I think the execution of some of the scenes has been very poor and I agree with what is being said by most. However, I think the scenes are ultimately what is written and required by the director. I am not sure the actors are having much say in this, but the two leads (Neil and Ayesha) have both demonstrated a good understanding of the characters, so I am inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that there is nothing unprofessional or off screen that is affecting their performance, but it is the direction.
Onwards from that, I think the distance is part of the story. IMO, there have been key scenes where they are intimate and close. For example: (1) the holi scene; (2) the 200th episode scenes with the ladoo and almost kiss; (3) when Sai forgives Virat and he hugs her tightly as if his life depended on it; and (4) the hotel scene when they went on the anniversary trip. This is why I do not think it is an actor issue, but more with the direction.
That being said, the story, as it currently stands, lends itself to distance between the leads. On the one hand, you have Virat, who while deeply in love (according to him) with Sai, he is not someone who crosses boundaries, would not want to make her uncomfortable, and is deathly scared of doing anything that would make her leave him. He told her this on their SR night at the beginning when telling her to sleep on the bed, that he knows his boundaries. Another example of him respecting this is the night she is ill before the Anjinkya kaand. Being deeply in love with her at this point, he starts to move her hair from her face, but when she flinches he very quickly moves his hand because he is worried about whether he has crossed a line that will upset her (we know at this point that Sai is actually warming to his touch). That same episode also shows how he respects the boundary he thinks she wants and Sai has said she wants, as he puts the pillow fort between them, despite him having made clear on her birthday that he did not want that between them. I think, therefore, the physical distance lends itself to the character of Virat, his understanding of Sai, and the story as it stands so far. On course, there are circumstances where he has begun to or tried to cross that limit, as in the examples I have given above, but that he where he has gotten carried away while trying to confess/show his love, or Sai has reciprocated or been open to the advances.
On the other hand, you have Sai who also does not want him getting physically intimate with her because of what she thinks about him and Pakhi, although she also gets caught up sometimes in the examples I have given above. For example, the night of the alta scenes, when Virat is touching her shoulder she asks him why is he so near to her. We also know that she thinks he is in two boats and therefore she has issues with his attempted advances, not least because she may be worried about accepting them and falling in love with someone she thinks is in love with Pakhi. So, again from Sai's point of view she is also wanting to keep distance. The example I have given of Virat moving Sai's hair is again an example of how she reacts to him touching her when she wants to keep a distance, which is why he moved his hand so abruptly and pretended he did not touch her. But we know, after a few seconds when she thought about it, that she was happy with the physical intimacy.
Bringing it round full circle, while I agree there is poor execution and direction, I think this is because of the story and how the characters are supposed to be themselves. I am convinced entirely (although I cannot know for sure) that it is only because of off-screen relationships and dynamics that are affecting this. I do not follow much off-screen, but Neil and Ayesha, from the limited I have seen, seem very professional and I do not doubt they would showcase the physical intimacy once the scene calls for it. I think once the barriers are down for both and the confession happens, you will see an explanation by both about how they wanted to get close to each other, but always thought the other did not want that. I think there was a similar conversation in KD after the confession had happened where this is addressed. I think we have the same feature of the story here. From what I have seen of KD (I have no understanding of Bengali), Emon and Rono were not physically close at all prior to the confession and were much more distant than Sai or Virat, although they did have some charged scenes like the fever scene, which had a different treatment here. But again, for me, I am not convinced that the fever scene in Ghum was not right for the stage of the story and where the characters were at that point in time. I hope, as with KD, that post confession we will see more intimacy and physical proximity between Sai and Virat, as also happed in KD.
Anyway, just my two cents as to why i am choosing to remain optimistic for now about why it has played out the way it has.
Channel V Dil Dosti Dance
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