“Tum sirf aasu baha rahe ho aur intezaar kar rahe ho, lekin kis cheez ka? Tumhe lagta hai koi dusra aake tumhe apni ghar le jayega? Koi dusra aake tumse maafi maange ga, tumhe pyaar de ga?”
Till when are we going to show women as needing the men in their lives to defend and do the right thing by them? Where does this cycle end? Everyone here wants Aryan to step in and “save” the day and Imlie from this ordeal, as is expected of a “typical”, ”good” Indian male protagonist/hero. But I beg to differ. This time, I need Imlie to be her own hero, the hero that she’s always seen in the different men in her life and relied on at every point in her life. I need her to save herself. I need her to stand up for herself and say enough is enough. And not just in words that she takes back every time a situation calls for it, but in actual, tangible actions. This time, I need her to see it through, and all on her own.
So this is how it needs to play out now:
Madhav runs in with a bag of blood urgently calling out for Imlie, but instead, sees that Aryan’s well and fine now. He expresses his gladness and narrates the A to Z of everything Imlie did to get this bag of blood for him. Narmada is stunned upon listening to all of this, and goes on her too-little-too-late “yeh maine kya kar diya?” monologue and blurts out that she said all sorts of god awful things to Imlie. Aryan then asks her what exactly she had said to Imlie, and gives her the baashan of a lifetime for it. He then frantically runs off looking for Imlie. Narmada, Arpita, and Sundar follow. Aryan eventually finds Imlie and they have a brief moment. Narmada arrives and tries to apologise, but Imlie does not react. She requests her to come home with them, as do Arpita and Sundar. But Aryan quietly notices Imlie’s lack of reaction. Imlie then refuses and says that she won’t be coming with them because she realised through the course of the day’s events the reality of her life and the relationships that she held so close to her heart. She tells them that today, she was reminded again of something her Dadda once told her at a crucial point just like this in her life. “Jab log tumhe shagun nahi putkar samajhne lage, tumhe Sita Maiyya ka aashirwaad se kam samajhne lage, tumhe tumse kam samajhne lage, toh jitna jaldi ho sake, uss jagah ko chod ke chali jaana.” She tells them that she can’t and won’t let herself go through the same thing all over again and therefore, has to make a conscious and firm decision for herself and her self-respect right now. She has to do what’s right by herself right now and truly choose herself for once in her life. Aryan, though visibly distraught and heartbroken, decides to respect her decision and lets her go. The show takes a year or two’s leap from here. We see that Aryan has now retracted back to his hard shell. He has now become an even sterner, angrier, more unrelenting version of ASR. He mostly avoids Narmada (whose guilt and regret shall eat her alive) while barely communicating with Arpi and everyone else. Jyoti’s unfortunately still around and trying her luck with Aryan to no avail. Imlie on the other hand, has now gone through an entire makeover. We now see her dressed the way Aryan envisioned her in the scene where he considered two different versions of Imlie’s future. She has also properly adapted to the city and its ways. She speaks Hindi the way city folks do, and is full of life, optimistic, independent, and confident. She also now works as a reputable journalist at another prominent news agency where she’s made a few friends too (it’ll be interesting if one of them has a thing for her), and has also managed to rent a small apartment for herself. One day, as fate would have it, ASR catches a glimpse of Imlie at a traffic signal by chance…. And thus begins their journey of finding each other and falling in love all over again, only more passionately this time.
No pregnancies/babies (Dear Makers, that is not the way/timing to “fix” anything in this story. Seriously. Good God). Let me know what you guys think!
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
