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Warning: Abhi fans and sympathizers, this post is not for you. I am completely and unapologetically partial to Pragya, even to the point of irrationality.
So basically I think Abhi said a truckload of nonsense in the April 30th episode. I don't think he has any grounds to be as hurt as he showed, and I don't know what CVs meant when they had him claim that he trusted Pragya so much he told the world that she could never hurt him.
But as I listened and re-listened to the last scene, I heard something that interested me.
All of Abhi's anguished claims for how Pragya hurt him - they apply so much more in reverse. Abhi got to describe how Pragya supposedly broke his trust and betrayed him, but it's actually Pragya who could have justifiably said all those things because she experienced all of it at his hands, for much longer, with much greater severity.
Here's what I mean:
Your biggest mistake is that you taught a hating man how to love, and then you betrayed him and reawakened his hate.
Here Abhi's complaining that Pragya made him change his very nature under false pretenses, and now all that she "achieved" will be reversed. What a rich claim for Abhi to make, when his revenge marriage taught a strong woman how to be weak, and whose insistence on continuing the charade as long as it suited his own purposes gave her reason to dream and hope for what he never intended to fulfill. Abhi lecturing Pragya for "making him love her" with false intentions is the height of hypocrisy given how his consistent dishonesty and refusal to make decisions has kept her in a marriage he initiated with false intentions.
I wish I hadn't saved you that day so I wouldn't have to see this day. Taking the bullet didn't hurt as much as this does.
Pragya is never going to wish she had let Abhi die. But when I heard Abhi say this my automatic reaction was, "Well, if she had never saved you, she'd never have to see this day. CVs showed us Abhi's raw emotional suffering for Pragya "destroying his faith in love", but what this moment really invites us to do is witness the height of Pragya's pain - to have this man of all men tell her she doesn't deserve to be alive, simply so he could have an easier time with his feelings.
I thought this was the best day of my life, but this is the worst day of my life and that's thanks to you.
The worst day of your life Abhi? How sad for you. Of course you won't understand this, but Pragya's day has been several orders of magnitude worse than yours. First she got herself into an almost-death situation. Then she saw all her dreams fulfilled when you gave your "I love you" speech. Then she had all her dreams dashed when you denied it all in front of Purab. Then she met Tanu's parents and found out that you've been lying to her since Lohri and apparently intend to break your marriage without even telling her. Then she found out that Tanu's pregnant, and the hospital dashed her last hopes that you couldn't possibly cause that to happen.
So you "discovered" love and then a few hours later you were told you were misinformed, and it was "the worst day of your life." She was jerked around by you in the morning, found out that you've been jerking her around for weeks in the afternoon, and learned in the evening that there wasn't even a point in fighting for you because your irresponsibility (seemingly) is about to bring an innocent life into the world whose needs are more important to her than her own.
Yeah, it's really difficult for me to figure out who's really suffering here.
Before I could tell you my feelings, you showed me your true face. Before I could tell you what I've learned from this relationship, you've taught me my life's greatest lesson - that which you like most will give you the most pain.
Hats off to the CVs. Abhi perfectly describes life's most painful lesson. And in this scene we have Pragya experiencing it. The man she loves tearing her to pieces. Because he's too selfish and self-centered to contain his rage. Hmm...sounds like a toddler. They have temper control and ego problems too.
I've never seen a girl like you. You're the biggest mistake of my life and biggest lesson too.
Again, a perfect statement, especially when applied in reverse. Abhi's claiming he's never seen a girl as heartless and selfish as Pragya, who (in his view) plays with others' feelings for her own amusement. Marrying her is his biggest mistake and falling for her was his biggest lesson of what not to do in life. Do I need to spell it out? Falling for Abhi has (for now) ended only in pain, teaching Pragya to be wary of love in the future. Marrying him thinking they could have a real marriage was a disastrous choice. And is there any man like him? For better or worse, no. And for trapping her into this marriage...definitely unique.
Abhi ends by informing Pragya that since she has destroyed the love and trust between them, all that can remain is hate. This is one thing Pragya could never say, because Abhi has given her very little reason to feel that he trusts or loves her. In this episode he proves how completely he fails to do either. He tells her sweetly at the beginning that now everything's changed between them and he won't say or do anything that could hurt her anymore. And one misunderstanding later all his love and trust evaporates into thin air.
I'm not saying Pragya is faultless and a complete victim. I won't deny that Pragya has also chosen to continue this marriage for her own reasons. But the bottom line for me is that I cannot see that Abhi's "pain" has as much basis as he claims and I cannot sympathize with him when he's overreacting so very badly. The only way I can find his long harangue at the end of the episode palatable is to think that CVs are calling on dramatic irony for audiences to realize that it's Abhi who gets to say everything, but Pragya who's actually hurt.
It would be giving CVs false credit to say they're intentionally doing that. But it's how I choose to read the scene.
Oh, and for the matter of slaps? Slaps achieve nothing and thus are never really justified. But in racking my brains for why CVs included one anyway, my convoluted logic is this: Abhi had no reason to slap Pragya, but Pragya actually had a reason to slap Abhi. He was irresponsible enough to get another woman pregnant while maintaining a marriage with her that involves both their families. He let her down by doing that. Not because he was "cheating" but because this is so destructive to their shared goal of not disappointing their elders. For that I could see Pragya justifiably expressing her outrage and frustration with a slap to his face.
But when it comes to their marriage, Pragya doesn't feel outrage, let alone express it.
So Abhi, I guess, has to do twice as much of both.
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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