Of Changing Tides and Challenging Times (a Sadda Haq analysis)

I have been thinking about making a post on Sadda Haq for a while now and finally did.

What a rollercoaster week, this one has been. Right from 2^nd to the 6^th June, five of the key characters turned into emotional wrecks, striped of their layers and left a shriveling naked mess of insecurities.

Some of them are going through some very visible, very tangible difficult times while others are going through some massive internal fights. While the men on the show, namely Randhir, Parth and Vardhan have come undone owing to their families and familiar bonds, the girls need to confront their own inherent natures and see if they will and could afford to continue running away from how they really are.

Next week is going to be the turning point for the girls but more on them later.

Since this post was becoming way too long, I have divided it by characters.

It's extremely long and I apologise for it in advance. This is everything I have been thinking about. Please share your thoughts and takes too. Would love to hear what you have to say!

Let's start with the simpler one of the three - Vardhan. The always-in-control man is finally losing his cool. His weakness, his father and a burning desire for revenge, has finally come to the fore. And his explosive, impulsive nature now pushed to the corner is bursting at the seams. When he erupts and he is close to doing so, it will be a sight to reckon and the dream team and FITE will never be the same in it's wake. If that little instance of physical assault that Parth was subjected to is anything to go by.

Which leads us to Parth, the betrayed and broken millionaire on a downward spiral. I, for one, am not at all surprised by this side of the boy. It was just a matter of time. One cannot have that positive, upbeat outlook on life given the kind of past he has. It was just a carefully practiced exercise in control, a conscious and continuous effort that took more from him than he ever let on. Now that majority of the past he had taken so much pain to hide and tried so hard to run from is finally catching up on him, his inherent nature is showing through. He is human after all and finally he can show it too. Yes he is a lean mean raging machine at the moment but it's because like Vardhan, he has finally burst. This is why they connect more so than anyone else. Because they have similar natures, uncannily alike.

And this is his cleansing. He is finally letting out all the darkness and venom he holds inside. He was always this broken, always on edge and now he's been pushed too far. Parth is the most human he has ever been. And while that shocks all those around him who have always seen him a sage, he, to, me appears to be the most honest he has ever been. I'm loving this Parth. He is finally on his way to healing. Because he is finally beginning to lose the mask. He isn't an animal or evil. He is wounded and bleeding and going back to behaving the only way he knows how. The only way that helped him become the man he is today. Through a single-minded determination and fueled by his ambition then to be a better man and fueled by his love today to survive. This one will be one character to watch. From one absolute to another, Parth has so much more to him and all of it looks delicious in light of the recent development.

And then Randhir. Now, say what all you might, he shouldn't have said that to Parth. You just don't say things like that. And he knows this - which is why he stops the dean and then covers it up in his typical Randhir style. The man has always had his principles right, even if his ways haven't always been honourable. Another instance that stood out for me this week was the way he lunged at Parth when he pushed Sanyukta to the ground. An instant reaction, he probably would have for any other girl too. I loved this moment because it made Sanyu question everything she thought she knew about the two boys. A very rude awakening from the comfortable stereotypes she made out of both of them.

His anger on behalf of Arpita, as misplaced as it was, seemed genuine too. It was the perfect excuse to finally physically let out all the anger, confusion and anxiety he had been feeling towards Parth and the same goes for the latter too, and Arpita was the perfect catalyst. But somehow somewhere it was almost as if he wanted Parth to deny it. To not be that low of a man as that because he had considered him a friend once, because Sanyu trusted him. Randhir has come to use all the negative feelings people have for him to help push things forward. He almost takes joy in using the misplaced image people have of him to do what he feels is right. In a very cloaked, hidden manner. He is a good guy but he would never let that on. Robin Hood like in his nature. He isn't a superhero by a far shot and would mock anyone who calls him that. But this week revealed that side of his, to the audience once again and to Sanyukta for the first time.

It was also for the first time that he voices out loud all his emotions as twisted, confusing and bewildering as they are. He's done trying to figure them out. And he's tired of them eating him up inside. The Parth episode served as the final push and then it was all out in the open. His parent's divorce served as the second and final blow. This damaged, raging and defensive man with drooped shoulders and broken voice holding himself up with the help of a support is Randhir Singh Shekhawat in the truest sense. And he is a force to reckon with a pull so strong, it is for the first time that Sanyu finds herself drawn to him. Again and again even as he pushes her away. He too is the most human he has ever been. And Sanyukta is the only one allowed to see that side. The only one who can mend him, if she desires. The one he is comfortable enough to show that side to without the fear of being ridiculed and pitied. Somewhere in his breakdown, Randhir has inherently acknowledged that Sanyukta is the only one he can reveal his true self to without being shunned.

Which brings me to the girls.

Sanyukta for all her harebrained schemes and misplaced overbearing concern has finally had to face some serious hard truths. That not everything is fixable on demand and not everyone is as they appear. Another thing that's taken her by surprise is her inherent mother hen nature. Something she doesn't consciously acknowledge as being a part of her nature but which she can't run from. For the first time this week, she is confronted with an undefeatable, unbreakable, Rank No. 1 Randhir falling to pieces in front of her and naturally, instinctively and instantly she is reaching out of him. All their shared history forgotten in the face of his despair. It is Randhir going through a breakdown but it is Sanyukta's carefully constructed reality that is falling apart.

Add to this, her isolation from regular support system Parth and the storm of changes and personal challenges he is going through himself that he wants her to play no part in, the added burden of a misunderstanding and her suffocating need to do something, anything right. And it almost seems the most natural thing in the world for her to reach out of Randhir and fix him. Because he isn't all that he appears to be, because he needs fixing and only she can fix him. Whether he lets her or not doesn't even cross her mind. Because unlike Parth, she has never sought permissions where he is concerned nor has she ever given him the privilege of space. Hell she has fought with him over the same time and again and if it means fighting over getting access to space to do something right for a change, she'll do it too.

But the repercussions of her behavior over the next few weeks will change the course of her life. Because he has very clearly told her already, don't reach out if you won't stay and if she still reaches out, Randhir is going to take that as her consent and come tomorrow, when he is healed and new, come hail or storm, he is not going to let her go. Whether she likes it or not. You don't just help a man like Randhir and walk away from it unchanged and unbound.

And while all these characters in their complexities are going to be a treat to watch, the best surprise, the most interesting character of the upcoming weeks is going to the one everyone expects the least from.

There are only a few instances in one's lives that give us a chance to shine. To become more than what we ever thought we could be. Where we leave behind all that we thought we were to become all that we could be. These moments are very few and far between and when they come, they often do so in the least expected manner. And that moment has come for Vidhushi. And how she chooses to take that chance, go for the plunge will change the entire course of her being.

I have always believed in VidArth. And I have always believed in Vidhushi. She has never been the conventional negative character. She has a reason to be the way she was. And I have always believed that given their similar pasts and perhaps similar struggles, Parth and Vidhushi had more in common, more to teach other and more to share than anyone else ever did. Which is why I absolutely loved loved LOVED that it was Parth who finally called her out on her shit. There couldn't possibly have been anyone better to hold up a mirror to her. No one has ever looked at the whys and hows behind Vidhushi's behaviour. And more often than not, everyone just likes to ignore her or treat her with disdain. And she returns the favour. The fact that she is actively reaching out to Parth, the one person who most likely understands her, and now given everything she can finally connect with him. That's something. A start. Now of course, it will be interesting to see how someone who has always comes across as selfish and self-centered goes out of her way to understand, comfort and heal a man so broken, he's burning down all his bridges and reaching a level of being past redemption.

In helping Parth and giving him a greater reason to go on and hang out, she is looking to find her own salvation. The question however remains - how will she do it? How will the one girl who everyone has always seen as being only interested in herself save the boy who isn't interested in anything anymore?

The next weeks are going to be the most interesting to watch for Vidhushi alone. Her chance has come. It just stands to be seen how she acts now that it is upon her. This is her moment to shine or blaze out into oblivion. Let's see what she picks and why.

I have a feeling her character is truly going to come to fore now, finally. It's been a long time coming.

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Wow. This was long. Thank you reading if you're still here. Do drop me a line and share what you think.