Mahakumbh 73-76: Zig-zag;Episode 77:Page 2; Episode 78:Page 6 - Page 2

Fab post Aunty...how can you write with such detail, when there's nothing much?👏

Mahakumbh 77: Much of a muchness

Folks,

I might be at odds with many of you about this episode, and especially about the last scene between a horror-struck Rudra and a frantic, terrified, disoriented Shivanand. I see that Manish Wadhwa has been greatly praised for this scene in this forum. As all my regular readers would know, he is a great favourite of mine, and his Shivanand was, till recently, my favourite character in Mahakumbh.

Despite all this, and at the risk of sounding like Ms.Grinch, I must confess that I found the Shiva-Rudra scene way too long at 3 1/2 minutes, and monotonous to boot. Yes, Manish's part must have been difficult to do, but once such a good actor gets the hang of portraying a man in a nightmare, no more so than the deep hysterics I have seen on TV. There was no need for subtlety in such a high decibel sequence, and as for Rudra , he was stuck with a (literally) single expression of confused horror and helplessness that did not vary a jot throughout those 210 seconds.

Where was the need to stretch this sequence beyond a minute? A minute is a long time for such scenes, and if it has been just that long, the impact would have been far greater. As it was, I was reminded of Shahrukh Khan's final, long drawn out death scene in Bhansali's 2002 Devdas. I was watching it in The Hague with a largely Indian audience, and one chap commented audibly Yeh mar kyon nahin jaata, aur hum ghar ja sakte the! It was almost like that for me last night.

Moreover, I was expecting every moment that Shiva would suddenly turn violent, which would at least have made some sense, but he went on and on and on with the same terrified ranting. I am a great admirer of Manish Wadhwa, but not for this kind of stuff. I am not personally acquainted, unlike some in this forum, with the behaviour pattterns of schizophrenics, nor am I sure that is what Shiva is, but I am sure of one thing. Like the torture scenes and the hallucination scenes, this is something I am not at all keen on watching.

On a lighter note, Alpana has remarked on Arshi's latest thread about how huge Shivanand's mouth looked. I agree with her.Last night, I felt at times that he seemed to be getting ready to have his tonsils examined!😉

I was not surprised that Rudra would not tolerate the standard exorcism techniques for his father, even if it is MB doing it, and seeing that she is convinced it is necessary, a daraar between Rudra and MB seems on the cards. Bas, yahi ek cheez baaki thi, that the Garud Pramukh should be at loggerheads with the one fellow garud who has both the gyaan and the power to get them where they need to get. If Rudra were to alienate MB, the whole mission would be sunk as thoroughly as the Titanic was.

Even if MB does not abandon him and them - and I am sure she will not - if Rudra will not let her treat Shivanand her way (which does not surprise me, for it looks very harsh, too harsh for a son to take when the patient is his father ) they will be just as badly off as now, for no one else will know how to cure Shiva either.

Unless of course Rudra tries some love and affection therapy with that childhood photo of the two of them and plays his Baba the gayatri mantra on the keyboard in the underground library, with a bow to bhavanayein!

Folks, I am already sick and tired of the endless travails of the garuds, who are, as of now, precisely nowhere. I do not know how they are going to be catapulted willy nilly into the last stage of a cohesive, effective rakshak group, but right now it seems like a mrigtrishna, forever receding. And where on earth is Prof.Rao just when he is needed the most??

The only one who seems to know what he needs to do is Guru Drish, with his plan to tunnel in and possibly thru to Sector 53, so as to be already on the spot when the amrit kalash surfaces. He has become unusually decisive of late, and has relegated Dansh to staying put at Naga Hqrs while he himself plays the star role of the Naga Mole (pun intended!😉).

Leela seems to be keen on playing a naga Joan of Arc, and contrary to some expectations, is nowhere near falling on Rudra's neck and promising to resuscitate Maya by leaching the poison out of her. I think Dansh is planning to plant her in the garud Hqrs., under the pretence of having expelled her from the naga tribe, and will want her to undermine the garuds even more from inside. I now understand what he meant when he exclaimed, sotto voce, after he had released Shivanand into the wood, that soon all the garuds would be ek doosre ke khoon ke pyaase.

I do not know why he bothers when they are doing a pretty thorough job of it by themselves! 😉

And what was it with Greyerson's new saathi or boss? He looked like a zombie with blue spects.

I think it will be good if the show wraps up as scheduled with 120 episodes. They have not got anywhere much in 77 episodes, so what can one expect but more of such OTT stuff if they get an extension? Better stick to the original idea and let us go in peace!

Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di

PS: I will be back later today to respond to all your interesting comments.

Shymaladi I agree to the over drawn emotional last scene yesterday. I agree to you. More than Devdas it reminded me of the scene in Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna when both SRK and Rani being expelled from their homes and tells everything is fine and the already irate viewers are bombarded with a song " Tum ko bhi hain yekin song". I still remember the guy sitting behind me remarking " Please tell you are standing on the other side of the bridge. Only if you both are together we can get out of this theatre". Like you I am not a fan of such scenes. I hope you will read my indepedant post on Head and Heart.

ready for a tonsil examination (exactly what my daughter - an ENT doctor said) -LOL

My dear Alpana,

I am very sorry, my dear, kaan pakadke ! The years are catching up with me, but still, I know perfectly well that Apple64, my rosy cheeked friend from the Yudh days, is Alpana, and that appukrish is Aparna. It is just that on switching from Arshi's thread to this one, I forgot to which of the two I had responded with that crack about the tonsils examination😉!

This said, I am glad I have specialist support in the form of your daughter!😉 That scene was way too long and even otherwise, too overwrought. Poor Manish, it must have been very strenuous, and I am sure he gave it as a single take so as not to lose the mood. And then he has had to do such horrible scenes of late in the naga den. I really want him to get his hair back and his looks with that. This continued baldness does not suit him, and in the torture scenes, he looked positively off-putting. Plus he has hardly had any chance of late to show off his acting chops!

Oh no, it was not at all difficult to restrict myself once in a while,though I loved that wicked crack of yours ! 🤗I do like to spread myself as a rule, and as all of you are so kind and not just put up with it but seem to enjoy it, I seem to be getting steadily worse!😉

I am on Twitter - with the same handle, sashashyam - but only to alert readers to these posts, and then to rally support for social causes. I do find it very cramping😉, but it is interesting to try and compress a message so much.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: apple64

ready for a tonsil examination (exactly what my daughter - an ENT doctor said) -LOL

and its Alpana and not Aparna 😭(you can always stick to Apple to be on safer side😛) , Shyamala.

thanks for the mini update and PM.

It must have been tough for you to write such a small piece - I am sure you will be never on twitter .. hehe

Alpana

Didn't understand a word of the post as i didn't see a single episode last week (and the last one of the previous week).😕

Not to worry, my poppet, it will not take you long to cover 5 episodes, and No. 72 is a must see, if only for the last scene between Rudra and MB (to which I devoted almost 3 pages in my post for that week!😉).

I missed you on my last Opening Moves thread for Epsiodes 69-72, and I guessed that you were out of circulation.

Do take a look at No.77, and see if you agree with my animadversions on that last scene!😉

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A

Didn't understand a word of the post as i didn't see a single episode last week (and the last one of the previous week).😕

It was like reading the character sketches and highlights of a play without reading the play itself or its summary.

oh no, no apologies and kaan pakadna required😳 (and yes the good old Yudh days👏 - a series that starred with great hopes but ended with a simper). I hope MK doesn't go the same way - with a whole lot of incoherence cropping in.

Originally posted by: .Veritaserum

Hi aunty! Gotta dash but I LOVED your take on Rudra's shoddy leadership skills and the never ending break down scene of Shiva from yesterday's episode. I feel the mystery man could be Dr Rao. I am not sure but this genre is such that if someone's too good to be true, they can easily be suspected.

Are you watching Reporters? If so, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read your takes on it too. It seems to be the best show on ITV right now.

-Jazzy