Originally posted by: Maverick29
Hey Maya,
Here is my take on the show and what screwed it up and why I thought it was different.
I have watched practically every Hollywood movie that was released in the last 15 years. I have watched most of the popular ones before that. I hadnt seen much Indian stuff before 2003/04 but since then I have watched most of the Indian stuff released here in the bay area. And we (my wife and I) watched a lot of international stuff we get in the bay area. I am explaining this because I love this medium of telling stories. Along with it I have watched a decent amount of American TV.
This show was my first Indian show in a very long time. Then I couldnt SHAKE it -- I watched the first 185 epis 5 times in Succession. I loved it so much that I couldnt stop. I have said this mostly on Rima's posts because I didnt want to expand the number of people I will get to know -- wasnt interested in a large group of friends when I remain Anonymous! Doesnt work for me. So, with that background here is what I loved about the show:
1. The Direction -- you are absolutely right, the story is a simple love story between a rich guy and a girl that stands up to him giving him a challenge. But maintaining that "tension" between the pair while actually letting them show "love" for each other for a period of over 6 months was an ASTOUNDING job. That combined with the silken smooth narration which is what Direction does got me hooked. I didnt like any other character like this -- I didnt go to bed hoping that Khushi will find her happiness with Arnav ever before -- that is there was no such stuff about imaginary characters ever before. Like I said, I have had a lot of experience. And on top of that the effect LASTED -- it was the TV was spaying Cocaine or Grass or Some form of intoxicating drugs on me.
2. The Family -- it was a very IDEAL family that pulled for each other. They were all balanced till this Anjali drama which ruined the show. Nani was right in her place as an older generation strict woman who knows the world and the importance of culture. This is NOT something I saw in all the shows -- now I have seen an episode each of every show on all 3 Z channels, Colors, StarPlus, LifeOK, Sahara etc. I did this to educate myself on what i was talking about. After watching some of the crap, I was amazed at the kind of "treatment" the run of the mill love story got because of this attention to detail. Let us face it Anjali was a doting, absolutely adorable and good hearted person -- that has changed completely now.
3. Barun and Sanaya: I differ here with your view on Barun -- he actually had not as much range to show as Sanaya did. He just had to be ANGRY all the time and as we have seen, he is a DIRECTOR's actor. He just did well when Lalith was in charge. Now he is not even able to look or feel like the Arnav character. Sanaya showed her range -- comedy (who can forget that him eating the hot dal day and her not talking to him but conveying what she could through gestures!), Romance -- she set the mood in most of the romance, her facial expressions were awesome, Family oriented Drama (her as the lil sis, the not so loved outcast orphan looking for attention, her altruistic nature which stems from the fact that she has to work to find love in people etc etc). -- so she had range. Barun was good as Arnav.
4. Writing -- some of the funniest stuff that extended and created an environment for the lead pair to thrive. The villain was used just in the right amounts to keep the tension.
5. Supporting Cast -- Nani was used perfectly. Her presence as an older hand, her control of the house affairs etc etc were nice. No man wants to run the house. If his wife is a stay at home mom, he loves it if that headache is not his. If he has a situation where you can have a large family, enough space for all, privacy plus the comfort of having all those people so the house looks like it is "ALIVE" it is all that he can hope for. They showed Arnav as the lucky guy that has this with some things to work on.
So, there was something different about the show -- the problem is it got ruined by first the dragging because of IPL, Lalit getting removed, then the Movie, then the change of track with focus on Anjali etc etc.
That is the reason this went down the tubes.
As for the "social message" -- I dont think any of our population here was expecting a social message.
Khushi as a character in itself was a SOCIAL message. She was as INDIAN as anyone gets -- but completely independent. See the problem is with the interpretation -- people automatically see an Indian girl and say "she must listen to her father till she is married, then to her husband and then to her children" -- that is the "chauvinistic" interpretation of Maa Kali, Saraswati, and Lakshmi if there is any. Woman has different strengths than a man and the union is beautiful (not that I am against same sex unions -- to each their own).
With the loss of "character" in writing a lot of bad stuff crept in like Khushi going cheap with Shyam, Khushi being manhandled by Shyam, Arnav getting physically aggressive with/without reason etc etc. See a little bit of passion when the woman wants it is always FUN. If it is a couple that cannot have fun till they manhandle each other, it is fine but showing it from someone like Shyam and just making her the scapegoat etc etc is the hell that created problems.
Now Khushi is worse than most Indian DOORMAT women. She decided to bring back a guy that with her knowledge:
1. Threatened the life of Anjali.
2. WOWED to kill Arnav
3. Told he lusts for her.
4. Threatened her family
The list goes on and she brought him home -- who does that? unless you are retarded/deranged/mentally ill you will not do that!
As for Anjali and her DRAMA in the middle of all this crap -- less said the better. They dont even sit Arnav down to ask him how his Kidnapping episode went -- what happened to him who was responsible etc etc. The guy almost died but this TYCOON lets the culprits walk free and there is NO police case either -- you can fool audience but you cannot do this -- this is assuming that your audience is eating grass for breakfast lunch and Dinner!
So, that is where the show lost it. Most of the stuff I saw on other channels was exactly this REGRESSIVE/DERANGED/RETARDED -- I saw a scene where a girl is asked to prove to her entire family that just because she was out and about the town for a few hours she hadnt slept with her best friend who happens to be a MAN (if it was female?, I guess they dont really understand lesbians). How is she supposed to do that? Does her vagina get a different mark everytime she sleeps with a different person?
So, that is what sent this show down the tubes.
Hope to see you around Maya from Toronto! If not the show, there is some good debate with some extremely intelligent but bored out of their minds people here!
Cheers.
