IKNMP: a review to date and some wild theories

The children bring in yet another angle of creating a bridge to overcome the divide. The festering anger in the eldest, the suppressed yearning for her dad in the second, the "lost in the middle" sons and finally the youngest whose very existence seems to have been the cause of the rift in the relationship.

I think, the first two children are from a first wife who must have died delivering the daughter who is getting married now. Ragini must have been the nurse and must have agreed to marry Neil to take care of the kids and then must have had 2 other kids. The 2nd daughter and the son with Ragini (forget their names- because there is that age talk- both are 16) must have been twins and it is possible that the baby girl was in a touch-and-go condition and hence, to spare Ragini pain of a possible "dead baby news", Neil must have kept the baby hidden from her. Maybe another woman was taking care of the baby and Ragini must have "caught" Neil conversing with that woman and she must have blown up. And Neil in his highhanded way must have not explained the situation to her. yata yata...

However much my theory pans out, I needed to do that to continue to watch the show. The b*y sister is a bit too much. Don't know what her personal issues are, but it is tiresome to see such people in a more enlightened 21st century. Live and let live is a motto adopted by more people now than ever before and all this 20th century talk of preventing someone from coming into someone else's life, all that is a bit outdated. Neil is a modern man as is Ragini. He has lived in NYC and that makes him totally ok with divorce, dating and easy relationships. Ragini is a Mumbai girl- professional, focussed and driven. Neither have the bandwidth to deal with the shenanigans of such characters like Pam. Time to update characters! Maybe the friends can introduce Pam to yoga and meditation for her control issues and she can redeem herself!

I think Pam is someone who has crossed her mental expiry date.. I am possessive about my sibling as well but I don't think any sane woman would disrupt her whole life to make sure her sibling does not interact with his ex.. too much!

About Neil and Ragini - I think they need to go back to their modern outlook.. Neil has been behaving like a MCP for the last few episodes, especially his behavior towards Aman helping out with the arrangements/hosting and Ragini having to request him to come do the rituals.. As for Ragini, she needs to call off this farce with Aman as soon as possible.. she's just digging a pit for herself and welcoming Neil's wrath!

As for Ragini- she has now "bought" some time for herself to reorder her thoughts by proclaiming Aman to be her pseudo husband. Having Neil around is just not easy over and above the emotional issues of getting her daughter married. Hopefully, she can also behave like a "normal" modern woman that she is and learn to deal with her "ex" around. I think her basic pragmatism will help her through this.

I suppose, living in the US for decades now, having separated/divorced friends around, we are ok with such "failed" relationships. We don't think much of it. And when ex's meet, it is perfectly "normal" with no acrimony. The kids deal with it in their own way and also learn to adjust to new dads and moms as the case may be- yes, there is a huge social price we pay- economically, socially and medically, but that is not the purview of this show.

Neil, as you mentioned, really is like the Amitabh Bachchan of the 80s.. an MCP in love, a sorted man otherwise.. I really hope he can realize what he has become and rise above the current pettiness.. but then I guess that's what the trademark of the relationship between Neil and Ragini is - currently they are bound to bring out the worst in each other and they are doing it and how!

Neil's next one-up is going to be Nivedita and trying to form a relationship with her to show Ragini that even he is capable of moving on.. I can just see it crash and burn because he is just too involved with Ragini..

Should be interesting to see how this changes things between Neil and Ragini.. would love Neil to stop talking or really stop interacting/responding to Ragini for a while when he finds out the truth about Aman and her.

However, if Ranbir and Nishi are not Ragini's own children, then probably Neil would not have left Nishi behind when they separated. Further, 2 episodes back, they were showing similarities between Ragini and Ra\nbir's behavioural patterns.

But agree, Suhaani will be a game changer. If she is indeed Neil and Ragini's daughter. then we can only guess how Ragini will break down on coming to know about Suhaani's existence. Whatever said and done, Ragini would still be Suhaani's Mother - and imagine not knowing that you have another daughter somewhere, and especially when your ex is so knowledgable about it.

Nowadays in India, sometimes we do come across exes who are friends after having moved on in life. Here, the problem is probably that they are both mentally still involved with each other. As you have nicely put it in your initial post.

And yes, the character of PAM needs to just take a hike - she is redundant otherwise

Amen to that 😛