So I watched the episode again and wanted to pen down some of the scattered thoughts - mainly to calm myself down. 😆
So the high point for me in the episode was the father-son dialogue:
Ramnath draws a parallel between his estranged wife and potential daughter in law - both independent, passionate about their work, headstrong and adamant. Tries to show Shravan how such people always (apparently) undermines relationships when it comes to making a choice.
Shravan agrees that Sumo is all that, but adds that she is also someone who loves and respects her family with the same passion - the way she is with her work.
Ramnath disagrees and almost submits into letting his son "see it for himself"
So here we see a parallel of sorts being drawn - is sumo like Nirmala? But then how actually was Nirmala? - we can come to that later (in the due course of the plot line may be)
As for what can happen next - It is very clear the Ramnath is out there to test Sharavan's theory - to test how much sumo loves (and sacrifice) for family - or for Shravan - when it comes to making a choice between herself, her self respect and the happiness of the people around her. Hence the cheque drama - playing out simultaneously, just when her family might need all monetary support and when Shravan is all set to maker her, his own.
Seeing from Ramu's perspective this is the perfect test - with all traps set for a failure (for Sumo) no matter what she does - if she chooses both cheque and money - she looses her self respect (and sort of sells out her family's self respect). If she refuses cheque and accepts shravan - she lets her family down and chooses her own happiness. If she turns both down, she lets down her family and her love for her self respect.
Have to applaud the CVs for creating this chakravyuh of sorts for sumo! 👏
How will she deal with it? I don't know. As I said, no matter what she does, she will loose something. I have a feeling she will decline both money and SM.
Why? - she can never let go of her self respect - just like Nirmala. And she does not want Shravan to have to choose between her and his father - just like Nirmala. She backs out - just like Nirmala. Her family will feel she is selfish (though I don't know how accepting money on the sly is a good thing, but that's a different discussion).
But then - she will also do something to show that despite all her similarities with Nirmala - she is not her - but how?
The parallel is also about Niru-Ram vis-a-vis Sumo - Shravan relation. The former had no trust, particularly from Ram. The latter has ample amount of it. So I am hoping the "difference" will be brought out from Shravan's part too by him trusting her, despite her apparent actions.
Thoughts? (I have been picking Indrani's 🤗 brain incessantly - and finally thought I should let it all out of my system 😆)
Love - Quirky (Sanjukta)