This should, actually, be a response to many of the posts in the thread CV's sad/lame deconstruction of the LTL fairy tale" that I was unable to do for several reasons one of which being my commitments at work during the day. I wish that I had the opportunity to answer every single comments made in that thread as I have missed out on some valid points made by fellow members. But I have caught up with the gist of the animated discussions which revolved around several aspects that I will try to answer by summarising the various points below, This is not at all in defence of a thread I started yesterday as I stand by what I wrote which was a personal opinion, but constitutes an honest attempt to explain my view for whatever it is worth.
First and foremost, LTL has thrived on extrapolations/speculations and assumptions right from the beginning and this is what made the story so very different from most of the others on Indian TV today. I have at no point made any reference to the actor's availability etc. or the motivations at play for the PH or the channel. That is none of my business but as a loyal fan who has still not given up on the show, I am entitled like many others who find it difficult to verbalise their annoyance, to write about our disappointment when a show we have helped nurture along with all those concerned (production/actors etc.), is unable to beat much lamer contenders in terms of contents and quality in the TRP race. This has been reflected even in the ITA award this year where LTL did not even manage to win a single award. This must be frustrating for the fans as we would love to see the show/its actors and creative teams celebrating its success fully. Awards, one may say are subjective as they reflect the views of a limited cross-selection of the audience and not necessarily the majority audience but when dust settles on the shelf, people do not remember an event/recognition unless there is a tangible and solid memento.
My assumptions are based on my personal conviction/opinion as to CV's predictability as regards a trend, as rightly pointed by gp00 that is becoming tiring and sometimes almost pointless. No-one on this forum will deny that LTL has festered many a times because of its inability to avoid those annoying drag fests as seen over different phases since its inception. One may well argue that CVs' have taken all the time of the world to build on the characters during those different periods but they must realise that taxing the audience's patience repeatedly will eventually result in loss of viewership. Why is it that LTL has almost never managed to reach the top slot'.It is not rocket science. And this is a pity as it had the potential and fabulous performances which should have helped achieve the dream of every production house of the land. One must just have the guts to own up to that and the way the LTL audience is always taken for granted is not acceptable. I will reiterate here (and that may sound contradictory after yesterday's post, that this will still not deter me from watching LTL. Even today, I have picked up reverberations of discontent with titles such as "Ek kadam aagey to Do Kadam Picchay". Does this not sum up what the premise of the thread was at the beginning?
To come to LTL with its essence as a fairy tale with its dark aspects, again I concur with most of you and I hope that it remains so. But the when did a story with a dark twist ever need to take on almost burlesque tones to buy time? I did understand Morey's track which was left behind without a single allusion made since February except for a perfunctory/cursory reference at the time of Nakusha's FR in front of AS/Kala. Have we not reached the point where CVs should have gone back even in flashbacks (very much a tool for situational composition in LTL) to show how Nakusha and her family were harassed and threatened to the point that she had to leave her basti to run away from a life of sleaze. I would like to deviate slightly here and highlight something that has troubled me with the introduction of this "Suresh" character who is supposed to have been a childhood friend and possible suitor for Nakusha. If I recall correctly, apart from the two instances where we have seen Nakusha being actively pursued by Morey and Anna, there has been no instances of other "hot pursuits". The whole point of Babi covering up her daughter's face with soot resulted from her irrational but somehow "justified fear" of her daughter being dragged in the dark world of women trafficking because of what happened to her elder sister. That was in resonance with the flow of the story but what is not justified is suddenly parachuting a new funny looking guy (no offence meant) that our fellow members have taken pleasure in calling "Lallu Ganju" to suddenly vie for Nakusha's attention. (The audience knows it is Kala's plot , Nakusha knows, but the PN wasis do not).
And how does all that fit into Dutta's state of turmoil. We want to see romance, albeit the tragic romance that touches our emotional chords but not support elements completely foreign to the initial story and which will surely take the relationship to the brink. Do we wait for almost one whole year to show a twice married couple taking their relationship to next level and I do not mean a physical consummation of their marriage but rather a consummation of the vows they made vis a vis each other. I would have understood Morey or even a ressussitated Anna suddenly waking up to their obsession for the Gori Nakusha and landing in TASHA's life. It would have been easier for Dutta to identify with this "extraordinary" yet common development in Indian soaps. And CVs, also, would not have had to do major acrobatics to incorporate this jealousy/infidelity track in LTL now.
But this Suresh track will now have to take yet another twist to show that Nakusha did not always have the soot on, unless our new Lallu Ganju had fallen in love with Nakusha's internal beauty a la Dutta. I am all for Nakusha still having to be a model of virtue when it comes to patience and trust but Dutta's character cannot always be shown hiding behind a cloak of irrationality and unbridled emotions. I empathise with the darkness shrouding their lives but even the darkest moments have to be illuminated by sparks of rational thinking. I have not seen today's episode but from snippets gleaned from the forum, Dutta has told Nakusha that he has never doubted her character and that the only reason she has been allowed to stay in his house was the fact that she was a woman. How uncharacteristic of a Dutta who has been shown to value respect for a woman above all. Are CVs trying to show Dutta as an individual, solely, responsible for robbing his life and that of Nakusha's of all meaning and for pushing both of them to the brink, full of hatred and low self-esteem and sincerely embracing existential obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation. Were that to be the case, they could very well have taken on the depiction of traits of "the film noir" strange, ambivalent, cruel. I have omitted here the erotic aspect as it is not relevant nor is it socially acceptable in the context of the Indian TV concepts. And this would have constituted history as it has never been attempted before.
It is time now to move the story and we do not want a surfeit of Kala, an overdose of plot contrivance or even stark omissions that should have constituted the core of the story. It is jarring to say the least'.unless CVs' have finally decided that it would be in their interest to take a liberal dose of leaves from Ekta's book, then yes, please carry on but do re-think LTL's orientation. I am happy that this is a show which has permeated my life in such a way that I will keep on watching it, if not to see the happy culmination of Dutta and Nakusha's love, but also to see how beautiful edifices are destroyed without thoughts for all the hard work it takes to build one.
Veer Hanuman
Kumkum Bhagya
