Hey,
Saraella
I couldn't agree more - that's what I've been saying for the longest time. If you recall your thread where you asked whether this is Sriti's best show, I declined to agree. In fact, for her, I think it's one of her worst - only reason I don't go so far to say that is that I never watched her first 3 shows to say that w/ confidence. But I can't imagine her character being any worse there than it was here.
I mean, who is your favorite female character in this show? For the longest time, for me, it was nobody, but after Wednesday's show, it became Gayatri. I'm w/ those who've wanted to see Jhanvi, not Raghav, punish Viraj for his deeds. If that can't happen, then I don't see the point of having had Sriti in this show. Any other actress could have played the role of a weeping shrinking violent, Raghav could have come in and done everything that he did in this story, and there would not be an iota of difference, since it would still be about Viraj & Raghav.
In fact, one of the things we've tried to emphasize in this show is difference b/w actor & character. I won't claim to be the greatest Sriti fan, but she is my favorite actress. But in this serial, I just can't stand Sia anymore. Whenever I see her, I go 🥱 As Jhanvi, she was a sympathetic figure, and I'll allow that w/ the Awasthis, she was still recovering from her trauma, so I don't hold it against her that she didn't have the heart to learn bookkeeping from Mrs Awasthi. Even once she moved into Raghav's home, she was okay.
The point where I started hating her was the day Viraj moved into their house. Knowing what she did, it was criminally irresponsible of her not to have told one of them - either Gayatri or Raghav, but preferably Gayatri, everything. In Friday's episode, when she blamed herself for Tashu being victimized, I fully agreed w/ her. Heck, Raghav agreed w/ her that she was wrong not to have told him earlier on the day she told him. I mean, as a result of her actions, that house was unsafe for Krish and Tashu, which would never have happened had it not been for Sia. In one episode, when Raghav told Tashu & Komal everything, they instantly switched sides. Had they showed this when Viraj first entered, this show would have retained its credibility.
Making Viraj look larger than life is definitely a problem. In fact, in the exercise of making Viraj look larger than life, they've made India look like one of the most corrupt countries on earth, when in fact, it's somewhere in the median (currently, it's #95 out of 182 countries - granted, nothing to write home about, but at the same time, certainly not as bad as what they are showing here, where a person, who doesn't even seemingly have political connections, can just bribe the police into doing whatever he feels like. In terms of the DV message, all I can imagine is that it would have
discouraged women from coming forward (contrary to the message that
Sriti, not Sia, gave to TB in her interview
Raise your voice if something wrong happens with you: Sriti Jha recently.) So yeah, in terms of the storyline, making Viraj almost god-like (as if the show is competing w/ DkDM to have a divine figure, which is probably what that 'Rama-Sita' analogy is about) was a major distraction.
Summing it up, it hurts to say this as one of her fans, but this serial was a major FAIL as far as Sriti goes. The promos, like the chess promo months ago, made it look like Sia would stage a coup over Viraj. Nothing even close - it's Viraj who had been running rings around her, and that too somewhere totally away from home. Now they'll show a leap, and what I wonder is whether they're going to do what MLTAK did, which is completely change the theme. That's probably the best option they have thinking about it some more, since they've bombed badly w/ one theme, so they could try another, and if it doesn't garner TRPs, they can wind it up, and then release all 3 actors for better things going forward.
