Pre-note: I don't usually make posts like this, but in honour of Aura's request, I felt this as a duty of mine to my beloved Forum whose laughter I so miss...Yes, I just want my Forum to laugh again.
The SHOW on the STRETCHER
Doctor (distractedly): Who's the patient this time? Don't tell me another Arshi fan! I've had enough of treating the droolers of this show! They drive me nuts!
Nurse (unassumingly): No, doctor. It's not a drooler this time.
Doctor (picks up his stethoscope): Then? Who is it?
Nurse: It's the show.
Doctor: WHAT THE!
*alarm*
No wait. Did I say the show was on a stretcher? Maybe I must rephrase it. But before I do, I'd like to read back on what led me to say this.
Quality and Charisma: Talk about it! If I watch the past episodes and then watch the latest few, I wonder if it's the same show coz it doesn't "feel" like it anymore. And I know how much doctors enquire about a patients "feelings"...So how does the show feel? *slips under a warm blanket and shivers* What is it about the past episodes that is not there now? The quality? The flourish? Or is it more like the plot and characters are so similar to every other serial on TV that IPKKND no longer 'stands out'? Hmmm...
Character Inconsistency and Absurdity: One thing I most detest being messed with is my characters. More than the plot, I am a lover of psychology and if someone tampers with the characters, I am greatly irked. I am sure many of you share the same trait. I will admit though, every character does run on a consistent scale especially Anjali who is always needy and dependant and scared but supportive when she needs to be and Kushi always giving importance to others before her that she even goes to extend of suggesting Shyam's return even though she knows he's nothing but a loser gutbag! So where do I see inconsistencies: in Arnav. Sometimes he is more Barun than ASR (Date Scene is still flashing in my appalled recollections). And Shyam...I need the next pointer to talk about him.
Villains Incoming: Dadi. I have never liked her from the moment I first saw her on screen. But I know she will change as soon as this half-dedicated grandmother realises that she is in the wrong. And then I might feel more victorious than sympathetic seeing her remorse and confessional expression. Shyam: One villain I fail to understand because of how foggy his past his (which includes the motive behind his marrying Anjali) and if he has another goal in life other than messing around the lives of those who tried to care for him. I don't know whether he really intended to kill his child (he might have only wanted to hurt Anjali so as to make her in a state where she pined outwardly for her husband). Well, I had assumed that he hadn't intended to kill the child until he met Anjali at the hospital and he had that evil smile on his face even after hearing of the loss of the child. Heartless beyond limits! He is so inhuman I don't see him fit to be a member of the human unit known as family, least even to be a father! The show is awesome because it has the dirtiest villain on Earth! How much more can we hate him?
Anjali: Everyone is against the character. Why? DB asked for screen space. You gotta be kidding me. Of course she did! Did you see Payal walk off? This is their life! They have to struggle to make themselves visible. They can make choices and DB could have made the choice to walk off. But she stayed because we asked her to. (No one can share the bro-sis chemistry as she and Barun does.) And yet, she felt like she was wasting her time being in a show where she was not being used much. When the cast approached her, they must have mentioned that the 'sister' plays a major role. So it's their problem, not hers. They shouldn't have promised her anything they were not willing to give!
Forum Family Not Homely Anymore: Really? True. The negativity and immature bashings and reactions do tend to leave a bad taste which affects one's every day. When you work or study, you seem to exhibit that aura of negativity which you got from the beloved Forum. I miss the Forum I knew in the months of October, November, December (2011). It's not the same now at all. The forum was the reason I got so hooked onto the show because before the Forum I was among the protestors and against those who watched the show. But look at what the Forum has done to me: transformed to an extent that I'm glued to the show, writing an FF and sometimes making posts on each episodes' significance...
Negativity in Forum: Why do I talk on this same topic again? Because I was wondering when it crept in. Aura told me it started when the hatred marriage commenced. So I wonder, other than the TRP, if the hatred marriage hadn't come up, how the leads would have met in the show? Kushi no longer worked under Arnav and she had no reason to be found in the Raizada Mansion with Lavanay gone. And it's stupid to have a girl visiting a house daily just because her sister is married to that house. Really stupid. So they had only one option: get the two married. Now, if it had been a good happy marriage, what would it have been? Excuse moi: did Arnav believe in marriages then, to actually say "yes, I'll marry her". No, he had still a long way to go. Before the terrace scene, Arnav and Kushi were in a tipsy kind of romance. Just because you challenged her to kiss you, danced a hot number with her, bought her bangles and helped serve the guests in her house does not make you worthy to have her as the girl of your future. You gotta real win her heart by accepting her with all she is. One wrong interpretation of the half-heard terrace scene and all came tumbling down. Where was the trust in the love? Nil. Where was the steadfastness in this love? Nil. Arnav had to nurture it and he sure did coz look where they are now. Only after the "love" and trust" is concretely built are our leads marrying legally now. We only need to wait and watch if all that he has learnt in the past six months under Kushi's love will keep him in her arms even when the storms of Di, Shyam, Dadi and Garmia wage around his existence. Let's see how strongly rooted he is in his love for Kushi.
Negativity in Crew: Ah, a very touchy idea but yes. If you've read THE SECRET, you will know what I mean. The thoughts in your mind attract parallel events in your life. If you think you are not going to win this exam, you won't. If you think you are going to be late, every time an obstacle comes before you in your rushed morning hour, you will be late. NO DOUBT. Similarly, when we said negative things when there really was not any obvious negativity, we bought on the present dryness in the show which saddened even the unflinching fans of the show. We brought the fate of this show on us, I assure you. But the fault of the show's current mood does not have to be put on the Forum alone. The Crew includes as well.
"I need an early day off," the makeup man must have said, "I don't feel like it. I've shown my assistant what to do. He'll manage it for today."
"Wifey," the associate director may have told his dear one, "I don't feel happy about the show anymore. Whatever I do, no one likes it. I've decided to rush things up and finish it off."
"No one's willing to cooperate," one of the cameramen must have thought, "Why should I put any efforts any longer?"
"I'm not feeling well," one of the actors who acts as the servant must have said, "Do you need me for the further day? I only do a silent side role, anyway."
"A new project's come up and the Production House is demanding us to make a MahaEpi for this week," a certain someone in the crew must have said, "Patch up the editing and speed up!"
It's not the Cast who should be accused. They only do what the Crew tells them to do. If the script and dialogues and expressions are not up to the mark, something's wrong in the background. It's the Production House and the Crew that cannot reach out like they could before. The negativity in the set where they work and shoot is spreading into the work they do and that same negativity is seeping into the audience through an episode and we kind of plague it out on the Forum. There are millions of Forum viewers who are not members (I started like that). They are those who watch the show for the sake of watching but after reading the Forum, are affected by what is written there. Many might not know it, but because I was a non-member and a non-IPKKNDian for the first few months, I know how famous the India Forum is especially for this particular serial's Pages. By the count of the reading audience and Forum-member audience, the makers of the show are affected doubly by the negativity in the Forum and so their reactions are gloomy in the set and in the new episodes and well, the circle continues. Infested!
DEFENSES: They say that IPKKND is the story of Arnav and Anjali and how a young girl named Kushi steps into their life, healing them and transforming their future to be what they never dreamed it would be. Kushi must not heal Arnav alone but Anjali too. And Anjali is pivotal to keep both Arnav and Kushi together. She is their cornerstone in a strange way. It's a triangle here and though Arnav and Kushi are the leads, they are staying strong because they have a 'sister' to back them in their journey of life. But this 'sister' also acts as a catalystto test them. Earlier, Arnav was led to understand Kushi more after marrying her for Anjali's sake. And now, again for Anjali's sake Arnav will be able to explore his own priorities and where each person in his life stands. Through this confused track, Arnav is being made stronger in his beliefs and affections, Anjali is slowly taught to remove her blindfold of trust upon her husband and Kushi is learning how to deal with life's complications when in the house of her Babuji and Buaji she only knew the simple homely worries and not anything having to do with dealing with complex human personalities which must deal with now in the Raizada Mansion.
Every character is important and they all directly or indirectly influence or nurture the bond of Arnav and Kushi. I know what we've been shown lately has been too much to handle, but we must stop spread the negative energy around and try and look to the bright side. Shyam is rotten. Anjali appears on screen too much. But just imagine if we are shown only ArShi, its better the others leave the show. Too much Arshi is bad too. Too much "kiss misses" were shown and too many "hugs" too until we could feel nothing anymore! It was like "namesake" really crept in their chemistry too. You had to force yourself to "feel" the pathos and pain. But why did we feel the 'forehead kiss' on Thursday, and the 'mat jao'? Its because we were deprived of subtle intensity for a while and when we got it, we awoke and 'felt' it again.
The Crew is dragging themselves to make a twenty minute. We are sitting in the desert and fighting over lack of water. Why don't we get up and search for the oasis? Though it might be a long way off, at least we won't feel thirsty and waste half of our sun-drowned energy, if we could stop grumbling, continue "hoping" and stay together, giving strength to one another.
Maybe if we try and be happy, and encourage the CVs through positive words, "Your creation of IPKKND is breathlessly beautifully! We care for it as much as you do, and we are with you! Hope you will bring back the magic of the show!" Maybe they might feel hopeful that everyone is not spitting and cursing on them. Maybe if they feel that the viewers are still hoping happily, they will want to not feel grumpy and lost on the sets anymore and will try and work their sodden mind to make magic appear on screen...
I'm telling you this: positivity can work wonders! If we try together...maybe we can make the Forum find her laugh again!EXPECTATIONS: The major reason behind the setback of the show lies in 'expectations'. When the viewers expected some thing at one time, the CVs showed something else, entirely different from what was expected...MUs: Viewers waited so much for the MU to be cleared and with it every unwnated loophole as well, but beacuse of the IPL, they couldnt show what they intentded. But all the other shows showed major events of their plot during that time and got TRPs. That was the major time when ipk lost its huge support from the viewrship n the TRP couldnt rise from the pit and, even now, it lies fallen...BRUN's COMEBACK: then with hope, people waited for Barun to return frmo his long leave, hoping that every MU will be cleard, even of anjali n evil(shyam) and that arhi love will grow and they will have a blissful married life, where they toghther would help in buiding up anjali's life,(possibly even, babuji's recovry n spilling out the truth). And then after a long blissful time, the major villain,ie. the past, would come and move the story on a differnt but equally capturing track. But what happened in relaity? The MUs were not cleared properly, they dragged it and are still dragging it.DRAMAS and LOOPHOLES: The show which was uniqe for its drama-less depiction nowadays show drama alone and title it "twists"...Quite tasteless in our mouth! Also, they leave behind too many loopholes, which if treated wiht caution and care, wouldn't disturb viwers and trouble intellignt global fans...PSYCHOLOGY OF VIEWERS: Without understanding viewers' psycology, by showing unpleasant things in between, the viewers couldnot derive any happiness in seeing the happy scenes because of the negative they had displayed parallel to the positive...For instance, Khushi's bday cake cutting, we couldn't enjoy cuz of anjali interference. We wud hav enjoyed it if they showd the cake scene withot anji interuption. It would have been better if they showed Anjali seeing everything in the end...Again, in ArHi mehandi dance, the miscarriage came and toppled every effort and left is viewers with a distrubed aftermath. All they needed was to use their commonsense to understand the viewer psycology and match it with the editing...There was no problem in showing parallel tracks or Anjali's life but the cv's wrong timing enraged the fans...they wished for some sweet moments after the great turmoil but they only showed a trail of one problem after another that the leads and their families had to face...BALANCE: When we weigh the happy events with the bad ones, its always the bad moments that are always on the high...If it was the other way round, viewers wud hav patiently accepted any anji track or payash track as they did during the first few months...There was no problem in showing parallel tracks along with the main but if the cv's used a lil more brain to understand viewer psychology and to show the right things at right time, the show wouldnt have had to face this state of depression...
