Posted:
Hi guys,
I know I am not a super-active member on this forum, the reason being that I am a big-time introvert and I am really moody and bad at being in touch with people. I post on the forum only when I feel like it, though I wish I was more active.
Having said that, as this is my last post here, I'd like to introduce myself for the last time. I am Ipshita; you can call me Ipshi. I've been married for almost 4 years now, and I'm from the beautiful north-eastern (Indian) state of Assam, though I spent my entire childhood in an even more beautiful north-eastern state called Mizoram, which I would prefer to call my home. I am a true romantic, a technical writer by profession (currently residing in Bengaluru) and a creative writer when I don't feel lazy (visit my blog: http://musingspassingby.blogspot.in/), though I could never bring myself to write FFs for Twinj. If all goes well, my husband and I will be welcoming our bundle of joy in Jan. This has been a mixed experience for me, especially after suffering a miscarriage two years ago. And strangely enough, some of the best and worse phases in my current pregnancy coincided with some key milestones in TEI.
I have been in love with many serials before TEI, but TEI is special for reasons I can't really explain. I don't think I have been or will be obsessed with any serial in this manner, except FRIENDS (I have been watching it over and over again for the last 10 yrs!). I'm now rewatching all the TEI episodes on OZEE, only from the episode Kunj appears (of course!) in fast-fwd mode, focusing only on Twinj (again, of course!).
I just want to share my experience and journey with TEI...how it all began...and ended.
Jodha Akbar was my favorite serial before TEI, and I would never miss a single episode. I thought and still think that they are one of the best couples I have seen on screen. But ever since they started focusing on Salim-Anarkali, I lost interest. I wasn't surprised that the show ended once they started the latter track, as they didn't even have half the chemistry JA had. When TEI trailers started coming in, I thought it would be a fun-filled love story minus the intense drama that most of today's serials have. That's what it seemed like in the first few episodes, though I didn't watch any of them fully, as they failed to grab my attention. I found both Jas and Zain to be immature actors and I did not feel even a bit of their chemistry. To me, Twinkle seemed like this teenager who was in love with the idea of love, and didn't know what true love was. And Yuvi was this spoilt egoistic brat who mistreated his girlfriend and took her for granted. None of the moments they shared depicted love. I lost interest. Plus when a show begins with an existing love story, there isn't really much to look forward to. I have always been the kinds who likes to see a love story develop right from when two individuals are strangers. They meet, they hate each other, they fight, they become friends, and finally realize their love for each other. That's my kind of love story.
Enter Kunj Sarna. I still remember the first TEi promo in which they featured him. At first, I thought that he was just a temporary side-kick or minor hiccup in Yuvle's relationship, but once the entire promo was over, I knew that he was more than that. "Sajna Ve" immediately struck a chord in my heart. Sid's good looks floored me, and Twinj's chemistry was giving me goosebumps.I knew then that Kunj Sarna was here to stay. He was the guy for Twinkle. They were soulmates, and they were the real couple of the show. I watched a few episodes on and off, and became a regular viewer from Twinj's wedding rituals (that's around when I started following the forum too). I thought Jas' performance improved in Sid's presence, and there was something about him that brought out the best in her. I loved Zain as a villain, and I finally understood the real purpose of having him on the show. Now that I am watching all those episodes again (currently in the Maya+RT track), I remember why I was so crazy about the show. Everything was going smoothly, everything was fine, everything, till Yuvi got Twinj divorced without their knowledge and married Twinkle forcefully. I remember, during that time, I was really nervous about taking a pregnancy test. I was cooking while watching that episode, and praying to God that Kunj came on time to stop the wedding. But he didn't. For whatever silly reasons, I associated my pregnancy test results with the outcome of that event, but of course, I was wrong. Yuvi did marry Twinkle, but my pregnancy test result came positive!
This was the first time I was disappointed with TEI. Marriage is a solemn bond, and not something that should be trivialized. I know that many other Hindi soaps have shown the same protagonist marrying 4-5 times, but I didn't expect this from TEI. They had made such a big deal of depicting Twinj as soulmates, emphasizing on how Twinkle's mangalsutra and sindoor was only of Kunj's name, and suddenly, everything changed. Little did I know that I would have to face an even bigger disappointment, because this marriage was fake in a way. But Yuvle's marriage for 5 years, why the hell did that have to happen? That too when there was no chance of a love story between them? Anyways let me back-track a bit. I was utterly disappointed to see Yuvle's forced marriage, and couldn't watch TEI for about a week after that, though I followed WUs. Gradually it started to sink in, and I accepted the fact that this was just a fake marriage, and at the end of it all, Twinj would come out stronger than ever. Which happened. But then something else happened. Yuvi became a good guy.
I have nothing against Yuvi being good, and even though I think he should have been punished for his sins, I would have been okay with everyone forgiving him, as long as he stayed the hell out of Twinj's life. Which of course he didn't do. Also, I don't like Zain in a positive role. He acts great as a villain, but his "good guy" look is really fake to me. Zain does best as a grey character. The phase where he was trying to be Kunj was the most cringe-worthy thing I had ever seen on TEI. And that was the biggest mockery made out of marriage - forcing Twinkle to marry Yuvi for her unborn child. If Leela could raise Twinkle as a single parent, why couldn't Twinkle do it? She had her and Kunj's family to support her; she wasn't even alone like Leela was. And why couldn't Yuvi support her as a friend, which was what he was actually doing? Why did they have to take up fake roles as husband and wife, and why did he have to take Kunj's place in her life, sleep in the same room she shared with Kunj, and take Kunj's place in his family too? Wasn't this taking it a tad too far? And why such a HUGE period of time (5 years), when they didn't even intend to show a love story between Yuvle? And friends, bulls***t. Twinkle was holding Yuvi's hand, clicking intimate pics with him, giving him flying kisses. Then she claimed that she loved Kunj. Are you kidding me? If they really wanted to show Yuvle's friendship, they should have shown it in a more believable manner. After spending months building up Twinj's love story, in a matter of 1-2 episodes they shove this 5-yr Yuvle marriage down our throats between two "friends" who go out of their way to behave like a couple. I mean, when Twinj were first married, they didn't behave half as lovey-dovey as Yuvle did. Plus Yuvle's chemistry was even worse that it was in the beginning of the show. This time, Yuvi was trying to behave like Kunj and it looked really forced to me. And Twinkle was treating Yuvi the way she used to treat Kunj, at the same time claiming to think of Yuvi as her friend and loving Kunj, which I really could not digest. Also the 360 degree turn of Yuvi from 100% negative to 100% positive was too much to take.
When Sid left the show, I was in my first trimester. I suffered many sleepless nights because of it. More than Sid leaving the showing, I was concerned about Yuvle getting together. Somehow, that wasn't acceptable to me in any form. But my fears came true. And I ended up spoiling my health in the process. I was extremely nauseated and I even had to deal with moving from one city to another because of my husband's job change. This entire TEI situation made it even more difficult for me. I became depressed and vowed never to get attached to any show again.
Then comes the new Kunj - Naman. I have nothing against him, but he is not Sid. Kunj is Sid and Sid only, and nobody can replace him, neither a new guy nor the wannabe-Kunj (Yuvi). I liked his portrayal of the negative Kunj, but I did not like the execution of his role. This was another 360 degree turn of character which I really could not accept. I mean, I understood Kunj's anger and his desire for revenge, but he ended up killing people, harming his entire family in the process and even harming Twinkle's reputation, which used to be his most prized possession - something he almost died for more than once. And this could not be Kunj. The second Kunj should have been a grey character. They should have shown his dilemma in moments when he was planning something against Twinkle and his family. He should have focused his anger on Yuvi rather than the rest, and they should have incorporated "Sajna Ve" moments in between his moments of revenge. But they made him a villain, and Yuvi a hero. And Yuvi wasn't even Twinkle's love interest; what the hell?!!! I don't understand the purpose of having that whole track in the show.
The post-Rocky revelation track was interesting. The fact that Twinkle was in a dilemma was obvious, but I wish they had spelled it out in words and explained in a better manner the reason of her dilemma - the fact that she felt guilty about abandoning someone who stood by her side for 5yrs and in spite of loving Kunj, she felt selfish to run back into his arms and also she was angry with him and couldn't forgive him easily after what he'd done. She took a longer time to forgive Kunj than Yuvi , which shows that she always loved Kunj only, because it's more difficult to forgive someone you love. But I hated that scene in which Yuvi tried to take off her mangalsutra and she didn't allow him to. As I mentioned before, Twinkle's mangalsutra and sindoor were always of Kunj's name, and the fact that she believed even for a while that it was of Yuvi's name was nauseating, especially when she had always fasted only for Kunj during karva-chauth, and always considered only Kunj as her husband. All this while, she treated Yuvi like a friend, and now she doesn't want to remove the object that symbolizes her marriage to him? That part and the divorce drama was overdramatized. For a moment, it made the audience feel that maybe she started having feelings for Yuvi, which was not true; so it was pretty misleading. Also, the divorce part was not needed, because Twinkle was always Kunj's legally wedded wife and her marriage with Yuvi was invalid. But I liked the fact that Yuvi did not go back to become a 100% villain and they kept his character grey (his Jassi portrayal was quite cute). I also liked Kunj returning to his former self, though Naman could not portray the intensity in the character the way Sid did. Yuvi and Simple's track was hastened. They had better chemistry than Yuvle, and made way more sense, as Yuvi could finally be his true self in front of someone. But Yuvi and Simple deserved a longer track. Ever since we received the news of the show ending, every single episode seemed to be made in a hurry, especially the last one.
Some more add-ons (sorry for ranting!)...Jas and Naman's chemistry was nowhere close to SidMin's, but it was definitely better than Yuvle's. I hated the fact that Kunj and Leela's bond was not renewed after Rocky was revealed as Kunj and she leaned more towards Yuvi; it was one of the most beautiful relationships in the show that died a quick death. And finally, why the hell did they use a body double for Jas in the last episode????!!!!!! đĄ
Ultimately, the show that was important enough for me to make me lose sleep during my pregnancy ended in a very lukewarm manner. I wish it had ended when Sid left.
That's all about the serial that I wanted to let out. Sorry for boring you, and thanks if you had the patience to read this far!
Today, I remember all those forum members who were more active than anybody else currently here, and how they left with Sid. Thanks everyone for making my TEI experience more memorable and fun. And more than anything else, thanks for making me feel that I am not alone in my obsession for Hindi daily soaps! đ
Bye everyone, and please pray for my baby.
Love you all!
Cheers,
Ipshi/Iota
CID
