Posted:
To all those who PMed me, don't worry I haven't stopped making posts. I was just little busy this week. But thank you for your concern🤗
Coming to this week's episodes. WOW! WHAT AN AMAZING WEEK IT WAS. From the start till the end - enjoyed every bit of it minus PreeKar & Bhagwani Devi😆
And this is probably one of the rare weeks where I absolutely enjoyed the pacing. Maybe it is because I am writing about the moments in each episode with an added perspective of the whole week's episodes that I felt so many parallels in the way the scenes played out to the way our characters have developed. ShraMan are so similar to the way they were in the past, but yet at the same time, so dissimilar.
Please forgive me if the post is all over the place & there are loads of grammatical/spelling mistakes. I typed this out in a rush without proof-reading it.
1. Suman finding the letter.. the pain & the regret she went through in realising the way she treated him to understanding his heartbreak. I loved that. Much needed for the big bully that Sumo was back in the day. However, its interesting that post this realisation in the bathroom, Suman was more consumed by the fact that he loved her & probably still did. She was more consumed by the thought that his heartache came from her rejection of his love, rather than her failing as a friend on the basic level. Totally reminded me of the terrace scene, where Shravan termed friendship as the 'khoobsurat ehsaas' between them. It is the friendship that binded them together for which he was willing to forgo his love, while for Suman this friendship had already merged with love as she termed pyaar as sabse 'khoobsurat ehsaas'. The writing was so so good in bringing out the immaturity (for the lack of a better word) in Suman's character; the way she's not changed much from school days. Back when she was young, it was about her image, & the need to be the most popular girl in school, & today it is about her inability to digest the fact that Shravan has truly moved on (even though we know that he still loves her). And this is exactly what played out at the end of the week when she decided in her impulsiveness to get even & counter his 'move on' by bringing up his marriage. For Suman, Shravan has always been that person whose world revolves around her & with the added realisation that he loved her too, she thinks that it is impossible that he can move on & just be friends with her. She is looking at it all with her perspective, thinking that he's still the same Shravan from the past & that is what she is constantly expecting from adult Shravan who has grown up & changed with time. She's easily gone back to what they were as teenagers & has re-started from the point before he left for London (with her added feelings) while Shravan is reconnecting with Suman as an adult (not from where they left off but where they were started as friends, as we saw young ShraMan juxtaposed with adult ShraMan in the terrace scene) Maybe its just me, but I feel that the person Suman fell in love with & has always loved is young teenage Shravan. Remember that dialogue in the initial episodes where she says she can forget adult Shravan, but she cannot let go of young Shravan & her memories with him. She still continues to look at Shravan in the way he was, not realising that their friendship might be the same & they may re-live those teenage moments together again, but the dynamics have changed & so has Shravan. Technically, Suman knows little about adult Shravan because whenever they are together, the things they do & speak of are reminiscent of the past which brings Shravan back to his teenager self, but she doesn't know about how all those incidents changed him & his perspective on women, on life in general. And this track will hopefully be the catalyst for Suman to step out of her bubble & see Shravan for who he is, rather than through her own perspectives.
2. The goodbye scene - I think this has to be my favourite ShraMan scene so far in the entire series (even though I love practically all their scenes) because so much was conveyed though little was spoken. He came back for her. And to do the one thing that she craved for all her life - swing her. Back in Sumo's old house, his gesture of putting his hand on the swing was enough because he was trying to be her silent support yet not overstep the line & let it remain as her quiet moment in her old house.. but in the goodbye scene he took on a more active role by swinging her.. It was a beautiful parallel, because when she was young her parents despite being there, never had the time to swing her & notice how much she wanted that, while Shravan despite leaving, came to swing her for the last time. Such beautiful symbolism here.. he may be out of sight, but he will always be there for her whenever she needs him not just as a silent support, but someone who she can cry on & share her problems with. And by swinging her, he gave her that memory of having someone to swing her, taking away the memory of her loneliness where there was no one to swing her. And he did the same again by placing his hand on her head & making her nod with approval at his leaving.. he had to leave, but he didn't want to leave with her having that sad face & thinking that she will be lonely again. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help but cry as he walked away, while a lifeless Sumo almost out of instinct raised her hand to say goodbye, drinking in every glance of him as he walked away, to when he turned, to him fading out in distance. The EDKV title track did wonders to heightening the emotions that played out in this scene.
3. Shravan's breakdown - OK I don't want to talk about this scene because it made me cry so so bad. My grandparents just passed away last weekend & I was absolutely OK with it, but this scene totally was my breaking point for how real it was, from the way he puked to the way he fell & to all those emotions of pain, heartbreak, sadness that Namik brought to life as Shravan. It made me relive the memory of every person I lost in my life. Undoubtedly his best performance on the show. Hats off Namik & hats off to the director for making it so real & so painful. Each character was mourning & I love how Chachi was concerned about Shravan as well. The woman who wanted & pushed Shravan into leaving was ultimately the woman who wanted him back quickly & the woman who cried watching Shravan lay lifeless in bed. Beyond how real this scene was, I love how this scene reinforced how weak-hearted Shravan is (contrast to Suman). The way he was unable to walk properly & limped when Suman broke the news to him, I totally saw teenage Shravan in him who was heartbroken by Suman's insult a decade ago. For a guy like Shravan who is so lonely, it must have been hard for him to live away from the family for a decade & even harder to leave. Interesting though that whether it was leaving or staying back, it was always Shravan's decision. And this is something that Suman has to understand.. she needs to give him all the love & be there for him the way she was that night, but she also needs to give him the space (which she isn't giving him at the moment) to make his own decisions & help him realise his love etc.. Because when cornered, Shravan is exactly the one to run away, be it 10 years ago or be it now.
4. Ramnath's sudden approval of Suman - So now this is something I find rushed. I know that Ramnath never disliked Suman, but his sudden approval of Suman..giving her importance (that she had a role to play in his decision to give Shravan the company) & calling her out for taking care of Shravan is something which I find weird. Especially since this is coming from the person who screamed at Shravan in the initial episodes for telling Suman "a baharwali" that he was leaving before he told them. He is also the same person who criticised Suman in the 1st episode for giving more importance to office work than family. I know these are two different matters. But Ramnath is someone who I've felt has never liked the interference of others in family matters & neither has he ever liked Suman for who she is. She's always been Tiwari ji's granddaughter for him. So why this sudden liking? And that dialogue that 'tumne Shravan ka saath nahin choda' or something like that.. interesting parallel to what Shravan told his dad during holi, that he wants a woman who will never leave him. Is this hinting towards marriage for ShraMan? 😕
5. ShraMan's fight. ME LOVED IT though I didn't understand why Ramnath had to give so much credit to Suman. Wasn't it Lalaji who put this idea in his head & encouraged it further? Suman just did what anyone would do by agreeing. She had no other choice. Chalo theek hai, CVs ko fight dikhana tha toh they had to make Ramnath act like that😆
Coming to the fight, I loved how Shravan heard Suman's name & had that angry face on immediately, not realising that Pushkar & Lalaji were mentioned too. It became all about Suman. SO MANY FREAKING PARALLELS HERE! In fact it was almost the replica of ShraMan's earlier fight when Ramnath confronted Shravan about leaving (right after holi episode). Shravan grabbing her hand to Suman telling him that she didn't lie to Shravan telling her that he could have told his father himself & Suman asking him to chill.. the same thing played out here but with slightly different dynamics. Back at that time, they were both arguing because they just needed a reason to hate on each other, but this time it was quite the opposite. HOW FAR HAVE THEY COME!!! They weren't looking for reasons to hate on each other, but rather they were looking for reasons to justify their stand. Despite the intensity of the fight, both of them tried to put their reasoning forward. She couldn't lie because it was about him & he expected her to know better. Another parallel with this fight was the park wala scene when she walked away telling him that it is the result that matters, not the intentions. Isn't that exactly what played out in this fight, & will play out again in Monday's episode (as per precap). Looking forward to it!
6. Shravan wanting to approve the groom for Suman. YES THANK YOU CVs! This is exactly how I wanted Shravan to behave. I was so so hoping that we wouldn't see a jealous Shravan because that would be inconsistent with his character IMO. Back when Suman was trying to patao Goglu, Shravan wasn't jealous of Goglu per se.. rather he was unhappy with Suman's willingness to play love games to trap Goglu, as well as for the attention that she was giving Goglu. It was impulsive because she was comparing Shravan with Goglu & he was irritated with that. I feel that it was more of his ego acting out here rather than jealousy. For Shravan to be cognized with his feelings for Suman, it would take a lot more than just the thought of another man entering her life. A decade back in the letter when he was spelling out his feelings for her, all he wanted was the permission to like her even if she didn't like him back. He never expected her to reciprocate & neither did he ever demand it (quite unlike Suman who is demanding it today) And with the rejections each day, together with the ultimate betrayal, it broke all his hopes of ever having the chance & also gave him the much needed push to move on from her though he continued to hold on to her & her memories. He's hidden his love for her in the corners of his heart & they are so deep within him that despite his love constantly showing in his actions, he never questions it because in his head, he is clear that it is friendship, though there are more things other than friendship that moves him to act the way he does with her. That is why he termed friendship as 'sabse khoobsurat ehsaas'. His refusal to let Suman touch the letter, or anyone else for that matter & the way he has kept it protectively all these years is not a mark of his love to Shravan (even though it is clearly to us the audience). For Shravan, that letter signifies a precious part of his existence & being.. his innocence, his teenage years with Suman.. it is not the contents (the words) of the letter that he's held on to, but rather the letter - the object.
And for Shravan to reach that realisation that he's loved her all these years.. it would not be something he would know in a moment. Rather it would start hitting him gradually IMO when Suman truly moves on with another man & stops giving him the undivided attention he is used to. He is too naive in thinking that nothing would change between them if Suman was to move on with another man. Just like how in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.. the leads started talking about their respective partners when they were together rather than chilling together like old times & suddenly were not spending time together like they used to..
7. The precap - YES! YES! YES! I knew this would come back to haunt them one day because yes he moved on, he forgave her but that doesn't mean all that he went through is forgotten. And neither does that mean that his view on women has changed. It is Suman he treated differently, because he was always saw her as a friend, beyond her gender. Looking forward to see how it plays out!
I wrote this at the top of my head, so I might have missed important scenes or not articulated my thoughts well enough.. do add in your POVs.😊
Cheers,
Samridhi
Fan Fictions
