A quick, quiet adieu

Tulsi died this week. That fact will probably go down as one of the
important milestones in the annals of Indian television history.

But for such a great turning point in small screen happenings, the event was remarkably unremarkable. Very unimaginatively, Tulsi ba was shown travelling with a host of other mental asylum inmates in a decrepit truck to an undisclosed destination, in the dead of night. The drunken truck driver miscalculates a turn, the vehicle overturns and tumbles down a valley in a blaze. The rest is left to the viewers' imagination.

For a dramatic turn of events in a Balaji soap, this had none of the head turning, heart stopping special effects that would have made for a striking exit for the protagonist who had ruled audience hearts for well over seven years. Remember the death of Tulsi's son Ansh last year? Balaji had hired Bollywood's special effects man Allan Amin to shoot the killing of Ansh at the hands of his mother and spent a good two days filming the episode in the barren terrains of Film City. Exits of lesser characters have been more memorable. Even Dadaji's death, over three years ago, though a muted affair, was choreographed to bring a tear to the eye. In contrast, Tulsi made a tame exit. Did it have something to do with the feuds that have marked the relationship between Smriti Iraani and Ekta Kapoor for the last few months?
Then it's a pity the show has had to pay the price.