Posted:
Can't believe this is to be the post. I almost don't want to make it, and be done...
Anyway.
DISCLAIMER: The words like and love words are probably going to be mercilessly abused in today's post - so bear with that 😆
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I'm going to start from Kesar's series of FB's before his accident. I really like how his last FB just before he shuts his eyes over the blinding blur of tears, is of Gulaal's acceptance. Literally, of the white roses, but figuratively speaking. The word sweekar keeps coming back to me - like Gulaal has it figured, Kesar's place in her heart and life, Kesar has it figured too - his now importance and place for her ... and the futility of having to walk away nonetheless, make peace with the idea of the 'parting'. Thoughtful chronology and line up of FBs as always =)
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I like how we get that flute BG music to the moment after Gulaal hears of Kesar's accident- when she's telling PooBaa about it. The same music that was played in the rain time love confession by Kesar. Not only is it a beautiful yet angsty music - but in a way, the flute itself is symbolic of Krishna... and it goes back all the way (in my head) to the time they performed the play and Gulaal became Rukmani for Kesar the Krishna. Although really - she has been both Radha and Rukmani in his life ❤️ Okay my linking logic is just vague, but I like that they bring back this tone for now, from the confession back then. There is also a divine intervention feeling about this tone - because I can't but connect the flute to Krishna.
(btw - the phone broke when Gulaal let it slide out of her hands, but still PooBaa went hello hello into it - 😆 - obviously no one spoke! ]
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I really really like the fact that Kesar's accident was actually a minor one. It sort of mitigates that feeling of unfairness to the Kesar fan in me - in a fatal accident having to provide part impetus. Although, just the news of an accident is enough to freak her out... I like the fact that he's not exactly fighting for life, and Gulaal just praying for him to be restored to her. No. The minor accident actually gives a perfect base for the kind of prayer Gulaal eventually does offer to her god - more on that later.
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Again, I love the expression MB gives the hysteric Gulaal. I like hoe Rewa is stopped from following Gulaal into Kesar's room. I like how these little things are taken care of so well by script and actors to give a touch of perfection. While the idea is about giving them 'space alone' its not entirely or exactly in a romantic sense, Kesar isn't even conscious! MB's expression at Gulaal's hysteria is such a momentary but clear message of his understanding of the situation. Not like he wasn't well on the path of correct conjectures when days ago he said that he had this hunch she was looking for his slightest nod of acceptance to not break the DV... but we've had scenes of MB witnessing Kesar's raw loneliness, and Gulaal has managed to mask her own somewhat better. This is the first 'raw' flash of Gulaal's reciprocation to him. And what's been known to him, coming to him - just hits like a blatant fact.
And so, while giving GK their space, he still follows her up to Kesar's room. Gets a good look of her feelings. And his expression as he walks away from there is all about having made some decisions.
***
Kesar's un-moving/unflinching/un-reacting stance to Gulaal's pristine touch of him - like he's a priceless china (male) doll 😆 is so moving. It reminds me of the time Kesar looked over at such a still form of her, when she exhausted herself into some kind of comatose sleep after the heavy duty break down post the family showdown over Gulaal having known of Dushyant being murderer all this time. I remember Reemz having said something along the lines of how perfect Mansi's act was - in that stillness - she doesn't show an iota reaction to Kesar's caress when he wipes away the tear... Interestingly Kesar too had been in regret at the point he looked over her sleeping form at that point, regret of having lost control in an outburst and brought this pain upon her. An outburst, not with wrong intention - but how much agony it had cost her. Gulaal is in a similar predicament, albeit on a different account. Her distancing herself from Kesar is not with a 'wrong intention' but just like Kesar's anger and tempers have been his shortcoming, Gulaal's extremity of righteousness and sacrifice has been her cross - and each of them hurts the other most on these respective accounts. So today, Gulaal weeping in regret over Kesar is coming full circle from that point - almost - cause she still hasn't sealed it with the promise of being there for him hence, as he did back then... well, we're getting there 😳
***
Okay - surprise point here - MB coming and declaring his decision to forgive and bring back Dushyant. Thank god, finally - was what I immediately said - and actually hoped we'd get to see Sushant (alas). But really, I'm in awe of how well the CVs time and tie the threads. This wasn't out of the blue. I think MB's sighting of that reciprocation from Gulaal was like a finality to him - that these two people had found their shore together... it was like he was sure, even if Gulaal was yet to be, that the bad days would now be over for them. Not long to go. And in the wake of all the action and redemption that has gone on in the family scene for days now - I think MB finds his heart, more than ever, in a position to move on too. To be able to start fresh chapters, without letting the past stain them anymore. And since a new chapter for the house must now be started - he sets off to right everything about it. I don't think MB has been unaware or in denial about Dushyant's 'reform' in a decade - unlike Kesar who held Dushyant responsible not just for the murder but for much else which wasn't really true - MB's issue with Gulaal has been that sense of betrayal (not intention, but action) and with Dushyant - the enormity of his sin, which such blots out all else! In my head - although it wasn't explicitly shown - MB has not really held Gulaal or Dushyant in the wrong for anything they not done wrong - to him, their wrongs the precise mistakes made were big enough in the span of that one day of showdown... his eternal complain has been about not being consulted as an elder, been brought into picture for vital decisions, and feeling betrayed, in different ways, at the hands of his two most trusted children shook the foundation of his trust. But he's not really been illogical - at any point. Really. So it makes sense, he can find it in his heart to forgive and bring back Dushyant now, when he plans to herald a new chapter for the house. He understands that the family unity has been restored - but bringing back Dushyant is like putting action over words. Very very mature - and how befitting of MB. PB is another story. For my happiness and sanity, I ignored her blatantly.
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Gulaal's unblinking stare session. 🥺 The slightest movement from Kesar, and her almost inaudible but just discernible 'Kesar' ... Wonderful stuff from Mansi there 👏 Short but classic. Gulaal telling Rewa she wont be able to get a morsel of food down her throat with Kesar not coming around... typical - but even the typical things just look so much better when GK get those scenes. Sigh... (no, no, not thinking about tomorrow, shush!)
***
Gulaal's prayer scene: Nirvana at last, to starving GK phans, and utter Kesar phankaaas! Shukar hai, ye sab bhi sunne ko mila aaj Galool ji ke muh se! Oh the thandak to my dill *does the victory dance like Naseeruddin Shah from JTYJN, when Imran fulfills conditions of being a Rathod 🤣)
No seriously - how long have these words been awaited - even this 'to-her-own-self' confession for Kesar! I'm glad we got both version of Gulaal's confession today, and not just the GK deal. This, to me, was just as vital. Wonderful dialogs here in. Gulaal 'rhetorically' asking God aap meri aankhein hi kholna chahte the na? Lekin Kesar ko taqleef dekar kyun? (and I'm all cause that's the only way you open your eyes missy 😆 ) Main jaan gayi hu, ke Kesar ki meri zindagi mein jagah kya hai (and just for a moment I wondered, really - so she's saying she figured it now?) but thankfully she proceeds to clarify, isi liye main use milne ki himmat nahi jutaa payi!
To me the interesting part is the fact that even now - true to her still existing hold back - she tells God main jaan gayi hu uske bina jeevan bitana kitna mushkil hai - Arre Galool! That's what! God wasn't trying to show you his value anymore - wo to bhagwan hain, sab jaante hain! - He knows you figured that piece... he's trying (in vain, bicharae bhagwan bhi!) to tell you that mushkil is not the word here - impossible is! Khair!
The most touching dialog in this scene - jo pehle se hi mere kaaran itna dukhi hai, usse aur dard kyun diya! - If only she figured that one out! It wasn't Kesar in pain at this point - he was sedated and sleeping aram se Missy - this doze of dard is for YOU! 😆 woh kya kehte hain... chott wahan lagi hai, dard yahan ho raha hai type ☺️ No but, beautiful scene, much needed - no melodrama as always, and straight to the point. Mansi - kudos again! Friday was Kesar day - and tonight was hers. 👏
ps: family women drama that followed - skip skip.
***
Okay - Mansi rushing to the stairs, then just being stopped by the sight of that door - again came full circle for me, from the time Kesar has been held back in his step the night their family was away, and he tended to Gulaal. He was looking at Gulaal's room - and Gulaal at this point look's at Vasant and her room. But the irony of having Kesar barge his way into every memory she's reminded of - 👏 - wonderful silent direction there! The once GV bedroom, is no longer a locked up chest untouched by time. It has been opened, its memories have been adjusted, and Kesar has crawled into the space. The way Piyu Mhaari is playing in Vasant FB's and then a thundering clap interferes as Kesar with the drum comes to mind (oh I wanted the Kesar from talli engagement SO SO BAD - but I realized later, that they were going to reuse his sherwani from then, so they probably didn't use it *shakes head*) I like the fact that she doesn't encounter Vasant's ghost here - but MB actually finds his way to her. Just like PooBaa Gulaal scene from Friday - I loved this scene. Two brilliant actors, excellent dialog writing. MB giving her the release. The way he told her main tumhe purane bandhan se azaad karta hu... yet another full circle. From when Gulaal made the offer to Kesar. I like how the dialogs today were placed in a way to link back to old scenes, without sounding typically repetitive. Gulaal was offering him freedom that day, because she wanted so bad for him to take his shot at happiness with Talli. That was the point she would have never imagined Kesar and herself - she was an 'elder' in that scene, inside her mind at least, giving her 'responsibility aka Kesar' a freedom that would let him begin afresh, assuring him he did not have to feel the obligation! MB is doing the same today - except, he knows a lot better about what he's doing, than Gulaal - but that's why he's Daddy Cool , and she is Galool 😆 [that rhymed!!! 😎 ] Wonderfully played out scene - Gulaal's inner battle between want and right was so well portrayed. The way she averts her gaze, and looks down, like she is shamed, when MB first walks in on her, the way she falls to his feet when he tells her she isn't wrong but she's obviously very shamed... tells you exactly what was holding her back so strongly despite the extent of her love now for Kesar... her helplessness in wanting something she cannot seem to attest as 'right'. Gulaal being speechless, as her eyes do all the speaking, and MB like a true father figure can read all her doubts and concerns and sorts them all for her - wonderful heartfelt stuff there! 👏 I'm glad we got an MB-Gullu scene exclusively. These two have a bond that's been portrayed with significance and in such beauty of bonding... they deserved space in the finale. MB telling her aaj ne kal ki jagah le li hai ... shocking her, not because she doesn't know, but because the words are 'wrong' in her rule book, the concept is wrong... Again, MB's mention of Vasant wanting the same - it actually logically links to Gulaal having a Vasant dream. The human subconscious works like that - we dream of things heavy on our mind, and the details can usually be linked to things heard or said or thought! Oh and I love how MB tells her jiski baat tu kabhi nahi taal sakti... another loop closing?! for all the times, this right has been asserted and mentioned! The way Gulaal looks away when he says that - evidence of how even MB has not entirely convinced her... oh sigh her shackles!
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GV scene - haha! Vasant totally looks an Indian ortho version of the Cullen clan - he's sooo white and shiny 😆 But on a serious note, I like how he starts by telling Gulaal that not following her heart is a mistake! She looks shocked - because hello, she's been taking her heart's call as a near sin all this time, on account of his fidelity to this man, now he walks in ghost form and tells her the counter is a mistake! Oh her dilemma! His kyun Gulaal to her letting go of chance at life with Kesar, of risking her today for a yesterday gone and past... shocks her again. Like the idea that the real answer of 'kyun' should be asking her this question is just plain convoluted! Finally - I really really like how he tells her - yehi tere dill ki awaaz hai - which almost makes the entire dream something her heart has woven and not Vasant's 'final green signal'... but then he adds - aur tere Vasant ki itcha - sigh. I wish he hadn't. But I suppose there was no other way for her. If she had to simply 'bid' to her heart... well, it would have long happened. Aise hai, to aise sahi!
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THE SCENE ❤️ 😍 ☺️ GK confession!!!
Another full circle - Gulaal gets up, and can't see Kesar. Almost like the time he was ill with fever, woke up to see the quilt, and then saw only an apparition of her - but there was no Gulaal. Yes, not like an exact scene reciprocal, but I was reminded of it anyway. The way they nearly walk into each other - oooh!!!! ☺️ Their chemistry is JUST.ANOTHER.THING. They had inches between them, no falling or catching nonsense, but the intensity of that scene - aaah, GK!
G: Kahan chala gaya tha tu? [a follow up version of kahan tha tu ab tak. there was a time she hadn't found him, when she did, her question had been - kahan tha tu ab tak. now it was like finding him, and losing him all over again, so the question becomes - kahan chala gaya tha tu!]
K: no more of his saatvan aasmaan answers. he got thrown from that 7th heaven just a day ago - so he talks real this time. what a role reversal, LOL! his studying but atm resigned look before he asks her, main thodi der ke liye tere saamne nahin tha, to tu itni pareshaan hogayi... (Gulaal's lowered eyes, labored breathing - like its actually hit her NOW, although she thought she knew, how staying away from him was not going to be mushkil, as she was telling God, but impossible! isse pehle hi koi CenterShock de deta! 😆] soch jab main humesha ke liye dur... and hand clasp... *sigh swoon faint * Gullu to chiii par uttar aayi! 😆 Yes. Another full circle. Last time round madam had not only gotten all hot and aware, but also rendered our lubly Kesuda awkward! Abi bolo to koi!
K (continues): [oh the way he removed her hand *aww aww aww aww* and goes muh dhakne se kya hoga?! AHA! Kesar on the reality role, giving Gullu a taste of her own medicine, when she pulled off all these 'show logic' kill joy arguments and waat lagaoed the romance! 🤣 It's so awesome, that he's getting her to answer all the things she would usually ask - well actually, knowing her, she'd probably just show eyes and not really word them, and expect Kesar to back off - which he would, being good boy and all. *shakes head* Anywayyy... Gullu in the witness box, and attorney Kesar unrelenting with such love and kindness *swooon* durr to jana hi haina?! Kal nahi jaa paya, ab to jana hi padega... [Gulaal's brimming with tears eyes. But Kesar has seen them yesterday, and he doesn't imagine they will stop him anymore than they did then. So he moves to walk past her, but she just swallows, and how subtle but effective is the scene, that even that sign holds him back, arrests his attention - she's not done speaking... and so he waits again]
G: ja... jana jaruri hai kya?! [Oh all these days I've been going gaga about Kesar's speech through tears and holding back storm of emotions. Mansi reciprocates it so so well!] Kesar looking up to those words is like ... err, wh-at?! Now that's different from yesterday. And Mansi's eyes speaking back - sigh!
K: Main kahan jaana chahta hu... tu mujhe bhej rahi hai! [Oh candor and Kesar shall never part ways! Jo bolna hai, bas bol dega! Tact and euphemism - kahan ji! 😆 ] Good for Gullu though - she needs someone that blunt. Sharafat kahan samjh aati hai madam ko! On an unrelated note - if Gullu had a bf like Kunal, she'd never make sense of what he's saying... wo to poetry karta rehta, chori ki, and Gullu madam incapable of putting blunt 2 and 2 together would never comprehend a thing! 🤣 I can imagine how convoluted Kesar's pareshani scene must have been to her - in retrospect - bichara has taken forever of saying things upfront and straight, and tab bi it has taken all this toll to knock the meaning in, phew! *wipes off brow* Hard work this woman is!
G: Bol to aise raha hai jaise shehar jaane ka faisla mujhse puch kar kiya tha (OH TERI! Gullu ki reverse swing delivery! 😆 ) Humesha apni manmaani karta hai (GEEZ! She just said that? I swear I'm going to make her sit and watch the 211 episodes of this show until today - and then we'll see manmaani kaun karta hai! )
K: Puchta hu to tu seedha jawab kahan deti hai ... [aur ye maara Kesarji ne Gullu ki reverse swing pak SIX! 😎 ) Gullu expression in return totally reminds me of the champa and suraj grahan scene - dude she is such a child woman! always sulking when he's right! 😆 dekh na, abhi bhi ghuma fira ke baat kar rahi hai! [goes into screen and gives Kesar a full on Punjabi thumb on the back. Ye hui na baat ! Man's got style of getting his woman to talk, now that he can sense what's coming... oh the look they share here - the confession already happens! Like totally. He knows what she's saying. She knows he knows it. But nope - bolna to padega! hmph ! *folds arms* ]
G: mat jaa na Kesar... (OMG! he toptally holds his breath here. It didn't matter they just exchanged an eye-to-eye confession second ago! You can totally count the number of times Kesar breathes for the seconds that follow, because its so held back, and released with effort of a lifetime!) mat jaa... and his eyes begin to reflect the labor of his breathing... tere bina jeene ki adat nahi rahi ab... ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ 😍 Can you even imagine a love confession any better?! Oh these two - I will miss them SO much... The way she falls against his shoulder this time - and his eyes begin to tear, and get red, and show the tumult of emotions... how long has he waited for this?! Let's not go by minutes and hours and days. Let's go by seconds. Each one being a lifetime. that's how long. I know this is dramatic - but time really is elastic like that - feels forever, or feels like a blink, depending on the events in its duration! the wait for Kesar has been like countless lifetimes! Specially, in the oblivion of not knowing if the wait could be wait anymore - or just plain resignation! and the fact that he doesn't actually 'hug' her back - because he's so stunned by what he did see coming seconds ago - Neil was BRILLIANT. The word is just not enough or justice to him! His breathing is actually harsh at this point, and then she goes mujhe aise ab mat jaane dena... oh his slow but sure smile... aaah! Kesar/Neil has a wonderfully warm and charming boy smile, and this is but a ghost of it - but how real, how true ... and how entirely heartfelt! and he pulls her out... to look at her, to tell her what he wanted to all this time...
K: nahin jaane dunga... kahin nahin... tu agar kahegi to bhi nahin! ❤️ ☺️ 😍
[okay, is it me, or have we heard this somewhere before? I feel like I have... some movie? but I dunno where!] what a wonderful wonderful GK confession. Words and emoticons and every expression just falls short. How simple, how plain - no explicit I Love You could ever match up!!! Like ever! I think I'm going to end up re-watching this scene countless times and not tire of it - like the many other GK scenes... but this one - is just it! For a confession known and coming to be so effective! Makes up for the somewhat lack of GK in the episode... honestly, even makes up for not getting the formal vows. They've told each other to never let go - what vow can be greater?! It's really all encompassing... sigh!
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FInally Kesar's spring in the step announcing he's going no where - Gullu showing up back in 'bahu' avatar - AHAHAHA! that was SO cute! Ghungat is back!!! 😆 the round of blessings... and finally the turba! Yes light and happy and all that. The GK confession was really my finale. I was watching the episode for that scene. That it lived up to much expectation and much much more ...
Okaieee! can't believe I'm finally done making this post. nor that the show is finally, well ... you know! I'm such a smiling person just now, still in the GK confession mode... I wonder what tomorrow will be like - but I don't want to try and sleep over it - because I suppose not having to watch these two tomorrow will really sink in then.
I'll Miss Them. Very Very Much. And No words say this any better than words expressing the confession itself. But I'm glad the finale, the end, has really been worthy of the show. How fortunate are we, to have been treated to such brilliance...!
Do come around as and when and gush/miss these two! The final episode post here today. I want to pass on a HUGE teddy hug to everyone who's been around on these threads and made watching the show and experiencing its little nuances so much more elaborate and fun with all the discussions. I shall miss the forum activity, perhaps even a tad more than the show - the memory will always be as much about being here, as about watching the show!
love and hugs,
JZee
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
