Posted:
As you can see, I'm still hung up on Josh. Who is dead. And who is cremated in today's episode. The episode begins with AK&KS being interrupted in a slow dance when AK gets an SMS about meeting Josh and runs off without telling KS what troubles him; AK lands up where Josh lies, having bled to death, and before he can even react to the death of his buddy, the cops are upon him; KS is waiting at Daadi's for AK to return, instead of which Daadi gets a call about AK being in jail; Insane Troll Prithwi is ranting at FF Simone who he has taken into his confidence about Josh's death; KS clings to Insane Troll Prithwi who swears that he will rescue AK for her, all the while clutching her possessively to his blood-stained bosom; while AK is brought out of jail to perform the last rites for his best buddy with handcuffs dangling from his wrists; IT Prithwi promises KS that he will get the best lawyer to get AK out of jail as soon as possible; and we are introduced to a lawyer character who from the back, for a moment, had me thinking they are bringing CHansraj back. Onto the show?
(From today onwards, ATandon will be playing "Prithwi" instead of "Prithvi", because our Gnome, whether Gnarly or Fringed is gone, and we have a Troll in his place. :-( Thanks to Rupika82 for this idea of the name change. If I haven't acknowledged the right person, do tell me and I'll change the acknowledgement.)
The first set starts with AK&KS doing a slow dance, each clutching each other a little desperately. AK is still troubled over how to tell her about his night fling; she is not helping because she doesn't seem to want to hear. They waffle over not telling each other what the trouble is - he repeatedly saying that she is going to vanish from his life when she hears his story; she repeatedly saying that she will never leave him; when a Josh-SMS comes for AK: Meet me at Sunrise Bungalow, it's urgent. AK frowns, tell KS to wait for him at Daadi's and runs off from the room of candles and spotlights that has been reserved exclusively for the two of them.
We cut to: The Place Where Josh Is Murdered, where - in a desperate blooper! - AK runs towards the pool from the side that Josh is lying murdered! (Perhaps AK is blind on one side?) (We cut to the preview of the previous episode) He checks the SMS, he has the right address, shouts out for Josh, and goes around the same path that he ran in from and stops dead in his tracks on seeing Josh's poor ead body. He shouts, he calls out to Josh, places Josh's head in his lap with one hand holding it there, - there is no heartbeat! Josh! - and his hand automatically goes out to the knife handle sticking out of Josh's chest. Which is how the cop car lights catch him, blind and uncomprehending about what is going on.
(And we cut to the KYPH intro. Which is something that I noticed today because it was a startling contrast of faces: Today's AK, older, more strained, less free, less mischievious against that same face in the Promo, younger, cheekier, with infinite amounts of carefree spirit - alike and yet not alike - so very much has happened to this character since the start; you feel for a moment that you'd like to move back in a time-capsule to those younger days and dance with the mood of those times again very badly.)
The second set starts at Daadi's where KS is pacing, waiting for AK's call. Daadi assures her that all will be well; but when that call comes through, all that self-assurance vanish and she gasps: AK's in jail?! KS looks stunned.
And we cut to the jail: where AK is telling the story of finding Josh to Daadi and KS; where both Daadi and KS are staunch in their support of AK's innocence. For some reason, AK's throwing desperate looks at KS to assure himself that she believes him, while KS looks on in a calm and reassuring (but somehow ... stony?) manner back at him.
And we cut to a party! where Airhead Anitah is having a good rock-and-rolling good time until a glass of beer falls on her! It's her old nemesis Mishty and we spin into an slightly unreal, but weirdly welcome spat of an old and well-known flavour between Airhead and Mishty, where Airhead is intent on _trying_ to be Lorelei character and Mishty is calmly _being_ Lorelei, the siren calling men to her. But the fun and games are interrupted by a phone-call to Airhead that makes Mishty's world go dark: What?? AK's in jail??!
And we cut to Insane Troll Prithwi's room where Femme Fatale Simone sits looking like Frankly Freaked-out Simone, listening to Insane Troll rant, with some of the same old madness in his eye: Josh was _his_ friend too! he didn't want to kill him! But Josh didn't give him a choice! He had to keep interfering! Had to keep trying to get AK&KS together -- what could he, Troll, do?! He was sorry for this mess, but it was the only thing that he could do. FF Simone doesn't dare say a word, and the Troll is about to continue when they catch sight of KS standing at the door! How much has she heard?
For a moment, the tableau is still; then FF Simone makes her way out shakily and KS comes slowly in; and does her familiar old drop-on-Prithwi's-chest hug: she is distraught -- how will she get AK out of jail?! Troll switches back to Gnome in front of KS: don't worry about anything, what they need is a good lawyer, and Prithwi knows the best -- he never loses a case, is merely busy, but if they can get him, then AK will be out for sure. KS glows with hope, her hands clasped in supplication in front of the Troll; she will do anything, everything - what does she have to do; and from the look in the Gnome-turning-into-Troll's eye, it looks like this supplicant mode of KS' might just have sealed AK's fate to spend as much time in jail as possible.
The last set starts with a funeral pyre, out in the green, under trees somewhere; a sombre sparse group of white-clad people standing around it; a cop jeep pulls up and AK, in the same clothes as the previous night, steps out still hand-cuffed. He walks up to the priest who begins the ceremony. We see Kunning Karthik and Dillip, Insane Troll Prithwi, Alliyah! in the crowd; but AK's focussed: he walks, with a set jaw and raw eyes, around with the little mudpot on his shoulder and we are thrown into flashbacks of Josh-AK buddyship - the moment after AK had rescued KS from the chandelier, meeting him before KS accused AK of forcing Josh not to attend KS' concert, sitting in a cafe sharing a drink with him - AK drops the pot behind his back, picks up the flaming torch, pauses for a moment to swallow and then grit his teeth and sets the pyre aflame. He walks away but pauses to touch Alliyah on the shoulder in comfort, an Alliyah who is crying deeply; neither can meet each others' eye.
We cut to a poolside setting, where a tall, dark, long-haired figure (male, BTW) dressed in a robe walks (in bright red slippers! ooh, gnarly!) to the pool. He drops his robe, shades on to the recliner to reveal an itsy-weensy, not-polka-dotted (thankfully!) micro-bikini swimsuit and drops himself into the pool. Hrumph! He swims across the pool, climbs out, - HRUMPH!!! - covers himself, drops himself into the recliner, opens a champagne bottle for himself. It's obvious that this is the top-notch lawyer -- who else can afford a hillside bungalow with a pool in Bombay!?! A bunch of his lawyer cronies land up and beg audience for a couple of cases: Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer claims he will only spend his precious time on the bright spot-light cases (of course, sigh!). But he will meet Mr. Prithwi Bose and Ms. Kripa Sharma. Sigh.
(As with all other big character introductions, the camera has, of course, acted coy and revealed all other aspects of this character other than his full face: quality of hair, size of bikini swim-suit, colour of slippers, shape of nose, size of beard, but not the face. SIGH!! I hate Soap-opera camera coyness.)
We cut to corporate lawyer setting: dark room despite the big windows, lined with leather-bound books, large oak table, the works, leather corporate chair. Sigh. Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer parks in the chair, with his back to the camera (yes, folks, the coyness continues) and the lawyer cronies show the Troll and KS into the room. Troll introduces KS as fiance, and himself as best friend (!!YOU TROLL, Prithwi, TROLL!!!) of the "case". And then the camera pans to show the lawyer's face: errr, which I don't know at all. Sorry. Some chap with long hair, well-arched eyebrows and suitably wicked looking. Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer is going to be a bad guy. End of show, I think, PHEW.
Preview: Insane Troll Prithwi and KS standing with Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer wondering about what to do. I didn't feel particularly gripped by the conversation to understand what it was about, but I'm sure it was about "innocence" and "getting AK out of jail quickly".
(Argh. How bloody stereotypical this entire show was today - I was not gripped for most part, I'm afraid. :-(
AK finding Josh was neatly and quickly done. AK performing the last rites was similarly quick, neat and for those who didn't miss the very subtle touches, emotional as well. AK knowing about Alliyah was a little too weird, I think. I thought even we barely knew -- there was more speculation and hope rather than actual evidence in the marriage that was conducted over the weekend on the Forum! (Which rocked, BTW! No wonder the rest of the Forum was quiet and dull...)
For the rest, it felt too much like a soap today. Even the Insane Troll Prithwi session with Fearful Frightened Simone; especially the entire Lawyer introduction bit. I don't know if you watched a movie - Hindi - called "Ek Hasina Thi" made by Ram Gopal Varma. The entire lawyer setup today brought the lawyer setup of that movie to mind. Of course, I'm not an expert on any of this -- it was just a .. hmm, what do you call it? Oh, yes! it was just an "ehsaas"! (Correct application of the word?)
Josh is dead. Long live Josh. I miss the silliness and the hope. :-( Oh dear. )
(From today onwards, ATandon will be playing "Prithwi" instead of "Prithvi", because our Gnome, whether Gnarly or Fringed is gone, and we have a Troll in his place. :-( Thanks to Rupika82 for this idea of the name change. If I haven't acknowledged the right person, do tell me and I'll change the acknowledgement.)
The first set starts with AK&KS doing a slow dance, each clutching each other a little desperately. AK is still troubled over how to tell her about his night fling; she is not helping because she doesn't seem to want to hear. They waffle over not telling each other what the trouble is - he repeatedly saying that she is going to vanish from his life when she hears his story; she repeatedly saying that she will never leave him; when a Josh-SMS comes for AK: Meet me at Sunrise Bungalow, it's urgent. AK frowns, tell KS to wait for him at Daadi's and runs off from the room of candles and spotlights that has been reserved exclusively for the two of them.
We cut to: The Place Where Josh Is Murdered, where - in a desperate blooper! - AK runs towards the pool from the side that Josh is lying murdered! (Perhaps AK is blind on one side?) (We cut to the preview of the previous episode) He checks the SMS, he has the right address, shouts out for Josh, and goes around the same path that he ran in from and stops dead in his tracks on seeing Josh's poor ead body. He shouts, he calls out to Josh, places Josh's head in his lap with one hand holding it there, - there is no heartbeat! Josh! - and his hand automatically goes out to the knife handle sticking out of Josh's chest. Which is how the cop car lights catch him, blind and uncomprehending about what is going on.
(And we cut to the KYPH intro. Which is something that I noticed today because it was a startling contrast of faces: Today's AK, older, more strained, less free, less mischievious against that same face in the Promo, younger, cheekier, with infinite amounts of carefree spirit - alike and yet not alike - so very much has happened to this character since the start; you feel for a moment that you'd like to move back in a time-capsule to those younger days and dance with the mood of those times again very badly.)
The second set starts at Daadi's where KS is pacing, waiting for AK's call. Daadi assures her that all will be well; but when that call comes through, all that self-assurance vanish and she gasps: AK's in jail?! KS looks stunned.
And we cut to the jail: where AK is telling the story of finding Josh to Daadi and KS; where both Daadi and KS are staunch in their support of AK's innocence. For some reason, AK's throwing desperate looks at KS to assure himself that she believes him, while KS looks on in a calm and reassuring (but somehow ... stony?) manner back at him.
And we cut to a party! where Airhead Anitah is having a good rock-and-rolling good time until a glass of beer falls on her! It's her old nemesis Mishty and we spin into an slightly unreal, but weirdly welcome spat of an old and well-known flavour between Airhead and Mishty, where Airhead is intent on _trying_ to be Lorelei character and Mishty is calmly _being_ Lorelei, the siren calling men to her. But the fun and games are interrupted by a phone-call to Airhead that makes Mishty's world go dark: What?? AK's in jail??!
And we cut to Insane Troll Prithwi's room where Femme Fatale Simone sits looking like Frankly Freaked-out Simone, listening to Insane Troll rant, with some of the same old madness in his eye: Josh was _his_ friend too! he didn't want to kill him! But Josh didn't give him a choice! He had to keep interfering! Had to keep trying to get AK&KS together -- what could he, Troll, do?! He was sorry for this mess, but it was the only thing that he could do. FF Simone doesn't dare say a word, and the Troll is about to continue when they catch sight of KS standing at the door! How much has she heard?
For a moment, the tableau is still; then FF Simone makes her way out shakily and KS comes slowly in; and does her familiar old drop-on-Prithwi's-chest hug: she is distraught -- how will she get AK out of jail?! Troll switches back to Gnome in front of KS: don't worry about anything, what they need is a good lawyer, and Prithwi knows the best -- he never loses a case, is merely busy, but if they can get him, then AK will be out for sure. KS glows with hope, her hands clasped in supplication in front of the Troll; she will do anything, everything - what does she have to do; and from the look in the Gnome-turning-into-Troll's eye, it looks like this supplicant mode of KS' might just have sealed AK's fate to spend as much time in jail as possible.
The last set starts with a funeral pyre, out in the green, under trees somewhere; a sombre sparse group of white-clad people standing around it; a cop jeep pulls up and AK, in the same clothes as the previous night, steps out still hand-cuffed. He walks up to the priest who begins the ceremony. We see Kunning Karthik and Dillip, Insane Troll Prithwi, Alliyah! in the crowd; but AK's focussed: he walks, with a set jaw and raw eyes, around with the little mudpot on his shoulder and we are thrown into flashbacks of Josh-AK buddyship - the moment after AK had rescued KS from the chandelier, meeting him before KS accused AK of forcing Josh not to attend KS' concert, sitting in a cafe sharing a drink with him - AK drops the pot behind his back, picks up the flaming torch, pauses for a moment to swallow and then grit his teeth and sets the pyre aflame. He walks away but pauses to touch Alliyah on the shoulder in comfort, an Alliyah who is crying deeply; neither can meet each others' eye.
We cut to a poolside setting, where a tall, dark, long-haired figure (male, BTW) dressed in a robe walks (in bright red slippers! ooh, gnarly!) to the pool. He drops his robe, shades on to the recliner to reveal an itsy-weensy, not-polka-dotted (thankfully!) micro-bikini swimsuit and drops himself into the pool. Hrumph! He swims across the pool, climbs out, - HRUMPH!!! - covers himself, drops himself into the recliner, opens a champagne bottle for himself. It's obvious that this is the top-notch lawyer -- who else can afford a hillside bungalow with a pool in Bombay!?! A bunch of his lawyer cronies land up and beg audience for a couple of cases: Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer claims he will only spend his precious time on the bright spot-light cases (of course, sigh!). But he will meet Mr. Prithwi Bose and Ms. Kripa Sharma. Sigh.
(As with all other big character introductions, the camera has, of course, acted coy and revealed all other aspects of this character other than his full face: quality of hair, size of bikini swim-suit, colour of slippers, shape of nose, size of beard, but not the face. SIGH!! I hate Soap-opera camera coyness.)
We cut to corporate lawyer setting: dark room despite the big windows, lined with leather-bound books, large oak table, the works, leather corporate chair. Sigh. Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer parks in the chair, with his back to the camera (yes, folks, the coyness continues) and the lawyer cronies show the Troll and KS into the room. Troll introduces KS as fiance, and himself as best friend (!!YOU TROLL, Prithwi, TROLL!!!) of the "case". And then the camera pans to show the lawyer's face: errr, which I don't know at all. Sorry. Some chap with long hair, well-arched eyebrows and suitably wicked looking. Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer is going to be a bad guy. End of show, I think, PHEW.
Preview: Insane Troll Prithwi and KS standing with Mr. Top-Notch Lawyer wondering about what to do. I didn't feel particularly gripped by the conversation to understand what it was about, but I'm sure it was about "innocence" and "getting AK out of jail quickly".
(Argh. How bloody stereotypical this entire show was today - I was not gripped for most part, I'm afraid. :-(
AK finding Josh was neatly and quickly done. AK performing the last rites was similarly quick, neat and for those who didn't miss the very subtle touches, emotional as well. AK knowing about Alliyah was a little too weird, I think. I thought even we barely knew -- there was more speculation and hope rather than actual evidence in the marriage that was conducted over the weekend on the Forum! (Which rocked, BTW! No wonder the rest of the Forum was quiet and dull...)
For the rest, it felt too much like a soap today. Even the Insane Troll Prithwi session with Fearful Frightened Simone; especially the entire Lawyer introduction bit. I don't know if you watched a movie - Hindi - called "Ek Hasina Thi" made by Ram Gopal Varma. The entire lawyer setup today brought the lawyer setup of that movie to mind. Of course, I'm not an expert on any of this -- it was just a .. hmm, what do you call it? Oh, yes! it was just an "ehsaas"! (Correct application of the word?)
Josh is dead. Long live Josh. I miss the silliness and the hope. :-( Oh dear. )
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
