Excellent post Vidya!
As I said on another post on this forum yesterday, it was only over the weekend that first started to watch Gulaal the show, and have managed to catch up with mostly all necessary points by watching youtube's listing of Kesar-Gulaal scenes. That said, you know my background on the show's know how (:
The wonderful thing about your post is, that you have a bias - which you admit to - but you are viewing the characters in exactly their own light. Ever since I caught on the story this weekend gone by, i've wondered why most people on this forum seem to become wary of Gulaal's righteousness, and/or keep wishing bad on 'annoying' Talli. You talk of Kesar and Gulaal - I want to add Talli's name to the list. The absolute delight of watching this show has to be how each character has its personal grey shades, and yet, all of them justify every fiber of their being, as they are. Their circumstances have made each of them the person the are, and unlike most Indian dramas, their character sketches have not been tampered with but allowed to evolve in a set flow.
Gulaal is the same woman who has a past of withstanding customs that come in the path of what is objectively correct. Her yardstick to measure right and wrong is based neither on wordly morals nor ethics. Unlike what some people around seem to think, her reason to never have accepted Kesar in the true position of her husband so far, has nothing to do with his younger age or what people would think/say blah! It is all about Vasant - who never was, and never has been replaced in her life; and about Talli, whom she has given more than just a promise - a trust. She finds the meaning of her life come true in bearing her duties and living them out. Its what she has always done, and perhaps always will. In the name of duty, she has set odds and evens aside, and looked at things in clear perspective. Gulaal was never a child from as far back as we know her character in the show. She was a young girl, then a married girl, and now she's a household woman. Her evolution graph has been accordingly drafted.
Kesar on the other hand has gone from being a child, to a young man. Not to mention the trauma of the mystery of his brother's death, Gulaal's suspicious allegiance in the matter and the entire deal having haunted him with a moment's exception. He loves Gulaal - because he has never known it another way with her, and despite his wishful hatred for what he blames her for, his love has only become far more obsessive, and grown beyond the simplicity of a child's love. The little things like his demanding tea not milk go on to indicate how desperately he needs her to appreciate and accept that he now the grown up man, ready to take his place and responsibilities. He wants to be sheltered by her, still, but no more as a child. He wants her attention, because he craves it as a young man, but every counter chance, he also revels in being able to protect her, take care of her. He wants to be her pillar, and he wants her to accept it like that. It's going to be a long time battle - Talli in picture or not.
And of course, there is Talli. The annoying third angle for most viewers, but one who in all objectivity has no blame to bear. If she's like a shadow to Gulaal - its because of the way she has grown up - again, knowing no other way. The difference between Kesar and Talli growing up as kids with Gulaal is, Kesar has inside his head always owned Gulaal as his own - as a child, his most trusted confidante, even more than Vasant; and now, as his woman. Talli on the other hand has always mentally been owned by Gulaal. She doesn't think she has been favored, but she cannot step out of her person, or stop being her shadow.
Interestingly, for Gulaal to wish for Talli and Kesar to get together is entirely normal and genuinely well wishing. Anyone in her position would think so, and Paanba's criticism of having a right over her son's life is half acceptable, and half not - because really, no one can ever have a right over Kesar like Gulaal does. Not with regard to what relationship they share, but what circumstances has made of their respective bonds. For Gulaal, to see the two children she has seen half her world in get together is the ultimate happiness. She does not, and perhaps for the longest time will not be able to see things from Kesar's pov. And she can't be blamed! We want her to give him a chance - but she's not not giving him a chance.. she just doesn't understand this instance of him having feelings for her which go beyond those you have for an elder or a mentor. They have two very different mind set ups, and whether or not Kesar would have learned of Dushyant-Gulaal-Vasant mystery, this was going to happen as far as just Gulaal and Kesar are concerned.
phew - I've spoken more than you have - but that was a wonderfully written post, I just had to come vent my bit too!
xx
JZee