I have today sent a laurel wreath (the smallest size available!) to Janhvi for having correctly predicted, or to be precise, hoped that Manav would not give in to Ovi's demand that he should not rescue Purvi.
I have ordered sackcloth and ashes for myself, as I have fallen flat on my face. I was sure that it had to be Arjun who would lead the charge, and this not just because of the First Commandment of romantic fiction: that it is for the hero to rescue the heroine and not a father character.
It was more because if Arjun-Purvi are to make any progress, Archana needs to be very, very grateful now to Arjun, not to Manav. For the latter to be the rescuer would serve no purpose at all in terms of moving the story along. So I had, logically, imagined that Ovi would issue an ultimatum – me or her! – and before Manav could open his mouth, DK would have jumped into the breach and taken over the task from him.
In the event, given my chronic problems with the CVs because of their endemic aversion to logic, precisely the opposite has happened. But I am by now so used to this that I can get back on my feet with all the elasticity and aplomb of m favourite DID L'il Master, Om.
This time, I hasten to regain lost ground by pointing out that with Manav doing all the rescuing, there will be no credit at all to spare for poor Arjun, who has been reduced to arguing ineffectively with Manav and engaging in a fruitless snarling match with Vishnu over the phone.
Arjun's plea for them to call in the police and have the cell phone used by Vishnu traced is eminently sensible. As Jyothi had pointed out, Vishnu likes the sound of his own voice so much that he speaks about three times as much as any savvy kidnapper talking to the bakra would. For the police, who need only about 3 minutes to trace the location of a mobile phone when it is in use, to locate Vishnu's (and thus Purvi's) location would have been a cakewalk. This, however, is not to be, for Arjun is brushed aside by Manav, as is his fear that even after getting the ransom amount, the kidnappers might not release Purvi.
DK too has been reduced to a bystander, and in the precap, Manav refuses the ransom amoout that DK brings over, saying that he cannot take the money and he had arranged for the cash himself. So we are left with (a) one brown briefcase, Manav's, and (b)one black one, DK's and 6 crores of crisp 1000 rupee notes all over the place.**
So, if the rescue goes thru as planned, Arjun will be precisely where he was at the beginning of this exercise, nowhere. And if Archana's suddenly introduced Janmashtami deadline for him to get his Rs.10000/- together still holds, he has already lost the challenge, with no hope now of making up for that by rescuing Purvi. So the pair are stuck in the same rut where they were a month ago, and there is no immediate way forward in sight.
Purvi seems to be more easily rattled than I would have thought. I would have expected her, once the effect of the chloroform wore off, and she had got over her initial spasm of fear when she is slapped by her abductor, to have a cooler head and try and see if she get some information about her bearings and so on out of the gang. She is not up to any of this as yet, and her reaction is like that of any standard issue heroine when kidnapped, tearful and panic-stricken. One's heart goes out to her in such an awful predicament, but one would have expected a bit more of spunk from the one-time Jhansi ki Rani Purvi Deshmukh. She does not say even a word to Arjun when he is trying to talk to her, I do not know why.
The police have been listening, thru a large gap in a window, to Manav and Arjun arguing about calling in the police, and they just might stymie Manav's plans to pay off the kidnappers. They are duty bound to do so, as they would regard the payoff as abetting the crime. This would open up interesting possibilities.
It is also curious that Manav, who was yesterday ready to turn to the police when he thought it was Ovi who had been taken, has done an about turn now when it is Purvi, and is dead against bringing the police in. He has no answer to Arjun's anguished question as to how he can be sure that she will be released after the ransom had been paid. Vishnu being now dead sure that he has Manav by the short hairs, if he backs out of his commitment and asks for still more money after getting the 3 crores, Manav will be stuck.
Right now Arjun is at a complete disadvantage in this game, and he is also panic-stricken rather than purposeful; it is DK who has to calm him down. This is not a young conquering hero, with or without the white horse or the shining armour, poor chap. One cannot see if or when he is going to play himself into this game, for if he cannot do so, Arjun-Purvi will be in the doldrums for God knows how long.
It is only if the ransom payment fails, for whatever reason,that there might be a fresh opportunity for Arjun to prove himself. If this does happen (and do keep in mind my record when it comes to second guessing the CVs, which is near abysmal) Arjun would very likely be going the physical rescue route, with the help of the police. That should at least provide some excitement, as it would bring Arjun and Vishnu face to face against each other.
Vishnu is in fine fettle, alternately chaffing Manav, and snarling at him in a Bihari accent so thick it could be cut with a knife. He is clearly a man with the habit of command, if anything over-confident of his ability to handle everything without any slip ups. His cold, hard-eyed disregard for anything but what he wants, and his desperate need to please his baba (who clearly cares a lot for him and worries about him) are both constantly in evidence. This is no novice in the kidnapping industry. Vishnu is played with panache and conviction by Ankit, and the brutality and the ruthlessness of his family dhanda are also depicted with no airbrushing.
I will not touch on Savita's old world insistence that Manav must do what he can to save a respectable young girl in such dire straits, or Teju's display of sympathy towards Sulochana and Archana. These might well be fleeting responses to the crisis, driven by Manav's oft reiterated view that Purvi's being kidnapped is indirectly his fault, as he was the original target, and so it is for him to rescue her..
PR II is evidently gathering momentum, but I really cannot see where the story is going – with Manav brought out front and centre, it is almost as if we were back in PR I. Only one thing is evident: the silver lining for Arjun-Purvi seems, as of now, to be conspicuous by its absence.
I am averse to clichs, so I shall refrain from stating that it is darkest just before the dawn. I shall simply wish you all (relatively) happy viewing for the next 3 weeks, while I take a much needed break from PR, and you long-suffering folks from me!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
** NB: Perhaps the clearly different colours of the two brief cases will have some significance as the tale unfolds. For now, as 3 crores is 300 lakhs, i.e 300 bundles of a hundred Rs.1000/- notes each, the puzzle is how they fit into these briefcases, both of which look too small for 300 such bundles. Not that anyone is going to bother about this kind of detail!
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
