Apropos KSBKBT ep (Wednesday, 2 May 2007)

Subject: 'Apropos KSBKBT ep. (Wednesday, 2 May 2007)' by leelaa9.

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Pulkit 'Laksh' Samrat deserves special kudos for the last scene of the ep. Laksh's adoration & trust of his elder brother klavya is so poignantly touching that it's almost tempting to wish klavya'd just forgive him. Almost. And then I remember the way Laksh turned against someone whose unimpeachable moral character – even in rare rages – he had known all his life. The verbal abuses. The unceasing physical attack despite klavya's protestations of innocence & his refusing to retaliate. And suddenly, Laksh getting well & truly in for a trip to hell himself doesn't evoke as much sympathy.

I'm actually undecided whether I'd rather see klavya's plotting succeed & him marrying KrshnTls simply because I'd love to see self-righteous Tls's nose well & truly rubbed in it or whether I'd rather klavya fail to prevent Laksh's wedding to KrshnTls because I don't want the eminently uncharismatic 'KrshnTls' paired with him in any emotional setting whatsoever.

And for all of Tls's melodramatic talk of KrshnTls losing her love Laksh if she weds klavya, Tls seems to have forgotten that none of her children's generation are married to their loves. Dmn & Gautam at least have a bond of pragmatic mutual caring & while they've never been in love with each other, they have developed & nurtured a very realistic conjugal love for each other. Karan loves Nandn but is wedded to Tanya, & Tls has always wanted him to keep faith with his later wife Tanya. Because Tanya's commitment & devotion to the unreciprocating Karan has been exceptional. Shl loves Gang but is in a bitter marriage to Trpt, & Tls's got her fingers crossed that somehow Shl & Gang will reconcile & Trpt'll be out of the picture. Shbh & Abhshk have been divorced for maybe a couple of decades, but if they were to reconcile even now, Tls'd probably be all for it.

And klavya's move to get Laksh out of the way so he can himself wed KrshnTls is rather less than what Gautam had done to emotionally coerce Dmn into marriage after finding out that she was Karan's love & she & Karan were conspiring to destroy the Viranis. Tls had felt then that Gautam was wrong but that – with the marriage a done thing – Dmn should accept the relationship. Even in Ansh's case, despite the nightmarish start of the marriage, Karan & Nandn had both felt that if Ansh were to be willing to mend his ways, then Nandn could honour the marriage & do her best to make it work out.

Granted, Tls doesn't want the guilt of sacrificing the choice of her reared child simply to keep peace in the family. But if klavya & KrshnTls were to wed, it'd be pretty much in keeping with the previous generation's track-record of marriages. Saying that parting someone from their love is no less heinous than raping them is the kind of whacked-out dialogue that we've all actually come to expect from Tls now. I've always wondered if Tls's loss of empathizable vulnerability & her metamorphosis into the self-proclaimed mother-goddess was at Smriti Irani's insistence to keep her character overshadowing all others (her own shows don't have that defect) or whether Balaji Telefilms made the decision to turn Tls from lead protagonist into catalyst for every relationship & storyline in the series. If Smriti *is* replaced as 'Tls', I guess we'll all see the answer soon enough.

The weakest link in KSBKBT's current stable of significant protagonists is Mouni 'KrshnTls' Roy. To watch the charismatic Laksh & klavya both enamoured of KT is a consistent 'hunh???' situation. When Karan & Ansh both fell for Nandn, it was absolutely understandable because Gauri Pradhan's 'Nandn' had the kind of charisma one can imagine a dozen men falling for, let alone two. But KT? The Laksh-KT chemistry is pretty much Pulkit Samrat giving a piggyback ride to Mouni Roy. The girl is perhaps a much better actress than Gauri Pradhan, but she has zero ability to carry a scene. Was Balaji Telefilms' definition of "Tls's shadow" actually "a girl who'll never overshadow (no pun intended) Smriti Irani"? Mouni Roy acts very *very* well. She just never has the presence to dominate a scene, no matter how good her dialogue &/or performance. Her presence is equal to some of the secondary-importance characters, but wholly less than most significant characters. Pulkit, paired with any other girl presented with the most becoming look, would light sparks just about certainly.

Maybe, if Smriti really does leave KSBKBT, they could also bring in a more charismatic 'KrshnTls'. When KZK had gone in for their first major time-leap, choosing the charismatic Surveen Chawla to play Prrn's daughter 'Kasak' had been an excellent move. But the pairing was shot to hell by the entirely uncharismatic 1st Shravan. Mouni is nowhere near as unprepossessing, but still... Maybe they could bring in Aashka Goradia as the new 'KrshnTls'. That girl has so far managed to create chemistry with almost all her pairings. Alright, Aashka's already made two miniscule appearances in KSBKBT as Tls's friend's daughter Raz. But who cares. In "Saarrthi" (which used to be once be a sensible serial), they've got the same actor who used to play 'Shambh' in the 'good old days' enter as the house-help of Dvk's family. And Bhmk never even noticed that both guys have the same face. So, why not bring Aashka in? Balaji can pretend she was never in KSBKBT in any prior role & simply carry on with the new role. If wishes were horses...

Still, it would have been lovely to see the main prospective Virani bah of the youngest generation as charismatic as nearly all the bahs of the previous generations. Instead, the current situation inspires sympathy for whoever gets into the mandap – Laksh or klavya.

If KSBKBT wanted to recreate the Karan-Nandn-Ansh triangle, they should have gotten someone who can create magic like Gauri Pradhan. Imagine Mouni Roy as 'Nandn'. The Hiten Tejwani-Gauri Pradhan fans who've kept faith so unswervingly with the Karan-Nandn pairing would probably have prayed instead that Nandn stay with Ansh simply so Karan could have a better option. And I can't wish the current uncharismatic KrshnTls on either klavya or Laksh simply so that the other one won't be stuck with her. The girl's acting is superb (like KZK's 1st Shravan), but chemistry & charisma *do* matter, damnit.

Oh well. *We* are stuck. Either klavya'll wed her & Laksh'll pursue her. Or Laksh'll wed her & klavya'll go on a rampage over losing her. Too much to hope that whoever loses her would celebrate their lucky escape. On the other hand, if they were to bring in a new charismatic KrshnTls, no reaction klavya or Laksh could have over her would seem as excessive as it does right now.

Besides, we the audience wanted Ansh's razor-edge style brought back in klavya. If he were to so soon put behind him the torment his adored dd Tls & his most cherished brother Laksh caused him (KrshnTls is relatively easier to forgive because she was in her own hell), he'd have no reason not to become the gentle principled klavya once again. Which would be fine. But not so soon. I'm also working on the assumption – the hope – that klavya is deliberately taking credit for anything going wrong in Tls's life, regardless of his actual involvement, simply to wound her. He claimed – truthfully – having incited Mhr against Tls. He also claimed falsely that he incited first Tanya & then Karan against Tls. At this rate, any time someone stands against Tls, klavya'll tell her that he did the inciting (irregardless of whether he did or not) & she'll believe him. About the accident intended for Laksh during KT's mhnd, I don't *want* to believe his intent was homicidal because it would have been overkill. So I'm holding on to the reasoning that having told Tls he wasn't a rapist & being so memorably not believed, he may have decided to just go along with the blame of killer. That entire track was bizarrely unbelievable, especially since klavya's ploys, his malice have all shown a festering rage but no evil.

While the entire family (minus Bhm & Manthan) either turned on him or failed to strongly enough stand for him, it was Tls & Laksh he had trusted to believe in him. Tls & Laksh who had denounced him. That he take satisfaction in returning hurt for hurt, that he fixate on winning KrshnTls as it would have the side-effect of devastating Tls & Laksh... That is all entirely understandable. But he needs Tls & Laksh both alive & relatively well to better torment them. Tls & the Viranis have always had an enviable track-record: whenever they make a family-member's life hell, a mere apology (sometimes not even that) & all's forgiven. This time, I want Tls to hurt. Laksh has already wallowed in remorse for his part in klavya's hell. He's just not verbalized that remorse clearly enough that klavya'd end up having to forgive him. But Tls... seeing her hurt is small enough balm for the vitriol she spewed.

leelaa9.