Neha: The unintended pawn of the Dixits; - Page 2

The analysis is brilliant but I loved what you wrote about the montage. Dev's life journey is dictated by not two but three women. I agree to this to some extend. Neha have a pivotal role in their journey but not the entire journey. But it is also true that our past experiences mold us and in that sense it is true.

Ishwari uses circumstances to her benefit. Her patriarchal upbringing made her chose her son to shoulder the responsibility of their family after the demise of her husband which left them at the mercy of their fate. With no roof over their head, no money and no one to turn to for help they all worked hard to reach the place they are in now. Her dependency on Dev turned malignant some where along the journey firstly because he was so attuned to her feelings even when young and Neha used to be verbal and used to lash out at her mother which was her coping mechanism to the partial treatment vetted out to her and lack of appreciation for her efforts. It was easier for Ishwari to turn a blind eye towards Neha's cribbing because of the circumstances which didn't give her any other choice and also the complete adoration and appreciation she received from Dev for her efforts and the support he gave openly. It was easier to forget about the support her 9 year old daughter gave for them to achieve their goal because she knew she was failing as a mother to her daughter when she was forced to trample on her dreams and snatch her basic rights. It was something unfathomable to her since it was against her very belief and her core values. In order to suppress her conscience, she let go of her being a mother to Neha and condensed her identity to being only Dev's mother.

Their fight for survival succeeded and the money and status that came with their success was a balm for them and they tried to be as normal as possible. Until Dev fell in love all was good except some occasional outbursts from Neha which was easier to ignore now because now they had enough money to reward her to lull their guilt. Neha falling in love was something Ishwari never believed will happen. But it again gave her the opportunity to get in Neha's good books by supporting her and also another chance to diminish their guilt. A happy Neha was their lucky chance to overcome their past failures. It was not that ishwari didn't understand Neha's nature and the problems that might arise due to the lack of material pleasures. But she willingly overlooked these to maintain the one chance Neha gave her to be closer to her than they ever were.

I don't know and can't agree completely to your point that Neha's happiness in kept at arms length to bring Dev the son closer to her. It is true that she used Neha to prevent Dev from going for his HM rather than revealing her inability to let him go. But it just backfired and the back lash really went out of proportion. The way Neha reacted to her being the cause forced Ishwari to go down the memory lane and her conscience played havoc. All that she suppressed, she was forced to face especially her failure as a mother. Since it was something really painful for her to acknowledge I don't think she will willingly use Neha for leashing Dev. She is trying to repress her conscience and giving in to Neha's demands have always been helplful for her in the past.

Her trying to keep Sona from interfering might be because 1) She doesn't want Sona to succeed where she knows she can't unless she is willing to face her painful past 2) She is unable to accept Sona as family and doesn't want to accept this 3) She knows Sona just goes after what she wants once she sets her heart and mind to it and since her attempt to search for Sona's flaws haven't given her success, she wants to show how unsuitable Sona is by repeatedly telling her to keep away from this and when she fails to do so and aggravate the condition forcing Dev to acknowledge that his mother was right as always.

I am looking forward to see how Sona will convince Neha in the end. Because all the odds are against her and she can't do it alone. She needs help.

This.. This is exactly what made me believe that Sona is an independent woman in the true sense of the word. She said how hard it is to deal with a toota dil. And to give credit to your favourite character (;-) ) Dev, he tried looking for the same in Ranvir. The bit he failed to do was, to realise that not everyone becomes a majnoo after break-up