I am currently guilty of buying Burger King for dinner, two days in a row, for my entire family. Yeah. This weekend, I was too excited to go grocery shopping. Rewatched older episodes and mooned over vimeo vms. And so--- Burger King. Was my husband's tragic face as he quietly munched soggy fries worth it tonight? HELL no. When he divorces me for negligent cruelty, I will absolutely blame Ishqbaaz.
But was that the show's fault or mine? Our expectations? The answer, sadly, is us. Because honestly? Set aside our excited, optimistic and adoring list of things we wanted from this track, and see the big picture with me for a second. And as mad as I am at the lack of intensity-- the episode was a well done, well balanced, well shot examination of the essential questions of Shivika. He is obsessed with her. Check. He is oddly childlike with Sahil, opening himself to that chota packet like he does to no other. Check. And Pinky, is being Pinky, and not acting against type. She didn't do anything in the past few episodes to make us jump into believing she would become new age mother goddess wrapping Anika in her arms. Check.
Here's a question-- Why did we expect Pinky Maata scenes anyway? Has she been motherly towards Omkara or Rudra, her own nephews, in the past 250 or so episodes? She is motherly with just one person, and that son is pushing her aside, literally, for another woman right now. Saying she is sorry for the torture she inflicted on Anika during the Tia Decade does not remove her problem with SHIVAAY's Anika, now and forever. That is a product of who Pinky is-- not the maata raani of our hopes, but rather the very real, well depicted, ordinary, grey, clingy mother we all know and deal with in our asli duniya. Just a note--Pinky is NO Ishwaari --that lady be crazy!
I was glad to have the OmRu scene, because hell-- OMRU. Scene. I've been watching the older episodes, and was missing the two younger brothers just being-- well, gossipy together and discussing Shivaay like two wise old men who have everything figured out in their own lives (cough** Gau--mya** cough) . But here they are, busily examining Bhabhi Bhaiya. 😆 Its so sweet and hypocritical and true to life with younger siblings!! But I'm glad Om told Rudra what Shivaay had said -- because more than anything that conversation on DBO should've be here, and this is the key to Shivika now. Because friendship, respect, love, care-- all are there, plain as day. They mock the fact Shivaay does not realize he loves her. We mock it too, OmRu. We mock it too.
But its not love that's the issue. Its making a future with her. And that is the final hurdle. The one you cant take back. And the one you cannot rush into, if you are this couple. A man who took this long to accept her as his wife is not jumping to suhaag raat and twins in the next 50 episodes. A woman who cannot remember her own childhood, who has lost a part of herself and focusses on anything but that loss--she is not ready to be anyone's mother. As for their children -- this is not a question that Shivaay has answered yet,if he WANTS to do that, from his head and heart, not just his body. And he MUST answer this. So yeah-- I am delighted the issue of Anika being the mother of his children has made it back here, to the mother ship. Because when it was in DBO's controversial OBro scene, we all promptly ignored it. But this was a word for word repetition of that hated scene again. Done twice now, DBO and here in IB- the CVs are saying its VERY important.
We were mad about it. We hated him for it, but its as true right now, as it was on June 30th. Because who is Anika's mother? Father? Where is her Chutki? What kind of family did she come from? Is she even ready for a family, since Sahil's parents certainly didn't give her love? Being a mother to Shivaay's children is not a position he can, or should, offer her lightly. For her sake, and for his kids' sake as well--he has to be sure.
But how can he be sure? Just because she's gorgeous, and sexy, and he loves her? All the dard lessons in the world has not changed the essential truth. He has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who she is-- because she has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who she is. And yes, he should hold off on the intimacy. But that is a product of her being so damn beautiful and him being so damn in love. But he realizes it, with her getting bolder, and him feeling like the brakes have to be applied here. She should be bold, tease him as much as she likes. But he? He needs to back off, until he KNOWS her. I think this NDE will make him wake up from this hot fever dream he's been in. I don't see this as less romance. I see this as character growth. And this issue must be handled now, before all that sexual tension means she's barefoot, pregnant and alone, and we have to go for a crappy leap.
Look. Shivika's essential relationship is they have equality in all the things that matter. How can they be true equals unless both have faced her past and HIS, and decided, for themselves the past and family history does not matter as much as THEY do? How can he walk beyond the black hole of her NKK without going through the process of solving it, coming to terms with it, and winning her back, maybe, from her OWN rejection of him?
Because-- this is my final point-- the NKK that has left her a frightened orphan? I can guarantee it has something to do with the Oberoi family. I mean, they create enemies by just breathing. So it is not just Shivaay who has to overcome her past. No. If that were the case, I would be throwing all my chamelis at the screen at the sheer anti-feminist crap of that!! Its not all about her needing to win HIM over. She's DONE that part--that's why she is now a blanket wrapped human burrito on his bed, being hovered over by Manic Singh Oberoi. But remember this, and put your chamelis away, my loves-- there is a huge probability, given how they parallel everything with these two--- that ANIKA will have to forgive Shivaay for being who he is, for being born where he has been born.
She may have lost everything because of HIS NKK. If the Oberois deprived her of her entire world, then she will not be able to live under their roof, happy as she is right now. And then, SHIVAAY will have to make the adjustments, the choices, the creation of a new family with her, with his very soul. And that she is his soul now is exactly what they needed to show-- and they did it, with one poignant scene between him and Sahil. His new family, the one he bleeds for, cries over. But what about her old family? Her NKK? The break is coming, and his brains, heart and mind will follow, my loves. Give it time, and keep watching.
Today, this episode? What can I say? It was growth-- and growth is painful!
