The MEIEJ mahaepisode of Saturday, 26th Jan. 2013 was a fantastic production - outrageously blooperladen, and absolutely enjoyable anyway.⭐️😃
Unlike previous special eps of the series, this one left logic aside at the outset, and piloted on sheer emotion and spectacle, with every actor doing a fantastic job.👏
Not a desirable tack as routine, but as a rare ep-presentation, the effect was magnificent.😃
Sheer entertaining melodrama, and the villain, the hero and the heroine (quantitatively in that order) had absolutely rocking dialogues to fit that frame. ⭐️
Madhu's awesome wealth of dialogues in the previous ep (25th Jan. 2013) was in this ep balanced by RK's, though neither lacked for dialogue or power in their scenes in either ep.😳⭐️
And Balraj had terrific dialogues in *both* eps.😃
The charisma, acting, dialogues, action - effort, performance and effect - everything clicked.👏 Hats off to the entire MEIEJ team.⭐️
Going to consider the 25 lakhs on the shoot as money wellspent - presumably on safety - since there has been no news of any disaster during the many stunts.😊
The sheer charisma of Balraj, RK and Madhu was enough to securely elevate the melodrama to the level of outstanding entertainment.😃
The despicable villain🤢⭐️, and the brave hero and heroine so deeply in love with each other.
Every interaction between any two or all three of these characters was utterly riveting.
Logic and realism were completely absent from the action sequences, and the spectacular drama intended instead was engrossing to watch.
RK's reactions were calculated less for sense today and more for action display.😃
The dialogues were outrageously filmi even by his standards.
His reckless filminess and not calling the police to at least *follow* him to the mess😲 (as far as we know so far. Retroactively Bittuji's arrival with the police seems to indicate otherwise.😕) ensured that the dramatic focus was maintained.😊
Opting for getting out of the car when faced with the goons in a deserted spot, getting up before the goons left in order to thrash them... In fact, all the action was gloriously illogically unreal.😃
And it was all an absolute delight to watch.😃⭐️
Madhu's formidable courage in the face of such nightmarish peril and her faith in RK was by that same standard a wonderful thing.😳
When she negated her murderous biological father's gloating, and focussed on her apparently dead husband, speaking aloud the prayer in which she had replaced first the Lord and then her mother with RK, it was magnificent.😳
DVD's performance and characterization gelled flawlessly and cohesively at every point.👏⭐️
RK's and Madhu's love for and protectiveness of each other shone throughout the ep, never detracted from but rather enhanced by the flamboyant action sequences.😃
Madhu was afraid only when she thought RK had fallen.😳
Her own death she prepared for unshaken, fearlessly closing her eyes.😊
And RK saw nothing but Madhu and the danger she was in.😳
It was not their courage that was special but rather that their courage was balanced by fear *for* each other.
In the car on his way to the venue, RK's terror for Madhu had precluded anyone else there - be it her parents or his mother.😳
Panic can have a fine focussing effect, and that can be a revealing emphasis on what is already known.😊
His mother was among those held at gunpoint at mercy of a man he now knew to be not merely crazy but a psychopath, and yet Madhu was his focus so much that nothing on the periphery mattered.😳
When he saw her hanging - he who still remembers the shattering scene of his father's suicide by hanging -, did he recall that past?😕
Or like his mother's life in danger, was his father's death too nowhere in his thoughts when he could see his wife in danger and nothing and no one else mattered?😕😳
Never before (as far as we have seen) had RK considered killing, not even when Madhu's heedless crusade was corroding everything he had worked to achieve.
But today, faced with the man who had tried to kill her, RK crossed that line. He was willing, able and set on killing.😡😳
And Madhu?
She cared nothing for that it would be killing, but she would not have the deed besmirch her husband.😡😳
In this episode, in every glance, Rishbala shone in their love for each other, with no thought but for each other.
Truly a testament to the Lord being the best matchmaker of all when He got His two devotees together.😆😳
Seeing Balraj and Madhu - father and daughter - together in this and the previous ep (25th Jan. 2013), it is clear that whereas Trishna has Balraj's comparatively milder flaws, Madhu has every one of her father's qualities - strengths and flaws - in a cleansed good way.😊
Qualities that are corrupted in Balraj and emerge as monstrous or at best contemptible, in Madhu those same qualities appear in their best light.😳
MEIEJ has yet again maintained its excellent trackrecord for avoiding cliched and/or expected long-drawn-out culminations.😃⭐️
The ensemble cast were generally excellent in their reactions.😃
The Bhatias - all four of them - had reactions that fit aptly with their characterization.
Radha's constant concern and anguish for first her daughter-in-law and then her son as well was spot-on, and also her reactions to her son's heroics.😊
She looked torn between being in awed pride *of* and petrifying fear *for* him.
Sikki's spontaneous worry for first Madhu and then for RK as well appears in a better and more altruistic light than if it were just for RK, since he has nothing to lose with Madhu's demise and yet worried for her.😊
Unlike Kukku and Dips, his venality always feels dependent on the two people closest to him - his father and wife - rather than intrinsic to his own character.
And his getting carried away and forgetting the perilous situation during the item dance was entirely in keeping with his character.😆
Kukku's and Dipali's reactions and their worry for RK were clearly mercenary, since he represented their source of income, and *even more importantly* their hope of getting rescued en masse from the guntoting lunatic who could *not* be counted on not to kill everyone else after killing Madhu.
They probably saw their best hope of surviving extinguished when RK seemed to have fallen to the shot.
Dipali did have a moment of humane concern when Madhu was strangling, but whether that was because she would generally have qualms or simply because the brutality was too in-your-face is uncertain.
Radha and Shamsher have few similarities, but they are both known to be generally melodramatic, and with a damnably ill-timing gift for not seeing what they don't want to see.😕
Nor can they be *counted* on to either react sensibly in a crisis or at least *not* exacerbate things.
It's not that they don't react sensibly sometimes, but the good sense is not a sure thing when it's most desperately needed.
And unlike RK, they are always given cliched dialogues for the highpoint moments.😕
It's a drawback salvaged only by context and acting-calibre in each instance.😊
Padmini, too, has an infrequent but unfortunate propensity for cliched melodrama and soapbox-grandstanding.
But considering this particular situation, it would have been out of character for her not to react hysterically when faced with best-case scenario of *only* one casualty (her *daughter* getting killed) and worst-case-scenario a bloodbath escalation.
During Madhu's praying for or calling out to RK, turning that into a Mallicks collective effort felt like a damn annoying glitch.😕
Padmini should have been the only one saying her different version of the prayer with Madhu.
Shamsher should have been the only one calling out to RK along with Madhu.
Having more than one person join in each time felt like an almost repeat of the screams-debacle during Padmini's nightmare.😛 1, 2, 3... Group action.😆
And it was beyond bizarre - and infuriating - that so soon after Balraj unveiled Trishna's self-interested complicity outright to everyone, Trishna was joining in exhorting RK alongside Madhu and her parents.😡
Her family was in peril because of the extent of *her* delusional self-interest.
Her murderous biological father was back, and she kept it a secret from her family, letting them go on merrily and with not even a hint of warning.😡
Ensuring that Trishna would have some dialogues should have had her dialogues aimed either at Balraj, or to Shamsher, Padmini or Madhu. Not to RK, damnit.😕
Ironic that Sikki emerged in a better light in this ep, and Trishna looked the worse for being given the wrong dialogue to echo alongside her family as if it would make her appear a cohesive part of the whole.😕
It was the *only* blooper that jarred, and considering the sheer superbness of the ep, can't find anything else to quibble about.😕😆😊
And Padmini? Today she again proved that pushed to her breaking point, she gathers unforeseen reserves of courage, strength and desperation.😃
Once she had fled to protect the daughter in her womb.😭
Today, when fleeing was not an option, she struck, anointing Madhu's head with the blood of the man who had wished to slay his daughter.😡👏
An awesome woman and mother.😃
But then, Madhu is fortunate in the extent to which she is loved by three very strong and determined people who would all gladly die or kill for her - her husband and her parents.😳
And RK saw yet again that through his wife and her parents, he has gained strength of devotion, loyalty and courage at last in his family.😳😃
And in the presence of those that would see them safeguarded from harm and those that wished them varying degrees of ill, Rishbala showcased a love and commitment to each other - faceted in awesome shades of loyalty and resolve - that shone unmistakeably and brightest of all in peril.
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