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Prachi has been one of the most battered character in the last couple of weeks. Some find fault with her decision to leave Milsi for his own sake. Some find fault in her prancing with Proteek. Some try to understand her and others have already written her off but all of us feel betrayed. While the betrayal is by the creatives, we vent our anger on the character as she is the face of the creatives. While judging a character one needs to distinguish between a character flaw (which is part of the character itself) and character inconsistencies (which is really the fault of the creatives and not of the character). Both may seem to mean one and the same for after all the character is the creatives' baby but while one has been deliberately added to the character to shape it up, the other is the result of forgetfulness or plain laziness on the part of the creatives. Lets look at Prachi to see what is her character flaw and what is actually a character inconsistency.
Who is Prachi? She is a simple naive girl who led a very protected life till her father's demise. She is capable of unextinguishable reserves of patience. She is extremely forgiving. She has a strong sense of family values. She is seeped in traditions. She will go to any lengths to 'protect' her loved ones, whether they need her protection or not. She will sacrifice just about anything for the well being of her loved ones. While these characteristics endear herself to people they can be irritating and act counter productively when taken to the extreme but then that is who she is. She is also a girl with a pea brain with a large heart. She acts impulsively and mostly does not think things through. All she does is to try avoid the immediate problem, never realising how many more she is creating in trying to solve it on her own. Some of her decisions are wise like in her handling Suki's elopement but mostly her silent operations spell trouble for all concerned.
Looking at the events that followed Ayesha's death, I felt that Prachi acted fairly consistently. She mourned the loss of her simbling, forgetting all the harm she had done to her in the past, stood up for her husband and tried to assume the blame instead (typical of Prachi since she thought that the court will be dumb enough to accept her lies as Milsi was in accepting the lie that she was Ritwik's mom during the PIM track). When she realised Mallika's true colours, again she acted true to her character. She slapped that woman for even daring to dream of Milsi. When PPP cornered her into leaving Milsi threatening her with a jail term for him, she panicked and decided to leave him to save him from the prison term. This is again typical of her character. She kept saying she will leave him for his own good. Why did she not stay on and find other alternatives? Because Prachi was never shown to be so wise. She always took the first available opportunity to tackle the problem even if the solution would not be a lasting one. Remember her behaviour during the PIM track when she adopted Ritwik in the spur of the moment and brought him home without thinking of the consequences, all to avoid being caught by Alaap. How can a person be more foolish, considering that the man she was avoiding lived under the same roof? That is Prachi for you. Just as the reason she gave herself for not revealing the truth of Suki to Milsi - for his own good, it is the very same reason she gave herself for leaving Milsi. So up to here Prachi's character has been consistent though flawed.
Had they shown the girl leaving Milsi without meeting him or coming to know about his reaction to PPP, one could have digested this to some extent. But no, they had to bring her back to PPP's house to witness PPP try to bed Milsi (had she left at this point thinking Milsi has let himself be seduced, even then things would have been believable), hear him say in loud and clear words he trusts Prachi and will never accept anyone and then she is shown to run away, leaving behind a grieving husband not to mention her own family. Even if one gives a margin for this, saying that she thought that PPP will come after her husband and he is incapable of taking care of himself, that still does not explain her behaviour during and after the leap.
The fact that she did not inform her family that she was alive knowing fully that Milsi saw her in that train and could have presumed she died in it was totally out of character. About her prancing with Proteek, the less said the better. That is so not Prachi. A woman who removed all vestiges of love from her heart the day she got married and did not act familiar with her childhood friend just could not have acted the way she did with Proteek. Here it has nothing to do with whether it was alright for a married man (read Milsi) to act this way and not a married woman. Here we are talking of Prachi Mishra the individual who had certain characteristics. This woman did not fit into that mode. If it was shock value they wanted to add, it was indeed shocking. Such character transformation in a girl known for her rigid ways was too difficult to digest. It made her pining for Milsi seem false which is indeed a sad thing. While one can accept character flaws, one cannot forgive the creatives for being so shoddy as to bring in character inconsistencies.
Having done enough damage already, I only hope the creatives do not do any further damage and do try redeeming Prachi's character. This means that under no circumstance Prachi should be shown to accept taking this relationship up to the mandap. That is gross character inconsistency. For a woman who claimed that her marriage was her life, it would be absolutely hollow to now accept this other man in her husband's place for real. Even if the wedding does not go through (which is sure to happen) it would have destroyed everything for Michi.
Having ensured that, they need to then show how Prachi tries to rectify her flaw (of taking decisions for others without their consent) by repenting and making amends.
I sure hope that this flawed character called Prachi is not buried for ever in the rubble of the creatives' decreativity because of their inconsistent characterisation.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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