Understanding Pallavi: The Deshmukhs, Raghav, and her Redemption? - Page 6

Pallavi is such a softie ❤️ innocent soul. It was a harmless prank, she didn't expect it to turn out like this.

I agree with you that she doesn't owe him anything. If u see the from first episode, pallavi was not prepared for a second marriage. And here someone whom she always disliked for his egoistic attitude blackmailed her into this alliance. She lost her family. The ground beneath her has just fallen off. Still I must say she has warmed up to Raghav quite soon.

My opinion on Sharda aai is different, she has always been been kind and loving. She tried her best in supporting pallavi. She trusted her. She chose pallavi over her husband when he threatened to commit suicide. On marriage day she even told pallavi she will sort out all her problems and they both can leave the house and stay separate. Who does all this for their daughter in law? Nobody. She has slowly started accepting raghav as a part of family also.

I wish we had got Pallavi-keerti & Raghav-Keerti scenes after marriage. No conversation about sulo's kaand between pallavi and keerti. How can they skip that? Raghav got his family back after so many years, they should have shown some bhai- behen bonding scenes.

Originally posted by: vimeo

I totally agree that she didn't ask her to help him out. And he really did what he did because he wanted to clear his own name.

No he did it to clear pallavi's name. Because after that entire scenario there's a scene in RR mansion where Farhad says something like "Aaj se pehle bhi Anna ke bare main logo ne bahut kuch bola hai par unhone kabhi dhyan nahi diya". Which means he never cared about people spreading rumours about him.

Great analysis. I have always said that Pallavi, and even the Deshmuks, aren't obliged to accept and love Raghav or the Raos in general. Even if she forgives him (because she's a kind person and accepting by nature), she may not forget, she may not trust him or choose him as her life partner. There is nothing wrong with it and no one can do anything about it. She doesn't owe him anything. For that matter, even after Pallavi forgives Raghav and their 'scores are settled', he doesn't really owe her anything, not even to stay married to her. If she chooses to treat their relationship as a marriage of convenience, that is her call, but in no way is there a guarantee that she will love him back.

The main issue I see with Pallavi is that she is too selfless for her own good. It hurts her in the end, unfortunately. I understand her nature is so, but it gets her in trouble repeatedly. She doesn't take time to process things when people hurt her, doesn't hold people accountable, and doesn't demand that she is given her due. Even with Raghav, she didn't ask him to fix things, she just decided to quietly leave for Kolhapur. He was the one who stopped her and put forward the 30-day challenge, which she agreed to.

Her love, no obsession, for the Deshmukhs may be hard for most of us to digest - heck, I find it over-the-top - but that's her reality. Amma did mention something interesting, that just because Raghav thinks the Deshmukhs are a crazy bunch of egoistic people doesn't mean that Pallavi has to sever her bonds with them. We don't choose our families and she didn't either. I won't bother getting into my annoyance at her treatment of Siddhesh and his apparent lack of importance in her life, as it's been done to death here. Back to the Deshmukhs, if she had indeed been the daughter of the house, i.e. related to them by blood, and they had behaved this way with her, would we have been as judgemental of the Deshmukhs. It's easy to play the sautela/paraya card but often in real life we see dysfunctional families where the parents fail to understand their daughter, do not really care for her wellbeing and do kick them out, disown them, or punish them in some manner for bringing 'shame on the family'? Because they are legally and socially her in-laws, it's easy for us to say she should leave them? Would we have said the same if they were really her family? Many would, in the name of women's emancipation, but a lot of people wouldn't. She has to work with what she has, like many of us do. Based on what Sharda said in an earlier episode, Vijay and Mandaar would also argue about many things, presumably differences in philosophy, and Sharda would be sandwiched in between.

One more thing, I know she rarely talks about Mandaar, but from the few comments she's made about him, especially to Krishna and Raghav, it's clear she has put him on a pedestal and has signed a lifetime contract with herself to keep his memory alive through her actions and interactions with his family. They in turn keep him alive in their memories as an extension of Pallav, in many ways. Pallavi feeling indebted to them, as we heard when she explained to Raghav what they did for, is what ties her to them to a large extent. However, I am sure that even when she gets her wings and has a successful career and life as simply Pallavi, she will still feel some emotional attachment to them and will make sure they are looked after. Mandaar's promise is a huge deal for her, she has always wanted to do for his parents what he would have done had he been alive, and I doubt this commitment of hers will go away any time soon, if ever. Raghav will have to understand this, accept it, and live with it.

Raghav and Pallavi as husband-wife, soulmates, life partners in the true sense? Again, there are no guarantees. I know they both have a lot of trauma and loneliness to deal with, but can they overcome their respective past to help one another heal and build a new life together? Possibly, if the family drama doesn't wear them down by dragging them into endless cycles of problem-solving where they do not spend quality time together. Pallavi doesn't see herself as a member of the Rao family 100% yet because her heart and mind are always with the Deshmukhs, longing for them. If there hadn't been a fallout, she may have been able to focus on the Raos more. I am guessing this is why she hasn't focused on Keerti, Amma, or even Raghav so much beyond what is connected to the Deshmukhs.

I know a lot of people think Raghav is in love with her but I am still skeptical as it's too soon. The Raghav Rao I saw in the early episodes would have a different fire to him when in love. I think he's remorseful and laser-focused on repairing the damage he caused, and she is his first priority now. He may have tried to gauge if she'd consider spending the rest of her life with him but I don't know if he himself has thought through what being married to Pallavi for good would actually mean for his life. He is very lonely, even after Amma and Keerti have moved in with him, as they haven't really bonded. They have not addressed their tragic past and have are just maintaining the status quo. Even Pallavi was quick to notice this. In Pallavi he finds a distraction, as well as a companion. He wasn't being flippant when he told Farhad or her about them being friends first. If he hadn't been so fixated on making amends, I am sure sooner or later he would have started to feel troubled by the emotional distance between Amma, Keerti and him despite living under the same roof.

His past has not been explored yet, but we know there is bound to be a lot ugliness there that we'll learn about when the time comes. His panic attack and feeling of suffocation before Pallavi fainted was not just because of his realization of his grave mistake but also because the trauma of his past was weaved into it. He went into a dark spot for a moment before Farhad and Amma helped him refocus on the present, and on helping Pallavi. For a man who is principled, to have gone against his principle of not hurting innocents and in fact causing her such grave harm, is not easy to take. His conscience is not dead, it has never been. He just chooses not to dwell on it too much in general, but this time he could not look away.

You've pointed out something that we often don't pause to reflect on. We see the 360 degrees of the show, its characters, their motivations, and their dynamics, but the characters individually don't. Pallavi cannot see a lot of what Raghav does and why, she just sees the end results and goes by that. Raghav does the same too. Now that they are living in close quarters, they actually have the opportunity to observe each other in more detail, but keep in mind Raghav is living with the Deshmukhs and not really telling Pallavi what's going on or what he's planning. How is she to know and see his efforts. Also, we know Raghav is the kind of person who keeps his cards close to his chest, so no one else knows what he's strategizing and how he'll execute his plans. So expecting Pallavi to understand this is futile. Similarly, he misjudged her in earlier tracks because he was only seeing the impact of what he thought she was doing without being privy to he details.

I have said this on many other threads but will say it here again. Aside from the fact that they were forced to get married, everything else in their relationship is pretty much like an arranged marriage where they are getting to know one another and slowly adjusting to and accepting each other's quirks. It takes couples a while to settle down, and some never do. Same is the case for our leads. They don't really know much about each other beyond the superficial but things have started to move gradually on that front. Pallavi explaining to Raghav why the Deshmukhs were so important to her and then talking about her dreams (that also involved them) gave him a much better insight into her wishes and pain points. There will come a time when their roles will be reversed, and she in turn will learn more about what makes the way he is.

Sorry, this response became longer than I had intended but it was lovely to read your thoughts. Please do post more as we love discussions on this forum.

Originally posted by: Viewpoint

Oh yes definitely Raghavs amma has had a drastic change after the change of actor. She never wanted to talk to him and blamed him for his father and brothers death. Amma has definitely played by her cards and Raghav has been forced as much as Pallavi has been forced. It’s also hard for me to understand ammas concern coz she seems to have taken a complete turn. Raghav must have been ill and lonely so many times in a decade and and If she did not care then, I don’t get how she cares now. Her character is something the entire forum has been discussing. What Raghav really needs to do is clear his name because he’s literally soaking in so much guilt right now that if amma tells him to give his life, he will. We don’t know if he was responsible for the destruction in his past but yes he was involved and it was an issue with some girl. He doesn’t live for himself so in that’s context, they are toxic because as family they’ve never really reached out to Raghav emotionally. Keerti was always cold towards him but she’s changed as well. There’s been some character changes in them, and I think it’s due to the need to bring them in the same frame.

It’s also why I don’t want amma to be the catalyst of their love story. They’re two mature adults and can develop feelings without amma always trying very hard. She’s already emotionally blackmailed Raghav enough times. If they sit down for once and think of what he goes through, they’ll probably realize their follies. But Raghav is known to hold it all in.

In this context, both Raghav and Pallavi have families they would die for, but their respective families don’t care about them as much. Both of them are lonely people and we can only hope that the story progresses in a way which allows both of them to be each other’s friend and family. A friend they never had, and a family they both craved for.

I was so heartbroken for Raghav when Jaya put that 'marry Pallavi' ultimatum on him. I hated her in that track. He was ready to do anything else- even shut down his business, built with years of his blood, sweat and tears, just to get her back. And instead, she is asking him to marry the one person who he detested more than anyone, because he truly believed she had attacked the most important people in his life. And he still agreed 💔 Itna pyaar sehat ke liye accha nahi hai.

Both of them love their families disproportionately. I am also getting tired of Jaya acting like a fangirl shipping these two all the time. I think her actions in the past have been so egregious, this isn't gelling for me. I guess Kirti's actress is not currently shooting, but if they really need someone to be a catalyst in the Rao family, I'd prefer her. She was wary about the wedding always, had everyone's best interests in her mind, called Jaya out for being selfish. But now that the wedding has happened, she'd be willing to support it just so that her brother and her friend end up with good lives.

Originally posted by: Ranjali

Pallavi is such a softie ❤️ innocent soul. It was a harmless prank, she didn't expect it to turn out like this.

I agree with you that she doesn't owe him anything. If u see the from first episode, pallavi was not prepared for a second marriage. And here someone whom she always disliked for his egoistic attitude blackmailed her into this alliance. She lost her family. The ground beneath her has just fallen off. Still I must say she has warmed up to Raghav quite soon.

My opinion on Sharda aai is different, she has always been been kind and loving. She tried her best in supporting pallavi. She trusted her. She chose pallavi over her husband when he threatened to commit suicide. On marriage day she even told pallavi she will sort out all her problems and they both can leave the house and stay separate. Who does all this for their daughter in law? Nobody. She has slowly started accepting raghav as a part of family also.

I wish we had got Pallavi-keerti & Raghav-Keerti scenes after marriage. No conversation about sulo's kaand between pallavi and keerti. How can they skip that? Raghav got his family back after so many years, they should have shown some bhai- behen bonding scenes.

I completely relate to 'cute' being Raghav's favorite word recently to describe Pallavi. She's utterly adorable. I truly want the writers to give her some character development now- it's high time, over 90 episodes in, but I hope her innocence is retained through that. It's her most endearing quality, but it keeps getting her trapped by the more sly characters, be it Sulochana or Raghav.

Just copying something I wrote about Sharda earlier in the thread:

I was on the fence with Sharda through most of the show, but idk, she let me down post-wedding. Unlike Vijay, she understands what circumstances the wedding happened under, and I don't doubt her love for Pallavi... but I'm again falling down to impact and not intent with her. Sure. she stood up for Pallavi and Raghav in front of Sulochana and Amrutha, and it was sweet to see her pray today and instinctively include her daughter and son-in-law. But Pallavi is so alone right now. I understood her anger when Jaya took Pallavi to meet her the day after the wedding, even the cold behavior when Pallavi called her after Raghav's panic attack. From where she's standing, Pallavi has ruined her own life purely due to stubbornness. But parents don't scold, get angry at, lash out at children who mess up- they don't cut them off like this, especially when they suspect that they're trapped in a miserable situation. And I think what left me most put off was the fact that she didn't even melt after Raghav told her that Pallavi had been very sick, and just calling out for her mom in that state. Even after that, she managed to turn away Pallavi's request for a simple hug. I wish she had at least just hinted some love and support towards the poor girl- she's a mess, and it would do wonders for her mental health, even if she hints that support secretly, like Milind did to Raghav.

That said, I do completely appreciate where you are coming from, and I actually found her interactions with Raghav and Milind sweet today, and we have BTS that suggests she reconciles with Pallavi in the same in-universe day, going by Pallavi's sari, so I'll be happy to move on if this resolves quickly now. Just gonna withhold judgement till it actually plays out, because the moms on this show just have let me down a lot.

Originally posted by: Ranjali

No he did it to clear pallavi's name. Because after that entire scenario there's a scene in RR mansion where Farhad says something like "Aaj se pehle bhi Anna ke bare main logo ne bahut kuch bola hai par unhone kabhi dhyan nahi diya". Which means he never cared about people spreading rumours about him.

So I actually just decided that it was Farhad's inner shipper heart that made him interpret the situation as such. Raghav has every right to clear his name and get out of the raita that this family creates every second day, and I will fully support him taking any means to do so, tactful or tactless. But if he did it for Pallavi and not himself, it gets a little murkier for me personally. Sure, Pallavi was being completely idiotic and unnecessarily self-sacrificing during that track. But the point is, it should still be her call. He doesn't have the right to take away her agency and decide on her behalf, just because she's making a stupid decision and he believes he knows better.

Oh my god, this is possibly my favourite post in this forum! 😍😍 The scales are always so inevitably tipped in Raghav's favour that I often find myself going out of my way to defend Pallavi. You've said everything I have ever felt about her — I love you for writing this! ❤️👏

Pallavi is seriously the kindest girl we could hope to see — in this selfish world, it's easy to be a Raghav, but immensely difficult to be a Pallavi. Usually the ML gets away with all kinds of trashy behaviour because of his "tragic past" — why can't a FL be forgiven her excessive loyalty? No one is perfect — and if they were, they'd be boring. For Pallavi, this is her flaw just like Raghav has his. Imo her life has been way more tragic than the typical 'ladki ne dhoka diya' story we get to see with MLs. I can imagine getting over the hurt of a breakup, I cannot imagine growing up as an orphan. And her miseries do not end there — just when she gets a second chance at happiness, it's snatched away from her brutally. We can all argue that marriage isn't necessary for a girl to survive — I am completely in agreement with that mindset — but we can't ignore that Pallavi did see those dreams for herself. And she never got a chance to live them. How easy would it have been for her to turn selfish and bitter? But no, she took it in stride. She saw the family sheltering her in those times, putting her loss above their own — and she repays that debt to this day, loving them with all her heart. Imo this is one of the similarities that she shares with Raghav — never forgetting the person who helped you. For such a long time the Deshmukh family has been a part of her own identity — how can we expect her to toss it out of her life just like that? She knows how unreasonable they are, her recent conversation with Raghav proved this. And she knows how wrong they were in throwing her out at night — her words to aai and BWA on her wedding day proved this. But still, she chooses to love them and care for them, which takes much more strength than being angry at them imo — and this kind of love can only come from gratitude. Also it breaks my heart that she'll do anything to have them love her back... she really feels like this family is everything she has 🥺 A part of her knows that this isn't what a family is supposed to be, but she is the kind of person to make do with whatever she gets — it's how she's survived so far in life, it's an intrinsic part of her character.

Pallavi has no need for a redemption track, the track she needs is one of self-love and growth. She needs to learn to put herself before others, and being with Raghav will teach her that. Just like being with Pallavi will teach Raghav that he can't just enforce himself on everyone else's lives — he needs to adjust too, sometimes. For Raghav, the journey has already started... with Pallavi it'll be a slower one. The seeds have already been sown, though — Raghav has encouraged her to dream as Pallavi, soon he'll give her the strength to fulfil them for herself 😳❤️

Again, thank you for penning this post! 🤗 You spoke my mind, but with far more finesse than I could've hoped to achieve ❤️

Originally posted by: inlieu

Great analysis. I have always said that Pallavi, and even the Deshmuks, aren't obliged to accept and love Raghav or the Raos in general. Even if she forgives him (because she's a kind person and accepting by nature), she may not forget, she may not trust him or choose him as her life partner. There is nothing wrong with it and no one can do anything about it. She doesn't owe him anything. For that matter, even after Pallavi forgives Raghav and their 'scores are settled', he doesn't really owe her anything, not even to stay married to her. If she chooses to treat their relationship as a marriage of convenience, that is her call, but in no way is there a guarantee that she will love him back.

The main issue I see with Pallavi is that she is too selfless for her own good. It hurts her in the end, unfortunately. I understand her nature is so, but it gets her in trouble repeatedly. She doesn't take time to process things when people hurt her, doesn't hold people accountable, and doesn't demand that she is given her due. Even with Raghav, she didn't ask him to fix things, she just decided to quietly leave for Kolhapur. He was the one who stopped her and put forward the 30-day challenge, which she agreed to.

Her love, no obsession, for the Deshmukhs may be hard for most of us to digest - heck, I find it over-the-top - but that's her reality. Amma did mention something interesting, that just because Raghav thinks the Deshmukhs are a crazy bunch of egoistic people doesn't mean that Pallavi has to sever her bonds with them. We don't choose our families and she didn't either. I won't bother getting into my annoyance at her treatment of Siddhesh and his apparent lack of importance in her life, as it's been done to death here. Back to the Deshmukhs, if she had indeed been the daughter of the house, i.e. related to them by blood, and they had behaved this way with her, would we have been as judgemental of the Deshmukhs. It's easy to play the sautela/paraya card but often in real life we see dysfunctional families where the parents fail to understand their daughter, do not really care for her wellbeing and do kick them out, disown them, or punish them in some manner for bringing 'shame on the family'? Because they are legally and socially her in-laws, it's easy for us to say she should leave them? Would we have said the same if they were really her family? Many would, in the name of women's emancipation, but a lot of people wouldn't. She has to work with what she has, like many of us do. Based on what Sharda said in an earlier episode, Vijay and Mandaar would also argue about many things, presumably differences in philosophy, and Sharda would be sandwiched in between.

One more thing, I know she rarely talks about Mandaar, but from the few comments she's made about him, especially to Krishna and Raghav, it's clear she has put him on a pedestal and has signed a lifetime contract with herself to keep his memory alive through her actions and interactions with his family. They in turn keep him alive in their memories as an extension of Pallav, in many ways. Pallavi feeling indebted to them, as we heard when she explained to Raghav what they did for, is what ties her to them to a large extent. However, I am sure that even when she gets her wings and has a successful career and life as simply Pallavi, she will still feel some emotional attachment to them and will make sure they are looked after. Mandaar's promise is a huge deal for her, she has always wanted to do for his parents what he would have done had he been alive, and I doubt this commitment of hers will go away any time soon, if ever. Raghav will have to understand this, accept it, and live with it.

Raghav and Pallavi as husband-wife, soulmates, life partners in the true sense? Again, there are no guarantees. I know they both have a lot of trauma and loneliness to deal with, but can they overcome their respective past to help one another heal and build a new life together? Possibly, if the family drama doesn't wear them down by dragging them into endless cycles of problem-solving where they do not spend quality time together. Pallavi doesn't see herself as a member of the Rao family 100% yet because her heart and mind are always with the Deshmukhs, longing for them. If there hadn't been a fallout, she may have been able to focus on the Raos more. I am guessing this is why she hasn't focused on Keerti, Amma, or even Raghav so much beyond what is connected to the Deshmukhs.

I know a lot of people think Raghav is in love with her but I am still skeptical as it's too soon. The Raghav Rao I saw in the early episodes would have a different fire to him when in love. I think he's remorseful and laser-focused on repairing the damage he caused, and she is his first priority now. He may have tried to gauge if she'd consider spending the rest of her life with him but I don't know if he himself has thought through what being married to Pallavi for good would actually mean for his life. He is very lonely, even after Amma and Keerti have moved in with him, as they haven't really bonded. They have not addressed their tragic past and have are just maintaining the status quo. Even Pallavi was quick to notice this. In Pallavi he finds a distraction, as well as a companion. He wasn't being flippant when he told Farhad or her about them being friends first. If he hadn't been so fixated on making amends, I am sure sooner or later he would have started to feel troubled by the emotional distance between Amma, Keerti and him despite living under the same roof.

His past has not been explored yet, but we know there is bound to be a lot ugliness there that we'll learn about when the time comes. His panic attack and feeling of suffocation before Pallavi fainted was not just because of his realization of his grave mistake but also because the trauma of his past was weaved into it. He went into a dark spot for a moment before Farhad and Amma helped him refocus on the present, and on helping Pallavi. For a man who is principled, to have gone against his principle of not hurting innocents and in fact causing her such grave harm, is not easy to take. His conscience is not dead, it has never been. He just chooses not to dwell on it too much in general, but this time he could not look away.

You've pointed out something that we often don't pause to reflect on. We see the 360 degrees of the show, its characters, their motivations, and their dynamics, but the characters individually don't. Pallavi cannot see a lot of what Raghav does and why, she just sees the end results and goes by that. Raghav does the same too. Now that they are living in close quarters, they actually have the opportunity to observe each other in more detail, but keep in mind Raghav is living with the Deshmukhs and not really telling Pallavi what's going on or what he's planning. How is she to know and see his efforts. Also, we know Raghav is the kind of person who keeps his cards close to his chest, so no one else knows what he's strategizing and how he'll execute his plans. So expecting Pallavi to understand this is futile. Similarly, he misjudged her in earlier tracks because he was only seeing the impact of what he thought she was doing without being privy to he details.

I have said this on many other threads but will say it here again. Aside from the fact that they were forced to get married, everything else in their relationship is pretty much like an arranged marriage where they are getting to know one another and slowly adjusting to and accepting each other's quirks. It takes couples a while to settle down, and some never do. Same is the case for our leads. They don't really know much about each other beyond the superficial but things have started to move gradually on that front. Pallavi explaining to Raghav why the Deshmukhs were so important to her and then talking about her dreams (that also involved them) gave him a much better insight into her wishes and pain points. There will come a time when their roles will be reversed, and she in turn will learn more about what makes the way he is.

Sorry, this response became longer than I had intended but it was lovely to read your thoughts. Please do post more as we love discussions on this forum.

I agree that Pallavi is exceedingly kind and selfless, to her own detriment. But I think that she has to be that way for the story to work, and to allow Raghav to be as brash and destructive as he is. Had Pallavi not been as forgiving as she is, she'd never, ever trust him or give him a second chance after the crap he's pulled. She wouldn't be talking to him and smiling with him two days after asking him to literally end her life to put an end to the misery he's caused her. And thus, to keep the character consistent, she has to be equally forgiving with everyone, since that is just who she is. If she can give Raghav a second chance, despite the fact that before the wedding their only relationship was one rooted in anger and hatred, like she told Jaya, then she's going to give her family infinite chances. A Pallavi that decides that the Deshmukhs are undeserving of her is not a Pallavi that can stay back with the Raos for 30 days. That Pallavi would have left for Kohlapur as soon as Raghav's threat over Nikhil disappeared, never to look back, and the story would have to end there.

Interesting point on how we would have reacted had Pallavi actually been a Deshmukh daughter! I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. To be honest, I find Raghav's love for his mother and sister as misplaced as Pallavi's, but how many of us are calling at him to disown them? I am particularly put off by Jaya. It was infuriating to see Vijay tell Raghav that he should have been killed as a new born, but his own mother said the same thing to him in an earlier episode. I found her concern and worry so hard to digest when he got sick after the mirchi incident. For all her panic, what if he'd consumed mirchi and died two months ago, back when she was saying she wished he was dead? He newfound maternal love comes with a disclaimer in fine print- terms and conditions apply. But, for both of them, their families mean everything, and to grow out of that devotion has to be an individual journey for them both.

I also think Pallavi's attachment to the Deshmukhs is a function of two of the notably missing men (in both the show and her life) right now- Siddhesh and Mandaar. In the confrontation with Raghav, she shared that she was a baby when their parents died. Siddhesh couldn't be more than 10-12 years older than her. So while he raised her and it doesn't seem like she was ever short on love, they were just two orphan kids. Siddhesh provided her with everything- we know she went to college, so even her education was not compromised on, so I'm confident that basic needs were well met. But there was probably a lack of security and stability in her life. To move from that kind of environment, imagine her meeting Mandaar, and him regaling her with stories of his large joint family- loving parents, a naughty younger brother, a sweet uncle, a crazy aunt, two cousin sisters. Family traditions and kitchen politics. And more than anything else, he wanted Pallavi to be a part of that family and make it her own. To Pallavi, who grew up in instability with her brother, this would have been a fairytale come to life. And when Mandaar died even before this fairytale could be realized, she could have lost all of this in a heartbeat. Instead, this dream-come-true family could have sent kicked her to the curb, but they made her their own. Her attachment can be hard to digest, but it certainly isn't hard to understand.

Far from being dead, I think Raghav has a very strong conscience. We've seen from day one that he has a very set moral code that he lives by- it's just not completely aligned with what's socially sanctioned. He'll involve young men in smuggling, but not minors. He's partake in corruption and tax evasion, but not drugs. He'll be merciless to anyone who causes him, his family, or his staff the slightest of harm, but not harm an innocent. He lives with a huge guilt complex, we saw it the night Pallavi's cab met with an accident during the Lion track. He drove himself mad searching for her that night, and there was no emotional attachment between the two back then. The track about his past has a lot of potential, so I hope it's executed well.

I don't think Raghav is in love with Pallavi at all, and I'm glad she didn't go ahead with red roses today. I also want Jaya, Farhad and Krishna to cool it a bit with this constant 'you guys are in love' thing. I love the arranged marriage comparison! I think they're both attracted to each other, and they're both starting to truly see each other's goodness for the first time, since most of the major misunderstandings have been cleared. So I see attraction and admiration, and a budding friendship. But there's too much unaddressed baggage on both ends for it to be love right now.

I like the fact that this show is letting us get a 360 view, while the characters are a few steps behind, stumbling and tripping up to catch up with us. Some shows try hard to outsmart the audience, and that results in absurd writing and inconsistent characters. I do wonder how this living-with-the-Deshmukhs track is going to end. I am aware of the shooting restrictions, and considering that, this show has done a great job of staying consistent and entertaining while many others have become unwatchable, which I applaud. But I'm so wary of this track as a whole! I'm really not liking Raghav's scenes in the Deshmukh house, and I'm worried about this track ending with him singing their praises rather than Pallavi finding some growth and distance. While I don't want Raghav to go back to his old attitude with Pallavi - it wouldn't make sense given their current dynamic - I hate seeing him like this with the Deshmukhs when he can actually see their reality far better than Pallavi can. I don't want to see the Raghav who immediately saw how undeserving the family is of Pallavi to himself become too attached, particularly with Sulochana and Vijay, who are far beyond redemption. Let him bond with Milind, Sharda and Nikhil, and keep up an uneasy acceptance with the others. I wish this track would end soon, it's getting exhausting. Keeping fingers crossed!

Thanks for taking the time to respond so comprehensively, really enjoyed reading it. I fully relate to intending to write briefly, and ending up with essays (like this one) 😂😂😂

Originally posted by: Bee222

Oh my god, this is possibly my favourite post in this forum! 😍😍 The scales are always so inevitably tipped in Raghav's favour that I often find myself going out of my way to defend Pallavi. You've said everything I have ever felt about her — I love you for writing this! ❤️👏

Pallavi is seriously the kindest girl we could hope to see — in this selfish world, it's easy to be a Raghav, but immensely difficult to be a Pallavi. Usually the ML gets away with all kinds of trashy behaviour because of his "tragic past" — why can't a FL be forgiven her excessive loyalty? No one is perfect — and if they were, they'd be boring. For Pallavi, this is her flaw just like Raghav has his. Imo her life has been way more tragic than the typical 'ladki ne dhoka diya' story we get to see with MLs. I can imagine getting over the hurt of a breakup, I cannot imagine growing up as an orphan. And her miseries do not end there — just when she gets a second chance at happiness, it's snatched away from her brutally. We can all argue that marriage isn't necessary for a girl to survive — I am completely in agreement with that mindset — but we can't ignore that Pallavi did see those dreams for herself. And she never got a chance to live them. How easy would it have been for her to turn selfish and bitter? But no, she took it in stride. She saw the family sheltering her in those times, putting her loss above their own — and she repays that debt to this day, loving them with all her heart. Imo this is one of the similarities that she shares with Raghav — never forgetting the person who helped you. For such a long time the Deshmukh family has been a part of her own identity — how can we expect her to toss it out of her life just like that? She knows how unreasonable they are, her recent conversation with Raghav proved this. And she knows how wrong they were in throwing her out at night — her words to aai and BWA on her wedding day proved this. But still, she chooses to love them and care for them, which takes much more strength than being angry at them imo — and this kind of love can only come from gratitude. Also it breaks my heart that she'll do anything to have them love her back... she really feels like this family is everything she has 🥺 A part of her knows that this isn't what a family is supposed to be, but she is the kind of person to make do with whatever she gets — it's how she's survived so far in life, it's an intrinsic part of her character.

Pallavi has no need for a redemption track, the track she needs is one of self-love and growth. She needs to learn to put herself before others, and being with Raghav will teach her that. Just like being with Pallavi will teach Raghav that he can't just enforce himself on everyone else's lives — he needs to adjust too, sometimes. For Raghav, the journey has already started... with Pallavi it'll be a slower one. The seeds have already been sown, though — Raghav has encouraged her to dream as Pallavi, soon he'll give her the strength to fulfil them for herself 😳❤️

Again, thank you for penning this post! 🤗 You spoke my mind, but with far more finesse than I could've hoped to achieve ❤️

Thanks for such sweet words! ❤️🤗

It's not just this show- I think scales in general tip in favour for the male leads, since writing of most of the popular shows I've seen in ITV in recent times favors the men. I think it has a little bit to do with how we, societally, perceive men and women. Being emotional, crying, impacted by your past- in men, is seen as a sign of strength- 'he's strong enough to be vulnerable', because it goes against the older stereotype of the stoic man, 'mard ko dard nahi hota'. In women, it's seen as sign of weakness- 'abla bechari, rondu, apne past ko roti rehti hai', because it plays into the old stereotype of overly emotional women.

I think that's why we keep going on and on about some ambiguous offscreen trauma that the ML has faced in the past, while ignoring how the FL is getting traumatized on screen daily. If she cries about it, she gets annoying, and if she is happy and smiling, like Pallavi, then it's like the trauma doesn't exist.

When I think of everything Pallavi has gone through in her life before the show, and then what she's gone through due to Raghav, my heart breaks for her and I just want to wrap her up in comfort and love and protect her from the world. She's had more than her fair share of miseries and the fact that she's still standing is a testament to her strength. While Raghav is the more interesting character, Pallavi too has all my heart, with her adorable innocence and kind nature. It's a little sad that we tend to be a lot more forgiving of men than women. While they're both independently flawed people with respect to their characters and relationships with their families, it's undeniable that when it comes to the relationship between the two of them, the blame lies quite squarely with him at the moment- she's not wronged him. It's slightly disappointing to find ourselves having to go out our way to defend her, as you said, just because ITV-writing is used to letting its women down.

My take on Pallavi's extreme kindness is that for Raghav to be who he is, the story demands that Pallavi be forgiving and selfless. Because if she wasn't, and Raghav had done to her what he had, she wouldn't have given him a second chance, and we'd be out of a show to watch. She'd go live her best life in Kohlapur, Raghav would wallow in guilt, and the end. And if we need Pallavi to be that kind and that forgiving towards Raghav, then loyalty to the Deshmukhs is part and parcel of that.

Self-love for Pallavi I want this so much. She's just not used to prioritizing herself, and is the kind of person who'd set herself on fire to keep others warm. I really hope we get to see her growth in this aspect, it has all the potential for such a beautiful track.