Who am I and Who are you?...And what do you want me to be! - Page 7

PS: The episode was so gripping.👏 Back in the Sumo bashing days, I remember arguing over so many posts about Shravan getting to know Suman and appreciating her for WHO SHE IS. Yesterday was the script getting just there. I am so very much bowled over by the writing, I must say.😳

It is not about a hate wedding or a triangle or a mother- son reconciliation.

When I watched the promo of this show, what struck me was Shravan's attitude towards women...it was such a realistic portrayal of a man who calls himself cultured, yet he is narrow minded enough not to see that he is blind...Had been such a fascinating aspect of his character. It is so benign on the outside..After all, he is handsome, he is young and successful..and all he is asking for is a wife who would stick to him. But how well does he know this person he has loved for so many years? What in the world does he know of her!

Excited for the answers Shravan himself will be seeking in the coming episodes.

😊

Chick,

I have no countering view to offer on Shravan as the narrative stands today...Ur post has already highlighted that. If it were yesterday you wrote this...I would have argued with you...and u know, U and I argue with each other like no one else...😉

However, since I love to argue with u...Chick..., write I will...we do go back a long way in that, don't we?😆😆

Will draw your attention to two things you wrote above. First the aspect in @bold...I agree wholeheartedly, the promo which is why I wanted to stay away from this serial in the first place. Such characters don't inspire me to think any progression is possible for the simple reason that I don't think of love between two people as a battlefield of areas of improvement. It is not a Charity project. We love because we love. Yes, people do undergo changes while in relationships which is a totally different thing, improvement or otherwise.

U said above " how well does he know this person he has loved for so many years? What in the world does he know of her!" Hmmm...absolutely true...however, this is just as easy to turn it around and ask. How well does she know this man that she knows so much about? Why was she not able to recognise that these were the outpourings of a man who she knew, loved her at some stage, if not as a man but as a teenager? Is she so steeped in her issues to recognise that the man she claims to love dearly has deep issues of trust? This, after his actual laying out in plain terms that he lacks the ability to trust.

So, Chick rhetorical questions can be asked of both. Yet, we know that it's not the true picture of this love story, is it?. It's not fair to either to box them into such corners. A love story never wins if one character is on to a charity project to reform the other. I was drawn to this story of two damaged teenagers who have loved each other, differently yet soulfully. I always knew the dynamics in this relationship will always cause confusion on how to view their problems because many of their issues have the shadow of their past history.

On to the other aspect you wrote, which I have underlined above, I have a bone to pick with the narrative on this...It has been muddled in its messaging on that. It is not entirely fair to say that Shravan has no appreciation of Sumo's work. The first PCT tangle where Shravan mistakenly gets her out of that land was a legality and his insistence on defending it natural. If one can rationalise Sumo defending to herself her anomalies on the current PCT muddle, why may the same courtesy be not afforded to Shravan? Further Shravan was shown to be understanding of her issues in the accident phase and was shown standing by her in that phase. As also his quiet pride on what the PCT land means to her. So let's not be swayed by the body blow dealt by CVs to Shravan's character by yesterday's speech and conclude that the narrative has never shown him supportive of her work. If that's true so are the audience's complaints that they do not get Sumo a lot of the times. So, if this track is to make him appreciate her work more...this is a forced re-routing after the CVs have forgotten to lay the foundation of why Shravan has suddenly become dismissive of Sumo's work.

Yes, I agree that Shravan's character has shown misogynist traits in the past as well and they have largely been shown to bare its fangs in troubled times. Before he made peace with Sumo on the terrace, the two specific instances I recall are the divorce case and the Vandy and friends convo. After that, his outburst have come at specific times when he has been in distress with either some issue related to Sumo or Nir. I can relate them here...marriage issue when Sumo tells Ram of Shravan's desire to marry, the Dal instance (where he makes peace with her on the issue). After that, he has never done it though he has faced distressing times after the caf incident. In fact, even when Sumo was not forthcoming, he tried his level best to reach out to her. During that track, they both needled each other and it is not possible to say that only Shravan was in the wrong. For instance at the end of the double Sumo scene, I could accept that Shravan was feeling absolutely gutted and I could also accept that Sumo was feeling desolate at the loss of a friendship and the love, which she seemed to have killed thru her own actions, even if the narrative was muddled on this stage as well.

As far as I was concerned, his hatred directed at her while talking about girls in general in the previous episodes was clear enuf to indicate that this man had not gotten over his issues of trust and the misogyny he harboured. At all those times, it was clear, he was displaying hatred toward women but the real cause of ire was her betrayal. However, it was no longer so...Yesterday, Sumo was one of the women..That was the change in the narrative that I saw. Now, this I am personally uncomfortable with. U can solve issues that arise between two people, but I am not so confident that is the case here...By touching upon the hatred towards women in a larger context, the CVs have stepped on a landmine...It would be just too simplistic to show his issues in the larger context are solved by the relationship with Sumo and Niru improving...

So this attempt by CVs to increase Sumo's height by cutting down Shravan's height has not gone down well with me. Yes, we could pick stray examples and argue over what the story is trying to show here...

In conclusion, by choosing to make misogyny as the centrepiece of their narrative concerning Shravan and choosing to make "bottling up of emotions" as the centrepiece of their narrative concerning Sumo...the field is already skewed...One doesn't need any clues to crack this one. Yet, for me the love story loses...as I have always rooted for Shraman...