(Late latif naam kam pad gaya hai. Abi koi naye naam ki talaash mein hu. Special appeal to giver of uber-hatke names aka chotu Kesuda to think of a name for moi ☺️ Main to dushman ki beti bhi nahi hu - yahan sirf pyaar hi pyaar hai 😆 )
Srushee 🤗 Chorry for missing out on threads since the 9th one - but I sat and saw them all in a go now!
Who says this show did not show us the fairy tale love of price comes on horse (read: camel) riding in white from faraway (and oh so picturesque) lands, to find his princess with special traits. A Rupenzel with lonnng hair, or a distressed damsel in the cinders who fits the magic slipper, or a Snow White prettiest of all - and so goes the drift. Vasant is the classic prince of those fables. Gulaal is the classic princess - how ironic is it, that Gulaal is at her temperamental and impulsive worst/best until Vasant enters her life. The entire evolution of maturity in her, begins from the moment of his advent. And of course, he finds out her god gifted 'neyamat' as no one else does or would have cared to. When you look at the story of the show just here and now - these are so headed for a happily ever after.
But that's where Gulaal ceases to cliche. Because in steps the anti hero - who is not a bad guy - but someone to turn the world around him upside down no less! Yes, there is a bad guy too - and guess what, like all bad guys, he too falls for the girl who belongs to the good guy - but so what? Neither of them is getting her for a happily ever after - because hello, we already established this is not the cliche story, heard and told!
And no - I wasn't being random or vague saying all that - it was exactly what I was thinking watching those 3 episodes back to back. The story of GV is been there done that in watching a fictional tale. The excellence of cinematography (oh dear DOP, take a thousand bows!), the precision of plot and dialog, the absolute no-no to melodrama and dragfests, some brilliant acting, credible characters - the overall flow of this show is bound to be a hit from the all ends - a wholesome treat. Somewhere IMO, it is the existence of Dushyant, and not Vasant - that keeps an uninitiated viewer from think of a GK angle! Because the anti hero side of Kesar is a while away - for now, the only threat to good guy, is the bad guy - and the sequence of events ensures we absorb that conviction, just like that. I shall never get over my awe for how unpredictable this show is! Every single event convinces a viewer so much, that you're quite in flow of it, not expecting what will be the big bang ahead and change it all for you! Since I never did watch the show in order - I shall never know how soon it was before the audience watching it from the start realized the GK DV would happen - or how much of it was unanticipated! Genius story telling, such a grip, and the almost unbelievable credibility in such drastic twists in the tale! 👏
I lobe how you pointed out certain things Srushti - MB and Gulaal's first exchange of looks. Yes, they are going to go a long long way, and how beautifully! You'd said in an earlier post of how MB's blind faith in Gulaal almost stemmed from the hope of a miracle she revived in him - when life was being at its epic fail worst. She came like this single ray of hope and changed the colors of the entire picture from barren to green! He had a soft spot for her, not just for the 'favor' she had done - but because of how much about her character and integrity came forth in her gesture - her persistence, her intention, even her fearlessness in the face of daunting opposition - she was made up of bold and wild traits, a heart you couldn't but trust blindfolded!
Again - the way you point out the distinction of what each brother falls for in Gulaal - Kesar does fall for the entire package. he can relate to her impulsive bratty carefree spirit - perhaps that's what he first and foremost connects to. Then there is very giving love aura about her - there is such an impossible to ignore inflow and outflow of 'adulation' about her person - it draws Kesar like a magnet - because this child version of Kesar is quite that wildly emotional person at heart himself - what they call in Hindi a 'dil-fek' person?! Somewhere, these two share that trait. Of course over time, he begins to trust the confidante in her, begins to rely on the empathy he finds in her for himself - something that even Vasant doesn't provide to such extent because his focus is more on spoiling Kesar. To me where Gulaal really cuts herself an edge in this child Kesar is by seeing a person in this child. She doesn't exactly 'spoil' him in the classic way of pampering; but she has a way of respecting his person - which is something he has unknowing craved for and never gotten. She understands innately, that what he needs is mostly a right direction and motivation to follow ... somewhere, what Vasant does for Gulaal, is what Gulaal does for Kesar. And they can do it like that because even though they are bonded in a divine intervention of ways, they are not 'family' when they first meet! Strangers can sometimes show you things about yourself, that people very close to you cannot! For GK its like that!
And again - PB standing up for his son. And for Gulaal in turn. Where was this mother when Kesar needed her - at all the points he did? I know we've been shown PB is a weak character - and that the weakness is innate to her, something she cannot help, even if its a wrong in her. But really, when I saw this scene I had but ask, why this latent power in her could not surface one single time in Kesar's favor - not even for a circumstance as drastic as his DV with Gulaal. Something about her lapse as a mother in Kesar's case is almost step motherly - and then I wonder, if at least part of it doesn't stem from the subconscious 'handing over' of sort, of Kesar to Gulaal?! Its like she unknowingly takes a step back, and never takes that entire step forward again. Fatefully needed for GK - but sad when I think about her being a mother.
Then - about you pointing out the growth in Gulaal within a matter of what, 48 hours or so? I find it trivial but curious, that Gulaal was a 'mannat' child sworn to never wear anklets. Its almost like the first time she breaks that 'mannat' - even if not entirely - is the changing point of her life. Its like that one anklet serves a sign of bondage - happy, or voluntary, or forced - whatever, at different times! She bonds herself then and there - to Vasant. To Vasant's family. To Vasant's dream. To Vasant's family. To Vasant's Kesar... And yes, like you said, if only Revji knew how his one fall was going to change the entire face of her daughter's fate - or well, just kick start what was written!
I do/did wonder, if Gulaal was not Nirja - would Vasant still give his blood for Revji Bha? Yes he probably would, he's almost unlike mortals in that streak of selflessness in him. But even though consciously he is only doing what he deems a human duty, does he think for a moment, about doing this for Nirja becoming his means to the end - honestly, he's beyond human if he doesn't! And It's hard to conceive even that kind of selfishness of him - which really, is all for his people - but I can't make myself believe it doesn't occur to him. He does take the first chance she thanks him, to offer her a way to show gratitude!
Finally - to the first meeting. Boy, oh boy, these two! Kesar is so much Gulaal - yet so much Vasant. Maybe that's why, they are the two people who he shares portions of his life with, in an entirety. When its Vasant - Kesar is all about Vasant. Every starts and ends at his brother. When its Gulaal - only the person has changed, its the same Kesar game, the same Kesar rules. Such a focused focused guy, in terms of his affections 😆 @Vasant scribbling Gullu's name in the sand - a classic brothers' of talsagra touch 😆 and interesting transformation shown in how he has gone from writing Nirja last time to Gulaal this time. His dream is no longer a far fetched thought stolen from the head of another person. His dream is now a tangible reality - and because the dream is now his own - he gives it his own name. Gulaal. Nirja was Ramjadiya's. Gulaal is Vasant's. Or well... for now 😎
phew - itni lambiii post - sona ban hai! I was making up for 3 episodes and there was so much to say, I'm sure I still missed kuch kuch. Oh Duggu was intentionally skipped. A genius eerie that character and actor is. Creeps me out even in the caps! Can't blame Vasant from giving that unblinking stare - he could probably sense the odd vibes, cause really, he was more of a world's man that missy Gulel at this point!
Looking forward to tonight's episode - will be back for that.
xx
JZee
Cricket
Kundali Bhagya
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Anupamaa
