Arjun Kirloskar is no longer with us. The young man with the perennially defeated looks, the young man who keeps reassuring the girl he claims to love that he WILL clear things up immediately, but fails to do so every single time, is not the Arjun Kirloskar we knew. That AK could face down his whole clan and refuse to marry Ovi because he did not love her and had no time for marriage any way. He was arrogant and unyielding, even when it came listening to his Dad or to crossing his Manav uncle, and he was NOT weak.
Where has he gone? There is in his place a young man who has the same name and the same looks, but not the same spirit, or the same soul. This AK convinces himself that he cannot be 'selfish' and break the bad news to Ovi because she is in a legal jam. But he has forgotten that there is this other girl whom he has dragged willy nilly into falling in love with him, and who is waiting in quiet desperation for a sign that he really meant all the words of love, all those kisses, the warmth of those embraces. He seems to have no thought to spare for her anguish and her disillusionment – for to be deceived in love is far more painful that to lose in love.
This AK is weak and indecisive, and he retreats incessantly before circumstances, whereas a hero should be able to triumph over them. His behaviour is, when compared with what he was not so long ago, so bizarre as to be incomprehensible. And in the process of wrecking the character of Arjun Kirloskar, the creative team of Pavitra Rishta has also wrecked the USP that made the post-leap PR so appealing and boosted its sagging TRPs.
We, the fans of PR II, rejoiced in the new Arjun-Purvi track, with this fresh and infinitely appealing young pair – an arrogant and headstrong young man who is tamed and transformed by love, and a tough minded and very capable young woman who is the catalyst that changes him, and who is finally won over by the strength and depth of his love for her. It is they who made us return in droves to the serial that we had abandoned after 2 years because it had become jaded, dull and predictable. Why then are the CVs damaging the very thing, something so special and extremely appealing, that they had managed to create? Why are they wantonly destroying the magic of the Arjun-Purvi pairing that spattered PR with stardust, and pushing the two young leads into a slough of despond, and the serial with them?
For let them have no doubts on this score. We do not intend to hang in there watching our beloved Arjun and Purvi damaged beyond repair – the one now indecisive and undependable, concerned about everyone else but his love, and the other alternately shrewish and self-pitying, virulent and weepy. They seem to have had most of what set them apart from the standard issue hero and heroine leached out of them, leaving distorted versions of the old Arjun and Purvi that have no appeal at all.
They have been incomprehensibly reduced, in a matter of barely 2 weeks, to caricatures of the wonderful characters they were. Novel characters who spoke a new language that was far from the heavy duty dialogues of TV soaps, a lingo that was as young and fresh and appealing as they were. Characters who made us believe that TV soaps could rise above the pedestrian round of incomprehensible sacrifices, endless misunderstandings, and secrets kept only so that they could wreck relationships. Who boosted PR's viewership and held the promise of boosting it further.
The way in which the Arjun-Purvi track has been handled over the past 2 weeks spells disaster for PR, for it will inevitably erode and soon destroy the renewed (and new) fan base that had emerged after December 2011. Even if the CVs manage to reunite Arjun and Purvi in the end, the magic would have faded. Their Pavitra Rishta II would be a shabby, refurbished rishta at best, like broken china glued together – the cracks always show. Why then are the CVs doing this, turning what was a very charming track into a slow motion train wreck? We, the loyal fans who have made PR II what it was till 2 weeks ago, are shocked, disappointed and depressed.
We do not demand the impossible. If the script cannot do without misunderstandings and love triangles, we can understand. We do not demand a revolution in the way the serial is developed. All that we ask is that the characters that have been so well etched stay true to themselves, and are NOT subjected to what can only be called wanton character assassination.
A character may change to some degree depending on the circumstances, but it cannot go through a 180 degree turn and survive. A strong yet tender young man cannot overnight become weak and vacillating, all the while finding feeble excuses for his sudden lack of courage and commitment. A lively and sharp-witted young woman professional cannot all of a sudden be reduced to someone who is by turns lachrymose and shrill, but lacking in both dignity and calm resourcefulness.
All is however not lost. We would appeal most earnestly to the CVs not to go further down this track, that can bode nothing but disaster, and instead to return to the spirit that made PR II such a joy to behold. For those who could so effortlessly create the Arjun and Purvi that we had come to love, this will be surely no impossible task. We, the fans of PR II, live in hope, but hope unfulfilled will wither and die on the vine. Please do NOT let that happen to us and to PR!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
Current Affairs
Anupamaa
Health and Fitness
