I could not watch the episode yesterday. Watched it today and read some of the takes here and I tend to agree with most of them. Nice takes and thanks everyone for such nice writing. I enjoy my time out here.
I for one don't understand where exactly is the delineation between RK and Rishab. I want to try and accept @SD's view on RK and Rishab becoming one, now that he has made peace with his father's loss. But somehow I feel that is not just that. I mean of course yes, that is a major reason why Rishab turned into the hard shell he is, but he still has a lot of things that he has to come to terms with. For example, the facts such as his mother could share her life with someone else besides himself and his father, Dips who rigged him, may be there are instances in his professional life too when he experienced knavery in many forms, and the fact that he had to fend for himself in the big bad industry.
Until a few days ago, he was quite certain that everyone around him and even outside of his family were pure opportunists. He was of the same impression about Madhu too if we notice carefully. He was so sure and even he says so in the hospital when he makes a deal for marriage with her, if not for the money that Madhu needed to save her dad, why on earth would she marry him was his bait. His stake on the purpose of her agreeing to marry him is absolutely correct from his standpoint. The Bhatia's, Dips, Madhu, the industry he is associated all have a purpose in being associated to him. He is very sure that they are all clinging to him and he is not bound by any of them for any reason whatsoever. He detests his mother for sure but not as a person with motive but for the mere reason that she could allow a third person into their world which he considers his sanctum. That is why whenever Madhu proves herself to be someone who is not behind his fame, power and money, he staunch beliefs are rattled. And he does not like to believe that he could be wrong. His ego for being the person gets shaken and he dislikes being cornered, exposed, made to feel vulnerable, or being at the mercy of.
The character that Rishab weaved himself into as RK for his self-defense is not real. It is just an armor that Rishab uses to shield himself from the outside elements that are deceptive and illusional. Underneath RK, Rishab is weltering in self-pity for the loss in his life, family, love etc. RK will disappear in his entirety only when he comes out of his self-inflicted miseries. Then Rishab will be resurrected.
If we equate Madhu's early life, she faces almost similar or worse situations than what RK has faced. She had learnt that her birth was unwished-for (may be through Pads, Trish, Malik, or neighbors) by her own biological father. She has a father's name on the records who showers her with unconditional love but then she cannot address him as her father. She understand and respects her mother's and Malik's unconventional relationship but sees that the society around them have problems with it and are scorned for it at different times in their lives (faces the social stigma). She has seen her mother toiling to bring up the two girls single-handedly. There is her sister who is always dreaming big in life but without working much on achieving it. She witnessed how the irresponsibility showed on her mother's physical and mental health. We have witnessed how Trish as a girl was always hanging out at the sets gaping at the heroines and dreaming of becoming one and as result was failing to keep up with the basic responsibilities such as on the educational front. These are difficulties that eventually drained and stressed her mother out. So at a young age Madhu started to palpate other's problems, started to think too much and feel from other's perspective.
She started growing up as a people's person. She learnt to keep her expectations and dreams limited and simple so that her mother will not find it hard to nurture her growing mind and body. She curtailed herself from looking beyond a certain point at the vast world. She is happy to live with the world she knows and live in the comfort given to her and giving it to her people. Her near and dear ones are her world. Her priority in life is to live a content life with what she had. She believes in stretching her hands only so far she can and grab what's available within and be content with it. She made best use of the education she could get, the dwelling place she got, the friends she could make, the career that could give her enough money to support her mother, the support that she could give her sister so that the latter could achieve her dreams, the unconditional love that she has for her foster father, etc. She has seen lots of pain and struggle in life and she was exposed to such an insignificant life that she never aspired to become big for the mere reason that that would burden her loved ones more. Her compassionate and giving in nature was what kindled her to help the creep, paved way for her to meet with and fight her destiny, got her engaged to the creep, and eventually ended up marrying the beast in an unpleasant condition. With all these we can easily conclude that the character portrayal so far is weak, influential, and incompetent. At the outset what @SD says is absolutely correct. But I think that's the plan of the CVs to paint a naive picture at the outset and take us through the journey of its evolution into a strong, successful, and savvy character. Amidst her naivety, they show us the strength of the character too when she stands her ground in what she believes in(although some of the instances are unrealistic and dim-witted right now, but we can discount them on the fact that her exposure to life is not much to expect anything out of ordinary right now). We do get a glimpse of the characters that she possesses that will spell success to her eventually. Her persistent, brave, never-say-quit, focussed, optimistic characters (that are a little obscure although right now) will help her evolve into the kind of strong character that she is destined to be in the show. Methinks.
If the two lead characters are juxtaposed, the underlying emotional state of both are almost similar. But the way the two individuals handled the situations are extremely different. Both are from a broken/dysfunctional family. Both of them seemed to have had some materialistic constrains during the growing years (remember Radhaji saying that she was afraid to cope up alone as Rishab was too young to handle as a single parent, i took that to be her fears for monetary stability), both lacked the informed guidance in their decision about their life and future and so many other things. One sought to the aggressive measures to achieve what he wanted turning a blind eye to the losses and pain it caused and the other sought to become submissive so that it would cause less pain for self and others. The story telling would grow in the direction of making the two individuals tread the path which will teach them the right way to live and love. We will get the entertainment of watching them tread this dark path of love and life. The emotional ride that they will take us through will be worth watching I hope. We will surely visualize some flip-flops (like the dim-wits and other not so good moments that we get to tolderate now) here and there but I hope the entire journey will be worthwhile.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
