CVs, you've shaken our belief in love today - the eternal, mystical and passionate kind. Oh, all of us women secretly believe such love exists and silently yearn for it. Educated or illiterate, married or unmarried, all of us do. And we are crazy about romantic fiction - be it novels, cinema or TV - because it reinforces our faith in such love. Simple!
Rudra and Paro stormed into our lives some 9 months ago and promised us yet another glimpse of that elusive romantic happily-ever-after love story. A raunchy roll in the desert sand followed by a tearful union on either side of a glass barrier, and that's all it took! We fell for their tale hook, line and sinker.
I am going to let out another secret now. When we women watch/read romance, we don't watch as a third person, as audience. We put ourselves in the position of the female character. And since Paro is such a profound and lovely character, we began identifying ourselves with Paro, in no time. When she weeps, we feel pathetic; when she fears, we tremble and when she looks straight into Rudra's eyes, we also look for answers in his gaze.
Now to answer another question - why does the female audience love a male lead with so many character flaws. At the risk of betraying the sisterhood, I have to admit, it gives us women a massive ego boost seeing the man reform due to the woman's influence! Let's leave aside the drool worthy aspects of Rudra for a minute. For all practical purposes, he was a rude, brooding loner obsessed about his job and with a full time mistress! I can think of another brooding, arrogant business tycoon two-timing the female lead with a live-in girlfriend! But no, whether its Paro or Khushi, they take it up upon themselves to reform the hero into perfect husband material. Yes, it gives us the kicks!
But whatever flaws he may possess, there is one thing we cannot compromise on - the unwavering and intense love he feels for the girl (He also has to look drop dead gorgeous but we will not admit that looks matter, of course!). Paro ignored the Laila misadventure because Rudra never loved Laila. When he said Paro nahin to Rudra nahin', we were on cloud nine! His eyes burnt with desire seeing her walking down the stairs in Jaipur. He shielded her like a tiger from Tejawat's men. He cared for her like a mother when she was injured, scared or pregnant. But the best part of all this was Rudra's care and love was meant for Paro alone. That exclusivity of his emotions for Paro is what makes the audience love Rudra. But alas!
By killing off Paro, the creatives have given us the audience a body blow. We feel our identity has been trivialised. Whom do we identity with now! Certainly not Maira, she is a nice girl, but she is still not Paro! And then Rudra shouts out his undying love and desire to live in Paro's memories for the rest of his life. Even at this stage, we the audience were holding on, and we rather admired Rudra for saying this. But he conveniently shifts to making a statement like "Main jaanta hoon ke tum Paro nahi ho, tum Maira ho. Aur main Maira say pyar karta hoon."
This is not romantic fiction, this is cruelty towards the female audience who bought into your story and believed in it. Rudra was supposed to be a dream man for female fans, but now he is just an ordinary 37 year old hormonal widower eyeing another man's fiance! There is no dearth of normal men around in real life, I don't want one more on my screen! Oh, what heart break!
May be with more time, we might have accepted a gradual shift in Rudra's feelings for Maira. But as it stands now, even Rohit appears more suitable than Rudra. Kya haal kar diya hai hamare hero ka. Kitna khaas tha hamara Rudra Pratap Ranawat, usko bhi aam aadmi bana diya in logon ne. Sigh 🤢
After silently watching my favourite show getting butchered, I just couldn't hold on to my rant. Rudra's desperate moves and words for Maira yesterday was the last straw. I am sorry for sounding really grouchy. This is not my normal self. To prove it to you, I shall put out one aakhri post tomorrow - that's gonna be an out and out Rudra treat, titled "Rudra - The chick magnet!". Until then ...
Anupamaa
