Folks,
Actually, the plot is now galloping ahead in multiple directions, undoubtedly to the great relief of those who felt that with the almost exclusive focus on Rudra during the previous week, the narrative had been eclipsed by the character(s). Now, after this last week, such complaints have been effectively silenced, but to my considerable regret, for the character development has been correspondingly slowed down. It need not have been so, and with Udiya Baba already gone, the apparently impending demise of Maimuyi fills my soul with deep dismay. The difficulty I had with cobbling together a Take 5 is additional proof of this emotional slowdown.
But more of that later. For starters, let us dispose of whatever did happen on the character front!
There was hardly any forward movement concerning the behaviour and the emotional graph of the various dramatis personae. Bar, of course, that Rudra was, by episode 16, not glowering non stop at his bete noire, the persistent and insistent Maya, but was actually talking to her in a relatively normal (for him, that is!) fashion.
Rudra & Maya: Dismayingly retro: A huge chunk of these 4 episodes was devoted to the peregrinations of this Odd Couple all over Banaras: the girl determined to tame the untamable, and the boy angrily rejecting her every move. Watching all those scenes of Maya wooing Rudra- for there is no other word for it! -I was irresistibly reminded of the archetype of a 1960s Hindi film heroine pursuing and cajoling a rough and tough, unwilling "junglee", pestering him incessantly like a bumblebee, a la Saira Banu in her debut film of the same name (which, incidentally, I detested).
Her forcing him, thru Maimuyi, to accompany her on sundry standard issue excursions - on the river, to the mela and a ride on the giant wheel, seizing every opportunity to cling to him arm and/or cast soulful glances at him - was dismayingly familiar. On top of this, Maimuyi keeping a close watch on the proceedings, like an overgrown Cupid, with a clownish Punnu Tiwari in tow as a sort of Greek chorus (how I miss the kid version of Punnu!) was so predictable that I could not even bother to yawn, but sat thru those passages with weary patience. Surely they could have thought to something a tad more fresh and appealing ?
Yes, the excellently done scene where she gets the asthma attack was different. It was also clearly meant to be the turning point in their relationship, so it figures in my Take 5. But from there, the shift to their becoming "dost" was as sudden as it was lacking in credibility. The proceedings seemed forced and a tad unnatural, given the milieu and the circumstances.
Why, for example, does Rudra have to accompany Maya to her college at the Banaras Hindu University, squeezed next to her in a cycle rickshaw, and then escort her inside the campus? He is not related to her, nor is he her bodyguard, and in any case, bodyguards do not ride in rickshaws with girls whom they are protecting. Banaras is not Mumbai, and the whole thing looked odd and unconvincing.
The answer to that Why? is of course that it is to let him grab her hand to stop her from making a beeline for the lassi stall. And, most important, so that he can listen to the ugly catcalls directed at Maya, and then bash up over half a dozen young ruffians with satisfactory elan. I love this kind of dishum dishoom and instant retribution, so that snippet compensated me for all the retro stuff that had gone before. 😉
The best thing about it was that Rudra runs thru this demolition derby with absolutely no sign of glee or even satisfaction on his impassive face. It is as if he had completed a not too pleasant but commonplace chore, like putting out the garbage!😉
By the end of the last episode, the pace had been accelerated, and they seemed almost like boyfriend-girlfriend, with Rudra sulking at not having been invited to watch her basketball match. I suppose that he will come tearing in after the match is over, to rescue her from the sleazy intentions of the politico's thuggish son, and make kachumber of the young hoodlum. That is a treat I am looking forward to!
Maya: True blue heroine: I am going to carefully omit any take on Maya, except that if she is going to be slotted as the replacement for Maimuyi as Rudra's sheet anchor, that is simply not going to work.
The only part where I really liked her this week was in the asthma attack scene, where she did a near perfect job of simulating that kind of gasping for breath. It is not so much that the character is badly drawn, as that it fits into the standard pattern of the strong female persona as envisioned in our TV, with the retro film heroine's traits tacked on, and is thus both lacking in nuance and completely predictable. Especially when contrasted with the only other female character, Maimuyi, who brings so much to her feisty Chandrabhan ki aurat -cum-Yashoda Maiyya role that she makes one sit up and watch very carefully, so as not to miss a single nuance, a single flicker of expression on her worn, tired old face.
A femme fatale?: There was a fascinating speculation on my last thread, by young Maithreyee and Gargi, that Maya might really be one of the Polish lot, sent there to befriend and trap Rudra, and they had argued that this would explain her instant and full on support for a violent young man whom she does not know at all, a lagan that is unaffected even by his nearly strangling her in a fit of rage rooted in a misunderstanding.
Now Maya as a femme fatale out to help the buri shaktiyaan control Rudra is an enticing prospect, but don't get your hopes up, folks, for it is not going to happen. Maya is a 24 carat gold-plated heroine, with a very powerful mama in the background, as that thuggish young Yadav will soon find out.
Rudra: Fingers crossed!: As for Rudra, as I had noted earlier, the director's vision of the adult Rudra is as far removed as can be from Gautam's gentle, otherworldy and superbly done Saras in Saraswatichandra. That is ok, for any talented actor needs this kind of challenge.
My problem is that this vision of Rudra is relentlessly OTT and lacking in nuance. It straitjackets Gautam, who would naturally have to do what the director wants of him, into unrelieved anger and unalloyed surliness, interspersed with killer glares and flaring nostrils. After a while, this gets to be monotonous and tough to take, all the more because, firstly, one knows what the actor can do if he is given free rein, and secondly, one cannot forget the brooding, introverted and sensitive young Rudra, who tugged so effortlessly at one's heart strings with his silences as much as with his eloquent eyes .
Still, in three scenes - one when Rudra leaps up from under the blanket and hugs Maimuyi, in unreasoning fear after Maya has mentioned Allahabad and the Mahakumbh to him, and pours all his fears out into anguished words that tumble one over the other, the second when he looks back at the tragedies in his life with frozen, dry-eyed calm, his face deliberately drained of all expression, and finally when he is looking at his half of the $10 note that Charles had given him and his eyes cloud over in reminiscence and an infinitesimal smile twists his lips - Gautam manages to overcome the director's rigid format and shows us what he can do in the performance department.
Also, to my relief, by week end, his overt OTT raging had been toned down and he was allowed to simply look still and withdrawn, even in anger. But he can do much, much more, and hopefully he will be allowed to stretch his wings as the grown up Rudra. Fingers crossed, folks!
Maimuyi: Yashoda seeking a Radha: No words can suffice to adequately praise Seema Biswas' Maimuyi, wracked by nameless and, judging from the precap on Thursday night , justified fears as to Humka kuchch ho gaya to hamre bachuwa ka khyal kaun rakhega? The desperation in her face as she sees that Rudra is, emotionally, exactly where he was 24 years ago, as fragile, and as vulnerable - Humre mamta ka marham kam pad gaya uske ghaav par - makes one's heart turn over in empathy.
The way Seema uses her spectacles as an accessory in this scene, taking them off to wipe them while looking out at the world with unseeing, despairing eyes, and then putting them on again as a kind of shield against the world at large, is as subtle as it was effective.
At her wits' end. Maimuyi can think of no way in which she can protect Rudra for his whole life. So she pins all her hopes on Maya, seeing her as manna from Heaven, a readymade solution to this huge, nagging worry that is eating her heart out. If only Rudra would marry her, then Maimuyi could, as and when the bulawa came, depart from this world in peace, content that her child would be well cared for and protected by another capable and strong woman.
That dream shines forth brightly from her eyes as she watches Rudra and Maya leave for the mela, and it is there again when she tells Maya, who seeks her blessings for the basketball match, Tere man mein jo bhi ichcha hai na, wo sab poori hogi..
Maimuyi to go? :I simply cannot stand the very thought of Maimuyi being murdered by Swami Balivesh's goons. If she were to die, the whole emotional core, the keystone, of the tale would be knocked out.
Moreover, thinking only of the narrative, why would Balivesh need to get rid of her to capture Rudra? She would hardly be able to stop his goons. From the point of view of the script, maybe the idea behind having her eliminated is that if she were to be still around, the Rudra-Maya relationship would never reach its full potential, but that hardly makes any sense. In fact, but for her supportive and foxy presence, Rudra and Maya would long since have reached point non plus.
What is sure is that with Maimuyi gone, the emotional appeal of the show will be instantly and significantly diminished, and that would be both sad and unnecessary. Not to speak of wasting the talent of such a superb actress.
I thus still very much hope, perhaps against hope, that something happens to save Maimuyi at that critical juncture as the goosn bear down on her. The other grade 2 Rakshak, Charles, to the rescue, perhaps? Fingers crossed again!
Incidentally, that Maimuyi is chased and cornered by the fake sadhus in exactly the same manner as was shown in the teen Rudra's nightmare, was a sensitive touch, proof of the soul connect between her and Rudra that produces this kind of premonition.
Grown up versions a let down: The adult Charles is a serious disappointment, and his introductory Russian roulette scene would easily qualify for a Razzie award. He seems to totally lack the mischievous panache of the teenage Charles, his quaint philosophical outlook, and his unquenchable zest for life regardless of ups and downs. This one seems to do nothing but complain that he needs a kick out of life. I was strongly tempted to provide him a kick of a different kind! Maybe he will improve with time, but aasaar achche nazar nahin aate.
The same goes, even if to a lesser extent, for the adult Punnu Tiwari. The younger version had an innocent charm. This one seems to be patterned after the hero's sidekick from a 1960s film, right down to his loud shirts!
The narrative: Now for the accelerating action in the plot, which is now galloping along with gay abandon, and promises to be great fun in the weeks ahead.
The Cardinal & the Swami: The gentle thumping sound you might be hearing is me congratulating myself for having got one thing right: that Swami Balivesh is in cahoots with the Poland-based group that is after the amrit and is not simply a free lancer with the same objective. In fact, the way Grierson asks him Humne tumhein jo kaam diya tha, uska kya hua? , indicates a definite degree of dependence on and subordination of the Swami to the Cardinal and his right hand man. This impression is reinforced by the placatory tone of the Swami's explanation as to why he has not been able to make good as far as locating Rudra is concerned.
That he is cheating Grierson by hiding from him the fact that he has a clear idea of Rudra's present whereabouts is typical, for contrary to romantic notions in fiction, there is no honour among thieves. It was thus poetic justice that the very man whom Balivesh had apparently ground into the dust and deprived of one eye, khoye paaye Pandey, manages to take at least partial revenge on him by showing him up to Grierson and feathering his own nest very substantially into the bargain.
That whole sequence - of Pandey roping in a (surprisingly placid and unmoving) cow to record the Swami-Grierson conversation in Sanskrit, have it translated by the jyotishi, and then manage to swipe the Swami's phone long enough to get Grierson's phone number and contact him - was a bit incredible. As was the obviously staged (by Pandey) catcalling scene at the college, leading to a predictable no holds barred fight between Rudra and the young louts, with one of them slashing his arm so that Pandey can mop up the blood while cannoning accidentally' into Rudra.
But what the heck, there has to be some creative/ artistic licence after all! I only wondered about how a single smear of blood on a piece of cloth would suffice for DNA testing both in India and in Poland. And then the jazzy findings - of this DNA being far stronger than that of Shivanand (I never knew DNA could be calibrated for strength!) and in fact being the DNA of a superhuman being (does the Polish lab have benchmarks for superhuman DNA?) - calls for some suspension of disbelief . But then again, how can there be a mytho-historical thriller without a superhuman being at its core?
Anyhow, the Cardinal seems supremely content on receiving this information, no doubt confident of his ability to control even a superhuman being, and exploit his powers to further their secret society's nefarious ends. Strange but persistent delusions!
Shivanand: A clever double game: My dear Utkarsh, thanks a million for not inflicting any more torture scenes on us! I was ready to run away after the last savage beating he was subjected to. I was glad to see that he seems to have spent these last 12 years relatively peacefully in that kaalkotri, with his tresses and beard back to their earlier abundance.
I loved it that regardless of these soul-crushing sufferings, Shivanand's head is, to quote the poet, "bloody but unbowed". The attitude he displays when dismissing Grierson's statement, that Rudra was still alive, as something he always knew was superb in its searing contempt.
As for his finally promising that he would now give Grierson & Co. his saath, that is clearly a mendacious and very clever feint. Shivanand now needs to get to India for this special Mahakumbh, the one after 144 years, urgently, if only to protect the amrit, and of course to see his Rudra again. After his failed break out attempt 12 years ago, he has realized that there is no way he can get to India except courtesy Grierson.
So he is now prepared to sup with the Devil - Chalte hain India.. Chalte hain Mahakumbh mein - but we can rest assured that he will use a spoon with a long handle! And once he is in India, he will try to move on with his own agenda re: both Rudra and the amrit, with the advantage of being inside the enemy camp.
Dr. APG Rao: An enigma: At first sight, he seems to be on the side of the angels, in this case of the Rakshaks of the amrit. On the other hand, Grierson tells his female assistant that Dr. APG Rao is "one of us". Does he mean that he too is after the amrit, on his own, or that he is a collaborator of the Poland-based secret society? Only time will tell, but I hope he does not prove to be a dark force.
His face off with the irate Swami, who does not want to let him have Sector 53 of the ghats for his Project Ganga, was marked by aloof calm on his side and barely suppressed fury on the Swami's. What this is all about is another mystery for now.
Dr. Rao does not seem to have been able to locate any more Rakshaks other than Charles. Does he know anything about the other 6? About the noblest and most powerful of them all, Rudra? He does not seem to have sensed anything extraordinary when Rudra, looking for Maya, barges into the lecture hall, though the director obligingly provides Rudra with a blinding halo of light and appropriate sound effects for our benefit!
Now we have a Greek woman entering the narrative. As there is no indication that all the Rakshaks have to be Indian, maybe she is No. 3. Let us hope she looks like Diana or Pallas Athena!
My Take 5:
-The scene where Rudra, who has first buried himself under the blanket, as if to shut out the memories of the Mahakumbh at which he lost his Baba, suddenly surges forth and hugs his Maimuyi with frenzied force, his face buried in her shoulder and his eyes wet with tears of fear and desperation. He does not want to go to Allahabad, he does not want to go to the Mahakumbh, he will never leave her, he says over and over, the words tumbling over each other in his haste to get them out.
He clings to her not like a young man, but like a child who is afraid that he will be torn away from her and will lose the only support that he has left.
And she, who was already afraid before he began to talk, holds him close in wordless love, his fears beginning to infect her, making her as frightened and insecure as he is. For he is to her exactly the same as she is to him, and neither can contemplate life without the other.
-Maya's asthma attack scene. When she suddenly doubled over and started gasping for breath in mid-sentence, what had been a standard shouting match between them was instantly changed into a study in caring and protectiveness. Rudra, after one horrified look at her agony, rushes to get the inhaler for her and asks Tum theek ho? The first normal sentence he has spoken to her, this marks a turning point in their hitherto cat-and-dog relationship.
Payal did a superb job of bringing out Maya's physical agony - the tortured lungs gasping for air, the sweat on the forehead. whole body struggling to get the oxygen in - and the extent to which it temporarily crippled her. And Rudra's about turn was also entirely convincing in its sincerity.
-The one where Rudra's past life scrolls past in his mind's eye, the flashbacks triggered by Maya's mention of the Mahakumbh. His face is not twisted with anguish or anger. It is still, almost frozen, and his eyes are like dark, fathomless pools, empty of all feeling. That is what happens when the memories of loss and pain, of the zindagi bhar ke ghaav, cross the limits of human endurance.
-The scene after Maya complains to Maimuyi about Rudra having beaten up the college louts. Rudra is sitting at the river bank, his rigid back eloquent in protest. When Maya comes up to him, his question Humne tumhein dost maan liya.. yeh hamare beech ki baat thi, to Maimuyi ko kyon bataya? , sums up the changed relationship between them as nothing else could. She is no longer a tiresome intruder into his life, she has become a friend, a confidante, of whom he expects that she will take his side and stand by him, to the extent of helping him hide things even from his Maimuyi.
- A tiny snippet, but extremely well done. This is when Rudra is looking at his half of the $10 note that Charles had given him. His eyes cloud over in reminiscence, and an infinitesimal smile twists his lips.
Ok, folks, I will not test your patience any further😉, and so this is bye till next week! Take care.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
Ufff Yeh Love Hai Mushkil
Jhanak
Bigg Boss 19
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
