Posted:
Everyone has expressed their opinions regarding today's episode and I'd like to do the same. I'll be honest and admit that my heart was racing near the base of my throat as the episode started. I'm sure that I wasn't the only feeling this excited and nervous at the same time. Heh.
To the pros:
1) I needn't say this, but I will anyway: Tasha's hug and dialogues. The scene in which D asks N to repeat "saab" at least three times and then threw his head back in sweet pain and relief was just beautiful. You could literally see and feel his emotions in that moment. Mishal's performance just never fails. He never ceases to amaze me, ever.
2) Kala's dialogues were brilliant and the way that she delivered them made me want to grab her chair and smack her in the head with it. She was that cruel. The way that she called "Dutta bhau", like a mother calling to her child while they're playing a game - it brought tears to my eyes. It was just humiliating. To watch Kala and Suds involve his father and joke about him going to Hell. It was a painful moment and I loved Mishal's expression in it.
(Also, I liked the way Kala was all predatory-like. Gave me the chills. š)
3) I loved D's confusion at first when N told him that Kala was his enemy. The usual D confusion; he couldn't grasp it right away. Then came the FBs in which he remembered his "kind" sister as she hugged him and burned for him. Slowly, he connected the dots, and still he couldn't grasp it. Not until he asked her why and she told him to ask his father in Hell. Something that I realized a bit late was that when D tells Naku not to fear, that she'll be his eyes, and then says "tu hai na mere saath"; those words were a question. Because he's in pain. The pain of realizing that his sister has hated him for years, that she wants to kill him, that he doesn't have her, never did. He needs Naku with him in that moment more than ever, confirmation that he has Naku. Because the betrayal hit him where it hurts the most, stirring his self-doubt, self-hatred. But Naku's very firm confirmation only reassures him and he can stand against the storm that is about to come.
4) Seema. She did an awesome job, in my opinion. Both when she cried for her "loss", and when she hit the BG, taking his gun and pointing it at Suds' head. When she cut off his laugh, I laughed. That was just hilarious. She delivered her dialogues with such boldness that I wanted to hug her. Yes, you heard me right.
5) Mishal's fighting. Oh dear. I needed a fan, because it was getting a bit too hot in here. He was on fire. He beat those goons with such grace - it was poetry in motion. I swear. That man can move so it looks effortless yet powerful. Throughout the whole sequence, he remembered that he was blind and that was what made it even more awesome to watch. The breaks in between hitting a BG showed his slight insecurity, yet when he finally hit them, it was with certainty.
6) The Naku touching D's face so much disturbed me a bit at first. But then when I thought about it, I realized that we've all witnessed how Tasha have reached another level in their relationship. We all know how long they've been separated and how much they fear dying at that point, because they both have something (someone) to live for. So, it was quite realistic that Naku ran her hands over his face. It gave him a kind of strength as well. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her.
Now as for the cons:
1) I've got a question for the directing team: Why didn't you guys shoot at night?
If they had shot at night, a lot of things would've made sense and some that didn't would've been overlooked. For instance, the body-doubles wouldn't have been noticed as body-doubled if they had shot at night and it would've made sense that Kala couldn't find them following their jump into the water.
2) I miss Vijay Krishnan Chaturvedi who directed the whole jungle track, including the saving-N-from-Anna's-den track. Truly, his directing captured the essence of D and every single one of his movements. He had this special camera angle with Mishal, and circled around Mishal a lot from a lower angle which captured D's expressions/emotions perfectly. It seemed that he knew Mishal so well, knew how to capture his brilliant performance and focus on his impulsive details so well, it just added so much power to his scenes. You really saw Mishal's full performance, because it was given time and the right angle.
My biggest disappointment with today's episode was the directing and editing. I still believe that the director is really new or simply doesn't know Mishal/D well enough to understand him. He seriously needs to study the July/August episodes and see for himself how to focus the camera on Mishal and how to move it around him. I'm not expert at directing, but even I can sense that something off about the angles and directing in the recent episodes.
3) Editing glitches once again. Did anyone notice how D was first fighting with a pole, then shifted to a sword, then went back to the pole? The BGs, some of them fell down without even being hit by D. Like when he threw the sword at one guy, and his arms supposedly knocked down three other mean behind him. Had it been night, I might've been able to overlook a blooper like that, but unfortunately it was broad daylight.
4) The scene where D and N come out of the pond. That one was badly shot. All of it. First of all, the camera didn't get close to them. Second of all, when it did get close, it did close-ups of each of them separately. I think it might've had something to do with Mishal and Mahi giving separate shots, probably because they weren't working at the same time or something. Either way, they weren't shot in the same frame from a BGs angle on top of the stairs.
5) For future tracks: We don't need five-minute close-ups of Chaskar's, Suds', or Kala's shoes, because we're all aware of their beauty. Instead of wasting time on Seema having FBs (which was kind of unnecessary as we're all familiar with her memories of D and she was already doing a brilliant job at showing her pain upon finding D with Naku) and shoe-shining camera angles, they should've focused more on the characters' reactions and emotions. Like Tasha.
Basically, my only real concern and complain is the directing and editing. The director seriously needs to pull his striped socks up and get this right. It's terribly distracting.
Positives, negatives, over.
Now I'm just super excited about the upcoming jungle track. Tomorrow, peeps š Tomorrow we have Tasha back in the jungle. How I wish they'd run off to Jagtap's house and live there forever.
What? Did someone say "family trapped in a store room"? Really? Huh. I hear store rooms are okay for basic survival. La la la la la... *follows Tasha into the jungle like some stalker*
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