Folks,
Helen 1.0 was of course the original, the one and only one, she of "the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium"*. Helen of Troy.
Though why she should always be identified with the proud city that was destroyed because of her is something I have never understood!
This is our Helena, the rebooted, 4th century BC version. I have named this post after her because, in all of these 3 chapters, it was she who stood out, both as a linking element and a catalyst, and as the strongest and most impressive character on display, not excluding Chandra. Even Chanakya came in second, that was quite something on the credit side for Helena!
But before we come to this threesome, let us first dispose of the bit and pieces.
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NB: The quotation is actually from the 16th century Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Ilium is another name for Troy, and topless is not used in the modern sense!đ It simply indicates that the towers were so tall that their tops could not be seen.
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The rest : It was mostly incidental, especially the parts between Malayaketu, Nandini and Padmanand, which were melodramatic, loud and barely appealing. I am not touching on any of this, except to note that Nandini, while being ultimately ready to keep quiet on the daasikaand, makes something of a public spectacle of her irritation with Malayaketu during the engagement ceremony which, had he spotted it, would hardly have pleased her daddy dearest!
As for the fiasco of the affianced pair's meeting in the udhyan, and the follow thru, the less said the better. Padmanand is back to hamming away to glory, with Arpit reverting to his Duryodhan mode, and all the delicacy of his putri prem scenes seems now to be a distant memory.
It is also difficult to understand how, given that Padmanand loves his daughter so very much, he is ready to tie her for life to a ruffian like Malayaketu solely in order to safeguard his throne. Nor why he is suddenly so lacking in self-confidence that he believes he cannot defend his kingdom against Chandra's cobbled together army without Malayaketu's support.
The only entertaining bit in all this was Padmanand's suggestion to Amatya Rakshas, who is reluctant to impose a second yuddh kar on the Magadha janata, that in that case, the new tax should be named suraksha kar! I am sure Padmanand has been reborn in this age as a very successful politician!đ
Mura did not put in an appearance, though she must be waiting breathlessly in the wings, with the image of that peacock feather nicely enhanced in her mental hard drive for comparison purposes!
Avantika raved and ranted unconvincingly, and even Sunanda, on whom I have come to depend for sassy one liners and sharp repartee, was not up to the mark here, bar that one deadly put down about the (lack of ) military prowess of both Nand and the Magadha army, which effectively silenced Avantika.
The only exception to this dismal catalogue was apni Tun Tun bhabhi, whose delightful comments, as the injured Dhananand is lugged in, were a highlight of that episode, God bless her! Especially this one: Mujhe pata tha ki aap phir se pitkar aayenge us ladke se, isliye maine teenon ke teenon lep tayyar rakhe hain! đWhich she then proceeds to slather on him, making him howl in pain.
Battle 2.0: The battle sequence, this time abbreviated, was pretty much the same as before- the balcony and the hilltop bits, with Nandini's infrared night vision, Chanakya's red flag, and Chandra's swordplay. But it was all too dark and confusing, except for Dhananand being dragged off his horse by Chandra. The Chandra-Malayaketu duel should have been longer, clearer and better shot. Chandra's agility was not given much play, and at the end, one was not sure what had happened to Malayaketu!
But the real conundrum was the constantly changing perceptions of the relative size and strength of the various armies, which was nothing short of bewildering. Consider this.
-Chandra's allies assert that the Unani sena is too large for them to take on, whence Chanakya's advocacy of guerrilla tactics against them. But when this guerrilla attack is underway. Seleucus' men claim that Chandra's army is much bigger than theirs and so they cannot fight them!đ
-Padmanand boasts to Amatya Rakshas that even with the Greek contingent, the Magadha army was much bigger than Chandra's, and Chanakya confirms this from the hilltop. But Dhananand later confesses to Nandini that the Magadha army had been weakened by the first battle itself, and would have lost but for Malayaketu's fortuitous arrival. đAdding that after the second battle, the situation was even worse!
Now let us take the three principal characters - Chandra, Chanakya, and Helen, in the same order.
Chandra: Angry and vulnerable: Our Chandra, he is a changing, as the poet would say.
For one thing, despite the obligatory kshama yachanas, he is far more argumentative than ever before about the idea of his having to marry Helena. He literally, and repeatedly quotes his guru's words of wisdom back to him, and puts up a stout fight till he is cornered and bested by the wily old gentleman trotting out the unbeatable Mathrubhoomi ki raksha angle.đ
He is still stuck in a dharma yuddha time warp, the poor boy, and he objects to the idea of guerrilla warfare against the Unanis as being anyay against them. It is left to Chanakya to yank him out of this with the cynical pronouncement that in war, nothing matters but victory, whether by fair means or foul. Though he does add, as a sop to his shishya's moral sensibilities, that it was the Unanis who first resorted to chal against the Bharatiyas.
NB: One does not know if Chanakya had heard of the Trojan Horse tactic adopted by the Greeks during that war, but if he had, it would have been educative for his pupil to learn about it. It is from that devious stratagem that the Beware of Greeks bearing gifts maxim originated, as also the very commonly used term, a Trojan horse, not to speak of the Trojan viruses!đ
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Though Chandra bows to his guru's dictates, it remains to be seen if this strong streak of morality, even against the enemy, resurfaces at some inconvenient point in the future, inconvenient for Chanakya that is. This said, when one is fighting against someone like Nand, I would agree completely with Chanakya, for any misguided notions of morality would sink their campaign!
I was greatly amused by Chandra's vainglorious boast: Aaj tak aisi koyi stree bani hi nahin jo mera dhyan apni or kheench sake!- given that such stuff amounts to tempting the gods, and invariably comes before a fall!đđ I suppose he was, after having been pushed into this marriage, trying to keep his end up, at least with his pals. What happens to him immediately thereafter was even funnier, but of that more later.
Bitter breakdown: The part I really loved about Chandra in these episodes was his total breakdown after the loss in the second attack on Magadha. It showed that despite all of Chanakya's grooming and the years of training, this is not a military automaton. This is a flesh and blood human being, still almost a boy, with all the vulnerability that goes with inexperienced youth, not yet tested and toughened in the crucible of failure.
His bitter disappointment is already clear from the look on his face when he realises that the Unani reinforcements are not coming, turns around, and sees Chanakya's red flag. What follows by the riverside is but an extension of that angry, desperate look. A total collapse of his resolve, of his tenacity,of his will to win, and to go on fighting till victory is achieved.
That he conjures up a taunting Nandini, and not Padmanand, as a reflection of his own self-condemnation shows that it is she, and not her father, who is Chandra's bete noire No.1.
As he falls to his knees in anguish, Chandra looks almost demented. Rajat pulls out all the stops in this difficult scene, , unconcerned about his face getting distorted while reflecting extremes of emotion, as Chandra pounds the ground with his balled fist and almost howls in bitter anguish, his voice rising to a crescendo with each reiteration of the same refrain: Main phir kaise yuddh haar gaya? Main kaise haar gaya? Kaise haar gaya main?
Chanakya is not around this time to rescue Chandra, whose inner collapse goes so deep that he contemplates abandoning the fight and running way. His face crumples in agony as he confesses that he does not know where he will go, kyonki parajit yoddha ka is sansar mein koyi sthan nahin hota! He is almost like a lost child, who does not know what to do, to whom to turn.
It it then that help arrives, in the shape of Helena. It is interesting, and revealing, that Chandra has none of the usual masculine ego hassles in exposing to Helena, a woman, his weakness, his crushing sense of failure as a warrior and a military leader, his inability to understand how, despite having everything in their favour before the battle, they had still lost it.
Not now, nor earlier, when she arrives suddenly in his forest refuge with her plan for getting him the support of her father's whole army, when too he tells her bluntly that he had tried and lost in the war against Magadha.
Instead, there is a sense of genuine comradeship in the way he reacts to her, here more than ever before. It is there in his saying, even as he gently removes her hands from about his face, Jaane do mujhe!, as if he needs her consent for quitting this struggle. He does need it, for she is his partner, and partners do not abandon each other unilaterally.
Remarkable reassurance: I loved it when, towards the end of the scene, he looks up into her face, seeking emotional succour and encouragement. His Mujh par itna vishwas kyon karti ho? , is not really a question. It is a plea for reassurance.
It is forthcoming, and in abundance: Kyonki main jaanti hoon ki tum wo yoddha ho jo kabhi haar nahin maan sakta! Wo jo Sikandar ke saamne khada hokar, us se baat karne ki himmat rakh sakta hai, wo Padmanand ko bhi haraa sakta hai! Tumne Magadha ko hi nahin, Magadha ke saath Parvatak rajya ka bhi saamna kiya hai, aur wo bhi akele! Tum peeche nahin hat sakte, Chandra! Tum dar nahin sakte!! Kabhi nahin!!
As he listens to Helena's words, Chandra's eyes seem to be clinging to hers, to draw from them some of her infectious courage and determination. The seeping back of strength and courage into his own eyes is remarkable. They light up, slowly but surely, like the rays of the sun at dawn peeping over the horizon. The old Chandra is coming back.
It was an amazing shot to wind up an amazing sequence.
Chanakya: Wily determination: Both the tactician and the strategist in Chanakya are in top form here, bar one major lapse.
When he gingers up their supporters for the sudden, if temporary switch of their target from Magadha to the Unanis.
When he negotiates with Seleucus with masterly, diplomatic finesse, being most careful to spare his ego - as with the repeated use of Raja Seleucus - and avoid humiliating him. When he lets Helena tackle the marriage issue, as he knows she will, without interfering, and smiles a little secret smile of triumph at her remark Inhon ne bahut soch samajh kar yeh prastav rakha hai.
When he unerringly scents the presence of a traitor in their midst as the only possible explanation for their failure this time. When he then uses psychology to unmask the culprit. But most of all when he decides, not to kill him as a vengeful Chandra would want to, but to use his traitorous links for making him their double agent in the Magadha camp. And secures insurance for the success of this ploy by holding his family hostage for his continued good behaviour.
One minor caveat: What is it with Chanakya's comment about Malayaketu turning up sahi samay par during the second battle? The first time - though in fact his arrival, just as the Magadha side was facing defeat, was pure serendipity - one could understand Chanakya's gripe. The second time, however, Malayaketu is already there, with his troops. So his joining in the battle on the side of Magadha should hardly have been a surprise for Chanakya & Co!
Dangerous scheme: Now for the lapse. Chanakya's latest trick of sending Chandra right into the enemy camp, masquerading as the officiating priest for Nandini' s marriage, does not feature, for me at least, in the above list of his successes. It seems to me to be plain cuckoo.
For everyone in the Magadha and Parvatak royal families knows Chandra's face, and it is not as though a priest can be togged out in a moustache and a beard! How on earth is he supposed to evade discovery, and what on earth will he be doing there? How can Chanakya risk his ace of trumps in such an incomprehensible, heedless fashion? It is beyond belief!đ˛
I suppose the CVs want Chandra to meet Mura once again, and his real identity to be discovered this time, but could they not think fo something more plausible? For one thing, how does a priest sneak ino the kaaragrih? And what of the earlier precap, with Nandini displaying the mayurpankh design and babbling about some song that Chandra hums, with Padmanand's subsequent plan to blackmail him by getting hold of his (foster)parents? Questions, questions!
Helena: Strong , self-assured, and supportive : The first opinion voiced about Helena in this forum is generally shock at her selfishness and her disloyalty in encouraging Chandra to attack her own father as a means of securing the revenge she seeks against Malayaketu and, at one remove, Nandini. Many here in fact sound exactly like Bharatmata, who pontificates, with deep disapproval , about the difference between one beti, the self-centred, disloyal Helena, and the other beti, the sanskaari Nandini, whose loyalty to her pitamaharaj makes her the human equivalent of Gandhiji's Three Monkeys rolled into oneđ.
Now, I resent being instructed, by Bharatmata or anyone else, about how I should react to the characters. Secondly, I do not at all see anything wrong in the characterization of Helena. In fact, she comes as a breath of fresh air in the generally stale and predictable ambience of our serials. A very welcome change from the kind of bharatiya naari that poor Nandini seems destined to become, who is generally a dead bore, when she is not setting one's teeth on edge with irritation at her supposed perfection. đĄ
For Helena is neither a devil nor a paragon of all the virtues. She is just human, with all the grey areas that this implies, and a female at that. All one has to do is to accept that Helena is
(a) in the classic Greek tradition of very strong and determined women, like Medea, and
(b) in pretty much the same mould as Chanakya. No wonder that he refers to her, admiringly, as one jo apne mastishk se sochti hai, and wants Chandra to emulate her.
Medea does all that Helena does (my last post refers), only much more violently. Chanakya is as single-minded, as ruthless, and as devious as Helena is, of course in a cause which is far nobler than hers. But the thing is that if she had been a man, instead of a woman, the criticism of Helena's actions would have perhaps been somewhat muted!
She is also an excellent tactician and planner. Once she is sure that her father will not go to war against Parvatak and Magadha on her behalf, she wastes no time switching her focus to Chandra. A shrewd strategist, who understands human nature, she knows that she needs to give him something solid to get him to move in the matter. Whence the offer of her father's army. She knows full well that Chandra and Chanakya will, in their own interest, minimize the human losses among the Greek troops when they attack them, and that they will treat her father well. Which is precisely what happens.
The marriage proposal takes her by surprise, but she is intelligent, and realises at once what Chanakya's aim is in making it. She has no objection, for she will, on her side, derive the same benefit from the deal.
NB:Again, Bharatmata's mini homily, at the time of Helena's marriage and Nandini's engagement, about these being both vyapaar and not founded in prem, was so ludicrous that it made me giggle. As if all such unions were not, in that era, founded solely on vyapaar, in the sense of agreements between the respective parents to further their individual interests, with prem being in fact a taboo term ! đ As, in fact, are over 70% of marriages in India even today, the so-called arranged marriages, including those arranged by the boy and girl themselves out of purely practical considerations.
Once married to him, Helena reveals herself to be an effortlessly dominating, but yet totally supportive and dependable partner for Chandra.
Helena-Chandra 1: This, their first post-marriage scene together, is a perfect scream. An unexpected delight, in fact, being so very different from the kind of tripe that is routinely dished out in such situations.
For one thing, right from the moment when he enters the tent and finds her seated comfortably on the bed, decked out in all her wedding finery - instead of being, as he had assumed, fast asleep in her tent - Chandra is on the backfoot. He is startled, and the bobbing of his Adam's apple betrays his effort to regain composure. He is unsure of what to do and how to handle her, and this shows in his hesitant, shuffling body language.
Helena is in control throughout. This begins when she laughs at his opening Tum yahan?, then crooks the fingers of one hand and calls out to him: Yahaan aao! Though reluctant to comply with this invitation, Chandra does move over to the bedside , where he stands, looking down with considerable trepidation at Helena cozily stretched out on the bed, before shifting his gaze sideways.đ
When she rolls over suddenly, as if to make room for him at her side, and leans back with negligent grace, her head propped up on one arm, Chandra looks absolutely petrified. Rajat is splendid in this very unusual cameo of a bashful and most reluctant bridegroom!đ
I would have dearly loved to have seen Chandra's reactions to any amorous advances from her sideđđ, but alas, this bride has no time to waste on such trifles. So she clears away the jasmine flowers, and the map of Magadha appears. I am sure pure, blessed relief must have flooded thru Chandra's whole being at the sight, đ but nothing of that shows on his face as he settles down for the strategy session that follows.
Oh Lord, I could not stop laughing!đ¤Ł
A sound partnership: Their partnership has got off to a good start. That could be seen, on the road to the battle, from the patient manner in which Chandra persuades Helena not to insist on fighting at his side, assuring her that he would keep her desires in mind if only she would agree to staying with Chanakya on the hilltop overlooking the battleground. And she does not insist, but gives in gracefully.
Helena is well up in matters military, and is sharp in observing and assessing the unfolding of the battle. She enquires right in the beginning about the timing of the introduction of the reserve forces, and later notices when their forces are being overwhelmed by the enemy, and worries about the reinforcements getting there too late. She lowers her head in shame when, during the later post mortem session in their tent, Chanakya notes that even the Greek forces that were already there backed out of the fighting when the reinforcements did not turn up.
But it is in the riverside scene with a terminally depressed Chandra that Helena really comes into her own.
Helena-Chandra 2: Helena is totally rock like and firm with Chandra in this scene, a good part of which has already been discussed above. She pulls him out of the slough of despond in which he is drowning himself, and forces him to believe in himself once more.
Right at the start, she shows her mettle when she does not grab his arm to stop him from dashing his fist agains the rocky ground, but absorbs the blow with her own palm.
She looks at his face, alight with self-hatred and fury as he blames himself for having failed once more, for having run away from the battlefield. As he rails that he wants to abandon it all and run away somewhere.
That is when she moves, and takes his face in her hands, as one would with a child, as she begins to address his fears and doubts. In words that are fiery and gentle, scolding and reassuring at the same time.
Tum kahin nahin jaaoge! Tum khudh ko bhool sakte ho, par main nahin bhool sakti hoon tumhein. Tum Chandra ho, Chandra!.. Apni haar se kuch seekho, apne jazbe ko mat khona!
But he will not be consoled, he pulls her hands down and pleads Jaane do mujhe!
Her sharp refusal : Kahan jaaoge, aur kyon jaaoge? , only produces even deeper despondency, for Chandra now sees himself as a parajit yoddha who belongs nowhere. Helena perceives that the task is tougher than she had anticipated.
Exhortations not to be overcome by defeat, but to think of what caused that defeat lead only to a fresh outpouring of despair - Chandra cannot understand how they lost when everything was in their favour, how the enemy got wind of their plans.
Finally, Helena finds the right words. She assures Chandra that no matter how many times he loses, par kab tak haaroge? Kabhi na kabhi to jeetoge na? Then the unflinching assertion that galvanizes him at last : Mujhe tum par poora bharosa hai!
As noted above, Chandra's Mujh par itna vishwas kyon karti ho? , is not really a question. It is a plea for reassurance. And Helena provides all the reassurance he needs and seeks, in simple, telling, eloquent words that hit home. By the time she concludes,with a ringing: Tum peeche nahin hat sakte, Chandra! Tum dar nahin sakte!! Kabhi nahin!!, it is clear that she has won the battle for Chandra's mind and soul.
No man could have asked for a stronger, more determined, more effective and supportive partner.
Rare, elusive bond: It is also significant that Helena does not once mention her own interest in his winning out eventually, but speaks only of her faith in him. She speaks only as his partner, his ally, his source of strength when all else seems to have failed.
With a kind of protective, tactile affection; the way in which she holds his face in her hands, as if that grasp would exorcise his inner demons and drive them away, speaks for itself.
It is not just that she consoles him in his lowest moments. That is the less important part. What is vital is that she manages to cut thru the fog of depression enveloping him and to get thru to the real Chandra.
This is a special ability that Helena seems to possess, at times even more than Chanakya does, which is strange, but true. As I wrote in my last post:
More even than the crucial help she offers Chandra... what is striking about Helena in this sequence is her ability to infuse self-confidence and a fresh determination in her Sandrocottos.
The way in which she calls him Chandra, not Sandrocottos, is also significant. It is an indication that she is accepting and adopting him as he is.
Sandhya had a very interesting explanation for this.She felt that unlike the case with his mentor Chanakya, whose counsel is targeted at Chandra's buddhi, with Helena, who is of the same age as he is, and whom he has seen overcoming pain and failure while remaining strong, Chandra will be more receptive to what she says. Moreover, with Helena, Chandra is not weighed down by a feeling of guilt at having, as he perceives it, let his guru down, as would be the case with Chanakya. It is more of a relationship between equals, and so her pep talk gets thru to him more effectively.
Her take is lucid and plausible. But it does not explain everything. Not every one of his age, not everyone who he knows has faced failure and pain, not everyone towards whom he feels no obligations, could necessarily have the ability to pull Chandra out of the depression into which he is sinking. But Helena, whom he barely knows, does have that ability.
The power of one human being to connect so deeply with another is always a mystery. It cannot be dissected and explained, not always, and never fully. Like love, it just exists, that is all.
It is the ability of one person to heal the emotional hurts of another, sometimes simply by being there, sometimes,as in the present case, by soothing the other with supportive, calming, reassuring words and gestures. But the same words and gestures from another person similarly qualified, going by the three criteria Sandhya has flagged, might not work. Why is this so?
When one is a child and one gets hurt, a cuddle from one's mother makes one feel almost OK. No one else has that effect on a child. But a mother's bond with her child is very special. As is that of the beloved with her lover. But there are a few, very few others who do not fit these categories, but are still able to comfort and heal the one in deep distress. That is the slot that Helena fills right now for Chandra.
A different take: Before winding up, let me share with all of you a superb, side-splitting interpretation of how Helena is looking at Chandra at the very end of their marriage ceremony.
This is from Ranjana, aka kautilya04. It is, she says,
the look of an astute venture capitalist who anticipates considerable growth and long-term benefits in a seemingly make-or-break investment decision.
Can you think of anything to top that? I can't.đ
OK, folks, this is it for today. Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.
See you on Wednesday next, by which time our fake pandit might well be in the kaaragrih once more! Au revoir till then!
Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di
PS: All the photos used to illustrate this post are courtesy my dearest Anjali. Thanks a million, my pet, for putting up that thread just in time for me!
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