Rishbala - Through the prism of ep 7th March 2013

The ep Thursday, 7th March 2013 (ep.#213) was actually a rather good episode, compared to the confusion and one of the two leads presence for just a minute in the previous ep 6th March.😊

Past experience of gaping at scene after scene of Trishna and Mukku while MEIEJ's female lead had few scenes and the male lead had not even appeared may have left me somewhat permanently hostile to having either DD or VD too much absent in any ep.

The previous ep (Wednesday, 6th March 2013) had the new entry shooting out of inexplicably present water in an awesomely gravity-defying fashion - which would have been a majestically impressive scene had it been presented as part of a film in the MEIEJverse😃, but was instead rendered bewildering by the fact that it was happening very confoundingly in the serial's version of real life.😕

And the kurta appearing out of thin air in the outdoors was more of the very confusing same.😕

The bloopers in that ep were rendered bearable by DD's presence, but exacerbated by VD's one-minute appearance in the extra-long ep.

But in this ep (7th March), no complaints.😊

Bloopers were there, quite a few.😕😆

But so long as we get *both* DD and VD in an ep, and *not* just in shared scenes with Dipali, Trishna and Sultan, all is fine.😳😃

Firstly, we got Sultan in only one scene with DD, with two more characters to thankfully dilute the damnable focus.😛

And there was the edifying knowledge that he has at least a minuscule - and far less direct - inclination towards the deceased Balraj Singh Chaudhary's ability to risk potshots at one's own child.🤢

If Padmini and Trishna ever do become acquainted with this facet of his character, their reactions might be interesting especially as regards the variations on the term 'monster' they have been liberally using for RK recently.

Second in order of relief-magnitude, we got Dipali only over the phone with RK, and then badgered in person by Sikki.😃

And thirdly on that same scale, we got not even one scene where Trishna had to be endured without Padmini and Radha around to dim her irritation factor.😃

Will no one ever point out to Trishna that RK broke Madhu's heart, while Trishna almost got her sister *killed* by her deliberate silence.😡

Her offence knocks RK's out of the frigging ballpark ethically.

For Trishna to even open her mouth to rebuke RK on behalf of the sister she has never even apologized for nearly getting killed for her own ambition is ludicrously amnesiac and intolerable.😡🤢

RK is the only reason that Madhu, Trishna, Padmini et al are even alive today.

Also, if Madhu had just let her husband kill Balraj, the 'revenge' revelation would sound even more idiotically unbelievable.

And having killed the villain who almost killed Madhu, RK then might or might not have been in jail or even on deathrow - either of which would have made the 'mandap' fiasco extremely unlikely - and would have been a far more pleasant and heroic sort of worrying crisis to be tided over for the viewers.😳

But then, the CVs would have been minus their 'Mother India' variant with Padmini killing Balraj, *and* their great and wondrous 'twist'.😕😡

RK *should* repent, since the CVs have stuck us with a bloopered idiotic storyline of his unbelievable revenge retroactively.

We went up a glorious mountain (a superb love story and several months of terrific episodes) and down the other side.😳⭐️

And we were *then* informed that it had actually been either a flat plain (RK didn't love Madhu at all), or more 'accurately' - lo and behold the generosity of the CVs - a small hill (he loved her very much but didn't realize it).😕

One would generally think that getting almost killed five times - thrice by Shamsher, and twice through Balraj - and reacting each time with the loved one's physical and emotional wellbeing as a priority would be the sort of thing to pierce through any "I don't love her" illusions with a fullforce sledgehammer.😳

But apparently not.

RK's love for Madhu (that repeatedly led him to value his very life less than her anguish😳) has been - as of 9th Feb. 2013 - placed by the CVs behind a wall of magical impenetrability to better power through their 'twisty' new track.

The devastating trauma the CVs needlessly engineered for Madhu was outrageously self-indulgent on their part for an experiment they may or may not have adequately gauged for its repugnance value.😭

Don't know how many viewers have rewatched how many of those emotionally miserable but superbly performed episodes, or would wish to rewatch them at any point in future.

Had spent months looking forward to Madhu becoming shrewd and a powerful personality in her own right, overtly and beyond her innate and magnificent strength of character.

Instead, the CVs turned RK into the kind of idiot who - before and after estrangement - dreams about the girl in her absence, cherishes his every shared memory with her, can't stand to see her in pain, but is absolutely firm that he does not love her.😳😕

Emotional vulnerability, insecurity, fear of losing yet another loved one...

*No* reason in the world should be enough to make a person of even average intelligence (which both of the leads have always possessed in excess of, despite their behaviour occasionally contradicting this😳😆) fail to realize the nature and full force of one's emotion, if indicated as consistently in one's conduct when completely alone as has been in RK's case for several months.😳

(That being said, I would *still* happily accept any non-revenge reason of the flimsiest worth to tide through this mess.😛 Apparently rose-coloured glasses stay stuck on with glue even after getting frosted over.😕😆)

There was no way RK would not adore the Madhu we saw for several months.😳

He did adore her, and the viewers who didn't simply love him outright did love that clear adoration he had for his wife and which was reciprocated - perhaps even in advance - in full measure.😳

So the 'twist' made no sense.

Did the CVs have a good idea, but fail to consider its reception in actual practice with clarity?

And the TRP audience was assured to be willing to forgive far worse than the conduct RK had meted out, since they have had plentiful opportunity to see - and eventually forgive - *far* more brutal scenarios in saas-bahu serials for years now.

It was only the hardcore audience of this particular serial who loved these two specific lead characters who were traumatized by the shattering of Madhu, and the butchering of RK's characterization.

The sponsors- and revenue- ensuring audience that MEIEJ has clearly stated it wants to win over, without itself becoming saas-bahu, will get over all of the wretched time as soon as remorse from RK and reconciliation attempts vis-a-vis the couple get under way.

It is only we who had the characterization of one of the leads and the purity of the love-story corrupted for a track-experiment that makes the once seemingly neverending Mukund track seem enjoyable in comparison - and it was anything but.

The whole ep 7th March managed to hold its emotional pull by rejecting logic - which is absolutely fine if it's how they are planning to counter the sour taste of the 'twist' aftermath.😳

Couldn't understand Madhu's reactions with the kid.😕

She was relaxed and attending to him even with her reactions making it clear he was well and safe.

When Sultan instructed the boy to return to his room, Madhu should have at least asked about her own leaving from there.

Instead, she turned and went back to the room she had been put in to tuck back in.😕

She's relaxed as if she's not with an armed man and his armed help, and the man the sort to leave his kid staked out as bait in a fight.😕

One can readily accept and understand that Madhu didn't call home.😊

It's been just a few hours in the middle of the night, and she has no reason to know that anyone knows she is missing back at the film-unit-camp.

She had no way to know the fact that the whole unit is wide awake and in a state of panic because she disappeared into the surrounding wilderness, where they might have been less panicked had it been a cosmopolitan area.

But she is RK's wife, and while he no longer calls her 'Biwi', Bittuji's constant 'bhabhiji' leaves the crew in no doubt about her status.

So the panic is built up when RK is the one frantic.

But *why* was Madhu not trying to get away from there?

Why was she not fretting?

Why was she not counting the time until she would be allowed to leave from there?

Madhu's scenes with the kid looked as forcibly crafted to ensure future storyline as RK's not sticking around at the site where Madhu disappeared and instead turning up at the chawl (where his mother also coincidentally was with Padmini) and using his influence in the search for Madhu.

Both leads' actions were very obviously required not for any logical consequence but to pull several threads together at speed to get a workable weave for potential upcoming track points.

Madhu vis-a-vis the kid ensures a future enmeshing of Sultan into the Rishbala storyline, where otherwise his connection to Madhu would have no starting point.

RK's overt and frantic concern showcases his desperate care for Madhu, in the presence of Radha and Bittuji (neither of whom *need* further motivation to continue with their reconciliation campaign), and in front of Padmini and Trishna as well, who may be varyingly affected at later points depending on tracks.

What held it all together was DVD's charisma and screenpresence, individually and - even more formidably - as a pairing even without actually physically being in the same scene.😳⭐️

And the song ('Tujhe bhula diya, phir kyu teri yaado ney mujhe rula diya') playing in the precap for RK and Madhu was poignant and heartwrenching.😭😳

Logic was absent.😕

But considering that logic was dead and buried for the 'twist' almost four weeks back and we have accepted the stupendously illogical retroactive revenge scenario and tailored our emotional reactions accordingly to varying degrees, one should perhaps not expect logic on any far lesser points either.😕

One need mourn absence of logic and characterization- and storyline-integrity only a little so long as the fabulously chemistry- and charisma- gifted lead pairing are both adequately present in the ep.😳😃

The most recent story experimentation may be of disputable emotional worth😕, but the lead pairing has proven they can together carry any and all scenes through fantastically.⭐️