Okay I know I am inviting a lot of flak with this thread and also that I may be attacked on multiple sides with my opinion, but I could help but share my thoughts, specifically after reading some essays by recent converts.
One of the reasons I have always felt Imlie was different was because everytime I watched it, I could connect with it on a very basic level. While I agree that the situations shown are outlandish and illogical many times, but still the basic emotions and reactions seemed real and plausible to me, even with the current track.
Hence I would love to say today that I am happy that our show does not have any hero or villians. Our leads are not people who only exist on paper - they're real flawed people who make mistakes and suffer the consequences of their mistakes. Our leads are like regular people we find around us, just in extraordinary situations.
Take Imlie for example. She is a smart, brave and compassionate girl put in a situation not of her choice, yet making the best of it. She was forced to marry someone she had just met and knew was committed to someone else, which made her always feel guilty of taking something that was someone else's amanat. Adi continued to build that guilt over a very long period and that coupled with the fact that the person Adi was committed to is her own sister made the situation much more complicated. Yet Imlie never let that big her down. She lived her life the way she felt she should - king size. She earned love, relationships and support with her attitude and nazariya towards life. She felt horrible to lie to people who trusted her, and is still willing to hear their cruel and harsh words as a penance to that lie even today - though neither the situation nor the choice to be Adi's wife was solely only hers. While again the situations may seem outlandish and her saving Aditya and her doing her kaarname may seem too OTT for people, Imlie still feels real to me. She can be any normal, sweet 19 year old sometimes - just put in an extraordinary situation that none of us can ever imagine being put into. Her choices and reactions have always felt connected to her character that I could root for, as her core has always been genuine and good - is she a heroine in the traditional sense - of course not. Is she flawed - yes she is. But still we love her and root for her because her journey till date has been of someone who has come out of adversity to make something of themselves with the support of people earned due to their swabhav and attitude towards life.
Now to our most controversial character - Mr. Aditya Kumar Tripathi. Our lead who is as flawed as they come and is absolutely no hero. Then why, do you ask, that we are invested in his journey. Why do you ask that we do not boycott this story for showing "Adultery" and apparently influences people to follow him and do the same. Well because even if people do follow him from day 1, they will still learn a lot - both good and bad. AKT has been the most flawed and complex character I have seen on ITV. Reason being is that he has always been one to listen to his heart. He has had such a beautiful arc throughout these 230+ episodes, that you can see how he has grown as a person, which is something that we can learn from as an example. Adi is a regular person who makes mistakes and is facing the consequences of his mistakes, even today. Adi chose to ignore Imlie's warnings and thus had to marry her to save his life. He chose to get her to the city and landed up keeping her in his home - thus had to face the living embodiment of the zabardasti that he had to endure. He chose to deal with the hit to his ego in the worst way possible by constantly berating Imlie and making her feel horrible about herself and putting both of them in this impossible situation and had to be buried alive by Satyakaam to realise the impact that had to Imlie's psyche. He chose to hide the truth from Malini and get married to her and has to face the consequences of that choice even today, where Malini is hell bent on destroying his marriage with Imlie to get back to the days that Adi once promised Malini. Adi chose to get Imlie back everytime they seperated, which today has led them to form this beautiful sajhedaari where both experience the soul connect they have with each other. Adi chose to nibhao his marriage with Imlie because he realised that he loved her and today he is able to do so because he has proved time and again how important she is in his life. Adi chose to keep Malini in the dark and after telling the truth to carry on with their friendship, which today had fed into her delusions that assume that removing Imlie out of the equation will lead to Adi and Malini living their version of happily ever after. He hid the truth from his family and is facing the consequences of seeing his wife hear taunts from his mother for a choice he made.
So anyone who wants to say that Adi is a cheater and that supporting him is doubting our moral compass has clearly not seen this progression. Either they expect that Adi should be this upright, always correct, one toned, textbook hero - which he is definitely not. But is he a cheater - of course not. Did hi commit adultery - no way, he was married to both the ladies in his lives (I am not going into the legal and illegal wala argument here, coz that will never end). Did he commit bigamy - yes he did and he is still suffering the consequences of it even now. Should he have been sent to jail - ideally yes, but unfortunately that ship sailed a long time back, so there is no point in beating that dead horse.
I cannot complete this post without mentioning Malini as well. Malini's character has always been one who is supposed to be the person people will feel the most sympathetic for. She was supposed to be the beautiful, mature professor who unknowingly got pulled into the dynamics between Adi and Imlie through a choice made by Adi and her own decision to not follow through on the truth that Adi told her before marriage. Malini has always been given a free pass as she was the one who was wronged by the 2 people who she had apparently trusted the most (while that is definitely debatable - she had signs all around her but jaan bujhkar played ostrich and at last blamed the woman for a choice her husband had made), but her actions after the truth reveal are not ones that can be ignored. She chose to find out the truth about her father, promised Mitthi to give Imlie her rights, yet promptly ignored all that when it came to getting back what she felt was hers. She promised to give Adi a divorce and support Adi and Imlie to start a life together, yet has consistently made choices that are contradictory to that promise. She has time and again lied to both Adi and Imlie to further her cause of owning Aditya again, even if it is against his wishes. It is very easy to say that Malini is being made negative to show Adi and Imlie in a good light. Malini is turning her personality because that is who is actually is. She is someone who has been shakki, putting the blame on others for her predicament, manipulating others sentiments to make herself look good and even to an extent assuming that people owe her for being good and "sacrificing" her needs for them, even if they did not ask for it. Again Malini is also facing the consequences of her actions to choose to live in her delusions and not face the fact that Adi and her were never going to live happily ever after even if Imlie was not in the picture. That is why she is constantly facing rejection from him - he has clearly told her his feelings, but she chooses to ignore that to only believe something he once promised her without factoring in all his actions after. Here also Malini is flawed and someone not to be emulated - again the character is being used to show what happens when you choose to live in delusions to suit your purpose without facing reality.
So in conclusion all I want to say is that the fans of the show are very clear on why we are invested in the journey of Adi and Imlie - not because they are ideal or heroes, but because they are beautifully flawed humans who bring out the best in each other.
Pushpa Impossible
CID
