Ek Duje Ke Vaaste, A show worth my time.

"Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned."

I discussed the Malhotra family dynamic & my love for the way EDKV's written (and carried out, despite working under the constraints of an 5x a week Hindi-TV drama mind you) in a response to another post on Tumblr, but now that I'm home, relaxed, and have some time on my hands, I decided I feel really strongly about this topic (AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVED TODAY'S EPISODE) and that I absolutely needed to make a main post about it. So editing that response around to give it the form of a regular post. And this is all because of the wholehearted genuine RESPECT this show has earned from me (on a level that no other show has managed to do). For the way I feel respected as an audience by its writers. Like finally an Hindi show that over-delivers instead of under. One that gives me expectations and lets me keep them. For giving me a male lead that has a brain and uses it, for all the right reasons. He can STAND UP to his family, but still manage to be respectful. He's still you're sexy angry-young-man but he ain't a grade A asshole. He's secure yet vulnerable at the same time. His complexities, his flaws, yet the realistic way he approaches life despite all of that. So realistic! So honest! Shravan is just my favorite male lead ever, and I can't remember how that happened because it happened so fast-I think I realized that this happened after it already did. And I'm so glad it did. And RAMNATH AND SHRAVAN, ahsdjfhaldksfjh I love them as much as I love Nanu & Suman. Just everything about this show, I feel like EVERY GODDAMN EPISODE this show gives me more reasons to love it, and affirms my old ones.

I'm not used to this much respect as an audience from a desi drama!!!!

Writers <3 *pappies & jhappies*

Anyways, so getting onto the whole Malhotra family drama that happened today; I personally don't have a problem with this whole scenario. And that's because I just love the way how it makes sense, it's an outside situation and the way a family responds to it-and like all families, everyone here had their own individual & realistic reaction to it, which I just loved. The conflict, the reactions, and just overall the basic emotions of the situation were all so convincingly grounded in reality. Now with that said, do I hate Kameeni chachi (hell yeah!) and do I think Varun's a dumbass for taking that deal (Mmmhmm, #ShouldaListenedToShravan *sassy snap*). But even their actions, considering the characters made logical sense and never felt like "villain-moves" implemented by writers.

Ramnath's dilemma (with consideration to the character that he's been etched out to be for us, REF. to the Shravan-Ramnath 2nd Coffee scene. DO ITTT.), Shravan's level headed-ness & firm stance, and Suman's reaction-they all make so much sense.

I guess what I'm just trying to get at here is that I love how rather than some planning/plotting by Chachi or some other family member to create conflict within the family (with regards to this case),this was the situation the CVs used to create drama and to give us ShraMan angst. The kind of angst that breaks your heart but at the same time doesn't want to make you bang your head against the wall because the leads are just being stupid (on TRP demand of course).

And apart from just the ShraMan angle, I also LOVED (and always have loved) the Shravan-Ramnath angle.

"Jab se hosh sambhala hai, aapko aaj pehli baar aankhein jhuka kar baat karte hue dekha hai." If you haven't seen it yet, do go back & watch the Ramnath-Shravan coffee scene (the second one), we get to know a lot more about Ramnath, and the bond between them. In that scene, Ramnath even asks Shravan "Main sahi kar raha hoon na?" I just love such father-child bonds like these where they're both secure enough to be vulnerable to each other, because in desi culture in general (and in TV shows) such a bond is so rare, and for the writers to display this important figure & relationship in Shravan's life without any OTT melodrama/excessive sappiness, I think they deserve recognition & applause.

And so just today, that moment took the episode to another level for me. I'm sure Ramnath is not completely dood-ka-dhula, but I like how he's not being portrayed as downright manipulable just for the heck of it (again ref. to the 2nd coffee scene).

The same way neither are Kameeni or Mami evil just for the sake of being evil, they are selfish in ways that lead to antagonist-like tendencies, I hate them but I like how they're more like a Kaikeyi from the Ramayan than like Komolika or some vamp from some old Ekta show. People like these exist, it feels like we can know them. What would be unreal to me are vamps that planning on poisoning the family/trying to murder the leads/etc. because "evil."

Basically, I just loved the way the writers orchestrated this kind of situation for drama & angst as opposed to OTT plotting/planning/etc. by vamps. And I love how the characters are consistent, especially Shravan, and how they give attention to equations like Suman-Pushkar, Pushkar-Ramnath, and Shravan-Ramnath in whatever subtle way they do, but yet still keep the moments & developments meaningful & not faltu.

And of course I love how the show's exploring the more understated dimensions of ShraMan's relationship, the way they can fight with each other, but also for each other-even if it meant going against the other.

I'm just so proud to be a fan of this show, it deserves all the love & respect it can get.

-Kriti ❤️

Proud EDKVian foreva and hamesha. ❤️

I couldn't agree more! This show deserves so much more appreciation compared to the amount it gets, and I'm proud of being a fan of a show where I can hate the antagonists so much, yet still see the (mostly) valid reason(s) they have for acting in such a way. The way that they show that things aren't always dressed with a cherry on top, and that bad situations aren't always only someone died, and came back to life with a "face transplant" (seriously, these people need to understand the difference between changing a face, to changing a character from 5 feet 1/2", to 6ft, 1/2")! Their situations are real. I can see someone getting into a fight/argument over the fact that they feel out of place, unacknowledged - actually, that happens in my house all the time! I can see someone having their sights set on the property, and the prosperity of their children no matter what it takes! I can see someone valuing money over their family because sometimes, you know that in this world, the person who comes out on top, is the one who is willing to lose it all. And as for hating mami, I do too, but you never know, we could see a track that shows the real reason behind her always going after the most profitable deal. Coming over to the Malhotra's, firstly, we need to talk about the superbly underappreciated bond of Vandy and Chachi. If someone (*note Lalaji) is teasing her, her first reaction is Mami-ji! And her MIL does come in her support! There's no drama between the two, honestly, if I didn't know better, my first assumption would've been that Vandy is Kamini's own daughter! Coming to the Ramnath-Pushkar bond, I love how Ramnath loves and treats him like his own son, and Pushkar loves and treats Ramnath like his own father, but is too terrified to call him something other than sir (I would prefer if Pushkar called Ramnath "bade papa"). How they showed that Pushkar didn't go after either one of his brothers, but instead stayed with Ramnath was simply beautiful. The CVs showed how Ramnath and Pushkar both see the two sides of the coin, but because they care for their family so much, they don't want to make a decision that proves one or the other wrong, and creates a rift between them! Plus, kudos to CVs showing Pushkar asking Ramnath if he wanted a cup of coffee, not asking who he thought was right! Moving on, the wonderfully executed dynamic between Ramnath and Shravan just leaves me speechless every time! They can be vulnerable around each other, they know each other so well, and they just understand each other. We saw Ramnath being the understanding dad, and badass lawyer when he gave Shravan advice to "settle out of court", but then we saw the unsure man, who just wants to be like his grandfather, and make him proud today, and after that, we can safely say that the CV's know that not everyone's perfect, and they do a damn well job of showing it! Even Vandy was pretty amazing today! She didn't say anything, but you could see her questioning whether her husband was right or not the entire time! The way that she looked at Varun when he was arguing his point, and how she almost hesitated to talk to Shravan, she was simply brilliant! Going over to the Tiwari's, my favorite characters from that family are hands down Nanu, Suman, and Dabboo! The bond that Nanu and Suman share is similar to the bond that Shravan and Ramnath share. They understand each other, they know when the other has given up, and they become each others pillar, each others strength. Lastly, ShraMan! What can I say about them! Them "moving on" from I hate you, to I still remember everything about you, is beautiful! We don't see Shravan heroically saving Suman every time. We see him letting her fall, and grow on her own because that's how relationships work. And we see that although these two are stubborn, and independent, they know when to say thank you, and when a thank you isn't enough. Thora zyada ho gaya, and I still want to say more But that's the power of an amazing show! I just want to go to all the CVs, the entire cast, and crew of EKDV, and give them a "jhadoo ki jhapphi" because they're f 'in awesome, and they deserve all the appreciation they can get, and so much more! Thank you to them for making such an amazing show, and thank you to Sony for letting them be wonderful and relatable, not TRP machines! :)

I agree Kriti. This show deserves accolades and awards for the writing as much as acting and direction. They have managed to keep it realistic. I LOVED how Shravan did not cower down to Maami's blatant emotional blackmail and said he will do "What is right!". In doing what is right he will save Varun from Khosla too. Khosla knows he is about to loose. So he used his last trump card and Ramnath is also falling under Kamini's "Kameeni" pressure! That woman is Satan! (Sorry just hate her). I cant see anything good in her. Selfish B***h that she is! I understand Varun is her son, but there is a limit. I hate it when she uses Ramnath's clear weakness for keeping his family together as a weapon. But this happens in real life too.

This is such a great appreciation post