I am sorry to be rather late with this one, but I am having to ration my typing, as you know. My dear, thank you for being so concerned, but there is no improvement to be expected till after the total knee replacement scheduled for end May, and perhaps 2-3 months of solid physiotherapy afterwards. Till then, I shall cope as best I can.
I am very pleased that you liked this post so much.
Now for Rudra of late, my take on his expressions is somewhat different from that of those who complain that he looked blank. As I have noted earlier on this thread, while the DM is uni-expression and Charles looks mostly befuddled, Rudra has a Zen look that fascinates me with its serene sense of control, over himself and over the course of things.
He is still, with the kind of stillness that exists at the centre of a spinning top. Or as they say, he moves, but nothing moves inside him. There is an eerie calm to him, a sense of coiled strength that can be whipped out whenever necessary. A lucid kind of detachment too, the ability to regard any situation dispassionately, and not be swept away by wishful thinking. Thus, when the others rejoice that the faux Dansh is no more, Rudra knows that this was too easy and cannot be true, and of course it is not.
The calm and the detachment falter, naturally, when he sees Shivanand's pseudo head inside that box, but then he has MB to seize him by the collar, so to speak, and pull him erect inside and out. They are a remarkable guru-shishya combo, and the contrast with Drish & Dansh is drastic.
As for the fair face instead of the tan, another point of contention, I suppose an internal transformation has to be accompanied by an external one as well! I look mostly at Rudra's eyes, like Arjuna and the bird, and the rest of his face matters much less to me, fair or tanned!😉 Or the sleeveless jerkin (it was not a shirt) either, and in any case, Tiwari is still not only suited and booted and complete with a necktie, but he even wears a sweater!😉
Rahil, my dear, could do much, much better. I too think it is the director's fault for visualising Dansh like this, when it is already not well enough written as a character. In any case, it was a relief that it was not Dansh after all who was bested by Rudra, the chocolate dispenser. That would have been turning a super-villain into a character from a farce. 😲
Last night, for the first time, I saw Dansh betray some emotion. There was a kind of hesitant anticipation in his eyes, anticipation and a dawning joy. That was when Leela announced that she would never tolerate injustice and so main naagon ke saath hoon. He looked, for that instant, vulnerable, and hopeful that she was coming around as far as he personally was concerned.
Whence the unexpectedly gentle touch to her face and the tentative question: Yaani tum mere saath ho? In that one instant, Dansh betrayed his innermost desire, the desire for Leela to care for him and support him. A desire that he has rigidly suppressed thus far, fearing that it would be seen as a sign of weakness, and that he cannot permit.
When she turns him down, and as he looks at her retreating form, Dansh's face darkens, but the earlier moment cannot be wished away. For all his alpha male arrogance and his obsession with dominating all around him, Naag Pramukh Dansh has an Achilles heel, and its name is Leela.
This will surely have major relevance somewhere down the line.
As for his doctored version of the naga-garuda relations, that is only to be expected. I was a diplomat all my working life, and whenever I had to make a pitch for someone's support, I told him/her the truth, but only as much as was needed and appropriate for the immediate purpose. That is the suppressio veri, not the suggestio falsi, and I would not blame him for that. Why would a naga make the case for the garudas?
Plus, even the good asuras like King Mahabali had a long list of often justified grievances against the devas, who, except for the Tridev, were no paragons of morality and probity themselves. Though the examples Dansh cites are incomplete and thus misleading - they have very likely been chosen so that Rudra can rebut them with ease later!😉- there must be many more where the garudas were on weak ground and the nagas had been deliberately cheated and humiliated. In fact, it sounds like a classic colonial situation!
My question is this. Leela is a naagkanya, and the daughter of the Nag guru. How come she has not been told all these tales of garuda deviousness from her childhood? In fact they would have dinned into her head from the day she was old enough to understand them. But here she behaves as if it is all totally new to her.
It is very odd, and a distinct plot hole. Shruthi thinks that it was a deliberate omission on the part of her father, the naga guru, since he feared that if she knew the truth about these cases, she might jump ship and go over to the garudas. That might well be true, but then there has to be a clear explanation to that effect some time soon. If not, my objection stands.
Well, Shreya, one cannot object to its being almost exclusively a Dansh vs Rudra struggle, for that is the way it always is in any tale of fantasy. The point is that for the garudas, who are all distinctly individualistic, their individual powers have not yet been demonstrated, bar the Rithambara pragnya for Thappadiya Mai. These will be made clear very soon, and then you will see that each of the garuds will make a contribution, big or small, to the cause of safeguarding the amrit kalash.
As for Thappadiya Mai, she will come into her own only at the very last, when her Rithambara pragnya will be used to locate the amrit at the earliest possible.
But bar Mr.Blue Eyes, who poisoned Maya, the nagas are an amorphous mass, with none of them being in any way distinguishable from the others. I suppose it will be the same as their special powers, of which, bar the ability to move phenomenally fast, one knows nothing as yet. I doubt if there will be different powers for the individual nagas. It will all be a Dansh solo show.
Shyamala Aunty
Hello Aunty,
Lovely take on the week. And beautiful description of the qualities that the Garud Pramukh now displays. Very comprehensive. I loved it more than the actual episodes 😉
Aunty, I mostly agree with you. I like this avatar of Rudra better than his previous one. And I am not liking Dhansh at all. But I think Gautam was more nuanced pre-metamorphosis. Somehow, this Rudra looks less nuanced to me. And Seemaji steals every scene in which she is in the frame.
What seems to bother me most is the fact that the tale is now about Rudra vs. Dhansh. It is no longer about Garuds vs Naags/evil forces who want the Amrit. The highlight of MK initially for me was the ensemble cast, with each member having a very well scripted role. Just like Rudra-Maya love story looked forced, for me this Rudra vs Dhansh rivalry also looks forced. It is more than obvious that an overconfident fool like Dhansh can't win over destiny's child Rudra. So the rivals are hardly evenly matched. And that makes it boring and predictable.
And to top it, the star cast - MB, Shivanand and TM are hardly given any screen space. With Seema, even if she has a total footage of 5 minutes for the week, those 5 minutes belong to her. She is exceptional. However, last week, she hardly had any screen space 😭
After showing that beautiful chart of how each Garud plays an important role, and each Garud is unique, this sudden focus on Rudra alone is boring to watch. I agree that he is Garud Pramukh, the bearer of the sceptre. But what about the other Garuds. And why reduce TM to a nurse? I am really missing Shivanand. He and MB sharing screen space would be a treat to watch, not only because I like the actors, but I like the two characters as well.
Katherine, MB and Leela are the only ones who are holding my interest for now. I hope we see more of the Garuds than just Rudra. Ironical, because I always wanted to see this transformed Rudra.
Hope your knee pain is better. Take care, Aunty.
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