ANALYSIS! Arnav's Acceptance of Contract Marriage *New* Pg 11 | Oct 5 - Page 6

took me a minute to gather my thoughts;

starting out with Anjali and Nani, I think specifically for Anjali the biggest problem was being left out of the whole plan. She wouldn't have had any objections if she herself would've known about the elopement. Even if she would've disagreed, I think she wouldn't have created a fuss afterwards but for Anjali and Nani, the visual of these two married left them marred. Besides that they seldom have any control over Arnav's life decisions, this was something that they had been pestering to him about since ages and then he goes ahead and gets married to the girl they had already chosen for him. They both were aware that they can't get any answers from Arnav if he refuses and Khushi becomes a predictably easy target!

I think it's the need for those answers that's probes them to push towards questions and accusations tied around honour and pride. They expected better from Khushi now that she was going to be in his life. They hoped for better.

With Khushi on the terrace, of course she went upstairs because Arnav ji wanted to talk to her about something and he had been so kind and exactly like her rajkummar the entire day. I think Khushi's character was emotionally stunted in a way where she tried to empathise but wasn't fully bale to ever do so because she never confronted her own feelings, and always represses them. After finding out about Anjali's pregnancy, she just closes her eyes and hopes for the best because if she were Shyam, becoming a parent would be a joy. She went upstairs expecting a proposal and instead got assaulted by a man who cheated her family. The entirety of what that terrace situation gave her were more memories to repress, more memories she has to refuse to confront because they'll shake the delicate balance on which everyone she cares' about, their happiness is hanging on by.

oh how I wish she would have tried at least once to tell Arnav during their marriage but that's Khushi.

With Arnav, oh what a terrible moment it was for him. The girl he had always been so apprehensive of has been turning into an extremely important person yet here she was, advising the man holding the keys to happiness for his sister to leave his sister.

I think even if Arnav would've confronted Khushi, he wouldn't have believed her wholeheartedly. Why would he. She has always shown up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and despite understanding that accidents and Khushi are usually a coincidence, she also illicit reactions and emotions in him that he hadn't been ready for, for the longest time. I do think that Arnav in light of the realisation of his love for her would've given her more benefit of doubt in the beginning than he did when she tried to commit suicide. But I think because of the same love, he wouldn't have been able to bear validation of whatever he heard, so agree with you there completely!

While Shyam was someone Arnav had grown to respect and adore, he was a still someone he looked at because of his sister. Shyam and his relationship was very strictly present because of Anjali regardless of how many times in the beginning Shyam was shown to have a relationship with every single family member. I think Shyam's presence as an extension of Anjali really helped Arnav confront him.

I think one of the reasons Shyam didn't hesitate in confessing his love for Khushi to Arnav after the confrontation was because he saw what was happening between the two, more so than what others saw. He needed to make sure that Khushi is isolated again. That was what he did in terms of pressurising Khushi for the engagement and that's what he thinks he needs to do with her after holi as well. That if she doesn't have anyone to lean on, then she HAS to chose him. I think that's where Shyam didn't think too much of Arnav's love for Khushi. Arnav's love was always more intense and aggressive and thrived off his and Khushi's fights, arguments, and challenges.

There was in no way Arnav would've just allowed these two cheaters to go live happily ever after even if Anjali wasn't pregnant. Especially Khushi. I do think his marriage to Khushi conveniently got the reason of saving his sister's marriage because I think he would've pursued some form of revenge from her for the betrayal and pain she caused him. He was perfectly happy before her in his relationships of convenience and then she comes in and messes up everything. She bore the burnt of his anger multiple times for never staying put and challenging him.

Shyam severely underestimated Arnav's feelings for Khushi with his confession. He hoped for Khushi and him to be kicked out and instead he had to play happy for four more months. I think Shyam's a terrible lawyer. None of his plans ever pan out and his defences are usually pretty weak but he is good at prolonging the decisions or dragging things out so that the truth can start poking holes in itself through its own weaknesses.

I think the terrace is where Shyam's downfall slowly starts. He starts off by playing someone else and but his confidence in his own abilities becomes a reason for his to be at mercy of Arnav.

Originally posted by: renee.bee

I have issues with Nani because she said love is destructive when Arnav was dating La but love was okay for Anjali and Akash.

I also understand about culture and elders blessings etc but all that was compromised when Arnav La were openly living in together without Nani's blessings so she should be thankful for it.

If they were upset at not being involved in the decision or part of rituals they could have simply accepted the marriage and given their blessings and conducted the rituals again instead of so much drama as if they did some crime. Why welcome Khushi with so much gloom. Weren't these same family members okay with letting Akash Payal happen without Mami's presence.

I agree with you on Lavanya. She was really rude and treated others who didn't match up to her standards badly. Eg how she treated the old house help or how she behaved at AR or RM with Khushi.

Anjali didn't dare to question let alone call out La when Police was called to their home on Janmashtami citing reasons like it's celebration but Arnav's marriage wasn't a celebration or some good event so everyone had to pounce on Khushi for marrying Arnav.

Again when Khushi was getting thrown out by Dadi without cheap accusations these same two ladies supported Dadi not Khushi. That's where Nani and Anjali were hypocrites.

to only answer the bold;

I think nani was one of the few people to completely understand Arnav and finding it exhausting that she understood her grandson a little too well. I think even Anjali referring to Arnav's love as wrapped in anger shows that the love Arnav has for people around him can easily reach towards a point of self destruction. Clearly love means a lot to Arnav if he refuses to believe in it seeing the disastrous result it has on his mother's life. he purposefully navigates relationships through pragmatic decisions rather than emotional ones because of how much he fears the intensity of his own emotions which manifests in his anger.

As for Anjali and Nani not supporting Khushi in front of Dadi, I think it had to do with a lot of how they both were wary of the changes in Arnav's emotional state and his sharing of his next steps with his sister since Khushi came. Anjali was also only okay with Khushi at that time because of being able to secretly meet Shyam so she didn't care about Khushi as much at the time until I think Shyam confessed to everything himself. But I do agree that there was a lot more hypocritical reaction towards Khushi. Mostly I think because the Raizada expected more from her but also she was much more easier as a person to taunt or blame. She didn't talk back to adults which was on contrast to Lavanya.

I agree with how Khushi's character was treated especially by women around her who were suppose to be her guardians and supporters, wether Anjali, Nani, or Bua ji; was wrong. I think mostly Khushi was an easier target to question, to expect from, and to ask accountability from. If Khushi had been Mami Ji's bahu she would've been treated worse than Payal but because she had Arnav, that saved her from a lot more character shredding accusations and disappointments simply because since Chotte doesn't answer to anyone, his wife doesn't need to either.

Originally posted by: Flo3241

So I actually watched this show while it was on air on Star Plus in 2011/2012.

I got all nostalgic recently and decided to rewatch it. Started last month, just finished watching all 406 episodes hence my little research on what others think about it. And I totally agree with your analysis.

It’s almost a decade since the show aired and rewatching it as an adult made me realise a lot of things in their relationship that I didn’t think was a problem due to my teenage mentality back then.

Also @dramebaaz.af hit the nail right on the head when they said “Arnav's marriage to Khushi was driven not because of wanting to protect Anjali and leaving Shayam with no options, but because he wasn't going to let Khushi go. In tying Khushi to himself, he killed two birds with one stone. In the end, he chose his love and his feelings before finding a way to protect his Di's illusion of love.”

I couldn’t agree more!

For years I was upset about how the show ended and how it got cancelled. Actually up until last week I wished for a revival but since finishing it today I’m glad it ended the way it did (- obviously excluding the whole Barun Sobti drama).

I’m also rewatching the old episodes again! I didn’t give Arnav’s behaviour much thought at the time too because I was too young to understand.

I totally agree with you, but I also feel that he was also punishing himself in someway while tying himself to Khushi - he couldn’t let her go and it was painful for him to look at her all the time. Sometimes love is like that, it pains us and we can’t let it go. Same with Khushi, he was horrible with her and out her through hell, but she could never really hate him. She could see his pain and suffering through the hatred.

It’s not an easy thing to do, we can see a glimpse of intense feelings he has for the people he loves. It’s self destructive. No wonder he put walls around him, the moment he started to open up, his world was shattered all over again.

Originally posted by: IPodcastKKND

Hahahaha! I wish I was one of the people directly involved in the show!!!

I'm so glad that my analysis made some sense - at one point this answer became my lists of hypotheses!

You know I feel maybe at one point this team suffered something a lot of writers do - living inside the mind of the characters so they forget to explain it to a third party who has no understanding of the character's mind.

Honestly I feel this whole terrace sequence was perfectly shot and written (would've changed the editing because it would have made a whole different impact if we saw this event from Arnav's perspective instead of a 'oh shit Arnav stay back' we would've gone to a 'oh no... why is Khushi hugging Shyam').

A few things that might have probably helped us reach the conclusion Arnav did is:

- Have some genuine Shyam, Anjali, Arnav moments without the creepy background music. Since we're over exposed to Shyam, it would've been nice if the writers began to show us again how sincere, lovable and important Shyam is to the family. Pull the audience into a false lull that Shyam has indeed changed post the 'revelation' to Khushi.

- ABSOLUTELY DO NOT GIVE US SHYAM'S PERSPECTIVE.

- Show the whole terrace sequence from Arnav's perspective first, thus leading the audience to question what's happening and be able to empathize with Arnav's heartbreak.

- Then reveal the misunderstanding.

And basically post marriage they shifted to Arnav calling her a 'gold digger' and all of that which puts focus on Arnav's class issues and all with Khushi instead of the fact that it was good faith with which he trusted Shyam and which turned his opinion of Khushi.

With his good faith destroyed, Arnav is not calling her a gold digger because at that moment she is hungry for money and status - he's basically reverting every single good opinion of Khushi and thinks the first impression he had about her was the right one.

I literally came up with this analysis after years of watching this scene and isolating it from the terrible post marriage sequences.

Lol, this is a LONG answer to your comment but thank you so much for your comment!

Bold; oh god yes yes yes! After Shyam's confession of him lusting after Khushi and also remarking that Arnav probably had to force Khushi to marry him, he didn't want to believe that he could be wrong about her. But what could he resort to which leaves him in a place where he doesn't have to deal with the pain of betrayal but not also not fall for her, his terrible impression of her.

when talking about perspectives and such, I think ultimately the format of the show led us to that. They barely had episodes in bank, they were shooting seven hours before the episode is suppose to air, and scripts and script changes were coming last minute too. For the longest time remarriage wasn't going to happen but then like sbs/sbb showed like on the day Arnav comes back for phere, them shooting the marriage and grahpravesh sequence. Really sucks how lack of time took away some really good parts of the show.

Again brilliant response 🙌

It's actually highlighting the hidden facts. I absolutely agree to the points you mentioned. It's like it was all out there but we didn't realize it.

Hopefully, someone from the team looks you up and contacts you 🤞(kya pata ipkknd dobara ho)

I'm waiting for more analysis btw 🙈

Originally posted by: IPodcastKKND

Hahahaha! I wish I was one of the people directly involved in the show!!!

I'm so glad that my analysis made some sense - at one point this answer became my lists of hypotheses!

You know I feel maybe at one point this team suffered something a lot of writers do - living inside the mind of the characters so they forget to explain it to a third party who has no understanding of the character's mind.

Honestly I feel this whole terrace sequence was perfectly shot and written (would've changed the editing because it would have made a whole different impact if we saw this event from Arnav's perspective instead of a 'oh shit Arnav stay back' we would've gone to a 'oh no... why is Khushi hugging Shyam').

A few things that might have probably helped us reach the conclusion Arnav did is:

- Have some genuine Shyam, Anjali, Arnav moments without the creepy background music. Since we're over exposed to Shyam, it would've been nice if the writers began to show us again how sincere, lovable and important Shyam is to the family. Pull the audience into a false lull that Shyam has indeed changed post the 'revelation' to Khushi.

- ABSOLUTELY DO NOT GIVE US SHYAM'S PERSPECTIVE.

- Show the whole terrace sequence from Arnav's perspective first, thus leading the audience to question what's happening and be able to empathize with Arnav's heartbreak.

- Then reveal the misunderstanding.

And basically post marriage they shifted to Arnav calling her a 'gold digger' and all of that which puts focus on Arnav's class issues and all with Khushi instead of the fact that it was good faith with which he trusted Shyam and which turned his opinion of Khushi.

With his good faith destroyed, Arnav is not calling her a gold digger because at that moment she is hungry for money and status - he's basically reverting every single good opinion of Khushi and thinks the first impression he had about her was the right one.

I literally came up with this analysis after years of watching this scene and isolating it from the terrible post marriage sequences.

Lol, this is a LONG answer to your comment but thank you so much for your comment!

Hi, I am new here and have only watched, like, three itv shows. So, I recently watched this one from one end to another. I feel as if no one apart from Arnav was a well written character. They were all problematic characters. I hate hate hate how they made Lavanya change everything about herself to gain the respect of that messed up family. Like, who the hell asks someone to learn chikankari to prove her worth to marry their raja beta? They all had controlling tendencies. Arnav, at least, was written like the perfect anti-hero. He was the only sensible person about the whole affair. He knew that they were in a casual relationship and, whilst he wasn't nice to La, he wouldn't have misled her so badly if his family hadn't butted. Even Khushi was annoying to intrude into their personal affair and judge their relationship. Arnav was right to be mad at her for her meddling. And he never would have proposed marriage had he not had such a visceral reaction to Khushi. Khushi always triggered his fight-or-flight instinct, she invoked all these alien feelings in him which he couldn't understand. The verses of the Qawwali were apt for them:

Yeh pyaar inko kheenche, Takraar inko roke.

He never allowed himself time to reflect or normalise these feelings. Flight was never an option for him so fight he did— brutally. But the ironic thing is the more they fought, the stronger their feelings grew for each other. Had they not used such abusive tropes, this could have been such a happy love story.

When both their engagements had ended, and they were creeping their way into a courtship of sorts. Even before that, they were the only one who could empathize with each other—not understand but empathize. Arnav perfectly understood what it meant to be orphaned despite having a family. Khushi's attraction to him is extremely problematic but understandble. Whatever he felt for her, whether anger or love, was not conditional. When he said that tum seh Nahi paaogi if he slapped her is extremely telling.

They both had been victims of abuse : I don't think Anjali was a healthy or effective parental figure. He loved her immensely as his sole family but she did not understood him . She was a very self-absorbed character— not in a cunning way but a pampered way.The way Anjali acted towards Arnav after the kidnapping fiasco tells as much. How did anyone allow a child to be this jaded and aggressive is beyond me. I think Manorama and Akash cared way more for him than the rest of them put together.

I also think Khushi's father was the only one who unconditionally loved her in her family. It was waaaaaaaay tooooo easy for the rest of them to rescind their love from her time and time again. Let me not get started on how they forced her to be engaged to a random stranger for nothing and how easy it was for them to put her in front of her harasser time and time again. Or, how her mother did not even enquire about her on her chowki puja.

So it happened that this terrace fiasco happened when both of them were on the verge of accepting their attachment for each other.

But Arnav never. NEVER. could act rationally around her. His anger and sense of betrayal crowded all his rational thought. Because this whole damn ploy didn't make any damn sense. Had he thought about it rationally, this could be unravelled in a matter of minutes. I also don't think that he objectified her the same way Shyam did. He did not want to possess her as a notch on his belt. But he wasn't willing to let her go either. He had never been able to let her go. The moment they got married, both of them knew that they were in it for life. The six month thing was to make her agree and allow himself enough plausible deniability regarding his own feelings. He was never going to abandon her nor she was ever going to leave him even if they were confused about their feelings. But the shameful thing is how abusive they made Arnav. They could have shown all this angst without the romanticisation of abuse. The both need tons of therapy but I don't think they would ever leave the other.

Originally posted by: dramebaaz.af

Bold; oh god yes yes yes! After Shyam's confession of him lusting after Khushi and also remarking that Arnav probably had to force Khushi to marry him, he didn't want to believe that he could be wrong about her. But what could he resort to which leaves him in a place where he doesn't have to deal with the pain of betrayal but not also not fall for her, his terrible impression of her.

when talking about perspectives and such, I think ultimately the format of the show led us to that. They barely had episodes in bank, they were shooting seven hours before the episode is suppose to air, and scripts and script changes were coming last minute too. For the longest time remarriage wasn't going to happen but then like sbs/sbb showed like on the day Arnav comes back for phere, them shooting the marriage and grahpravesh sequence. Really sucks how lack of time took away some really good parts of the show.

Daily soaps are a tough grind. From really long work hours to like never taking a break - you're right, the lack of time took away the chances of making this show even more phenomenal.

I think it's the lack of anything happening post the marriage sequence pertaining to Arnav's thoughts/plans that still leave us assuming for answers ten years later!

Originally posted by: piyaarshi

Again brilliant response 🙌

It's actually highlighting the hidden facts. I absolutely agree to the points you mentioned. It's like it was all out there but we didn't realize it.

Hopefully, someone from the team looks you up and contacts you 🤞(kya pata ipkknd dobara ho)

I'm waiting for more analysis btw 🙈

Thank you so much! Oho you're too kind! I feel the team did the best they could at their time but also I can't help feeling that almost all the writers were changed or something happened midway that the quality and kind of writing significantly changed. I'll come with a new analysis soon!

Originally posted by: Bluegrass

Hi, I am new here and have only watched, like, three itv shows. So, I recently watched this one from one end to another. I feel as if no one apart from Arnav was a well written character. They were all problematic characters. I hate hate hate how they made Lavanya change everything about herself to gain the respect of that messed up family. Like, who the hell asks someone to learn chikankari to prove her worth to marry their raja beta? They all had controlling tendencies. Arnav, at least, was written like the perfect anti-hero. He was the only sensible person about the whole affair. He knew that they were in a casual relationship and, whilst he wasn't nice to La, he wouldn't have misled her so badly if his family hadn't butted. Even Khushi was annoying to intrude into their personal affair and judge their relationship. Arnav was right to be mad at her for her meddling. And he never would have proposed marriage had he not had such a visceral reaction to Khushi. Khushi always triggered his fight-or-flight instinct, she invoked all these alien feelings in him which he couldn't understand.

That's a very good analysis! Indeed - Arnav was most well fleshed out character of all of them.

The verses of the Qawwali were apt for them:

Yeh pyaar inko kheenche, Takraar inko roke.

He never allowed himself time to reflect or normalise these feelings. Flight was never an option for him so fight he did— brutally. But the ironic thing is the more they fought, the stronger their feelings grew for each other. Had they not used such abusive tropes, this could have been such a happy love story.

@bold: that was so true. I don't see why the tropes were implemented. Otherwise the whole anti-hero and difficult love story was so enthralling to watch.

When both their engagements had ended, and they were creeping their way into a courtship of sorts. Even before that, they were the only one who could empathize with each other—not understand but empathize. Arnav perfectly understood what it meant to be orphaned despite having a family. Khushi's attraction to him is extremely problematic but understandble. Whatever he felt for her, whether anger or love, was not conditional. When he said that tum seh Nahi paaogi if he slapped her is extremely telling.

Indeed. As you said, they pretty much nailed that part of the show.

They both had been victims of abuse : I don't think Anjali was a healthy or effective parental figure. He loved her immensely as his sole family but she did not understood him . She was a very self-absorbed character— not in a cunning way but a pampered way.The way Anjali acted towards Arnav after the kidnapping fiasco tells as much. How did anyone allow a child to be this jaded and aggressive is beyond me. I think Manorama and Akash cared way more for him than the rest of them put together.

I felt there was an error is showing us Anjali's pain. To think about it she suffered immensely and it was disappointing that her pain was pitted against Arnav and Khushi's. It was a bit of bad writing and direction tbh.

I also don't think Khushi father was the only one who unconditionally loved her in her family. It was waaaaaaaay tooooo easy for the rest of them to rescind their love from her time and time again. Let me not get started on how they forced her to be engaged to random stranger for nothing and how easy it was for them to put her in front of her harasser time and time again. Or how her mother did not even enquire about her on her chowki puja.

Yup, so in a way Shashi was the only one who loved her unconditionally irrespective of circumstances.

So it happened that this terrace fiasco happened when both of them were on the verge of accepting their attachment for each other.

But Arnav never. NEVER. could act rationally around her. His anger and sense of betrayal crowded all his rational thought. Because this whole damn ploy didn't make any damn sense. Had he thought about it rationally, this could be unravelled in a matter of minutes. I also don't think that he objectified her the same way Shyam did. He did not want to possess her as a notch on his belt. But he wasn't willing to let her go either. He had never been able to let her go. The moment they got married, both of them knew that they were in it for life. The six month thing was to make her agree and allow himself enough plausible deniability regarding his own feelings. He was never going to abandon her nor she was ever going to leave him even if they were confused about their feelings. But the shameful thing is how abusive they made Arnav. They could have shown all this angst without the romanticisation of abuse. The both need tons of therapy but I don't think they would ever leave the other.

@bold - yes! Yes! Yes! The acknowledgement of this is so important. If they'd leave they'd come back. But we just needed these moments of acknowledgement and efforts to make things right.

Thank you for your analysis and welcome here!