Shaurya, Shaan and Aastha - doomed from the beginning - Page 3

Originally posted by: backtobetter

It's not for Aastha to decide whether Shaurya needs his dad or her or both. Makers have failed to show a logical reason behind Aastha abandoning her son. A victim of patriarchy is one who succumbs to it. A woman with the courage to fight against it is a fighter. In Aastha's case she fought for her rights and stood by them but didn't fight for her son. Court case would have been hard but with his mother on his side may be the child would have faced it better than growing up thinking the mother never wanted him. Also Aastha knew that the Sabarwal house was a toxic hellhole and she still left her son behind in that house. In a court case Devi or Tej would have had no say. I doubt Shaan would have fought against her and asked for the custody.

Yes it's a fictional character but since we are trying to analyse the characters, especially this trio, this is my perception of Aastha. A strong woman but a weak mother/parent. So far makers didn't show any scenes or storylines to show otherwise. As a parent she was selfish.

Anokhi's mother never fought for her rights and is a victim of patriarchy. But when it came to her daughter she showed the courage and conviction to fight against the system and give her the life she wanted. She was a weak woman as a wife but a strong and selfless mother.

I can't believe I am arguing over a fictional character 🤔.

It is just that Aastha's character attributes don't go with leaving her son just because she did not care. She can put her life and reputation at risk for a girl she has known just for like a year but she could not fight for her son. It is difficult to put this Aastha and that Aastha together. And trust me even I have been bothered about why she did not fight for him enough ever since Mohor, more than a year back. I had wished they showed a more valid reason for her giving up or at the least shown that she went to court but lost. Ideally she should have fought. Not fighting does not go at all with her character. She did not lack courage or conviction. So what was she lacking in? Motherly emotions? That is also doubtful given how much she yearns for her son. If she had been that indifferent, she would not even care to talk to him even when they met in Gurdaspur. That is why I had to come to a plausible explanation with whatever little information we have got to save myself from the cognitivedissonance regarding her character. It may not necessarily satisfy others.

Sabharwals are oppressive true, but their oppression in directed more towards the women whose freedom is restricted. Men are free to do as they like. Shaan grew up fine in that house, atleast fine enough to make her love and marry him and still be in love with him after 25 years. Shaan may believe in certain gender stereotypes but he respects women and is not a misogynist. It is true Shaan did not fight for Aastha because he could not openly go against his brother. But in Shaurya's case, if Devi or Tej filled his mind with wrong ideas, Shaan could always correct him in private. Aastha trusted Shaan to do this much. And mentality is not shaped by upbringing alone. People go out, meet people, teachers, friends, and their attitudes change. Not everyone coming out of a misogynist household turns out to be a misogynist. With time and education, our perspective changes. Siblings brought up in the same house can have different mentality. Case in point, Anokhi never gave up on her dreams but Babli did. Aastha did not know Devi was so insecure and manipulative, if we believe their conversation in the hospital.

I think the biggest reason was the court case. Court verdict in our country is not always just. If Shaan did not want to fight a court case against Aastha then he should have told it when Tej threatened Aastha with the court case. Rich and powerful people can get away with a lot of wrongdoing by hiring expensive lawyers. Tej would pull a lot of strings to win the case, defame Aastha, even accuse her of adultery. Even if Shaurya would have Aastha by his side, she would not be able to protect him from being witness to all this. If you have seen the movie Kramer vs Kramer, the parents suffer a lot of character attacks to win the child's custody but when the child was called to the court, the father gives up the custody because he did not want the child to suffer a grueling cross examination. Here too Aastha's decision was based on similar considerations.

I don't know if I have covered all the points. It has already become too big. In the end I agree with you that Aastha owes an apology to Shaurya because whatever the reasons for her decision, Shaurya did suffer. Nothing can negate that.

Originally posted by: Namita-M

What surprises me the most is Aastha going on and against Devi in the hospital about how toxic Sabherwal house is, yet, she abandoned her 4yr old son to the same toxic environment.

Aastha might be a good daughter, an amazing teacher, a strong woman but she failed as a mother. A mother can do all of those and fight her battles. I’m never going ever like or believe in her self righteous reasons for abandoning her child.

Shaan is absolutely useless and a coward. He couldn’t be there for his son but chose to drown his misery in alcohol. They claim to have so much love for each other but they totally ignored and abandoned Shaurya the proof of that love. I know this is ITV and fiction but as a Mom myself I’m never going to forgive Aastha. I don’t care what she does, she and Shaan ruined Shaurya. Now they act surprised when Shaurya behaves badly. What did you think would happen??

He was raised by the very people and thought process that Aastha ran from. That to me is unforgivable.

Sabharwal house oppressed their women not the men. Yes they instilled certain thinking on the men but it was not so extreme as they run an educational institution and men were in charge of that, so they had to open their minds.

Ideally they should have shown Aastha fighting a case and losing. That would go with her character and make everyone happy.

@bold: Aastha is not surprised. She accepts her mistake and admits that Shaurya behaves that way because she and Shaan failed in their responsibilities. Going by whatever I have seen of her character, she turned out to be a bad mother not because she did not love her son but because at that time she failed to make the correct decision.

If I think about it, Aastha falling for Shaan does not surprise me. As far as I am able to perceive, they fell in love during their college days. Both Shaan and Aastha were of Anokhi's age. At this age, it is easy to get carried away by emotions and make some decisions that may not be the best. Sorry to say but Anokhi is about to do the same. We also see Aastha being a weak mother. She can fight with everyone but not her son. Why? She loves him. She didn't want Shaurya to be dragged to court at his young age. As you mentioned, even if Aastha won Shaurya's custody, he won't have a perfect childhood.

The best option would have been Shaan, Aastha moving out with Shaurya and giving him a humble but decent upbringing.

Wow this is a very thought provoking and insightful thread. Sometimes I am more intrigued by Aastha and Shaan’ story than the leads mainly bcuz of the parallels and influence on the current generation’s story. I would love to see more flashbacks of Aastha and Shaan or at least here some about how they fell in love and how that whole phase went. What little we know is that Shaan proposed and Aastha’s reply was “are you sure?” bcuz she found them to be too different even though they must have been in love (maybe him more in love than her) And we know something about Tej not supporting the alliance and Devi convincing him. I want to know more. What was it about Aastha that scared Tej and made him against the relationship? Is it similar to what we’re seeing with AS part 2 today?

I think Aastha’s biggest mistake was marrying Shaan bcuz she ended up not just marrying him but sacrificing a lot for a toxic household. And everything else that resulted afterwards (leaving the house, losing Shaurya) was a byproduct of that one decision. We see happy flashbacks but I wonder what other tension was present in that household when Aastha still lived there?

Aastha should advise Anokhi when the time comes. Aastha had no one to tell her about the true Sabherwal household so maybe she’ll try to help Anokhi avoid repeat her mistake of the past. That is if Aaatha does consider her past a mistake.

Originally posted by: Idiotboxer

I can't believe I am arguing over a fictional character 🤔.

It is just that Aastha's character attributes don't go with leaving her son just because she did not care. She can put her life and reputation at risk for a girl she has known just for like a year but she could not fight for her son. It is difficult to put this Aastha and that Aastha together. And trust me even I have been bothered about why she did not fight for him enough ever since Mohor, more than a year back. I had wished they showed a more valid reason for her giving up or at the least shown that she went to court but lost. Ideally she should have fought. Not fighting does not go at all with her character. She did not lack courage or conviction. So what was she lacking in? Motherly emotions? That is also doubtful given how much she yearns for her son. If she had been that indifferent, she would not even care to talk to him even when they met in Gurdaspur. That is why I had to come to a plausible explanation with whatever little information we have got to save myself from the cognitivedissonance regarding her character. It may not necessarily satisfy others.

Sabharwals are oppressive true, but their oppression in directed more towards the women whose freedom is restricted. Men are free to do as they like. Shaan grew up fine in that house, atleast fine enough to make her love and marry him and still be in love with him after 25 years. Shaan may believe in certain gender stereotypes but he respects women and is not a misogynist. It is true Shaan did not fight for Aastha because he could not openly go against his brother. But in Shaurya's case, if Devi or Tej filled his mind with wrong ideas, Shaan could always correct him in private. Aastha trusted Shaan to do this much. And mentality is not shaped by upbringing alone. People go out, meet people, teachers, friends, and their attitudes change. Not everyone coming out of a misogynist household turns out to be a misogynist. With time and education, our perspective changes. Siblings brought up in the same house can have different mentality. Case in point, Anokhi never gave up on her dreams but Babli did. Aastha did not know Devi was so insecure and manipulative, if we believe their conversation in the hospital.

I think the biggest reason was the court case. Court verdict in our country is not always just. If Shaan did not want to fight a court case against Aastha then he should have told it when Tej threatened Aastha with the court case. Rich and powerful people can get away with a lot of wrongdoing by hiring expensive lawyers. Tej would pull a lot of strings to win the case, defame Aastha, even accuse her of adultery. Even if Shaurya would have Aastha by his side, she would not be able to protect him from being witness to all this. If you have seen the movie Kramer vs Kramer, the parents suffer a lot of character attacks to win the child's custody but when the child was called to the court, the father gives up the custody because he did not want the child to suffer a grueling cross examination. Here too Aastha's decision was based on similar considerations.

I don't know if I have covered all the points. It has already become too big. In the end I agree with you that Aastha owes an apology to Shaurya because whatever the reasons for her decision, Shaurya did suffer. Nothing can negate that.

This is a great point. I wish they had at least shown an attempt to gain custody here and then seeing the impact on Shaurya junior, withdrawn it. but perhaps Aastha had foresight to see how things would shape up since she was threatened earlier by Tej before leaving their house.
there is also the angle of Aastha’s parents which we’ve only seen a few times in the earlier episode. How did they feel about their daughter losing her son and their grandson? Given the parents seemed to be in a bad spot with the brothers accident and had enough to worry about. But to not see their grandson for 25 years. Maybe they also came to terms with it the way Aastha did. Sabherwals did not his deny Aaatha access to her son but also her parents to their grandson

Originally posted by: somewhereover

Wow this is a very thought provoking and insightful thread. Sometimes I am more intrigued by Aastha and Shaan’ story than the leads mainly bcuz of the parallels and influence on the current generation’s story. I would love to see more flashbacks of Aastha and Shaan or at least here some about how they fell in love and how that whole phase went. What little we know is that Shaan proposed and Aastha’s reply was “are you sure?” bcuz she found them to be too different even though they must have been in love (maybe him more in love than her) And we know something about Tej not supporting the alliance and Devi convincing him. I want to know more. What was it about Aastha that scared Tej and made him against the relationship? Is it similar to what we’re seeing with AS part 2 today?

I think Aastha’s biggest mistake was marrying Shaan bcuz she ended up not just marrying him but sacrificing a lot for a toxic household. And everything else that resulted afterwards (leaving the house, losing Shaurya) was a byproduct of that one decision. We see happy flashbacks but I wonder what other tension was present in that household when Aastha still lived there?

Aastha should advise Anokhi when the time comes. Aastha had no one to tell her about the true Sabherwal household so maybe she’ll try to help Anokhi avoid repeat her mistake of the past. That is if Aaatha does consider her past a mistake.

I too wish they had shown Shaurya Anokhi and Shaan Aastha stories in parallel, and given a different title to the show, something ambiguous. Aastha and Shaan's story looks really interesting to me. I think life for her in Sabharwal house may have been similar to that of Kanchan. The Sabharwals wield strict order when it comes to their bahus but they maintain a facade of being responsible, good hearted people. Aastha may have felt suffocated given that she was free spirited but she had no reason to believe Shaurya would get a bad childhood there. I think even if she was not prompted to make this sudden departure to help her parents, she would have left eventually when Shaurya was much older.

@bold: I do think she realizes her mistake now. Marrying into that house, trusting Shaan with caring for Shaurya, not fighting a case for Shaurya, all were her mistakes. She had failed to read well into Devi's mind and was not aware of her insecure nature when she left. It is only now that she is realizing how badly Shaurya has been poisoned. Although she should be wary of letting Anokhi marry into the same house, she will also see in Anokhi a chance to give Shaurya a better life. What she could not do for Shaurya, Anokhi might. And that may lead to her being supportive of their relationship. I do believe that Aastha still loves Shaurya more than Anokhi ( at least upto now) and encouraging this relationship might be a way of overcompensating for her own failure. Though she will always be there to guide Anokhi so that things don't become as bad as it did in her case. I may be wrong, but let's see.

Originally posted by: somewhereover

This is a great point. I wish they had at least shown an attempt to gain custody here and then seeing the impact on Shaurya junior, withdrawn it. but perhaps Aastha had foresight to see how things would shape up since she was threatened earlier by Tej before leaving their house.
there is also the angle of Aastha’s parents which we’ve only seen a few times in the earlier episode. How did they feel about their daughter losing her son and their grandson? Given the parents seemed to be in a bad spot with the brothers accident and had enough to worry about. But to not see their grandson for 25 years. Maybe they also came to terms with it the way Aastha did. Sabherwals did not his deny Aaatha access to her son but also her parents to their grandson

I put forth this theory because I refuse to believe that Aastha ran away at the first chance at freedom she got. In that case she should have left even before Shaurya was born. And it is also difficult to believe that Aastha was irresponsible. Her sense of responsibility goes a above and beyond personal and professional boundaries as we have seen in case of Anokhi. So I wondered what stopped her from fighting a court case and this is the only plausible explanation I could come up with. Yes, I too wished they had shown her give it a try. Maybe she went to see a lawyer because she told Devi while leaving that she would go to any extent to have her son. The lawyer who gave her an insight into what she was getting into. This would include exorbitant fees, emotional trauma for Shaurya, Shaan and herself, getting defamed and what not. She may have realised that fighting a case would result in her becoming broke, mentally shattered, she might also end up losing her job ( Tej could go to any extent to get back at her) and would not be able to do anything for her parents or Shaurya ( if she managed to win his custody despite everything). The stakes were too high so she thought the better of it.

I wish Shaurya gets to meet his grandparents and receive their love which he has been missing out on.

Originally posted by: Idiotboxer

I can't believe I am arguing over a fictional character 🤔.

It is just that Aastha's character attributes don't go with leaving her son just because she did not care. She can put her life and reputation at risk for a girl she has known just for like a year but she could not fight for her son. It is difficult to put this Aastha and that Aastha together. And trust me even I have been bothered about why she did not fight for him enough ever since Mohor, more than a year back. I had wished they showed a more valid reason for her giving up or at the least shown that she went to court but lost. Ideally she should have fought. Not fighting does not go at all with her character. She did not lack courage or conviction. So what was she lacking in? Motherly emotions? That is also doubtful given how much she yearns for her son. If she had been that indifferent, she would not even care to talk to him even when they met in Gurdaspur. That is why I had to come to a plausible explanation with whatever little information we have got to save myself from the cognitivedissonance regarding her character. It may not necessarily satisfy others.

Sabharwals are oppressive true, but their oppression in directed more towards the women whose freedom is restricted. Men are free to do as they like. Shaan grew up fine in that house, atleast fine enough to make her love and marry him and still be in love with him after 25 years. Shaan may believe in certain gender stereotypes but he respects women and is not a misogynist. It is true Shaan did not fight for Aastha because he could not openly go against his brother. But in Shaurya's case, if Devi or Tej filled his mind with wrong ideas, Shaan could always correct him in private. Aastha trusted Shaan to do this much. And mentality is not shaped by upbringing alone. People go out, meet people, teachers, friends, and their attitudes change. Not everyone coming out of a misogynist household turns out to be a misogynist. With time and education, our perspective changes. Siblings brought up in the same house can have different mentality. Case in point, Anokhi never gave up on her dreams but Babli did. Aastha did not know Devi was so insecure and manipulative, if we believe their conversation in the hospital.

I think the biggest reason was the court case. Court verdict in our country is not always just. If Shaan did not want to fight a court case against Aastha then he should have told it when Tej threatened Aastha with the court case. Rich and powerful people can get away with a lot of wrongdoing by hiring expensive lawyers. Tej would pull a lot of strings to win the case, defame Aastha, even accuse her of adultery. Even if Shaurya would have Aastha by his side, she would not be able to protect him from being witness to all this. If you have seen the movie Kramer vs Kramer, the parents suffer a lot of character attacks to win the child's custody but when the child was called to the court, the father gives up the custody because he did not want the child to suffer a grueling cross examination. Here too Aastha's decision was based on similar considerations.

I don't know if I have covered all the points. It has already become too big. In the end I agree with you that Aastha owes an apology to Shaurya because whatever the reasons for her decision, Shaurya did suffer. Nothing can negate that.

It's so nice to read an insightful diagnosis of a character's personality though it's fiction. Like you, even I don't want to believe that Aastha didn't fight for her rights as a mother. A strong woman is usually a stronger mother. I have kids and I'd never ever for anyone's sake give them up to anyone for exclusivity even if that someone is their father.

Aastha being an educated and liberated female, from what the cvs have showed so far, I didn't find any justification.

I like your assumption about the court case and I hope they show something on those lines...Or may be someone threatening her or anything...anything that shows she genuinely "fought" instead of the abla naari version we had so far (I was waiting outside Sabarwal mansion crying for you with your favourite cake on hand).

Let's hope we get to see something! And hopefully not as a narration but with a flashback for better impact in justification.

Originally posted by: Idiotboxer

I too wish they had shown Shaurya Anokhi and Shaan Aastha stories in parallel, and given a different title to the show, something ambiguous. Aastha and Shaan's story looks really interesting to me. I think life for her in Sabharwal house may have been similar to that of Kanchan. The Sabharwals wield strict order when it comes to their bahus but they maintain a facade of being responsible, good hearted people. Aastha may have felt suffocated given that she was free spirited but she had no reason to believe Shaurya would get a bad childhood there. I think even if she was not prompted to make this sudden departure to help her parents, she would have left eventually when Shaurya was much older.

@bold: I do think she realizes her mistake now. Marrying into that house, trusting Shaan with caring for Shaurya, not fighting a case for Shaurya, all were her mistakes. She had failed to read well into Devi's mind and was not aware of her insecure nature when she left. It is only now that she is realizing how badly Shaurya has been poisoned. Although she should be wary of letting Anokhi marry into the same house, she will also see in Anokhi a chance to give Shaurya a better life. What she could not do for Shaurya, Anokhi might. And that may lead to her being supportive of their relationship. I do believe that Aastha still loves Shaurya more than Anokhi ( at least upto now) and encouraging this relationship might be a way of overcompensating for her own failure. Though she will always be there to guide Anokhi so that things don't become as bad as it did in her case. I may be wrong, but let's see.

To be very honest, I do want to see reluctance for a few minutes for sure knowing what she went through and venting it out on Shaurya when they reveal the relationship.

Shaurya is clearly one stubborn person too... So he would convince Astha and seeing his determination... Astha might feel closer to her son and take this as a way to be closer... Because @bold she definitely loves Shaurya more than Anokhi and if this alliance brings her closer to her son... Why not?

Again, getting Shaurya on the right path with right woman and all are definitely part of the platter.