Commentator's V-Day Special - Page 2

Kool,

Yes, a dose of good old healthy lust is very much a part of love between man and woman. So are impetuousness or demandingness or any number of unexplainable non-sexual but equally self-centered urges. I'm not sure, though, if I agree that love IS only love if a man's urgent lust, madness, whatever, runs over into and subsumes the more responsible, generous, nurturing aspects of a love relationship, proving, in that one rare moment, his essential manliness. There's no one model for love, especially romantic love. You yourself wrote in one PM about how Prabha Atre's brother-in-law stayed single all his life because she wouldn't have him. Now I'd call that love too. That emotion IS equally love, where the man may want nothing but THAT particular object of desire, yet doesn't necessarily go out and grab the woman, especially to her long-term emotional or social detriment, as would be the case with Manav and Archana at this point. Of course we don't know that Atre's suitor didn't have even one wild and all-forgetting moment. But his love, qua love, was not the less genuine if he didn''t have it.

Yes, we'd all have enjoyed the suhaag-raat scene you envision. Sigh. 😳 Except that Zee (not sure of BT, haven't seen enough of their serials to comment) is awfully straitlaced to meet the demands of prime-time family television, so all we would have got was tantalizing hints and suggestions and faces (only) in soft-focus close-up that would, without a doubt, have left us feeling horribly frustrated and hungry for more. More that would not have been forthcoming, unfortunately.

Can we all mail in a request for an Adults Only version of the happy ending, to be sent by DVD - even for a king's ransom - to interested parties?? Nothing unacceptably explicit, for that wouldn't satisfy our hopelessly romantic hearts either, but certainly something more substantial than the watered down reunion (presided over by Bappa from his corner of the room) that we are likely to get!

And WHAT is with your uncontrollable fetish for the man's "rough mechanic hands"? This, I think, is the 3rd time I've read you making a reference to them. 😆 😆 😆

C

the yshould show that he does find her attractive ( at least in the future track ) and that he wants to get close to her even if it is just the touch of a hand . It would be so nice to see manav allowing himself to make a mistake only because his love for Archu gets out of his control .

By rough garage mechanic hands😆[ there u have sent me giggling again ...omg i cant stop] I mean it this way .

See the women Manav is used to . Loud , crass , fishwivfe kinda women , quarelling at the common tap ........his mom is their don . Vandi , although quiet is his sister and men DONT eye their sister as a woman at all . They keep her on a kind of remote pedestal in the back of their mind where they hardly give her a thhought . The love for the sister is a deep one but kinda embedded in their subconscious if u know what i mean .

So what observed is that Manav goes for the woman NOT found in his chawl , his surroundings . A fairy princess , so as to speak . Quiet , demure , civilized , well mannered , simple , beautiful and graceful , not to be found anywhere in his garage and chawl..........the two worlds he knows .

Being a mechanic , he works with rough guys , the types with cigs and beedis between their teeth , sweaty shirts , who use four lettered words in every sentence , not exactly acquainted with good manners or decorum .

On this background , what is Archana to Manav ? From another world . So unlike the world in which he lives . He hadnt dreamt of marrying her , EVER . That marraige was a miracle that happened .

And so how would they consummate physically ?It was so bloody cute whn he called her Aap and got all tongue tied . I wish they had put off the calling TUm till the consummation actually took place . The idiots have a knack of destroying the cuteness. I wantedto see how he touched his miracle and how inspite of the class discrepancy it becomes one of the hottest , best , love making scenes in serials uptill now .

Unfortunately they blew it . The pathetic portrayal of ARchana from Manav's miracle princess to the unwanted snag who pathetically defends his marraige with SHravani reminds me of a woman whose backbone has been broken to the extent that she is pimping for her hubby . Crass example , but i read it in a Shobha DE book and it stayed , that image . And somehow it came to my mind that day when Archu defended Manav in front of the chawl girls . Yes I know it doesnt fit here , nowhere is what she doing can be even close to pimping but u get the gist ?

Btw that man was not Prabha Atre's brother in law . He was a BIL of a relative of mine , deeply in love with Atre .

Yes , I do know that everytime it is not necessary to give up responsibilities to prove love . But Love makes u do crazy things . The BIL we talked about did one crazy thing ........he remained a bachelor for life although he got many more proposals as he was a money minting chartered accountant . Prince EDward [ right ?correct me if i name him wrong] refused the throne , Ram sent sita to the forest due to political pressure but categorically REFUSED to re marry even to produce an heir and we see marraiges like Ronald reagan and Nancy surviving inspite of her inability to produce children herself . They had adopted I think .....again I may be factually wrong , a lot of things slip my mind nowadays . But what interested me was the bond that remained inspite of no children ..............confirming my feeling that children DONT strengthen a marraige , love is something beyond that . I have seen so many marraiges gone bad inspite of the kids in thaose pictures . Al these people i mentioned did at least one crazy thing , they gave their love primal importance and in this serial i dont see it from the guys end anymore .

Kool, Bhavna, Tanyaz, and all the silent hopefuls out there:

Dear me, such a WAVE of feeling in favour of a lustful and manly Manav. 😛 Hope the BT creatives lurking around this forum take note!

@ Kool: the fact that he - unconnected, uneducated, of modest means - isn't actually the least bit interested in being with Shravani, whose father's millions are being handed to him on a platter, is, surely one "unwise"/"impractical" manifestation of his desire for Archana?

As I've maintained before, and as Nikita, I think, pointed out too, since the reunion can only come through action on his part, his character is being primed for that Uncontrollable Act when his need for and loyalty towards Archana will break through and sweep aside all other considerations. But making that Uncontrollable Act a sexual one is probably not consonant with his character as we've watched it develop - or, as many think, deteriorate - in the months since the serial took off. Therefore my emphasis that the scene I wrote was merely a fantasy.

As male fantasies go, it was pretty mild, partly because one is writing under severe censorship on this forum and the rules (on display prominently below) are plain for all to see, but partly also because that's as far as we can see gentle Manav's rebellion go. Samarth noted that Archana is the "stronger" of the two and will take the lead in matters sexual. That is possibly true: we do see her behaving in uncharacteristically assertive / aggressive ways when she feels the need for such behaviour, as when she takes on the chawl women. I know we have all unanimously booed down that defence, but the fact is that Archana has surprises inside her, and for all we know, taking the lead on this matter too may be one of them.

C

But hey , a lustful Manav or a human Manav , staring just for a moment longer than required at Archu's fair ankles as her sari shifts slightly up as she sleeps on that divan , then at her fair neck and then at her innocent virgin face , and the tenderness coming in his eyes and replacing the momentary attraction and curiosity he felt inspite of himself .........that moment of love I wud see with immense glee and relish . 😊

Hmm, yes, ankles, nice.... now ankles are a positive sort of prime-time possibility.

We must wait and hope! 😛

Even if Koolsadhu doesn't necessarily have a fetish for Manav's garage mechanic hands, Archana surely seems to like them a lot. I remember two instances in which Archana was right next to Manav but he was unaware of it (once when he was under a car in the garage and once when he was sleeping) and both times she looked quite intently interested in his burnt and cut up hands and would lightly touch them.

She's been dressing in a very subdued way lately, no make up, hair plaited sedately, and then that pity-me-you-guys limp.

Perhaps he will see her again as she once was when she gets all dolled up for Varshu's engagement - make up, jewellery, kanjeevaram, flowers, the works - and feel the old attraction SURGING back into his veins? Or wherever it is that attraction SURGES? 😆

And I agree with Tanya we r NEVER gonna see the man in Manav taking over . I sometimes feel Im seeing the serial with a modern day version of the ancient rishi Vasishtha or something .

But I guess I'm on commentator's side... Manav is actually being slowly, realistically moulded from being a responsible son/brother etc to the lover in him taking over. Since the day Archana entered his house due to court's order, slowly but surely these changes have been shown. At first, he asked her to GO, then gave her cold looks, then gave into depressing silence, then small amicable talk ('You want something I'll get it for you', 'don't go to the temple, you are weak' calling her parents in the house and even offering tea 'with less sugar' now there shudn't have been any need for doing this since he said he was doing it on human grounds right.. then why offer tea etc.. ) and now he even can't help getting teary eyed in front of her (as on friday's episode when Archu gives Shravani a gift) and on Monday, we will see him washing dishes and having a heart to heart talk with Archana.

Similarily we have slowly seen the resentment brewing in his heart for his Aai. From the person who just stopped his Aai from physically harming Archu by saying 'Bas Aai, chhod de, shant ho ja Aai' to a person who openly shouts at his Aai and says that because of you there is never any peace in this house, Archu is atleast trying to keep peace in this house and she did what you should have done.

In fact, the line, 'If you think this marriage is not wrong, then why not accept it in front of society' that Manav said, seemed to me like a taunt by Manav to Savita and Girishji who have been lately putting pressure on Manav to keep proving his 'commitment' for Shravani by making him put sindoor secretly and then rubbing it and getting him engaged secretly.

Koolsadhu, you rightly pointed out that time is running out. And believe me, they will extend this to the whole three months duration. I repeat, Manav and Archana won't unite till the seventh month of Shravani's pregnancy. These creatives won't stop testing our patience, at all.

The reason for this, as I see, are as under:

1.) To keep up the suspense(=TRP's) in the audience, they want to make the audience keep thinking that the marriage is going to happen. And they succeeded, didn't they? Koolsadhu and Tanyaz feel he won't come back now on his own.

2.) To show more of Manav's dilemma- how can I go back on my words NOW is the question at the back of his head. As Shravani's date comes nearer, Manav realizes everyday that he has to be on this side or that, and even though he is trying to be firm on his decision, the not so subtle changes in his stand (as I pointed above) suggest otherwise.

3.) To have a heightened sense of drama when Manav says NO. He will get a heavy dose of accuses, abuses, etc from Shravani's father and Savita, he will be called shameless, selfish, love-struck, he will be accused of leaving his family in the lurch, of siding with a girl whom he has known only for a few months. Savita will of course give him fresh guilt trips saying if he doesn't marry Shravani she will break all relations with him.. (I hope by that time Manav comes to know of Savita's reality and says 'there is no relation btw us to be broken) ... that the whole family will break relations with him.. but Manav will stick to his stand saying he cannot do injustice to his wife who is clearly not at fault... if he does it, he will die since his conscience hurts him like hell and he won't be able to live without his love.

As a viewer, I'm disappointed and frustrated with this slow pace of the serial, but Manav's transformation had to be shown as realistically as they showed Archu's. The bad thing is , in all this we see Archu suffering a lot, which is ultimately bad for Manav's popularity.

But I hope then that the rebellion by Manav will be worth it... just as it was when Archu left the person she loved most (her Aai) for the only other person she loved equally- her Manav. Manav's transformation will come about in a bigger, grander way- he leaves his family, his responsibility (by this I mean his commitment to shravani.. nt sachin's child, he will mostly want to adopt the child), Girishji's millions, accepts accuses and abuses from everyone for the sake of his Archu. It would show that both Archana and Manav rise against their weaknesses (Archana's love for her Aai and Manav's sense of being the sole support of his family since 16 and his resposibilites) for their love. This might also be the way to bring back the Manav in the title song.