Posted:
After 8 pages of discussion...I think everything worth saying and analyzed has already been said but could not resist adding my 2 cents. Like everybody else my feeling for the episode is generally "disappointed" however in all honesty, I am more confused than disappointed. My stars of the episode were RK and Radha because only their actions and reactions made any sense closely followed by Bittuji and Madhu, I was lost on almost everybody else. I will get to that in a minute but first a few thoughts on current storyline.
I have been disappointed ever since they introduced MK's first marriage track partly because the illegitimate angle has been done to death in all the shows and introducing it in a show where the sky was the limit in terms of acceptability showed lack of creativity. The other problem is that the issue of two marriages is tricky and it is very rare to find an amicable solution to the problem. Any solution almost invariable ends up needing one or more characters butchered beyond recognition...I keep wondering who will be butchered here eventually. I have tried to run all possible scenarios in my mind...from the accusation being true to there being more to the story to the accusation being proved false...In neither of the scenario does Sultan/Meera gain anything ...and in almost all the scenarios RK/Madhu lose something or the other.
I know that them most common opinion is that the track is introduced to establish Sultan's character and a certain actor is channel boy...I am not so sure about that because if that was true then they are going about it the wrong way. I actually feel that this is the first time I have see a channel so blatant about favoritism...It almost seems that the channel, the CVs and the writers all are sabotaging Sultan's character...they are not doing AR any favors ..it is just the opposite. His character stands out like a sore thumb...nothing ties to any logic ...his actions are very abrupt...unless the idea is to pitch him as psychotic, we have a problem on hand. I do however believe that Channel is interfering and they have failed to grasp the viewer expectations. They seem to be wanting to tread the familiar road to popularity with family plots from SSK and BVs...and at the same time hedge their risk of having a over-popular actor who can hold their show hostage. Meiej was pitched as lovestory...and lovestories have epic heroes , epic heroines and epic villians ...all the family drama is pushed to background. who remembers montagues and capulets in Romeo and Juliet !...it is all about Romeo and Juliet. Similarly MEIEJ is all about Rishbala...It is too late to change the perception or genre so their strategy is bound to end in failure and actually result in disconnected viewers even before its natural time.
Now back to review...
I will not talk much about RK and Madhu since everybody has already talk about it but there were few things that stood out.
Madhu did not seem shocked at Sultan's vandalism...this surprised me even more given that this is the first time she had seen Sultan in this mode and there seemed to be no genuine reason for his actions...there was no sign of the usually constrained Sultan. Not once did she jump to the front and ask him why he was here and what he was doing. I do not blame her for suggesting RK to talk to Sultan...someone has to take initiative and resolve the problem with cool head...Rk is a good start but I was surprised when she told RK that she had assumed he had forgotten about it all...how can someone forget something like this?🤢
RK was appropriate in all his reactions...I felt he would have genuinely given Sultan a chance to say his piece, had Sultan approached him decently...He was angry not because Madhu suggested a meet with Sultan but because he saw that his wife still trusted Sultan and she believed that she had that much clout on Sultan that he would come for the meet... that must have hit him hard given that it came in wake of what he saw in Sultan's eyes during the rod incident.
Now for Sultan...I think as Sultan came out of RK mansion...he was railing at fate for being unfair to him...he felt like a fool for being so poorly used by Paddy...He felt humiliated by the way Madhu acted more so because he had been dreaming of a life with her...he needed someone to blame for all his pain and he zeroed in on RK. What Sultan wants ...no one can give him much less RK...he wants recompense for last thirty odd years?...he wants a second chance at life with all the privileges, he believes RK had...he believes he should have been RK and Radha/RK have stolen that fate from him. Meera is just an excuse. There were angry tears in his eyes when he smashes MK's portrait...something I could not understand...for that matter...I could not understand his vandalism and aggression. It would be justified if he had tried talking to RK and RK would have denied him but in current circumstances it seemed odd. He goes back and complains to Meera that no one believes him...again I was surprised that he thought everyone would just believe him because he said so...He made a very serious accusation that too without any tangible proof...he vandalized the place and disrespected the man,whom he claimed to be his father by spoiling the puja and smashing his portrait...nothing about his actions lend any credence to his claim. As I said ...they are sabotaging the character.
Meera is not really crazy...she talks immense sense when she needs to push Sultan...It honestly seems like an emotional blackmail that is very well done...she says all the right things at the right time. Yesterday she did not believe that Sultan was her son...today she is being all motherly . Yesterday when she started playing with pink rattle after her advice to Sultan...there seemed to be a brief moment when she had a calculative look in her eyes.
I am disappointed with Dips...how did she miss the chance to comment on Madhu's once closeness with an apparent vandal? More so she did once love RK and seemed to get along with Radha...instead of feeling enraged on their behalf (even for a single fleeting moment)...she was overjoyed with what this meant for Madhu ...😕. How could she miss out on what this could mean for her? And Sikky...I agree he is spineless...but not a second of care for mother who just gave him 20 lakhs and just a night before...he is not that shameless...is he?
As I said before my biggest problem with the show is lack of growth in characters and absolutely no conflict in them.
Indian Idol 15
