Reflexiveness in reactions - Page 2

Rekha... my beautiful lady... thank you for this post🤗

I know how much I disturbed you, Red and J the whole night... because I did not understand it, couldn't reconcile to it. Thank you for telling me to watch it again... otherwise I would have missed the beautiful nuances and the acting of Namik Paul...

Yes, most of the time we watch a show with premeditated expectations.. .often enough coloured by what we have read or seen, by our own ideological leanings, our temperament and ofc, the olvs and spoilers doing the trick... In the bargain, as Red keeps on saying we forget the story itself and the character's consistency. Yes, every show can be improved, every nuances and shade can be bettered... but, that is beside the point... what is important in keeping with the storyline, did the episode work both for the plot and for the character?

My post is today related to the character, Shravan Malhotra... the man of contradictions...

Yesterday, we encountered him travelling by car and as destiny had preordained... his car broke down exactly at the point where Sumo was waiting to catch an auto. He saw her first without she realizing... and he could not keep his eyes off her. Just wanted to keep on looking at her... at will, at peace.. however, that was not meant to be. Because Sumo realized a pair of eyes was watching her intently...And then, Shravan's eye expressions changed.. an anger that he had been caught staring at her. ... Mask was instantly on. Yet, he could not help watching her, when he realized she was standing perilously close to a manhole. Few expletives are muttered under his breath... then again, his mind saying why do I care for her? No answers... or he isn't willing to listen to his heart. Says she can manage by herself.. not a kid is she (parallel to the injection scene). And he turns his car towards her (u-turn... parallel to the scene few days back when he had dropped her on the road, also, a parallel when he takes an u-turn during Daboo incident)... constantly looking at her and yet not stopping. Destiny helped.. yet he did not took hold of it?

But, here was the one of the many brilliant pieces of direction... he moves his car away from her.. yet his eyes look out for her, watch over her. Standing at the cross-section, the traffic light turn green.. symbolizing to move ahead.. to go on... to move on... yet, Shravan Malhotra stops his car and runs back. How could he have managed to do that?

BECAUSE HIS EYES NEVER LEFT HER... THE EYES WHICH WANTED TO SEE... ONLY HER... SAW HER AND NOTHING ELSE... GREEN LIGHT EFFECTIVELY MEANT GOING BACK TO WHERE SUMO WAS

Next piece of very good direction... he ran at break neck speed... and almost the whole surroundings is being blurred... because nothing else mattered... there was no need of voice, no sound, no dialogues... all you could see was a man trying to carry his life in his arms...He is screaming... but, dialogues are not required

Next piece of brilliance... when he was carrying her back to his car... it was in slow motion not only because he was carrying someone... because the weight of what he was carrying in his arms was wearing him down. He was carrying his whole world, the pain, the grief and despair will wear anyone down... the fact, that he managed to walk was because he knew that life meant.. living... And Sumo was his life... she had to live...

The hospital scene... he so wanted to be inside the operation room but, the doctor had to forcefully send him out... he was not shedding any tears... yet, his grief.. and the constant fb scenes of she being hit... was more than one could bear. He knew he was guilty (Rekha, I agree ... guilt, is not a very conducive emotion in love relationships... but, here I guess, it would be the first emotion apart from the sheer disbelief which was being enacted in his moving in an abject state... looking continuously at the operation door.. .seeking for a relief ... a relief which was not forthcoming)

And now here, I guess most of us.. including myself felt the disconnect. Primarily, we were trying to see the same intensity as we had once seen when his father's reported death news came. And secondly, the younger Shravan's response to his mother going away. In both cases, there was a finality... that none of them is going to come back. Hence, the overt dejection and grief. But, here is what I found brilliant (which I didn't earlier... you took me in that direction, Rekha.. thank you)... We were basing our expectations on what Pushkar had said to Sumo during the father's plane crash incident. What would be his intensity if and when he falls in love? And this is where most of us got it wrong...

Shravan Malhotra had been in love the last 10-12 years... his anger, his hurt, his very being was suffused by her presence... even when separated by a distance of London and Delhi. Though it might have been coloured by emotions of hate... he looked out for her... he watched her... she became his second nature. Was this accident track required for him to realize his love? No... an aspect which we all forgot...Was it to show the intensity of his love? Absolutely not... Why do I say so? Shravan wrote a love letter addressed to Sumo which unfortunately never reached its destination on time... Yet, ten years later, not only Sumo but Ramnath, Chachi had absolutely no problems in realizing that the adult, mature Shravan who has spent his last ten years in a different clime, in a different location is no different from the Shravan of yore. They all without any compunctions understood he is in love... He has not moved on. They felt his intensity in the very fabric of his existence... in the very layers of his personality. The poetry read by the adult Shravan was again written by the younger version... his whole life has been all about Sumo... she is his life. His u-turns all point in the same direction

He was a quiet boy.. sensitive almost given to hide his truer feelings for Sumo to himself... in fact, in the last ten years, he has been given to mask it even to himself... reading love as merely hate, anger.. or having moved on.

Ten years before, he had penned the letter... ending it with a question.. "Is it love?" He didn't bowl his lungs out even then...

Ten years later, his confession (which was again not spoken) was again subtle, not melodramatic... simple... as if he knew this was what it was all along (and which is true). His love doesn't need a feverish pitch to express itself... he has lived with this emotion of love... this is him. He is Sumo and Sumo is him (he had once crossed out the letter S, thinking it was Sumo without realizing the letter S begins his name as well). Interestingly.. the name that he writes on the form first is Sumo... the image of the girl he carries with him everywhere... a fighter, a girl who loved the geek, spectacled boy for what he was... the girl who could fight for a cause she believed in, a girl who could accept and win challenges. She will fight death... he knows it, he believes it. He has lived with it.

The relationship status that he filled... (could be linked further with the upcoming storyline... Red, J and you.. Rekha are better equipped to deal with this...) was of a friend. Again, the fbs shown were of young Shravan helping Sumo during the cycling incident... any other fb scene as yet has not been shown... This was good direction.. because he had helped her, consoled her, and had shared her grief then... now he didn't do it... the pain, the despair must have hurt. And because of which he was constantly looking at the operation theatre... realizing the enormity of what he had done. He had run away ten years before.. yet, at that time he could find certain answers for the same. Here, the only answer remained was to look at the operation theatre.. Alone. Having to see Nanu's grief, his pain as well... understanding that it is he who has done a grievous wrong. He did not stand up for her.. .when she required him the most. Is it a parallel to what Sumo did those ten years back, when she failed to realize his loss of losing a mother? Yet, Sumo was a mere child? He cannot hide behind any of those excuses... he will have to face this pain, him not taking responsibility for his love

And the anger will increase for himself and within himself... I doubt he will cry even in the later episodes.. it wont be a complete breakdown (at least not now)... If Sumo's injury is severe... Shravan Malhotra, will have no way out... He would have to fight for his love and for his mere existence... he cant be a bhagoda any longer. And as much as he starts fighting, his anger will be directed inward

I have to mention Ramnath.. he did a swell job yesterday. His first reactions on hearing Sumo's accident was almost as if he is planning what to do next... And with Nanu.. he was gentle...

Yesterday, most of us (including myself) did injustice to Namik Paul.. he was brilliant.👏 He is always good.. but, yesterday me of all people failed to realize it😡... Damn!

Sidenote, he has a wonderful handwriting (btw.. it has no bearing on the plot😆)

Only thing they could have improved was the accident itself... that was lame..

Red, J and Rekha... Sorry for disturbing you badly last night. Forgiveness😳

Rekha... thank you. Like, Shravan.. .no words are required, I believe, for you to understand what I feel right now🤗

PS: Watch the episode again everyone... a request. With a clear mind and heart

Love

Originally posted by: peachesandcream

Very well said.

I agree with you. I did watch the OLV's before the episode but still was not disappointed. Shravan's reactions were in keeping with his character. He has always been a quiet, shy person. His behaviour was consistent with the way his character has been portrayed up to now.

Yes...character fleshing...its an important part of any analysis...His mellow nature is an absolute contrast to the anger he displays on some occasions, lovely points there...😊

As you mentioned the enormity of the situation hit him when he was not allowed to enter into the operating theatre. His pain, his helplessness, his concern, was there as he sat looking at the operation theatre. Only when Pushkar arrived was he able to let go of some of the reserve and give expression to his fear. This is what I would expect from Shravan.

You put this out very beautifully...often we have pre-conceived notions on how a conditioned response to grief would be...calibration of grief..esp in a love story..how should a character respond...interpretational though I would say I would be rather guided by what the character is largely...Shravan's character did a whole lot of what he is...in the scene and we forget the internalisation of the pain is yet to play out...

Despite the absence of the drama we normally see in these sorts of scenes, I did not think it was lacking in emotion. It was reflected in his eyes, his quiet pleading with the Doctor that nothing should happen to Sumo, his recurrent flashbacks of the horrific incident and his staring at the operation theatre as if he could will himself to be in there with her.

The pause while signing the papers was a nice addition. He has relegated himself to something less then a friend when he so badly wanted to be so much more.

Lovely observations..

I think we will eventually see more of Shravans introspection. He will give expression to his feelings to himself privately whe he knows the status of his Sumo.

Originally posted by: kavmuks

I can tell you with my personal experience when you see someone dear in trauma you don't break down immediately when you know that all action has to come from you.. your brain does not allow to freak down.. it is only when things settle and people come around you break ..

Originally posted by: rekharv

well said,

I was disappointed with the episode not because of what i saw in OLV, may be because i was expecting more from Shravan. you can not compare this situation with the Ramnath one they are very different loosing father for Shravan was like loosing the only family he had. according to Shravan his father is a hero who has stood by him even after his mom ditched him so he is ready to go against anyone (even if it's his lady love) who speaks against his father.

But as a friend Shravan should have died every minute thinking he did not save her even when he could have. I agree he was on a Auto pilot mode and his foremost worry would be to take her to a hospital but after that the reality should have hit him very hard because he could have avoided the accident.

May be tomorrow they will show how heartbroken he is.