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I admit, have watched hindi soaps for a long time and i shouldn't be shocked. But the india around me has done a 180 since i first started watching serials and yet the content of hindi serials have not changed one bit. they're all new and yet taste the exact same. ott acting, ott drama, stories that constantly lose sight of its vision and mission in order to stretch its timeline and gather them mythic trps. all these coming from people who are creatively educated intellectuals in the field. I wonder what would happen if all these intellectuals decided enough! they were ALL going to maintain their intellectual integrity and show what they wanted to show- a good story instead of compromise their capabilities and writing integrity for the sake of TRPs? would the TRP audience who lust after mindless crap stop watching tv or will they be forced to adjust their tastes? tv actors rarely succeed in films, why? cos films give no coping time, films don't grow on you- its a hit or miss, films (unless your from a khandaan) run on stories that need to be good or entertaining- it can't be bad AND take itself seriously, films don't have the luxury to slack off and forget its roots. TV actors are ill-equipped to deal with films, it doesn't work for them and they don't work for it. this show when it started was genuine and so far had remained so, i found the characters simple, sophisticated, subtle and believable- whether it was the brash brat amaya mathur or the softened by situation amaya mathur; responsible and determined in her goals yet flexible and molding herself into whatever her family needed. I believed sneha's struggle for her husband's integrity, her stern love and guidance for her children. i believed in Uma and Mantu's friendship and filial love if not romantic love, a bond that took them through thick and thin, no matter what she'd never hurt mantu just as mantu can't even think of hurting her. where have all these characters gone?
lets start with this current sneha, i don't even recognize her. she was the smart sophisticated philosopher of a successful man like rishi mathur, where has that woman gone? she raised three wonderful children and they were her confidence, she is the one who instilled their value system, it wasn't only rishi...then where is her faith in her values gone? gone is the sneha who taught her children to face their situation, fight and win. replaced by this weakling who can't even face upto her own truth, whose seeking a man's (her father) shelter so desperately that she's willing to compromise with her own principles and understanding of the world, a world she's seen much more of than her father, outside his circle of comfort and power, she's seen struggle- bohrivali to bandra to malabar hills can't have been an easy journey with a child in tow. she didn't raise her children to be religious but she did raise them to be compassionate, she didn't raise her children to be blindly obedient but to question when their principals are being attacked, she didn't raise children to wear salwar suit she raised them to wear their form of self-expression- she gave them values that matter, values that make them degrade themselves to prevent their grandfather's self-respect being harmed. now that mother has become so desperate in her need to hide her torrid past that she's making her children question every value they've been raised with? she says she needs to prevent rishi's family from breaking apart, by doing what? boxing away the value system rishi passed onto his children and replacing it with this new value system of GC that she herself ran away from? rishi lives on in his children, may be not in all of their blood but in their values, in their fierce determination and independent thinking, in their struggle and victories, in their care and confidence and indeed even in their petulant stubbornness and questioning the norms around them. what would be the point of all this struggle if rishi doesn't exist in his children anymore, if his values are replaced with GC's, even in practice if not at heart?
Coming to amaya, whats happened to amu? what happened to superman's supergirl? i thought amaya mathur jo ek baar thaan leti hain woh karke dikhati hain? i didnt know that leaving immaturity behind meant becoming a cry baby playing silly games in the name of love and destiny. i didn't know mellowing down meant forgetting how to stand up for ones love. i didn't know becoming grounded meant you had to become superstitious and silly. has she really matured or exchanged one type of immaturity for another? is love a joke on tv? something that is immature and can never work? who is she trying to test here? destiny, her faith in mahadev or mantu? does life, destiny, mahadev owe her anything? no. they don't. they were there before her and will go on LONG after her. they can aid, there are 7 billion other people to aid as well, they can't hand you your share of happiness. your the only one that can step forward and extend your hand towards happiness, not only for yourself but for the person who loves you. or is this a test for her love or mantu's love? isn't trust and keeping faith in your own and the other person's feelings the first step of love, especially now that she knows mantu loves her? she's not only playing with her own life and feelings and happiness but his as well! and to prove what to whom? uma? who is she to provide explanations to? for what? some thrill? love makes us go to extents we can't even imagine FOR our loved ones happiness! not to ruin their happiness! when your in love, you unconsciously start making the smallest and the biggest of sacrifices without even blinking or noticing just to make your loved one happy. you knowingly do things that compromise you for the other person's happiness. its not about being mahan and sacrificing, when your in love, it doesn't even feel like an insane sacrifice, it seems like the most natural reaction in the world. then how can destiny, some promise to an insignificant third person, some test and game be more important than mantu's happiness to amu? i understand that this is to create titilating romance and fake unrealistic passion onscreen, but is it really that important to create artificial romance through ridiculous situations that demean the very meaning of love? this amaya i don't even know! and why has her wardrobe undergone such a huge change? in order to be the 'good' lead of a serial you need to be the salwar suit type?!? she was my fave tv heroine, genuinely, i felt amaya- i was amu. we changed for different reasons but i could feel her but now...i just can relate to her! and that 3 year contract...what nonsense?
Finally Uma. she was vapid, she was possessive, she was arrogant and wrong. but i admired her fighting spirit. if mantu and chiklu made it against all odds, then she played a huge role in it. i trusted that no matter what, her friendship would win over all. that her love, respect and friendship for mantu was as unconditional as his was for her. that she loved chiklu like a mother, unconditionally and without expectation. she doesn't love chiklu like a mother or a sister, she loves herself more than she loves mantu as a lover or as a friend. i didn't mind her fighting for mantu's affection but now that she knows mantu's life lies with amu's affections, how can she play with his feelings? i was wrong, as i knew i would be, but still it disappoints me more than even amu, why? because uma has been the witness to mantu's life struggle, she's seen him lose everything and live only for his brother and for her as well, without a moment spared for his own happiness. for the first time he's asked for happiness for himself, she can give him that, she can give him amaya, and still that didn't effect her in the slightest? people get attached to happiness and sadness of their dogs and uma couldn't attach herself to mantu's happiness? wouldnt it be the biggest victory of her love if she would be the one to give mantu the one happiness he's prayed for, for himself? I'm coming at this from an emotional angle, lets take a rational approach- for every love story that happens, for every two people who fall in love, theres atleast one person whose love remains unrequited, if they all went crazy and tried to 'get' their love at any cost, people would start fearing being loved! i think more than anything I'm disappointed with the cvs. they managed to sustain a great show with wonderful characters only to turn to TRP tricks after a 100+ episodes. like every other show, i guess its now TSM's turn to lose sight of its vision and mission at the altar of TRPs. Sad, it was so genuinely brilliant.
PS: Bring RamTu and RaRa back please. This story needs some relief, otherwise its a dragging ott drama without a break.
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