Posted:
Since nobody has posted anything about Friday's episode, I am posting some of my thoughts.
I have mixed feelings about this episode and so I am dividing the episode into things I liked, things I found amusing and things I did not like.
First of what I liked:
I liked the scene of Sita looking mesmerized after seeing Ram and running to Gauri's idol to pray for getting Ram as her husband. The words were beautiful and Sita had a good display of emotions (overwhelmed at finding someone with whom she felt a connection and a sense of urgency) while praying. The narration of Mahadev while describing Ram and Sita first meeting was also very good. The words of Shiv and Sita were beautiful.
Amusing Stuff
The authors decided to take Minakshi's scene of Ganesh/Kartikeye coming to Kailash and having a discussion about Ram and Sita's wedding. So now the whole family is planning to go for the wedding even though nobody is yet invited.
Parvati wanted to be typical MIL (mother-in-law) and wanted to visit her sons. Mahadev stopped her as he wanted to enjoy Ram/Sita action drama (breaking of his age old dhanush and his disciple Parshuram exploding) rather than watch saas-bahu drama. So he tried to tell her to give space to his sons. Well, Parvati was quite adamant and so Mahadev was forced to compromise and instead instead invited Ganesh and Kariteya to Kailash.
Ganesh and Karitikeye were wise and left their wives home so as to avoid catching between saas-bahu drama. Ganesh being the wisest God knows diplomacy and managed to make his mother happy by giving a convenient excuse of not wanting to share her attention with daughter-in-laws. They also wanted to enjoy the wedding of Ram/Sita without any nagging wives.
Stuff that I did not like
First of all I know this is Mahadev show and hence he is the hero. So even though they are now showing Ramayan, Ram/Sita will be shown from Mahadev's point of view. So Mahadev will be part of this Ramayan in one way or another.
I don't have problems with this because all these are interpretations. So as long as the basic story and characterization remains constant, there is room for creative license. In Mahabharat, I can only remember Shiv in context of Arjun and Jaidrath. But in Ramayan, he is a big presence. So I do not mind seeing Mahadev even in scenes where he has never been mentioned.
But my problem was with the scene of Ram and Sita. I really liked the way Sita was introduced in Ramayan and she is the major attraction for me to watch this version of Ramayan. So far such a characterization of Sita has never been presented on the screen. So I was expecting something different for the first meeting of Ram and Sita. But the focus was never on the scene. Mahadev was on screen for almost the entire screen. That scene would have been much better if they had shown Mahadev in the beginning, end and had him narrate the meeting. The words were beautiful but they ruined that scene.
I watched first few episodes of this Mahadev and I realized what was bugging me. Mahadev in the beginning was never in all the scenes. In fact, I always would anticipate when he would be shown because all characters were given appropriate space. So in many episodes, he was just there for 5-10 minutes of an episode. But anticipation of his scene was always the major attraction. Daksh, Prusuti, Sati, Kashyap etc.. were given appropriate spaces. This is what is missing in current episodes of Mahadev. They are using Mahadev way too much even when he is not needed. If they are showing Ramayan with Mahadev as a narrator, they need to limit his role as a narrator.
The family scene on Kailash was fine. But it was Mahadev's constant presence in Ram/Sita's first meeting that made that scene very ordinary. If they have decided to show Ramayan in a Mahadev show, they will need to show a proper emphasis on Ram and Sita's characters if they want viewers to watch this version of Ramayan. I understand why CVs want to use Mahadev as he is the major attraction for viewers. But if they use him inappropriately or more than needed, the scenes would lose their uniqueness.
The early episodes of Mahadev were so great because no character was being forced in the story. Everyone had his/her place in the story and that was shown. Now it seems that CVs are thinking that if they just insert Mahadev in every scene, this version of Ramayan will sell. I wish they would stop forcing the story and let it take the natural progression where Mahadev will remain an important part of the story but will not take unnecessarily focus away from the story.
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