I really loved this show in the beginning as it showed a modern love story. I loved how they showed the Raizadas and Guptas to be close-knit and realistic Indian families with no more than regular day-to-day drama. I loved how they showed an unusual protagonist - an atheist who doesn't believe in love or marriage. I loved how the show didn't treat Lavanya as many Indian movies and shows do by depicting
the live-in as a s**t. I loved how the show brought tradition and moder-thinking together in the pairing of Khushi and Arnav. Both their characters showed such promise. It was such a treat to see both Khushi and Arnav learning from each other and slowly accepting new ideas and beliefs.
However, the show jumped the shark for me after the kidnapping track. Arnav's getting angry at Khushi for speaking to Anjali after the Shyam incident was fine, but after Khushi tries to leave the Raizada house, we have the return of the old ASR who belittles, threatens, bullies, and abuses her. All the learning his character had done until that point was thrown out the window. It makes no sense that for Arnav to resort back to his old ways in order to WIN BACK his wife. Arnav is shown to be a very intelligent man. How could he think that this old ways, because of which they hated each other in the early days, could help him win Khushi's heart. In my view, that would have been the ideal place to insert a repentance track for Arnav, where he learns to deal with the unsavoury aspects of his character such as his anger and inability to express his feelings for his loved ones. They started on this when they showed his difficulty in wishing Khushi a happy birthday and the tricks he was learning from NK to woo Khushi, but they cut it too short. They could have also brought up his past at this point to show the real struggle he was going through to let go of his anger for Khushi's happiness. That would have been real character growth. Instead they showed him attempting to bring Khushi back to the Raizada house by threatening to evict her and her family from their house and forcing her to explain the end of their marriage to the Guptas. This coming from the guy who forced that marriage on her! I would have loved to see Khushi standing up to him and forcing the issue of the contract marriage before the Guptas, so Khushi could get some redemption after all that she had gone through.What blew my mind was that the writers then had Khushi not only going back to the Raizada house, but also being perfectly ok with him. What was even more astounding was the Suhaag Raat bit even before he could make it up to her for forcing her back to the Raizada house.
In my view, the remarriage happened too soon. After everything they've shown about Khushi's character in the beginning - the strong girl who is able to tell him the hard truth despite her naivete and fear of his anger, it made no sense for her to agree to the remarriage so soon. I would have loved to see her insist on him proving his love for her. I wanted to see the shoe on the other foot. I wanted to see her character gain some strength. I loved what they did with her character when she went to rescue him and helped him deal with Anjali's sadness. After the remarriage, the Khushi we have is a clown. Not the sweet, simple, generous, naughty, and silly Khushi, but the impossibly idiotic Khushi. I hate this one scene from the Nov 1 episode where they show her trying to pot a plant. Even a 2 year old can do that.
The Sheetal track is interesting, but would have been more appropriate after Arnav's repentance and character change. At least it would explain the Arnav we see now, who is super friendly with Sheetal and so patient with Aarav. On the one had, the writers have him acting as arrogant as ever leading up to the remarriage and lo and behold he's a mushy guy after Sheetal's entry. Does not make sense to me. One of the other posters (Krani) said it best - he's a pendulum now, changing his personality at the drop of a hat.
I completely hate what the writers have done to these characters. Whatever track they choose to show, at least they can have some consistency in the personalities of these characters.
Edited by ArushiSagar - 12 years ago
Channel V Dil Dosti Dance
Arjun
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