Kriti Take + Mini-Live Reaction || Life Comes a Full Circle

Me at the beginning of the episode:

Me when Shravan was finally leaving & the ShraMan farewell:

Me during the final act:

*Confession* I knew about the Ramnath plane crash through a spoiler, but I kind of just completely forgot about it 'till Pushkar's phone call and was like oh shit.

Of course, special mention to Nikita because although today was a Shravan-centric episode, she still managed to hold her own ground--like she always does. The entire team was a dream! But the star of today's episode was hands down Namik, and I can quite proudly say that this appreciation is not a fickle case of "omg-emotional-scenes-wow-such-amaze." My reasons, given to me & the rest of the fandom by Namik through his work, are quite substantial and make us all so proud to be his fans! Namik,

Namik man...what do you want me to say? What CAN I say that hasn't already be said? For someone who's just started, Namik's making these beautiful strides forward with his work. He'd already earned my respect for the way he respects his work and the effort he puts in to get better & better--which really does reflect! And him on screen, it's so hard to believe this is only his second show (no joke, I called bullshit when someone told me that for the first time)!!!

After much thought, I think I have it figured out. Every actor has a quality that helps audiences connect to them, and I think with Namik it comes down to this: when Namik's onscreen it feels real.

When I see Shravan onscreen, I feel like I can know this guy. The way Namik portrays Shravan & his vulnerabilities, simply OWNING the range of this three-dimensional character (be it his badass lawyer attitude or the way he sanskaari-trolls Chaachi, his emotional farewell to his best-friend to the trauma of losing his father), his internalization of the things around him, his reactions--everything feels realistic because of Namik. He manages to make me forget that this is a show. There's great performers out there, but often many of these performances feel like...well "performances." They feel very "acted out" you know? And it then just ends up feeling like all "this-is-an-actor-portraying-this-character's-reaction-to-XYZ-event," rendering the performance incapable of evoking a genuine reaction from the audience, unlike what Namik did today which made us all go "GODDAMN this man is hurting so much someone please go give him a hug!!!"

Namik, especially today where I could really feel for the way Shravan reacted in this situation (kudos to the writers), not only made me feel as though everything that was happening on screen was actually happening, but his performance reached out to me in such a way, that I felt as though I was personally affected by some tragedy (and may have been moved to a few tears here & there, read: nearly bawled my eyes out). Without almost any dialogues, Namik made me feel Shravan's pain today. It truly felt like the man I was watching on screen has had his heart ripped out and handed to him. Namik, I guess all I just want to say is, I'm so glad I was introduced to you through this show & I can't be thankful enough to have you as our Shravan (who we love for being a realistic angry young man that shatters set stereotypes, but that is a separate conversation for a later time 😆). For an actor who makes the audience feel the way you do, your humility is extremely striking & just so so endearing. We love you Namik, hamesha & forever ❤️

Moving onto for Shravan, I just want to give him a giant a hug. Like I mentioned before, we saw the two very integral sides to him in today's episode, the juxtaposition of placing the scene at the beginning of the episode right before the Ramnath track is a decision I can really appreciate on a writing level. The fact that he came to say good-bye, the way he sat down Sumo on the swing & just had to push her once before leaving...I love how they didn't indulge in the fact that this was a reference to the past, but the looks on their faces during that bit was so telling of it all! I live for subtle display of affections and this scene was EVERYTHING. And of course finally moving onto Shravan getting the biggest shocker of his life, his disbelief, anger, the way he said "Papa mujhe kabhi chod ke nahi jaa sakte," the way he was suffocating, the way he had to throw up, the way he was stumbling, that feeling of having the ground slip beneath your feet--it was all so real to me & my heart went out for Shravan. For once an emotional track didn't make me feel emotionally manipulated or coerced into having a reaction, but rather the simplicity of the writing & the rawness of the emotions left me in tears.

Storywise I again see our writer's love for great parallels. The swing (which is like one of my absolute favorite motifs in this show) aside, let's focus on the parallels from 10 years ago. Shravan's stumbling footsteps today instantly reminded me of when his mom left him 10 years ago. The same thing happened today, except this time it's irreversible (for all he knows, that is).

But this time Sumo will be by his side...the writers are so clever man. The journey will finally, come to a full circle.

As for the precap, all I can think about is how damn he's in so much pain I can only hope for him to stop hurting. I loved the concern on everyone's face and Shravan's inability to take the trauma which, to me, was completely relatable. The flailing of the arms like a child just again separated him from other high-on-pedestals male-leads, this part of the screenplay brought forth the young, vulnerable child within The Shravan Malhotra that he'd managed to hide so well. With the man (who held his hand through the journey from chotu under-confident Shravu to Shravan Malhotra, the suave & astute Oxford graduate lawyer) being

-Kriti

PS. I wasn't on the forum much today, so I have no clue what was going on, but I've mostly just seen some beautiful appreciation posts ❤️ (LOVE YOU GUYS HONESTLY Y'ALL ARE SO CUTE) & criticism that I certainly respect. Regardless of our point of view, I think we should all engage in respectful discourse & discussion ❤️. Also 🤗 I hope you liked the mini-live reaction, a lot of you guys were missing it and I thought, aaj toh banta hai! It wasn't much but I hope it still helped fill the void somewhat 🤗!

Originally posted by: Echoesofpassion

WORD! I literally can't even think of anything to say at this moment. I am literally speechless...going to come back with a proper comment once I pull myself together after that heartbreaking, mindblasting episode.

Originally posted by: .SankaDevi.

For once an emotional track didn't make me feel emotionally manipulated or coerced into having a reaction, but rather the simplicity of the writing & the rawness of the emotions left me in tears.