Blast from the Past Thread #30 **The Finale... Arnav Khushi Hamesha** - Page 18

iss pyaar ko has explored some beautiful and different loves. the most central ones: love between a man and a woman and love between a brother and a sister. yesterday focused on the latter; while the other love got included in, as that most interesting process of becoming family got going. and it was executed with heart and knowledge and ken, by all involved. without too much of fanfare and big words, ipk has shown us again and again what being family means. what relationships are really all about.

siblings really are part of who we are, and they keep in a way our identities, even as the world around us changes and at times becomes unrecognisable. i grew up with two brothers, the irritated elder sister, wishing they'd leave me alone. yet, along the way grew a love and a possessiveness that i sometimes can't explain to myself. i noticed this is reciprocated by the siblings.

honey priya of crooner made an interesting connection between the five lakhs on the cheque anjali gives shyam and five senses. anjali is actually very perceptive with a sharp sixth sense when it comes to her brother. the only time i recall this not being evident was when he was kidnapped, and we all kept remarking on it. wonder why that sense has not been functioning when it comes to shyam? is it because she doesn't really feel him with her heart but with her need? and that interferes with intuitive thought?

when i think of last evening, what leaps out is the inspired acting by an actor who was here by chance. over the past week we have seen him prepare for no less than war. he knows this war is not going to be easy for anybody, least of all for the person whose security and happiness this is being fought for. so, straight after bringing his wife home post a long drawn out battle with his deepest nemesis, he readies himself again. true to character, arnav singh raizada thinks of those he loves before he thinks of himself. in fact, in these months we've known him, only once has he asked for something, for someone, for himself. his khushi, tumhare bina jee nahin paaoonga.

last evening, he set aside his troubles and worries to make his wife, one of the two most important people in his life, feel comfortable. and that was beautiful, in a light all its own, set aside like a jewel in the episode.

this morning, it is time to reassure the other most important person, his di. the younger brother who from the age of 14 has been his elder sister's rakshak - because, meine himmat dikhai - knows what devastation is about to visit his sister. he is feeling terrible for her. and for himself. that he should have to bring this about. that he would be the destroyer of her dream world. he knows there is no other way, he takes full responsibility. his wife has helped him focus on this truth every time the emotions have got the better of him. she is right, so is he. if only being right were a little more easy.

he had come to tell her he would always be there for her, no matter what. and also take her blessings for the fight most vile about to unfold. looked to me like an arjun had come to a gandhari for her to empower him with her love. whether it was or not, the power of mythology was in every second of that scene. the brother choking on his words, tender and caring of his oblivious childlike sister, holding his box full of strings that promised unending love and raksha. the more he felt all the hurt and horror, the less she understood. believe me, i will always protect you, it is my duty to take care of you, but if i should ever hurt you...

you'd never hurt me. you'd never hurt me. she refused to hear anything as was her wont. he held out his arm and said, though this is not the right time, please tie that rakhi for me today. what a neat little idea, a simple thread, organic, perishable, yet for centuries signifying a brother's undying commitment to his sister, to protect her honour and happiness, to love her.

today he needed to feel that thread around his wrist, both for her and for him. i could see him getting lost in that pain. the very thought of hurting his sister with the truth about her murdering, philandering husband was swamping him. he struggled to overcome it. yet she didn't feel his unspoken words. how strange, she felt nothing. and every time she missed the cue, his fear grew, his pain increased.

i was pulled right into the scene way before that. somewhere around the time he walked up to her with that characteristic measured, slightly swaying walk and held her hand to lead her to the chairs by the poolside. a difficult scene, to convey real emotion without becoming maudlin, without losing the character of the cool clipped arnav singh raizada, without letting anyone feel it was only glycerine. barun sobti has said he finds it difficult to cry. watching him yesterday, it was difficult for me not to howl, especially when the tears almost spilled out and he swallowed hard, and then when he couldn't just stop saying things.

it has become hard to connect to anjali. thanks, of course, to that introduction of a selfish, underhand streak in the character during the return of shyam phase. personally, i have no problem accepting complexity. i can even live with arnav loving her no matter what her flaws. that's how family is usually loved, especially siblings. i thought, initially, that when he finds out about her sneaky meetings with shyam or of her unnecessary coldness toward khushi, he might be upset. i was wrong, this man will forgive his sister these things, his love is big enough to overlook all that. he will know, she has her not so nice sides but will not respect or nurture or need her any less. he knows how blind her love is, but he has never judged her. what he said in that mandir is true: you are my world, di; for the rest of the world i'm khadoos, but you mean everything to me.

to connect back to anjali, i personally will need the creatives to lead her back through the right gates and path. doesn't mean she has to become all sweetness and light, but does need her to look at all she has done and how she has viewed things and then come to a better place. this character has many possibilities, but a quick fix won't work. her smiling words at the wedding: these people's love is way above all that, left me utterly cold. and i do have a problem with someone recovering from a miscarriage quite so quickly and without a single trace of sadness anywhere. there are many inconsistencies in the narrative, especially about her shards of glass torn feet, the electric shock, her reaction to garimaji, etc., i'm sure they can be resolved if the way back to a more sympathetic anjali is wise.

the rest of the episode didn't make much of a mark, so i won't go there. just that, the writing for shyam and the direction/acting is feeling a bit loud and filmi and not too clever. i understand the connection between khushi and asr is being further established, a sort of equal status being given to both the characters in terms of their strength, purity, purpose, etc. sometimes i feel the handling is too obvious, but that's ok, as long as i get a few minutes to get lost in, not complaining at all.

"the gods do make playthings of us ... but it is we mortals who provide them with the tools." melina marchetta

at last, justice did come and strode in determined to have its day. a highly dramatic denouement unfolds. shyam, who is anything but nand kissore, is about to be vanquished and anjali, gandhari in so many ways, must lose her blindfold. how assiduously she has defended him, putting all at stake, even her own morals; but alas for nought, an evaporating feeling in her eyes seem to say. not april, with apologies to t.s e., october is the "cruelest month." alas, poor anjali. we enter the days of check mate, the last few moves, the drum beats call out.

i am happy to see the obnoxious and obscene miscarriage maker in the centre of the stage, snarling, spitting venom, writhing and lurching, only one knowledge in his eyes: it is over. yes, this is the end, my fiend.

as the drama began, and nothing seemed to touch me though the content was exciting, i wondered. and then i saw him. the man who'd said, "main laaoonga."

he sat by his sister, watching her every move silently. she laughed, she smiled, the little princess of her castle, she who'd never been asked to grow up, get real. he watched her without word, his eyes worried: what will happen to you, my dearest one, when your fantasy disintegrates as it will any second now?

as the emotions moved across his face, i knew it'd be he, who will check. and mate. check aur mate hui gawa, trilled the shatranj khiladi mami of yesterday.

every frame of this man was moving, and spoke and said stories no one could have written. without him, this episode would have left me just disturbed and cold. there were vignettes of fine acting by daljeet, abhaas, nani ji. but who kept it ipk and together for me personally was this man.

ipk always took me to the greats. there was always a moment in it completely missing in tv soap. isn't there a something of macbeth and his lady so black in the character of shyam? he who killed his own baby, the way lady m told macbeth she could if need be.

"i have given suck, and know

how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:

i would, while it was smiling in my face,

have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,

and dash'd the brains out, had i so sworn

as you have done to this."

oh shyam had a lady macbeth in him and it's a pity his raanisahiba never saw who he was. she allowed him to become god in her eyes, and he did just make her his plaything. his pawn. as a woman there is an insane rage i feel for her, as a person i wish to tell her: this is what happens when you don't take charge of your own life, when you refuse to see reality, refuse to get hurt.

yet all my self righteous rant was silenced as i saw the truth hit her eyes. i wished to protect her just like her brother. there is something truly vulnerable in anjali, that makes you want to forgive and hold her even when you know she is wrong, or she is partly responsible. i always found her character interesting, touching, and full of possibility... one could take her to great heights, however trp and things kept that from happening.

she never became the raizada she had it in her to be.

the warrior had tears in his eyes, but he was ready. when the cue came, he sprang, "you tried to kill my sister with those medicines." and after two days of baiting and the fresh raw recounting of his deeds before all, the enemy slipped, "that was not to kill her, that was merely to abort her baby."

"if the assassination

could trammel up the consequence, and catch

with his surcease success; that but this blow

might be the be-all and the end-all here,

but here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

we'd jump the life to come. but in these cases

we still have judgment here; that we but teach

bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

to plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice

to our own lips."

again words from macbeth come to mind. there are consequences to all our actions. and we face them right here, on this earth. the lessons of our mythologies too, actually, and this is the mythology period of ipk or so i feel. the episodes were first telecast around durga puja, as devi paksha set in and the whole country went into dussehra mode... not a chance happening i think. ram would soon pray to durga to come when she is not supposed to (okaal bodhan) to help him slay ravan. and the goddess would come. evil would be removed.

from a morality point of view and in terms of content, the episode worked for me. however, the execution was not my glass of whisky. as such, that doesn't trouble me. sometimes i'm happy with the content and don't dwell on the form. plus there were a set of eyes that wouldn't let me look away, that brought meaning to the whole thing.

but before i go, i really wanted to say this, for it's on my mind. i have always been very fond of khushi. there is a natural, funky, free, spirited, and "like no other" side to her that makes her very very dear to us. i am worried for that girl. i sense i'm seeing her become "like many others" before my eyes. like asr, this is a rare character. strange, she no longer speaks to dm, wouldn't taking on shyam be a reason for a deep chat? she rarely fries jalebis, she doesn't even rabba vey. all she wants to do is be patni, and save parivaar and parampara. newly married (as she wished to) to the man of her dreams. no nok, no jhok. even if shyam and his vinaash were the need of the hour, surely there was space for a bit of cootchie cooing in the middle of it all? something unnatural here. i don't even see that khushi smile any more. saddens me. yes, sanaya's voice is lovely and she has incredible poise, a bit of audrey in her here.

that is beautiful emoting there, but still, i miss khushi. ever since her marriage, i have barely seen her as she is. the humour is too much or the seriousness. had i glimpsed the girl i know a few times last couple of days, the impact of this scene would perhaps have been much much more.

if shyam is anjali's culprit, he is khushi's too. in a way more. for she in no way encouraged him or invited his attention. he duped her, lusted after her, tried to molest her, ruined her hopes of a relationship with the first man she ever felt anything for her and at a time when she hadn't even given the feeling a name. oh those tender days of love awakening, killed by shyam at their infancy. she wasn't pregnant with child, she was pregnant with the first touches love.

khushi's deep, layered and terrible feelings around shyam are justified. i'd like to hear a bit about that too. both the women in arnav singh raizada's life have lost something infinitely precious, thanks to this man. khushi has bravely fought to save anjali, who will fight for khushi? or maybe i needn't ask? 😆

shyam manohar jha is making all the wrong moves. the others, like pieces on a chess board like the day asr returned after being kidnapped and the interrogation got going, stand still as he moves madly about again, much as he'd done during the earlier round which ended on two slaps. not this time. have to say, though most of abhass's acting felt like jatra, overdone, i did like that break into eyes closed, eyes open, and a sudden flight to "hum bure hain!"

the warrior looked on. eyes like steel. it was done. game over.