Originally posted by: AreYaar
Absolutely. That is the conclusion I'm also reaching as I now revisit older Malini scenes in light of her recent behavior. There was always an element of control associated with the "kindness" she bestowed on Imlie also....otherwise it makes no sense that she went from being instantly suspicious of Imlie to suddenly singing her praises so much over a few incidents.....lol. Again, this is Malini we're talking about and we all know how far her brain "capacity" extends so we will never get a clear answer for how much she did deliberately and how much subconsciously.....but we can now see her patterns regarding control much more clearly.
With Adi also, even as she played the part of the "delicate flower" that was "patiently" waiting for him for 7 years, there was a clear element of control using guilt that she used to keep him feeling beholden to her....she knew she could always count on that guilt to tie him to her.....that is why the endless phone calls also never seemed to raise any red flags for Adi cuz she managed to keep cloaking it in her "love" and "worry" for him😆....hence increasing his guilt that he must reciprocate by giving her the gift of marriage.
With Imlie, to me it now seems that Malini applied the "keep your enemies closer" approach.....lol she could never fully get a sense of what Adi-Imlie's equation was so she tried to control it on her own terms.....initially as you said by setting up the contrast of assigning herself the role of "protector" for Imlie against Adi....that helped her play both sides....continuing to guilt trip Adi for being a boor to Imlie while also making Imlie feel that Malini is her only savior who speaks to her kindly😆. This ties into the kurta incident example you've given as well....Malini makes it appear as if she's just innocently blurting out or pointing out things but there is an edge to the things she says if you start seeing her patterns.....like with Adi as you said, she pointed out that he never got gifts on his own for her before so that instantly made Adi conscious and he passed the kurta to Malini to give to Imlie.....and with Imlie also she made sure to point out how Adi supposedly now likes Imlie toh that set Imlie on edge too and guilt tripped her into retreating.
Malini is a classic example of an utter coward who will play victim even as she manipulates people into the assigned slots that she has decided for them.....that is what she is currently doing with Adi-Imlie too.
Her plans may just have worked out for her but Adi is a huge wildcard constantly upsetting her plans and no longer giving her the responses she had come to count on to keep him in his place😆.....She's all about maintaining appearances and she seems to think Adi is too.....she's going to learn the hard way how dead wrong she is about that.😆....the more she tries to tighten those screws, the more he will rebel in the long run.
And then Didi will also realize that there no matter how smart of a manipulator she considers herself, she can't out-manipulate Kismat itself😆.