-What if Series?-Marriage was Just the Beginning

Hello Forum People,

Amidst all the highs and lows, cursing Bhabhi-Bhajans and finding ways to press the FF button, we have survived 🤪

So, here I present part 2 of the “What if series”.

Scenario 2

What if Rishita didn't barge in during the wedding that day? What Devi wedding did happen that day? Do you think Devi would have been a really Gaura style couple? Do you think Shiva would have ever accepted Raavi as Dhara?
Do you think Raavi-Shiva would've come closer beyond the understanding of family members?

Do you think Dev would be an outsider in Shivi relationship post marriage?

Do you think Shiva was smitten for a second looking at Raavi in her Dulhan get up where she had commented “chakra gaya na”?

I think this whole scenario of what if is going to be a lot spicier!

Chip in folks !

Link to previous What If’s

1. Respect is Earned, Not Forced

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/157227827

I also think this sometimes.what if Dev had married raavi, but never would have loved her.i am guilty of imagining Dev here as more of a viliian 😷.he would have taken out his frustrations on her, blamed her for being so airheaded and staying always in her Dreamland, continued his relationship with rishita ( I imagined rishita unmarried here).

How would shiva react ? Seeing his lively and ever so cheerful mamikibehenkibeti so depressed.

I even went as far as thinking that raavi would get pregnant, get to know that Dev is cheating on her and leave them all to start a new life.shiva would be silently falling for her strength and supporting her all this while.i thought of writing an FF on this concept 😷, but thought that maybe this would be too much.it may be a bit on the darker side and can malign the pious devar bhabi relationship, so I dropped the ideaa.

But it is an interesting concept if someone wants to explore.what would have happened if she got married to Dev?

🥺🥺 I've actually thought about this situation before. Imagine if Dev and Raavi would have gotten married. And it never looks good to me. Even 'Devi' sounds so wrong to me 😆.

I don't think Raavi would have gotten the status of Dhara for Shiva at all. He's never seen her in that way and was never going to. But yes I reckon he would have accepted her. I also don't think he would have been made to call her bhabi, they might have tried but it would always be mamikibehenkibeti for him. He genuinely looked happy for his brother at one point leading towards the wedding. And we can all see that once he found out about Rishita's family and their threats, he rooted for the Dev and Raavi wedding to happen because it was for the good of the family and his brother. I think Shiva and Raavi would have had the same nok jhok relationship, constantly fighting, Raavi joking about it and Shiva really fighting but without the romance angle. I don't think they would have ever thought about their connection in that way. As we can see that since Raavi has married Shiva she hasn't even thought of Dev in that way, similarly I don't think she would have thought of Shiva. And vice versa.

It's actually Raavi I feel sorry for when I think about it. She would have lived a life with Dev, who probably would avoid her. I can see her waiting on him and getting nothing in return. I can see her trying to form a relationship, trying to connect but there's actually nothing there. She would be the pandya family bahu but not a wife. Basically her dreams would have still shattered if she married Dev. I reckon she might even seek out Shiva as a source of companionship that she never recognised before.

I don't even know if Dev would have wanted someone similar to Dhara at all. I know he harps on about Dhara is this, Dhara is that, but what made him fall for someone completely different if that's what he wanted?

Which is why I'm actually really grateful to Rishita 😆.

Though I don't even want to think about it, but now that you asked so I'll imagine a parallel universe where Rishita got married to the guy that her family chose and didn't come for Dev. If that hadn't happened, then something like this would have -

- Raavi noticing how sad Dev looks, and realizing that he's been like that during all the functions.

- She also notices the other Pandyas giving Dev sympathetic looks while DeVi are seated at mandap.

- When the priest asks them to perform the ceremonies, Dev looks lost and hesitant and Raavi notices this too.

- She thinks why this doesn't feel as happy to her as she had thought it to be.

- She halts the ceremonies for the moment and says she wants to talk to Dev.

- Shiva gets mad and starts yelling at her but Raavi is adamant.

- Raavi and Dev talk in a room while the others outside are worried.

- Raavi gets Dev to finally speak up about Rishita and after knowing the truth, she backs out of the wedding.

- Dev is a coward through and through, Raavi would have made the announcement that the wedding won't happen.

- Guest leave. While others are hesitating, Shiva gets mad at Raavi and this time she answers him in a calm manner.

- She asks him if he hates her so much that he wants her to get married to his brother would never be able to accept her as his wife.

- Raavi expresses her feelings, her hurt, her pain and also breaks ties with the Pandya family for making a fool out of her like this.

- Raavi would have walked away with her family leaving the Pandyas behind, and no ShiVi marriage wouldn't have happened.

I am actually not sure about this. Seeing Dev’s current character arc- do you think he would have kept up with his love for Rishitha?

He seems to me a creature of comfort. Raavi would have fit into his family like a glove, fed him and taken care of all his needs. He might have been mopey initially, but just imagine, Raavi being the airhead she was would have been too over the moon to notice.

I have a feeling GauRa would eventually emotionally blackmail him to act nice with her. Over time with guilt and seeing the comfortable life and happy family in front of him, he would have decided to go with the flow. He would have gotten Raavi pregnant and you know usual family responsibility nonsense. He might have locked away Rishitha in some corner of his mind and quietly lived out his days.

Raavi would have been none the wiser- she always seems to think Dev is quiet and inexpressive and would have consoled herself. Being in a joint family, she does not need to lean exclusively on Shiva, she would happily hop around and have GauRa, Suman, Krish for company at different points in her life. She might not have missed the passion in her life simply because she did not know to look for more passion.

Shiva would have continued as he was before, as he is habituated for his entire childhood. Shiva and Raavi seen the type of people who are so duty bound, they would not stray from the boundaries of bhabhi-devar once it was formed. Shiva would have figured out Raavi was a good person over time and come to accept her as a bhabhi(begrudgingly but would have done so).

Rishitha was a true boon to the story- she was an interruption in the continnum- Dev was forced to push out of his comfort zone, Raavi was forced to evaluate her assumptions and figure how what actually makes her happy in life, and Shiva was forced to accept Raavi as woman and a partner.

As mentioned in the other posts- truly there would have been no ShiVi without Rishitha. Raavi was simply too infatuated and Shiva too prejudiced for their story to move forward. They needed a big jhatka

Actually rishita is the reason we have shivi. As much as I would like to believe that shivi had a childhood chemistry, but the show doesn't hint towards that .they had very few pre wedding scenes in which it is difficult to say if shiva is masking any other emotion behind his anger and hatred.so, thinking about any shivi angle after Dev and Raavis marriage is difficult. Shiva as a character is very morally bound, in terms of relationship.as a dlg of Dev goes" Rishton ki Maryada samajhta hai Mera Bhai" .Devi would have been in a platonic relationship.

Ps- I really like this what if series ❤️

I don't think Shivi would have looked at each other romantically if Raavi was dev's wife.. they simply wouldn't let themselves do that. Raavi would be too infatuated making moony eyes at dev, and Shiva's moral values would not let him view his brother's wife as a potential love interest. Any possibility of a love story between them would have been lost unless Dev and Raavi would somehow divorce. Dev would probably ignore/stay distant from Raavi to begin with, and then would be emotionally blackmailed by GauRa into accepting Raavi.

Excellent post as usual! Honestly I can’t even begin to imagine how this will play out! The attraction between these two from their childhood until the wedding was so intense! I’m surprised no one ever noticed!! It was electrifying! Shiva would probably have to move to another city to avoid dealing with those emotions!

I don’t know if anyone here has read the Bridgerton series but book 6 (When He Was Wicked) has an interesting concept. Michael falls in love with Francesca at first sight except he does so at her wedding with his cousin (they are extremely close/basically brothers). John dies very early into the marriage & Michael leaves out of guilt. It was a natural death but he has this misplaced guilt. They meet a few years later when she is a lot more mature and reserved (she suffered a miscarriage too). And she starts to become extremely attracted to him while he’s the one who is supposed to help her get married (being the only male figure in the family). They literally can’t fight their feelings nor can they keep their hands off of each other 😆 except the love at first sight part, the rest would make for an interesting AU ShiVi story.

Anyway back to the topic, if Raavi did marry Dev, Shiva would still somewhere pine for her. He won’t act on it obviously but damn I wouldn’t want to live in Pandya House cuz of all that combustible energy 😆 I personally believe ShiVi existed much before the wedding was even planned. You know how adamant I am at the idea of their childhood playing a role in all of this 😆

This is a great "What If?" scenario that I keep going back to whenever we have a ShiVi moment.

In terms of the "DeVi" marriage (I shudder to think of this as Dev is in no way apt for Raavi's personality), I think both of them would be unhappy. Raavi's initial happiness will dull down when she realizes her husband is not nearly as obsessed with her as she is. And after Krish blurts out the truth, I think Raavi would have a hard time adjusting to the marriage. I think she will still try, but it wouldn't be like in the past where she "loved" Dev wholeheartedly. As for Dev, I think he would've tried... but it wouldn't be enough. Overall, I see a ton of unhappiness for perhaps a couple of years before these two find happiness together.

In terms of the ShiVi equation, as others have commented on previously, I don't think Shiva would be so shameless as to fall in "love" with his bhabi neither Raavi falling in "love" with Shiva. I think they would continue with their nok-jhoks. However, I think Raavi's unhappiness will be very apparent to Shiva which may lead the way to a ShiVi friendship. I think that friendship will be the thread Raavi holds onto as she figures out her relationship with Dev. I don't think Dev would be an outsider... instead, I think Dev will understand that there are some things Raavi feels more comfortable sharing with Shiva, especially during the initial days of their shaky marriage.

The most "what if" moment I am interested in is how the ShiVi equation changes once Shiva marries another girl. I think of the Royal family and how William-Kate-Harry were a power trio. People could not stop obsessing over them and over Kate and Harry's friendship. Once Harry married, there was seldom any mention of the "Fab 4." And I think it would be similar in the ShiVi scenario. I think the arrival of Shiva's wife will drive the ultimate wedge into the ShiVi friendship, and that is most interesting to me. Raavi would lose a sparring partner, while Shiva falls in love.

That's what the "realistic" story would be like. The shameless side of me, though, would love to see a story of DeVi divorcing and years later, ShiVi marrying each other.

Originally posted by: Transference

Hello Forum People,

Amidst all the highs and lows, cursing Bhabhi-Bhajans and finding ways to press the FF button, we have survived 🤪

So, here I present part 2 of the “What if series”.

Scenario 2

What if Rishita didn't barge in during the wedding that day? What Devi wedding did happen that day? Do you think Devi would have been a really Gaura style couple? Do you think Shiva would have ever accepted Raavi as Dhara?
Do you think Raavi-Shiva would've come closer beyond the understanding of family members?

Do you think Dev would be an outsider in Shivi relationship post marriage?

Do you think Shiva was smitten for a second looking at Raavi in her Dulhan get up where she had commented “chakra gaya na”?

Dev and Raavi would have gotten married for sure because Dev was determined in his own way to forget about Rishita and if she hadn't come his resolve would have remained strong. Would it have been a happy marriage? I very much doubt it, Dev has only ever been shown to have platonic feelings for Raavi and to then fall in love with her would be highly unlikely, especially since she is the exact opposite of Rishita, who he did fall in love with.

Would they ever follow the footsteps of Gaura, maybe not romantically, but in all other aspects they might. However, we've been given a glimpse of Dev who even when younger looks to Shiva to make more risky decisions so in terms of running the family it would always be a joint decision between the two brothers if for some reason Gaura were not there.

An aspect of Dev's personality is he tends to internalise a lot of his thoughts, whilst Raavi will blabber whatever comes to mind. This difference makes communication very difficult in a marriage, so for them to keep this marriage going will no doubt have its share fights and this is where Raavi might turn to Shiva to understand Dev better and maybe even share thoughts that she might not be able to with Dev. We've seen that Raavi wants to keep a certain image of herself in Dev's mind so she might not open up to him about everything.

Coming to Shiva accepting Raavi as he does Dhara, I don't think his feelings for her will allow him, not that he thinks of her romantically yet even on the show presently, but just the fact that he has always associated her with his maami, whom he dislikes, wilk always keep a thin veil of annoyance. But, he would eventually still care for her in his own way as well as learn to love her as his brother's wife because he loves Dev.

Going back to the bond that they have, I mentioned earlier that Raavi might turn to Shiva and if that did happen, I can picture them being best friends. Ones that are really close. Would anyone understand them, not really, as we've seen even when they are "enemies" he is still concerned for her well being and their bickering is only understood by them. Most of the family doesn't always seem to follow their arguments only that they're at it again.

Shiva and Raavi both have similar values although at the time of the wedding Raavi comes across as shallow, there is so much potential for character growth once she realises that Dev might not be the prince charming she thought he was and Shiva might help her to get there in his own way. Dev feeling like an outsider, yes definitely, but only if he does eventually start liking Raavi as more than a friend, which if you live together, has a higher chance of happening.

I had to go back to watch the scene before the wedding to remember what had happened. Was Shiva smitten when she was dressed up, definitely but it may not have had romantic undertones since she was dressed for his brother. He was at a loss of words till she spoke. Raavi is very attractive and she was dressed to the nines for her wedding day. Not only that, she looked genuinely happy to be marrying Dev.

My thoughts are all over the place so I hope it makes sense.