#ManipulativeWriting Ki Jai Ho! DTNT Pg 8

Oh boy. I don't even know where to begin.

I promised myself that I would not keep watching the show for my own emotional wellbeing, but I watched the most recent episode out of curiosity, because as some of you can tell (it's pretty obvious by my profile picture 😆), I'm a fan of Kaveri's. And I was left with an extremely bitter taste in my mouth, as per usual.

I have probably been labeled a "Kuhu defender" by now in this forum, based on all of the posts that I have made in favor of her, and this post will probably just solidify this tag. But even in this episode, I found Kuhu's feelings justified.

By now, some of you are probably horrified, disgusted, repulsed, nauseated, and the like, and will proceed to come out guns blazing, ready to attack this POV. But here's why I feel this way. Kuhu's excitement and then consequent anger makes complete sense. Even though she personally did not win the award, she sacrificed a lot so that Kunal could earn it. In the past year, she provided him with a ton of emotional support and understanding (despite her own conflicting and hurt feelings), supported his family and helped hold them together (during the Mehul track, during the MishBir breakup track, etc.), and stayed back with the family and took care of everything when he had to go abroad, all while going to bed alone for three months. She's a concrete example of "the woman behind the successful man", and she deserved that recognition, and she was excited to get it. She was also incredibly proud of Kunal's hard work, and she knows that even though Kunal may never say it, he too, appreciates the recognition.

So why is it, that a completely rational POV is taken, manipulated, and spit out in the form of over-the-top dialogues? Here's why: Because the writers know that there are two types of people who watch the show: the first being the type to receive the dialogue as a major form of characterization and accept the supposed narrative at face value, and the second being the type to take the dialogue at face value, and the subtle narrative as the characterization.

Here's what the scene should have looked and sounded like:

Kuhu: "Haan, main gussa hoon. Kunal ne kitni mehnat ki iss award ke liye, aur main bohot excited thi kyunki woh uss mehnat ke liye recognition milne waala tha. Maine bhi bohot kuch sacrifice aur compromise kiya aur iss parivaar ka khayal rakha, taaki woh apne career par focus kar sake. Par meri kismat itni achhi kahan hoti hai? Jo recognition mere aur Kunal ki thi, woh as usual, Mishti aur Abir bro ko mili. And yeh koi nayi baat nahin hai. Bachpan se lekar aaj tak, Mishti has never had to struggle for getting recognition for what she does. Kyun?"

By taking out the OTT BG music, the addition of OTT dialogues to completely invalidate Kuhu's sentiments in the audience's eyes, this POV immediately becomes more digestible. And I didn't even have to take anything away from Kuhu's characterization in doing so.

Now before people go, "Kuhu is evil! She tried to "murder" Mishti over at Janmashtami last year! She tried to hurt Abir with the sleeping pills! She's a scheming, steaming "megalomaniac"!", I want to point out that other characters have done equally shady things, but they weren't coupled with over-the-top dialogues and over-the-top BG music just to spin a completely different story. So it's obvious that the writers simply see Kuhu's character as the scapegoat for drama, as opposed to a well-fleshed out character with realistic feelings and resentment.

I've often wondered why people don't see Kuhu the way I see her: heavily misunderstood. But then I remember, if other characters on the show refuse to see Kuhu's POV, and the one character that does is also conveniently painted as scheming and conniving, what can I expect from the majority of the audience?

I've never been a proponent of painting characters as victims. Which is why I hate that Mishti is constantly being painted as a victim, and Kuhu as the consistent aggressor, when the fact of the matter is that Mishti and Kuhu just come from different places. And I'm definitely not painting Kuhu as a victim in this situation. But I can't ignore the fact that the writers take completely reasonable, relatable, and down-to-earth characterization, and manipulate it to no end (using extremely cheap tactics) so that at the end of the day, the girl that was the most realistic ends up looking like the villain of the story. Why else would the writers keep putting her character in situations where her stance can be 100% justified and validated, but still make her look immature, petty and bratty in front of Mishti? Are these writers completely unable to paint Mishti in a good light without putting down Kuhu and making her look like the antagonist?

Hence, three cheers for the most manipulative, gaslit, weak, and lazy writing I've ever seen!

P.S. I'm not gonna be arguing with anyone on this thread, because quite frankly, I don't want to have to defend this POV, because I've tried it before on here, and it's exhausting. It's my opinion, and it's not gonna change. So please don't take my silence as my inability to reply, or lack of a good answer. Because I can guarantee you that I have enough up my sleeve to discuss this all day.

Originally posted by: journalgirl321

Oh boy. I don't even know where to begin.

I promised myself that I would not keep watching the show for my own emotional wellbeing, but I watched the most recent episode out of curiosity, because as some of you can tell (it's pretty obvious by my profile picture 😆), I'm a fan of Kaveri's. And I was left with an extremely bitter taste in my mouth, as per usual.

I have probably been labeled a "Kuhu defender" by now in this forum, based on all of the posts that I have made in favor of her, and this post will probably just solidify this tag. But even in this episode, I found Kuhu's feelings justified.

By now, some of you are probably horrified, disgusted, repulsed, nauseated, and the like, and will proceed to come out guns blazing, ready to attack this POV. But here's why I feel this way. Kuhu's excitement and then consequent anger makes complete sense. Even though she personally did not win the award, she sacrificed a lot so that Kunal could earn it. In the past year, she provided him with a ton of emotional support and understanding (despite her own conflicting and hurt feelings), supported his family and helped hold them together (during the Mehul track, during the MishBir breakup track, etc.), and stayed back with the family and took care of everything when he had to go abroad, all while going to bed alone for three months. She's a concrete example of "the woman behind the successful man", and she deserved that recognition, and she was excited to get it. She was also incredibly proud of Kunal's hard work, and she knows that even though Kunal may never say it, he too, appreciates the recognition.

So why is it, that a completely rational POV is taken, manipulated, and spit out in the form of over-the-top dialogues? Here's why: Because the writers know that there are two types of people who watch the show: the first being the type to receive the dialogue as a major form of characterization and accept the supposed narrative at face value, and the second being the type to take the dialogue at face value, and the subtle narrative as the characterization.

Here's what the scene should have looked and sounded like:

Kuhu: "Haan, main gussa hoon. Kunal ne kitni mehnat ki iss award ke liye, aur main bohot excited thi kyunki woh uss mehnat ke liye recognition milne waala tha. Maine bhi bohot kuch sacrifice aur compromise kiya aur iss parivaar ka khayal rakha, taaki woh apne career par focus kar sake. Par meri kismat itni achhi kahan hoti hai? Jo recognition mere aur Kunal ki thi, woh as usual, Mishti aur Abir bro ko mili. And yeh koi nayi baat nahin hai. Bachpan se lekar aaj tak, Mishti has never had to struggle for getting recognition for what she does. Kyun?"

By taking out the OTT BG music, the addition of OTT dialogues to completely invalidate Kuhu's sentiments in the audience's eyes, this POV immediately becomes more digestible. And I didn't even have to take anything away from Kuhu's characterization in doing so.

Now before people go, "Kuhu is evil! She tried to "murder" Mishti over at Janmashtami last year! She tried to hurt Abir with the sleeping pills! She's a scheming, steaming "megalomaniac"!", I want to point out that other characters have done equally shady things, but they weren't coupled with over-the-top dialogues and over-the-top BG music just to spin a completely different story. So it's obvious that the writers simply see Kuhu's character as the scapegoat for drama, as opposed to a well-fleshed out character with realistic feelings and resentment.

I've often wondered why people don't see Kuhu the way I see her: heavily misunderstood. But then I remember, if other characters on the show refuse to see Kuhu's POV, and the one character that does is also conveniently painted as scheming and conniving, what can I expect from the majority of the audience?

I've never been a proponent of painting characters as victims. Which is why I hate that Mishti is constantly being painted as a victim, and Kuhu as the consistent aggressor, when the fact of the matter is that Mishti and Kuhu just come from different places. And I'm definitely not painting Kuhu as a victim in this situation. But I can't ignore the fact that the writers take completely reasonable, relatable, and down-to-earth characterization, and manipulate it to no end (using extremely cheap tactics) so that at the end of the day, the girl that was the most realistic ends up looking like the villain of the story. Why else would the writers keep putting her character in situations where her stance can be 100% justified and validated, but still make her look immature, petty and bratty in front of Mishti? Are these writers completely unable to paint Mishti in a good light without putting down Kuhu and making her look like the antagonist?

Hence, three cheers for the most manipulative, gaslit, weak, and lazy writing I've ever seen!

P.S. I'm not gonna be arguing with anyone on this thread, because quite frankly, I don't want to have to defend this POV, because I've tried it before on here, and it's exhausting. It's my opinion, and it's not gonna change. So please don't take my silence as my inability to reply, or lack of a good answer. Because I can guarantee you that I have enough up my sleeve to discuss this all day.

@Bold -

Kuhu is a character in this show, She has always been like this, someone whose anger/hatred overpowers her to an extent that she can try to hurt people like she did with Mishti in last Janmashtami.

Coming today's topic, What Kuhu did and said WAS relatable at least to me, I say things in anger, curse people then sit down crying asking God not to listen to things I said in anger but it happens and she had a very good reason for it, I would be mad/upset/hurt too if something like this had happened to me. I would have liked if Kuhu had calmed down after cursing Mishti, instead of asking Mishti to come to her and apologize personally for something which wasn't Mishti's fault

I get the disappointment. I get that the dialogues are OTT. But even when you wrote your revised dialogues, you included Mishti in that, so that's obviously in character. That's what I have trouble with. For Kuhu to be truly happy, she needs to leave off that comparison with another person - what they get, how they get it - all of that is irrelevant to her happiness, or should be. I get that people can sometimes get envious of others' good fortune, but doing that doesn't hurt the other person as much as it hurts you.

Frankly, I have no expectation that the CVs will take efforts to flesh out Kuhu like the complex character she is supposed to be. Right now, all I see is that they are juicing the character to milk the maximum drama out of her as we know now Kunal is way past that stage.

I am hating how everything happening wrong with Mishti and Abir has to be Kuhu, can we please expect mishti and abir to make their own mistakes and learn from them?

The whole idea of Mishti having to apologise to Kuhu is OTT because Mishti didn't publish the picture. We could even have a track where Kuhu wants to live separately for sometime or go away for a event. Kunal could go bring her back and they could have a proper conversation regarding their insecurities and solidify their relationship.

I wish for a whole of things to happen which I dont think is going to happen, I wont be watching the show as I cannot stand and watch Kuhu getting butchered any further.

Originally posted by: angelfire78

I get the disappointment. I get that the dialogues are OTT. But even when you wrote your revised dialogues, you included Mishti in that, so that's obviously in character. That's what I have trouble with. For Kuhu to be truly happy, she needs to leave off that comparison with another person - what they get, how they get it - all of that is irrelevant to her happiness, or should be. I get that people can sometimes get envious of others' good fortune, but doing that doesn't hurt the other person as much as it hurts you.

And I don't disagree with you! It's a part of the manipulative writing. The writers refuse to address this problem and give Kuhu's issues a proper track, because they know that the minute they do that, they'll run out of options for OTT drama in future tracks. Which is honestly sad, seeing as how they have so much potential in other places, with Kunal's issues between Parul and Meenakshi, and Mishti and Abir's marriage not being shown to have any conflict whatsoever (their marriage should've led to some sort of character development for the two of them. But it didn't).

And I also agree that asking for an apology from Mishti is dumb on Kuhu's part. It doesn't even make sense. It's yet another attempt to drive home the point that Kuhu is an immature child (which she clearly isn't, when you look at her character's journey).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that this show gave us so many characters with so much potential for depth and growth, and with each passing day, they throw more and more of that potential into the trash in their belief that somehow the audience lives for constant negativity and OTT, lame drama. It's a shame.

1.Kuhu blaming Mishti for all her problems is the problem. She should rightfully blame the magazine like Mishti said. She can blame Abir also if she wanted.
2.If Abir alone had appeared on the magazine cover, she would have been disappointed. That's it. Nothing more. This is all about Mishti vs Kuhu. She has a point on why she deserves appreciation like you said, but not by wrongly accusing Mishti of hogging her limelight.

3.Throughout her rant, she wasn't concerned about Kunal not appearing on the cover. All she kept saying that she was going to be a celebrity and because of Mishti everything got ruined.

If she had only spoken all of the points you mentioned without dragging Mishti into it, or also dragging Kunal-Abir into it (to neutralize her attack on Mishti), I would have 100% been with you and Kuhu.

Originally posted by: journalgirl321

And I don't disagree with you! It's a part of the manipulative writing. The writers refuse to address this problem and give Kuhu's issues a proper track, because they know that the minute they do that, they'll run out of options for OTT drama in future tracks. Which is honestly sad, seeing as how they have so much potential in other places, with Kunal's issues between Parul and Meenakshi, and Mishti and Abir's marriage not being shown to have any conflict whatsoever (their marriage should've led to some sort of character development for the two of them. But it didn't).

And I also agree that asking for an apology from Mishti is dumb on Kuhu's part. It doesn't even make sense. It's yet another attempt to drive home the point that Kuhu is an immature child (which she clearly isn't, when you look at her character's journey).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that this show gave us so many characters with so much potential for depth and growth, and with each passing day, they throw more and more of that potential into the trash in their belief that somehow the audience lives for constant negativity and OTT, lame drama. It's a shame.

You are expecting too much from writers.Kuhu 's character is a Stepney which will be used as & when trp dwindles till the end .

Moreover usko neecha dikhaker hi Misti ko upar utha sakte hai itni hi creativity hai writers mein

Thanks Meera for this! Felt good reading it. The dialogues and sleazy writing could have been better. I think they are trying to push this down our throats that Kuhu IS a negative person and this character will always be used to glorify the leads. What made us like her and what is making us support her even now? I hate that we have come to a point where we make up our own version of dialogues (less OTT). Whom are we fooling? Nothing is gonna change. They cannot play around with gray characters - everything is black or white..

Kuhu: "Haan, main gussa hoon. Kunal ne kitni mehnat ki iss award ke liye, aur main bohot excited thi kyunki woh uss mehnat ke liye recognition milne waala tha. Maine bhi bohot kuch sacrifice aur compromise kiya aur iss parivaar ka khayal rakha, taaki woh apne career par focus kar sake. Par meri kismat itni achhi kahan hoti hai? Jo recognition mere aur Kunal ki thi, woh as usual, Mishti aur Abir bro ko mili. And yeh koi nayi baat nahin hai. Bachpan se lekar aaj tak, Mishti has never had to struggle for getting recognition for what she does. Kyun?"

@Bold

How even this is a fair argument?

Here again, Kuhu assumes that Mishti doesn't have to struggle - but that is not true!!

Kuhu and Mishti both have had their share of struggles. But blaming Mishti based on her assumption that she didn't have to struggle is still conveying the same thing as the OTT dialogues in the episode.

Kuhu's disappointment yesterday was valid. But her measure of her own happiness is always in comparison with Mishti's and that has been like that from day 1 of the show. There is nothing new in that.

The dialogue writers always give bad dialogue to Kuhu character and her traits will change anytime based on show's convenience. Kunal always disrespect her at every instance then calls it as cuteness. She doesn't even expect a sorry from him and accept him wholeheartedly without making fuss. He got business man of the year and Kuhu too holds a small part in it. She wanted to cherish it, yeah she is little selfish for her recognition and she should be as she keeping up with him in every instance. What kya kare, writers wants to show her only as bully, fighting with Mishti at every instance which is boring to me. I love her so much in comedy scenes like the previous eposide. I am going to skip all fighting and over dramatic scenes as it is repetitive and no logic at all with god references and curses.