Another spectacular episode, and more heartbreak for Hanuman Singh (and for us viewers).
Beeji's advice
I am wondering what Babita thinks HS feels about her. Does she know that he is crazy about her and would want to spend the rest of his life with? Or does she think it's just attraction alongside friendship because of living in close quarters?
I loved the message that Beeji gave that an independent woman can be self-sufficient and look after her daughter's material needs, but that a child needs the love of both parents. Besides, even if Minnie didn't need a father, Babita would be left on her own. A woman needs a companion, and I'm glad Beeji understood her loneliness.
This is the whole point. She's a kid, and doesn't have enough experience about life. Why should HS or Babita conform to what she thinks, that Babita and she are enough for one another? I hope Minnie realizes that.
Woh Papaji nahin hain mere.
Minnie was shocked to hear that HS had been sleeping on the bench every night and that hospital staff thought he was her father. Then she thought back to all the colors she had seen him in. As a cop appreciating her bravery, as a coach teaching her how to be a coach, as her uncle doting on his Queen Victoria at the dosa stall, her hugging him and telling him he was family - a smile deepening on her face as she remembered each incident and then turning into tears as she remembered pushing him away when he tried to talk to her.
How hard was it for HS to bring himself to fight against his instincts and say "please come back home with me and stay there until you recover. After that you can go wherever you want and I will not stop you". How can a father let his child out of his sight? But he would, because that is what made her happy, and he would pave the way for her by troubling her mother enough to make her want to leave the house. He was willing to be the bad guy so that only the good remained with his daughter.
Main teri aankh mein zara sa bhi aansoo nahin dekh sakta.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED the way he explained to her that he had never intended to cross the boundary but that his heart was not in his control. I LOVED the way he did not apologize for loving Babita, rather he was sorry for failing to understand how Minnie would be affected, that his actions could hurt her. He wanted her to feel no stress, guilt, or other burden. If she wanted to leave, that's the way it would be, and he would ensure that she would leave with a clear conscience.
He felt he had made a mistake by failing to anticipate that he would hurt Minnie by invading the space that she had created for her mother and herself. How beautifully he expressed that he had understood her perspective and her fears, never blaming her or finding fault with her reasoning for being possessive and over-protective of her mother.
Ab aise mein tu kisi ko, kisi ko matlab xyz koi bhi kaise uske itne qareeb aane de sakti hai.... ke woh iske itne close aa jaaye ke usko hurt kar sakey.
I think it hurt Minnie and HS both when he called himself "xyz", an outsider, and when he counted himself among those who could hurt her Babes, because she knew he had good intentions, she knew he would never do that but her insecurities were greater than her trust in life and in the concept of love.
Ek baat share karta hoon tere se, main chaahta na teri mummy ki aankh mein ek aansoo nahin aane deta main, usko kabhi koi dukh na pohonchata.
Lekin manne ye na maalom tha ke bhai jo main kar raha hoon na, usse tu bohot hurt ho jaayegi.
HS, without making any excuses, clears his stance once and for all to reassure Minnie that he would have never hurt her mother, but that he hadn't known that his actions would hurt his Veer Balika.
Ek baat bataon, tanne... Tum dono mein zyaada favorite to tu hi hai meri.
Thaari mummy se zyaada pasand karoon hoon main tanne.
Tu first hai.
Wow! Wow! Wow! We've always known that he loved Minnie more but just to hear him say it out loud, to her, just took my heart away. This is not a man trying to win his potential step daughter over so that he could be with her mother. This is father choosing his daughter over his own happiness, over his own lady love, even if that was his own daughter ki mother.
And then when he said that if he'd ever had a daughter she would be like him. Aww! Knowing what we know know about how he lost his child, that was a big thing for him to have spoken about. He has a different kind of connect with his Veer Balika that he can share everything with her. This was her way of saying he saw her as his own daughter.
He is so magnanimous that he promised her that even after they leave the house, he would always maintain this bond of friendship, because that's what she had wanted from him, from their bond. He would still be her 4 am friend. Minnie was overwhelmed because she knew his every word was true, and straight from the heart. He did not want her to feel trouble or to ruin her health for whatever reason.
My heart broke when he was telling her in a voice ripped apart in pain:
Main jo hoon na, tere ko pareshaan nahin dekh sakta. Tere aankhon mein aansoon nahin dekh sakta. Kaleja... chid sa jaata hai.
How does one translate these lines? And even if one does, how does one express the emotions in Hanuman's eyes as tells his Veer Balika this? All I saw was a father, whose heart was breaking at the sight of his daughter lying his hospital, seemingly sick because of the stress she was under, even if it meant he would have to let her go and not be able to look after her or watch her grow. It broke my heart all over again when he stumbled on those words. Everyone sees Minnie as a mature and bright girl, almost and adult, but to him she is his little girl.
And then came:
Main tere ko hamesha aise dekhna chahta hoon, indicating a smile with his fingers, even as tears were running down his cheeks.
Teri million dollar smile. Aise hi rehna ekdum, khilkhilaati si, chirpy bird ki tarah khush ekdum.
I think these words will haunt Minnie (and me) for a long long time. Kudos to the dialogue writer! Every word pierced my heart. This is what a father is about: looking for his child's smile even if it means being left in tears.
Aniruddh was mind-blowing! I don't have words to praise him, really. I can't think of any other actor who could have pulled these scenes off with just the right touch of emotion and positivity laced with despair.
As with everything else, Babita was the common thread between them, but their relationship had transcended that a long time ago. They were both hurting but they would not let Babita be hurt or find out what had happened. He wanted Minnie to put this behind her and move on, even if it meant being left behind with all the pain and sorrow.
When he felt overwhelmed by his tears he left the room but stood just outside. He knew she was crying the same tears that he was, he wanted to go back in to console her but stopped himself, and when it became unbearable, he left. The song Naina, was perfect for this situation as even in the movie it played when father and daughter were hurting because of the distance between them.
The stairs scene
The usually brave girl was daunted by the stairs. HS kept a close eye on her, knew she was struggling to walk even, but was trying his best to control his urge to rush to her side to help. The moment, she sounded her exasperation at being unable to climb, the deal was sealed. He walked over to her and said he would carry her upstairs. Her excuses about her being too heavy to lift didn't fly and even though she was genuinely concerned for him, HS was quick to remind her that he was the one who had carried her down the first time round. No burden is too heavy for a father to carry except seeing the grief of his child. It all came back full circle as he took his precious little girl upstairs and laid her gently on the bed from where he had picked her up and raced to the hospital. This didn't go unnoticed by everyone else.
Thank you, Hanuman Uncle
When she stopped him and said she wanted to say something, he couldn't bear to turn around to face her. He thought he knew what she was going to say and pre-empted her by saying he would ask Lala to find her a place once she had recovered. He was fighting with himself as he spoke those words. I am now sure that his heart was breaking mainly at the thought that he was going to lose her but if this was the only way to keep her in his life, even at a distance, then so be it.
Mujhe woh nahin kehna tha! she said
Huh? What, then? He didn't think there was anything else to be said. He refused to turn around until he heard her small voice saying "Hanuman Uncle, mujhe aapko thanks bolna tha".
Normally he would have been upset at being thanked like an outsider, but this thank you was loaded with everything she had felt since the day she met him: gratitude for giving them shelter, for supporting her, for counseling her, for looking after her, for understanding her fears, and on some level for the huge sacrifice she knew he was making for her. He understood what she meant, but also that this was a sort of closing of accounts, totaling all sums, and tying lose ends before being separated. He was leaving without saying anything - what could he? Until Babita asked asked him "Itni takleef uthaayi hai na aapne"..
Takleef? Ji bohot takleef hui, but it's ok.
This was his way of responding to Minnie's thank you earlier. He had been terribly hurt but no matter how tough things were he would deal with it. She knew how broken he was at that moment, and I think all the residual anger left her then. With that he left the room, steeling himself for what was to come.
From calling Dadu and Beeji as Minnie ke apne log to sending Naeem bi off to work, he could fool everyone but not Naeem bi. She is definitely going to confront him to find out what had happened. She even stopped for a second before leaving but he seemed unapproachable at that moment. I think we are going to see this side of HS the next few days - I personally love it. He needs his own space and me time too. Enough is enough. The man has been through enough.
I hope Babita tries to understand what is going on. She cannot imagine what could have happened that even after the events of the past few days father-daughter still hadn't gone back their previous ways and HS was neither paying her much attention nor showing the same warmth as before. "Don't wait for me for dinner, I'll be late" - they looked like a couple who had had a fight, except they hadn't. What could have happened that the wonderful man who had stood by her through the past few days and took care of her every need was now not willing to engage with her?
It looks like HS will go back to his old ways, throwing himself into his work, avoiding Babita at any cost. He wants to protect himself from any interactions as with the reference to being guarded when showering. He was extra harsh with Lala today, who knew something was up and couldn't understand why his Sir Sahab was not even talking directly to Babita anymore. I was impressed that amidst all the insanity of the past few days, HS was still on top of what was going on in terms of law and order. Glad to see that he can be emotional and sensitive, but his identity as a policeman remains intact, as does his professionalism.
I understand where the embroidered hanky will come from but I am sure there is some deeper meaning that we will find out later. Perhaps Minnie is going to see that Babita embroidered the 'H' on it. I guess Babita will wait up for him to give him his clothes and the hanky and he will use this opportunity to be tough with her. I am just wondering how long he can keep it up because it goes against his nature to be rude to anyone, least of all Babita. So avoiding her is his best solution. The more he tries to annoy her to convince her to leave, the more frustrated she will become. I guess that's why she will blow chilli powder on him. It's good though. The last few days have been heavy on the emotions so it's time for some lighthearted moments to balance things out.
Pre-cap: Glad to see Mickey talk sense to her and make her start questioning her beliefs. Sometimes your peers can get through to you in a way adults can't. She will eventually realize that HS distancing himself from her Babes will hurt her even more, and that by getting in the way of Babita's feelings for HS she is depriving her mother of a chance to experience the love she never had. I think Minnie will test Babita with the clay making experience.
Minnie hasn't started thinking of him as a father yet in a conscious manner but her heart already accepted him ages ago. I don't think Minnie knows what a father's love is or what to expect from a father, so she can't see the evidence right in front of her: that he has been standing next to his Veer Balika all this time.
First we need Babita to realize what HS means to her, and then Minnie. Let's see it all plays out. He has done more than enough to heal mother-daughter. Now it's their turn to heal him.
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