not have the patience to deal with that again. In the past few months Dev had disappeared. I mean the complex, introvert, insecure but human Dev...one who had issues but also could overcome them had been changed to this one dimensional , inhuman Dev who although has sensed that something wrong might have happened with Radhika still throws a tantrum that he won't go to look for Radhika and nor will anyone from the family go when Radhika did not return and this Dev lost all ability to think for himself. But last week there has been some improvement, it's not perfect and much more work needs to be done but some progress has been there...but first I have to acknowledge Avinash for trying to put Dev insecurities and issues to the audiences even when no dialogues were given to him...trying to use voice modulation in the most atrocious of dialogues to again show his complex nature. So to me it has again been Avinash and his excellent skills in projecting his emotions through expressions, voice modulation and body language that has made the difference. So today my post is just about Dev and excellent portrayal by Avinash.
When Dev threw the ultimatum at Radhika/kanha that she cannot keep the fast for him for karvachauth...Avinash's voice modulation showed that it is another temper tantrum of Dev (Radhika is the only one to who he will show these tantrums) ...and he was reacting like a spoiled brat because Radhika was not playing according to his rules...and he also knows that Radhika believes in all vrats and rituals and this would affect her the most...and then like a spoiled brat he also storms off...then in his room when Barkha comes and starts complaining about Radhika ...he does not say anything but again his expressions showed that Dev was not liking whatever Barkha was saying about Radhika ...and then when Balram comes and tells Dev that Radhika is still fasting for him...the tone of Avinash's voice showed that he was exasperated with Radhika ...not because of anger but the tone was similar to one that people use when they think that someone whom they love is not listening to them but doing stuff in their own way...that exasperation had tinge of love in it which was completed by him telling Kanha that what do I do with this follower of yours? Again the same tone that one might use complaining about one loved one to God.
Then later on listening to Radhika /kanha's arguments Dev realizes that nowhere has it been mentioned that Radhika as his wife cannot keep the fast... Radhika /kanha cleverly uses words to apologise to Barkha for Radhika not recognizing her true face (he did not apologize for anything else) and Dev is happy that since Radhika has apologized then that means everything is ok...Barkha will forgive and everything will fall into their right place...but Barkha marches off...Later on during his interaction with Radhika /kanha in the lounge just before the Gita talk showed that Dev knows that he has done wrong in stopping the fast of Radhika but he does not want to acknowledge it openly and he also did not want others to see that he is talking to Radhika ...so with a very guilty look he tried to ask indirectly using muth as the excuse...(excellent work by Avinash here)...and gets told of gently by Radhika/kanha that it is his responsibility to judge and she cannot help in this matter and that he has to forget about the result and just do his duty.
Then happily lost in his own world goes to his room remembering that he does not have to chose one over the other...I mean Rajpurohiti over Radhika or Radhika over Rajpurohiti (well he always wanted to do both together and now he thinks that he can ...because he has been told that one dharma cannot take precedence over the other but he still has not realized that to do his duty the right way either as a husband or as an RP he might have to loose one for some time...Radhika/kanha has told him that he has to judge as a RP..wonder when will this fact sink in) and he hits a wall 😉..I mean Barkha...who is now in full nautanki mood to prove her love for Dev...I found his reactions and expressions to Barkha very funny when Barkha was declaring her undying love for Dev...he was looking as if an insect has crawled out from under a stone...and I felt that he might tell her "Barkha suno yeh sabh sansarik bate tumhe shobha nahi deti...tum ek Rajpurohitain ho our tumhe hamesha samaja kalayan ke bare main hi sochna aur bolna chaheeye"...😉..anyway he had a nice frown and was looking uncomfortable as Barkha was continuing on her ILU talk (she did not say it directly but the hints were pretty clear)...when suddenly Dev remembers Radhika and her kartavya pravachan from Gita...gladly and with relief passes it to Barkha with a very serious face and then runs to his room...this scene reminded me of his first few interaction with Barkha..whenever Radhika used to leave him alone with Barkha he used to look at Radhika to save him...he did not know what to do or what to say and used to make faces at Radhika ...anyway Dev's introvert nature nicely brought out here (I must say Avinash has perfected the art of saving Dev's modesty from females who are jumping on him😉).
Then later on the deeya scene where Radhika /kanah again takes him gently on his path of self discovery by using the lamp burning in adverse situation as a metaphor to make a point between faith/self belief and doubts...belief that comes from inside ...from something in us that helps one to overcome doubts that the mind has given rise to...doubts because one believes that others are much better at deciding/ or make decisions...usually people who are confident and have a strong belief system...they do not have that much doubts in their mind and they tend to follow what they believe in...'and also have the gumption to face the consequences of that action. Radhika is like that...her upbringing by Mansaram had given her enough self confidence to follow what she thinks is right and she is also ready to face the consequence (Radhika/kanha alluded to that)...she had doubts about Barkha when Maheswari showed her what is the truth but once she realized the truth she stuck to it...but Dev...he has always been insecure...he does not have the strong self belief (a person who has been brought up as he has been will be insecure)..and hence doubts usually take the upper hand. Then on Friday he again got miffed that Barkha is now not forgiving Radhika and then today all his pent up frustrations came out...that Barkha was not there when she was needed as RPtian...that she is continuing to question Radhika and the most interesting part that Barkha has brought outsiders and then ridiculed the family in front of them...the last one shows that he still wanting to preserve the family honour...that to me also shows that him shouting at Barkha to not spoil Radhika's name is not because he has realized his mistake in not trusting Radhika but because he thinks Radhika has said sorry so that means the matter ends and Barka is uselessly dragging the issue...he also might think that Barkha is jealous and hence all these nautankis she is doing...but still no self realization. I actually do not expect him to realize so quickly...'..but this realization part does bring me to the part of Dev's characterization that is not making sense to me...that Dev has been made into this person who has lost the ability to think...he was nodding at Barkha, then nodding at Padma...then saying yes to Radhika /kanha (on Friday regarding distributing stuff to the needy)...then again nodding to Padma today followed by nodding to dai. However insecure Dev has been projected before he always had the capability to think on his own... that has been lost now and no attempt has been made to show him thinking on his own. If Radhika/kanha's role is to take Dev is a path of self discovery then he has to be shown thinking on his own...that is an important part of this process... it should be a gradual process but the thought process has to be shown..so hopefully there are plans to show that in Dev. Talking of self discovery I liked how the makers showed it during Rohan track using alter ego for Dev...Anyway there were also some other parts that I wish things have been done differently...last week they showed Padma saying that it was she who convincd Dev that Barkha should keep the fast...here I wish they had shown a scene where Dev would have initially protested saying that Barkha is not his wife but grudgingly said yes to Padma but not been happy about it (again for audience to get Dev's emotions)...then today did not like him accepting Pandma's demands regarding pooja that Barkha has to be there...what dai said later on I would have prefered Dev saying that...and then dai could have supported him...Also did not like the loving looks of Dev towards Radhika/kanha...because to me it again showed that Dev is not thinking what Radhika/kanha has alluded to and he still tinks that everything is fine and dandy in his world.
Today there was something else I found interesting...don't know whether it will come to any use later on but I found it interesting that Rohan has started accompanying Dev regarding Muth work and it was also Rohan who held Barkha when she fainted.
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