The Epic Uncertainty that is the Storytelling

Hey everyone, I don't post in this forum much anymore but those of you active on twitter may recognize me as Ruby. I'm the one always writing those daily sarcastic episode tweets 😆. Anyways I promised a friend a few weeks ago that I would create a topic for her and after today's episode, I feel that time has come.

The premise of the vanvaas track for me was exciting. Shivaay, the great foundation of the family was leaving. It would the first time that the Oberoi family would be alone without Shivaay who formed the foundation. In my eyes, I felt it would allow the opportunity for Om and Rudra to grow into more independent personalities and to be able to learn how to handle burdens on their own. Meanwhile Shivaay would learn the harsh reality that even though his family means the world to him, it's not necessarily true that the same would be reciprocated back. Trp audiences agreed. And they sent the ratings back to 2.0, a number we haven't seen in a very long time. There was excellent drama that tuned people in. And everyone in the cast had a part to play.

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I think the fall in the story happened right after the actual vanvaas. When they immediately shifted from the drama element right into Shivika directly setting up house in Goa. That was not so that we could see how Shivika set up their new lives but to really just fast-track into the Raavan track. The Raavan track that has since started showed an interesting premise. But despite the potential, it also revealed many inconsistencies, and I think it is these inconsistencies within all the characters that have led to the current downward trp trend:

*Anika who was so proud of being herself and not needing to fit in to be accepted suddenly went on a bizarre "GL" track. So much so that CVs forgot that Anika knew how to do basic things like cleaning a house or cleaning the floors from before and showed her as useless in these respects.

*Anika who battles her fears head on suddenly became weak. She couldn't determine on her own how to trap Komal. She effectively became the damsel in distress which is far from her character sketch

*I enjoyed that Shivaay trusted her when she lost faith and reassured her countless times. But why did they drag the NDEs for so long? And that too in the same predictable pattern: Anika sees Komal, Shivaay runs to her and finds no one there.

*Shivaay is shown to have blind trust in Veer - what on earth has Veer done at this point to have earned such blind trust?

*The next door neighbor has planted cameras in the house to spy on his neighbor's wife. And plants NDE attacks on her over and over again with his fake wife and real wife in order to try to make her look insane. Yeah, I'm not really sure that's something a happy family wants to see at night

*OmRu aren't even standing up to Tej even though they have the majority shares. OmRu will cry about old toys rather than tell their father off. Om in particular has had a very rough relationship with his father and yet he hasn't really said much to Tej.

*Rudy was told several times that he had to man up since Shivaay was leaving. Yet he's been pretty much crying in the background

*Tia breaking up Rikara - this makes no sense at all

*Tej and the whole batwaara issue. They really didn't do anything except for the whole flour on the ground sequence 😆

*There have been no real scenes of Pinky and Shakti attempting to interact with their son

*Jhanvi is suddenly the "evil saas" blaming Gauri for all the Oberoi's problems

*Dadi who is quick to act whenever Pinky or Jhanvi react inappropriately, has said barely a thing to Tej

*And the idea of a "vanvaas", that the pain of the separation was that Shivaay was going to be "gone" for good. Here the OBros are dropping into Goa as if Shivaay lives next door 😆

**Today's epic sequence: Veer injects Anika and paralyzes her. And apparently Anika loses all of her senses, including her ability to hear. Like what😆

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I guess all I'm trying to say is...a show is strongest when its characters are at their strongest. That's why the introduction of the vanvaas track brought back so many viewers. It was carefully written and there was potential there for all the characters, both the major and minor, to explore. What was the point of this vanvaas story? Seems like all that happened was that bhoot-ish fantasies were explored instead. We have this weird mess of a vanvaas sequence and now we're quickly nose-diving into a sudden Ruvya wedding out of the blue. What on earth is happening 😆

Note: I don't want to pit fandoms against each other. Rather I wanted to talk in general about how lazy the writing has gotten. And how all of the characters are not acting like themselves. I want to keep this topic as neutral as possible...as long as I can at least😆

The Tanya track was a major put off for me. Even the "willing suspension of disbelief" while enjoying fiction concept couldn't excuse that pathetic track. I think the plot of IB derailed with the introduction of Fireboy Abhay and his whiny wife, Tanya. Even the once-in-a-while hidden romance between Shivaay and Anika couldn't save the serial for me.

Originally posted by: smitar

The Tanya track was a major put off for me. Even the "willing suspension of disbelief" while enjoying fiction concept couldn't excuse that pathetic track. I think the plot of IB derailed with the introduction of Fireboy Abhay and his whiny wife, Tanya. Even the once-in-a-while hidden romance between Shivaay and Anika couldn't save the serial for me.

The Rikara breakup and Bareilly track brought me back. They were brilliantly written. The scenes were tight and compact. The acting was out of this world. All three couples had their space, roles and dialogues. I was a happy camper. And then it went downhill again.

The Shivaay-Anika SR was postponed so long that... Khair chodo.

I agree with all your points on the Vanvas track. The very purpose of the track has been lost. Doesn't make any sense.

Are Rudy and Soumya divorced?😆 Or is Rudy going to commit bigamy with an ex-ACP? LOL!

As I commented elsewhere, I hope Mahi returns. He was one solid character, great fun to watch. And if Soumya is not to be paired with Rudy, I hope they pair her with Mahi. They are both loving and protective people desperately in need of some TLC.

The actor playing Veer is fantastic, esp with his Haryanvi dialogues. But the plot...sigh!

BTW, any idea where Sultan-Sultana is?😆

The entire vanvaas track never and still doesn't make sense to me ! Yes ppl tuned in to watch shivaay leave the house but we recently got 2 with the barielly track which had less drama and more family and couples which I believe was d better track and it shows you can bring in the TRPs with 3 equal couples who have equal ss !

For me the feeling of vanvaas ended when they showed OmRu crying in OM and shivika dancing in SM .. this is no hate to d couple but to the writers and editors... yes is still doesn't make sense y OmRu just pitched up in Goa ! Y have a vanvaas if u can just meet up ? Or talk on the phone and stuff ? Omkara's lack of reaction isn't new ! Rikara and Om fans have been complaining since swetlana arrived and he hardly gave any reaction when Gauri got locked or during Rudras bomb scare ! We have been complaining but no one listens so Ders not much we can do anymore ! Tia drama is useless ! So many fans have wanted OmRu to progress on their own but the dialogues given to them were mostly about shivaay and Anika ! The raavan track is just logicless ! Nothing makes any sense

I think what killed it for me was the Pia track. I don't think I've felt as sick watching ANY other track in IB. What was worse is how they tried to justify it in the end. To this day, I haven't watched that episode where Annika is justifying Shivaay. Because we all know things would've been different had Annika been in Shivaay's shoes.

I think the main issue is that the minor characters cannot seem to function at all without Shivika.😕 So much so that they have to always be interjected into Shivika plotline to be able to function. That is why the whole vanvaas falls flat and the relationships ring hollow. Like you said, OBros are dropping into Goa every other day as if nothing ever happened! Why aren't their parents condemning them?😕

Totally!

The Vanvaas feels watered down and the Ruvya Shaadi just ended it for me.

To be honest, the villain overdose and win doesn't seem to work anymore. It wasn't even interesting. Tia won and it just pushed Rikara to Shivika, when literally everyone asked for them to be separated. It's counter productive. I think they should have stopped showing Tia and started focusing on drama between the family, which seemed way more interesting then forcing Tia into a forced bond with TejVi and those two having absolute faith in someone that tried to ruin their lives.

It's just a mess now. No way to fix it. Now, like the separation track, the scenes will now work against the villains and show them losing instead of the heroes. Like how Annika suddenly started talking back to Pinky, OmRu will magically start talking back to TejVi

I think I agree with some fans who think Shivaay's greatness is overdone. Much to my distaste, it's as though he's being overglorified. This track will end with Shivaay setting everything straight and that he ultimately protected everyone and set the house together again. Maybe I'm wrong on that. You can debate me on this.

I think OmRu and Gauri should have fought against TejVi a lot more instead of trying to expose Tia. The internal conflict within the family seemed more interesting to me, I can't understand why they ignored the oppourtunity to explore so much. Especially Om and Jhanvi's twisted relationship.

Awesome post, Ruby!

Agree 100% with each and everybody comment.1/2 hr show started off with Bareilly track and Rikara reunion.Next they brought Pia track which was a bad move by the CVs. Suhaag Raat track was overdone. It was cringe worthy.

The vanwas was indeed a joke 😆- the real vanwas is betwee