Posted:
I was surprised that no one had mentioned this yet...or, maybe someone has, and I overlooked it.
Today marks six months since the death of Prem in Kis Desh Mein Hain Mera Dil, and, I think most of you will agree with me, if I go so far as to say, it marks six months, since the death of Kis Desh itself.
Its hard to believe its been 6 months already...so much has happened since then...but then again, nothing has really happened at all.
When we lost Prem, we lost the very heart and soul, the very essense, of this beloved show. And now that he's back, it seems as though things have gone so awry, that even his presence can't do much to help.
So much needs to be said...I just hope that I can do it in a somewhat coherent manner...forgive me in advance though, I am exhausted at the moment....
It has always held true, that Prem and Heer - Premeer, and the fact that Premeer-are-one, have been the crux of this show. The hallmark of the show has been this predestined, eternal love story...the essence of the show has always been Premeer. So when one variable of the equation was taken out, it doesn't surprise me at all that the whole thing just kind of fell apart. It's like Heer said today - Prem is like the root without which the tree cannot stand...
Killing Prem was the biggest mistake the creatives could have made - they practically committed suicide, and continued to dig themselves into an even deeper hole as they frantically tried to pull themselves out of the mess they were in.
It goes without saying that the TRPs would drop once Prem was taken out of the Premeer equation because all along, it was the Premeer-are-one-ness of the show that drew people to it. Not to mention, HC has practically shouldered the weight of the show since the beginning, and without him there, it seemed that the other actors weren't able to pick up the slack, or fill the gaping void that he left. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying AG can't hold her own - she can, undoubtedly. But, lets face it, its her chemistry with HC which works...she falls a bit short however, when it comes to actually shouldering the weight of the show, singlehandedly. (Please don't lash out at me - I LOVE AG as Heer, but lets face it - she alone couldn't hold the show together - perhaps even, thru no fault of her own, as the creatives desperately tried to keep a sinking ship afloat - she all along, excelled in her portrayal of Heer...its just that, Heer alone couldn't help keep Desh together.)
Prem's absense changed a lot for Desh indeed. The Prem of Premeer was gone...the Ram of the Juneja parivaar was gone, and it seemed as though he took with him the Creative brilliance of a team that had once made us laugh, cry, dream, hope, and fall in love, with the lead pair, and their family.
With Prem's demise, came the demise of everything the show stood for until then - not only a love that could stand the test of time, over come all odds, that was rooted deeply in a sense of understanding that needed no verbalization...but also, children that respected their elders, valued the importance of their family and loved ones, culture, tradition, youth that shouldered responsibility, and valued relationships above all else.
Not only that, it seemed also, that suddenly, the good overcomes evil factor seemed to be slipping, and fast. All of the sudden, the ravan's had the upper hand, and the good guys were powerless in the face of evil - because Ram was not there to save them from the demon's clutches.
With the essense, purity, refreshing charm of the show missing, how could it have been expected to survive the main lead's demise?
My question is, what was the point of killing off the male lead to begin with? Okay, I understand, it was planned from day one, and then it just got dragged out because you yourself had created a character so perfect, one that was so loved by the masses, that you just couldn't afford to lose him - knowing that you'd upset the audience. But then, you went ahead and did it anyway - thinking it would help you 'move the story forward'. Needless to say, it only helped the story come to a standstill as the audience waited with batted breath for their beloved Prem's return...and you managed to dig yourselves into a pretty sizeable hole in the meantime.
With the essence of the original storyline gone, with the character sketches going awry, with the plot of the story heading in no particular direction at all, the original charm had long since been lost. At that point, there was nothing left to do but wait...and wait we did...(and, protest, of course) - as did Heer, with just an ounce of hope left, that some way, some how, Prem would come back and make things right again.
I will say, in Prem's absense, that Heer was indeed The Prem's The Heer. She did indeed fulfill all of Prem's wishes for his family, and she took care of things just as Prem would have had he have been there. I guess we can thank the creatives for keeping that aspect of Heer's character in tact, then. - In a way, then, I guess the essense of Premeer-are-one still existed in some way.
But so much of the story had taken a turn for the worse after Prem's death - partially due to inconsistancies in the plot. Loopholes...and lose ends that were never revisited. For instance, in the beginning of Desh, we were told that RR was out to get Lallu as they were big business rivals...then later, we are told he's out to get Prem and his family because his sister's love was unrequited...and later still, he decided that since Prem died, he would have his revenge through Heer...but all along, the root of his revenge was never truly explained. And I still don't know exactly how the exange of the property papers of Juneja mansion happened....RR had them, Heer had them, DJ Chachi had them...even Ash, at one point? Hmm....
And what I really really don't understand is how within mere days of Prem's demise, the Juneja's could lose an entire empire...everything? And yet they continued to live in a lavish mansion with all the comforts and luxuries? Hm...is this just how soaps work? Forgive me - I don't watch a lot of TV, you see....
Eventually HC came back...well...not that he really had gone anywhere, since he was still there all along shooting for Heer's numerous flashback scenes...but that's neither here nor there. Eventually HC came back - this time, 'for good'. But, unfortunately, it was not quite in the manner we had expected. IF, TRPs began to climb initially, it was for 2 reasons - one: HC brought back all the ardent fans that had quit the show with his character's demise, and two: the audience had some incling of hope that FINALLY, that beloved Premeer magic would be back again. But, it seems the creatives were hellbent on turning Desh into a run-of-the-mill, ghisa-pita BT story, with the same old, time tested (and failed?) storylines...and so, instead of our beloved Prem, we got handed some look-alike...and so, could you expect anything more than the fact that the TRPs would fall drastically again?
And with that, Desh practically closed the coffin on itself...simply because it was then that we saw the essense of the characters take a beating. Til then, for the most part, the characters had remained in tact...but with HC's return, we lost a lot of the characters.
Since when did Preet stand quiet and stunned when someone speaks in an ill-toned manner with his Prem bhaiya? Where was Ram's Lakshman when Veera was accusing Prem of choosing Heer's side over her own? What happened to the understanding and the bond that existed between Heer and Meher? Why was Meher not able to see that Heer was doing what she was doing for Prem and his family - and not for some twisted fancy of her own? - When Lalit and Preet saw right through Heer's facade, why couldn't her own sister see it? Why is it, that since 'Prem' has returned, all of the characters have seemed to lose their essence - their identity?
Besides just Preet/Meher initially, when Gaurav turned Prem turned Gaurav again, probably the worst beating the show could have taken was the butchering of the essence of our sweet, coy, dignified Heer. Sure, she was to change with the trials and tribulations she's been through, of course she has valid reason to be livid and heartbroken and exhausted...but, the old Heer that had just discovered that she was losing her Prem to Ash was all those things too, wasn't she? When her parents died, when she lost Prem to Ash b/c of DJ's ploy, and when Prem kept trying to stop her from marrying MM - she was hurt, angry, and tired of having to resign to fate then too, and we never saw her rolling her eyes, snarling, 'tsk'ing and such then - yet she was able to get her point across, and we were able to feel her pain and understand her sentiments better then than we have of late.
Not only was the essense of Heer's character toyed with, but then, in an attempt to keep all avenue's open, you ended up toying with Prem's character too. When he first came back, a lot of us speculated that he couldn't just regain his memory like that, and that he had to still be Gaurav or still have some kind of memory loss, or not fully remember everything about his past - because the way that he miraculously remembered everything was so very vague. But then, you yourself told us he was Prem because there he was, having flashbacks about times spent with his brothers. Then again, we were told that he's not Prem at all and that he's Gaurav and we had no choice but to believe it because of all the things that Gaurav thought about the Junejas...things that, if he were Prem, he would never in a million years think (like when he went on cursing the Juneja's for spending his hard earned money). Not to mention the way that this guy was treating Heer (simply because Prem wouldn't not tell Heer what he was up to if it really was him) - the way he was so unaffected by her silent tears. And then all the sudden, he is Prem again...but, a Prem that we can't relate to - because, sure, you came up with the only excuse you could find to try to redeem Prem completely after having butchered him over the past few months, but you did not give us enough insight into his side of the story...you did not give us enough detail about the obstacles he faced while he was away from the family and dealing with his own pain - alone with no one to share the burden. Furthermore, now we see a Prem that has just given into what his 'fate' has handed him? If this was the way Prem was, we would have seen him give in to his fate when Ullu wanted him married to Ash...we would have seen him give into fate and live aloof from his family when Ullu kicked him out...we would have seen him give up hope when they told him Heer had drowned in some lake/river. This is NOT the Prem we know and love. He's battled death once, who's to say he can't - or shouldn't be doing it again?
For once, I wish you would stop trying to glorify the female lead, and realize that Kis Desh has always been about Premeer-are-one. Stop making Prem cry and seem like a whimp just so you can glorify Heer further. Instead, try letting them walk hand in hand towards their future, even if it only holds more adversities.
Not only have we lost Prem and Heer, but now we are losing G-Mom too?
STOP toying with the essense of the Characters!!! And STOP with the inconsistancies in the plot!
Granted there have always been inconsistancies, I feel as though the number of bloopers since Prem's demise have just been too many to bare...and we are simply supposed to accept it and turn a blind eye?
For instance, we were initially told that Sanjana hung herself from a ceiling fan when Prem didn't return her feelings - then we learn that she never really died, but that she is lying comatose somewhere after some car accident? And, more recently, RR told Heer that it was he who seeked Prem/Gaurav out in Rajasthan, but then just a few days ago, Prem said he was the one to go present himself to RR?
If I had a dollar for every blooper in the show since Prem's return...man...I wish I had a dollar for every blooper in the show since Prem's return!
I understand fully, that along the way, the directors, creatives, writers, etc. have changed, and thus there are bound to be some differences of style. Does this mean however, that we must compromise the very essence of the show, and the characters? Does the new team that comes on board not have any obligation towards what the show stood for before they took over? Should they not have done their homework, and gone back and watched the show in its initial months to try to learn what it stood for and what it was that drew the audience in to begin with?
I can't help but wonder where the story would be right now if the main lead had never been brought back. I sincerely wonder how the plot would have been carried forward.
I must credit the creatives where it is due, and so I will say that for the past week or so, they have been doing a good job of attempting to get the show back where it used to be - with redeeming Prem (though I may not agree with the reasoning or be able to relate to his plight), and over the past 2 days, returning somewhat returning the essense of Premeer-are-one, what with the mutual understanding and the eye conversations...so thank you, for making the attempt.
However, a few days, with not even a hand full of strong scenes can help the atrocities that Desh has faced over the past six months. I find myself wondering every day what I'm still doing here...why I'm still hooked...and up until last week, the answer was HC....now, I think I can finally say HC and Premeer again.
Hats off, to the actors, Namely HC - for bouncing back and forth like a slinky between GS and Prem the way he did, and AG for her brilliant portrayal of Heer all along...and for doing the best that they could do with what was given to them...
I know that if we have been so frustrated with the show for the past months, they must have been at some point too...kudos to them for keeping it going and literally shouldering the weight of the show.
As for the creatives, it seems that they are finally on their way to setting things right...but the show really has gone haywire, and it is going to take a lot to make amends...I wish them luck, but as of now, I'd say the show pretty much met its demise on October 2nd of 2008. The old charm will never be back, and we have stopped expecting it...I guess maybe now, we're just hoping that the creatives are able to bring some kind of charm back to the show - in any way possible?
I guess we'll just wait and watch...For now, I'm glad Prem has finally admitted to being Prem and that he's finally acting like THE Prem again...had missed him.
Sorry for all of that - just had to....
Love,
~P
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
