You have it wrong. LM was the main director and arshad helped him. Arshad himself said that he just joined during diwali.
LM was the main reason for the magic of IPKKND. A film or drama is always the director's baby.
direction. I will analyze one episode and tell you how today's epi would have looked had Lalit Directed it.
The example I take is the "mehendi start" day -- it is the day after she wins the Sangeet Competition with his help. First, he started with keeping her away from the rest of the Gupta Bunch -- she followed them and was eating her fav Jalebi -- see he got us to think that she is already worried about the stuff he did to her the night before -- specifically the line "Tumhare Isharon Pe Na sahi, tumhare saath to nacha hain. Thanks Nahin bologi" -- if you picked up on his voice there -- there was a specific change. You will observe the same change in voice (directors tell their actors what they need from them and good ones deliver!!) -- On the first song when he goes to her and tells her "lagta hain mere bina tumhara koi kaam hi nahin banta" -- he wasnt yelling -- he was very soft. This was all reflected beautifully when she walks into through that door (back to present time on Mehendi day) -- arranged in such a way that he answers the door. Then there is the "Hi" -- listen closely to the voice -- I have had this happen to me before -- when you are actually intoxicated your voice changes -- He is intoxicated -- she is confused. His "Hi" is soft! This is direction.
Then he lets her in, calls her from behind -- Lalith lets this scene linger -- Brilliant because when there are good moments, as humans we want them to last -- that is the only way we can "feel" them -- slam bam doesnt work here -- slow does it better to set the mood!!! Then the way Khushi acts is so much Khushi like. In these scenes you will see that the lighting is so special -- the lights are all "BRIGHT" and it is all "White/Pearl" lighting to make it look bright. She looked bright and radiant.
So another point on the way he made people look. I dont think the Barun Droolers may have noticed this but as a director Lalith paid special attention to this and you can see it in them
1. Barun smiles a lot more from the start of the Sangeet Program -- in his mind all the doubts are slowly vanishing -- she is his lady love. -- clearly shown in his face -- it goes from bright to beaming.
2. Notice that on the Mehendi day, his face has a lot more "GLOW" added to it -- "we glow when we are in love" -- you will see that in our Sanaya as well! She started glowing super bright from the day of the Sangeet.
Continuing on, when she confronts him pool side, Lalith decided to keep it bright and she was pondering/talking to herself etc -- he kept that "glow in both of them". In the scene where he is standing behind her when she is all concerned about him -- he is no longer barking -- he is happy to let her yell -- Honestly when a girl I am in love with yells at me or hits me, I enjoy it immensely -- this is a guy thing -- it shows.
From then on, Barun's facial expressions are more happy and glowing than "I hate this world, yeh Duniya itni bedard hain" type! So is she. All the way from Episode 147 to 185 and then picking up after the wedding, Khushi looked her VERY BEST. She was radiant, she was beaming, she was glowing, her smile was like a 1000-watt bulb, her lines and her hesitation etc were so cool!
The main points:
Lalith developed the story and let it slowly grow with the characters -- people got better as the story progressed. She got more and more beautiful -- see there is a symbolism in this -- as we see the beauty in people they become more good looking -- it is a fact that the ones we love are always the most beautiful ones for us.
He moved from being an "Ass" to being in love -- he realized that he was in wrong with Lavanya all by himself -- he started understanding how to treat people. He fell in love and got nicer -- this is the point -- you dont have to be a flowery guy to be a nice to your loved ones -- you can always have a face for your people and one for the outside world.
In direction -- he let every single important moment LINGER long enough to have an impact. He brought and let people go from scenes with this in mind.
Finally, if he had directed the episode today, I think the impact would have been entirely different.
First off, I dont think both of them would have looked the way they did -- See there was attention to detail in Barun's clothing as well -- He made him wear a vest in Delhi!!!! The reason is simple -- Barun is skinny -- To make him look majestic to go with the character he had to add bulk -- so he added layers -- here Barun is wearing a lose shirt -- well the skinny little guy shows!!! By the way, if you notice through the show when Lalith was directing Barun always wore layers -- good for skinny guys to show bulk. he never let him wear a pyjama shirt!
Sanaya was good today because of her natural talent but the director did not help any.
If Lalith had done this -- he would have made their "hug" the highlight by showing lingering doubts and slow movements -- he would have kept Barun strong but soft -- this is what he did during Mehendi and also Haldi -- by the way on Haldi day Sanaya was out of this world beautiful. Barun looked completely out of place. Then before the hug, he would have showed her hesitate and twitch -- I dont know if you guys noticed -- the most lovable thing about Khushi was her "shifting in place" -- if you notice she is never still -- she is frigidity, shifty, moving and mumbling in Barun's presence -- showing the effect he has on her -- this is the first time they are free after he says "I love you" -- there would have been so many things going through her head -- Lalith would have made us feel those instead of just rushing her to run and hug -- run of the mill romantic movie style!!!!. She does that when she is nervous. This is her first real close hug with the guy -- you need to make people realize that -- let the scene linger a bit -- show her shifting in place, moving slowly and then suddenly gain momentum to hug him -- he could have shown similar stuff in Barun's face as well.
Honestly, Lalith would have hit this out of the park!
Now that I really understand what ruined the show I will write a long note for the "MORON of the Decade -- Gul" in my next post.
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