Originally posted by: BeyondHorizon
I guess I will quit watching the show altogether in sometime. Bajirao will probably consummate his marriage when he is not in his senses and that is how Nana Saheb will be born and the next time probably out of guilt for cheating on Kashi with Mastani and thats how Ragoba will be born 🤢 Kashi is a ghost for Baji and he doesn't care or feel anything for her. I don't think the makers will even mention about those children of theirs who died in infancy. Even in movie they had skipped that.
Only the third son died in infancy. Second son Ramchandra died at age 10. Fifth son Janardan was born a year after Raghoba and Shamsher's birth. Both Raghoba and Janardan were with Bajirao in Malwa just before the Peshwa's death, a letter written by him to his family mentions them.
The five year old Janardan performed obsequies at his father's funeral while his mother Kashi stood by the side. Surely Rau was not as emotionally anesthetized toward his six offspring as much as movie and serial makers are toward them!
But I get your point, Bhansali's script totally ignored the birth of three of Kashi's sons. Not to mention that it ignored Shamsher Bahadur too during the finale- as if no one cared what happened to him after his parents synchronized their deaths so dramatically. I suppose it kills the flavor if you show a father of six sons romancing his charming muse who was half his age when he first met her! Culling the progeny to half the actual number makes the romance seem more plausible.
And in the same spirit one can happily endorse the following, all thanks to SLB and PB makers:-
1. It is totally ok to ignore your "arranged marriage" spouse of two decades and compel her to accept bigamy. However she does not get the same option, that right remains exclusively yours as a man and as a Peshwa at that. And centuries after that media shall regale in the choice you made consciously to hurt your guileless wife. The media's focus shall remain on ishq-not aiyyashi- of the forbidden kind. Poora paisa vasool at the box office. Fidelity in a spousal relationship is so boring!!
2. If Radhabai becomes cold and detached as she struggles to deal with her husband's infidelity viewers start gunning for the member of the cast playing the character. Did they expect the woman to imitate her husband and take a lover instead? Or would it have made them happier to watch a sobbing Radhabai wallowing in self pity like they are currently showing Kashi craving her disinterested husband's attention? We have yet to figure out a foolproof way of coping with an unfaithful spouse when divorce is not an option.
3. According to the PB scriptwriters it is fine for Bajirao to take loans from Kashi's father for battle campaigns and then be as frigid as Jack Frost toward her while daydreaming of Mastani who is yet to show up.
4. Your first born son Nana is a mere fallout of your emotionally dead marriage. Keep him close to your boss Shahu in Satara until he is old enough to interfere in your dalliance with your paramour. Then brand him a villain if he objects to you devaluing his mother. Agar Bajirao ka khoon garam tha to Nana ka khoon thanda kaise ho sakta hai? Like father like son!
5. No matter how much success history attributes to Radhabai or Chimaji media shall only showcase them as pyaar ke dushman. Who cares about the sociopolitical circumstances that surrounded the family between 1720-1740?
