ShiVi's Romance in Pandya Store

In EDT#57, the topic of the pacing of ShiVi's romance came up. Most of us at the time of the conversation wanted to see Shiva and Raavi's romance to be played out a lot more slowly. We discussed different reasons for this; however, I am also curious what the rest of the forum thinks in terms of this.

Personally, I would like to see the pacing of ShiVi's romance slowed, and the following are all the reasons I have to justify my opinion:

—Compared to the OG show which is at ~650 episodes, Pandya Store is still in it's premature phase standing at ~150 episodes. There's still 500 episodes of content that the makers need to get through, and by making Shiva or Raavi fall in love too quickly, ShiVi may fall into the typical ITV tracks of having outsiders come in to "break" their relationship (which I don't want to see)

—Though they've established a rapport since childhood, their history of nok-jhoks and name calling doesn't fit the concept of "insta-love." In my opinion, Shiva fell too quickly for Raavi. Before kangan kaand, he didn't show that much care for her. But after kangan kaand, he's been more smiley, protective, with feelings of attraction towards Raavi. Perhaps it's because I have never fallen in love, but how does someone go from hating someone because they are "Maami Ki Behen Ki Beti" to "That's my wife 😍"? The progression was too fast with no buildup. When the entire bottle of sindhoor fell on Raavi's face on their wedding day, I thought that ShiVi would share a love like no other. That out of the 3 couples, their bond would be emotional, physical, mental, etc. However, "insta-love" ruins it.

—Pandya Store, believe it or not, has an issue with brushing a lot of tracks under the rug. By the time they address it, it almost becomes irrelevant. And sometimes, even if they do address a track, they solve it with a YKB track (with some of the more recent YKBs being too OTT for my liking). By making ShiVi fall in love quickly, the CVs might not have the time to cover just how wrong bullying is, how wrong manhandling is, how it's wrong to hate your in-laws (I understand Maami isn't the nicest, but imagine seeing you husband put a sickle at your adoptive mother's neck. I don't want Shiva to be lovey-dovey towards Maami, I just want to see him silently acknowledge her without putting up an absurd fights).

Now, I'm not a seer in the slightest, but I would prefer a slow burn romance where both of them grow together. Insta-love is a writer's way of being lazy (feel free to argue with me) as it is easy to write:

Shiva loves Raavi.

But, it is much harder to write:

Because of W, X, Y, and Z, Shiva loves Raavi.

What are some of the slow burn romance scenes I would love to see in Pandya Store? Well, here are a few examples (with them first starting as acquaintances):

—Shiva bringing Raavi to the store, and showing her where all the items are. However, every time Shiva tries to explain, Raavi points to the item with excitement. And when Shiva asks how Raavi knows all of this, Raavi says it's because it was her dream to one day work at Pandya Store and be part of the Pandya family, so she knew where most items in the store were. (We could have a monologue where Shiva repeats Pandya Store's importance in his life; however, he is also happy that Raavi shares the same enthusiasm and excitement).

—Raavi struggling in the kitchen, and Shiva, while passing by, notices this and helps her. As he helps her, Raavi initiates an awkward conversation about movies since she doesn't like to stand in silence. She doesn't think they'll have anything in common, but strangely enough, Shiva likes the same movies she does, and he even tells her how he skipped school just to go to the theater to watch this one movie, and Raavi becomes excited because she skipped school too for the same movie.

—Raavi becomes concerned when she sees Shiva struggling to keep up with the demands of Pandya Store. In order to help him out, she buys movie tickets. Shiva doesn't want to go, but eventually Raavi manages to convince him. When they go to the theater, Shiva notices how other men buy popcorn, chocolates, veg puffs, etc. for their girlfriends and Shiva wonders whether he should be doing the same. He convinces himself that he doesn't need to because Raavi isn't his girlfriend. However, after sitting down in the theater, he excuses himself and buys as much food as he can because though Raavi isn't his girlfriend, she is his wife.

—Shiva goes out to buy supplies for GauRa's bedroom; however, he tells Raavi to keep watch so Dhara doesn't get suspicious. Raavi agrees, however, throughout the entire night, she struggles to manage her lies on trying to cover for him. She's tried everything from saying "He's in the bathroom" to stuffing pillows under the bedsheet to say "He's sleepy." Shiva returns successfully and is surprised to see Raavi sleeping right beside the door. When he asks her what she's doing there instead of on the bed, she rubs her eyes and says, "Great! You finally made it back. Dhara di didn't have a clue," and sleepy tries to go to bed. However, she tumbles and Shiva catches her. When he lifts her bridal style, she curls up against him and he smiles, realizing that he loves the warmth.

—Raavi craves kheer, so she wakes Shiva in the middle of the night and tells him that he needs to watch as she makes kheer. Shiva is absolutely pissed off that she woke him, so he decides to switch the sugar for salt as a prank. Raavi pours in the salt, and once she's finished with her meal, she gives the kheer to Shiva. Shiva asks why she isn't eating it herself, and Raavi says she craved to see Shiva eating the kheer and won't rest until he ate it. So he eats the salty kheer, but becomes surprised when he tastes sweetness. When he asks how she did it, she laughs and tells him she saw him making the switch. So, when he wasn't looking, she switched the containers again and reached for the sugar. They both laugh and reminiscence their childhood days when similar encounters occurred.

I could write more and more and more, but I'll leave it here as I think all of you have an idea of the scenes that I want to see. I don't want Shiva staring loving at Raavi. I want scenes where they both talk or do funny activities together. I want to see them work at Pandya Store. I want to see them do household chores together. I want to see them cover for each other to avoid Dhara's scoldings. In short, I want to see them fully understand one another before they fall in love.

Enemies to friends to lovers is my all time favorite trope. And I wish CVs gave ShiVi a chance to act out that trope. Romance doesn't always have to be lusty stares. It can be as simple as sharing a cup of tea on a morning day and talking about mundane things ❤️. That's my take. But do share your takes!

This post/poll Thank you for penning down all those beautiful ideas 🤗

I choose option 3: Prefer if the makers slowed the romance and added scenes with depth instead

I don’t like cheesy romance. In fact, I stop fangirling as soon as a couple confesses 😆 I enjoy slow burn, angst and above all depth. For me, I am more invested in the story than I am a couple while watching a show. If there is no solid story nor character graph, no actor/couple can keep me hooked! ShiVi have so much potential but I really hope the team slows down. I understand that most of the fans demand ShiVi romance but I hope the wholesome story that can come out of this show isn’t lost! A key component in that story happens to be ShiVi and the immense potential their track has!

I can’t watch romance without depth or romance that doesn’t add to the complex dynamics, character growth and overall story! Yeah we can get ShiVi romance and then uniting. But what about after that? What will they contribute to the story? They will end up being mere shadows of their former selves. Just there to please the fans.

I rather have the writers show me their story as opposed to telling me these two are in love (something you refer to as well). I really hope they don’t cater to just one group and give in to laziness! Not all shows and their stories have such potential! It’ll be a shame if they lose this chance!

Sometimes simple and subtle moments end up being the most impactful.

Anyway before I end up writing an essay, let me stop. But I have to say I agree with each and every word! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! ❤️🤗

Lovely post! I voted for option 3 as well. I would love to see intensity and depth in ShiVi's story, and i agree with you that Shiva fell in love too fast. The OG was really slow, and while I understand that ITV can't be that slow, they were going too phast phast with the romance! 😆

They have rudely put a speed breaker on Shiva now, so I hope their track moves well ❤️

ShiVi are a passionate couple, and I hope the makers show them like that instead of making their story pheeka, or turning them into a typical arranged marriage couple! They have GauRa for that

I chose option 3 as well! Since I am a fan of the OG and seen KM's love story, I would prefer that any day to what ITV typically shows. In this case I felt that the makers went too fast with Shiva's realization, hence we are all not able to see his heartbreak. After today's episode it is clear that Shiva will shut himself and Raavi has a herculean task in front of her to get him love her back again. At the end slow and steady wins the race. When I say slow, let me see how many episodes or months it takes ShiVi to confess😃

Originally posted by: Raingoddess

This post/poll Thank you for penning down all those beautiful ideas 🤗

I choose option 3: Prefer if the makers slowed the romance and added scenes with depth instead

I don’t like cheesy romance. In fact, I stop fangirling as soon as a couple confesses 😆 I enjoy slow burn, angst and above all depth. For me, I am more invested in the story than I am a couple while watching a show. If there is no solid story nor character graph, no actor/couple can keep me hooked! ShiVi have so much potential but I really hope the team slows down. I understand that most of the fans demand ShiVi romance but I hope the wholesome story that can come out of this show isn’t lost! A key component in that story happens to be ShiVi and the immense potential their track has!

I can’t watch romance without depth or romance that doesn’t add to the complex dynamics, character growth and overall story! Yeah we can get ShiVi romance and then uniting. But what about after that? What will they contribute to the story? They will end up being mere shadows of their former selves. Just there to please the fans.

I rather have the writers show me their story as opposed to telling me these two are in love (something you refer to as well). I really hope they don’t cater to just one group and give in to laziness! Not all shows and their stories have such potential! It’ll be a shame if they lose this chance!

Sometimes simple and subtle moments end up being the most impactful.

Anyway before I end up writing an essay, let me stop. But I have to say I agree with each and every word! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! ❤️🤗

Completely my feeling . I actually found shiva falling in love with Raavi rather abrupt . Was it the khandar sequence which led him to falling in love ?? Probably no it just instilled fear in him if losing her ... And there haven't been many days since that honestly .... I would have rather loved to see notice small small things about raavi , feel what she feels ... The school of thought where she comes from , losing her parents , her love and not having said much about it ... It would have been lovely to see shiva respect her before he loves her ... Ofcourse I am a enjoying what they are showing from the last 2 Episodes as well ... But I am a sucker for former. Has he realised himself he is in love with her or in his head he is just feeling odd ? Could have shown KRPKAB type of realisation where in on a random day , doing a random activity he closes his eyes and realises he has fallen for her .... I always thought PS makers wanna show shiva as a hard but to crack , then why show it this way ... We hardly got any scenes where shiva thinks of raavi initially . It was all falling on him , falling on her , falling in bathtub . Some self introspection of feelings would have been nice , of their past , of Shiva manhandling Raavi at times or making her a victim of his hatred for maami .... awkward falls and banters doesn't sum upto love for me .... Maybe after this sequence he and she both might start doing some serious thinking .

Oh my God!! Take a bow, first! 🤗

First of all, let me give you a warm hug for putting up such a beautiful post. ❤️

The way you have described the scenarios make me want to read so much more. They are fun, innovative and pave the way to what an excellent connection would look like.

Every strategy you mentioned has a unique flavour, and trust me, and I’m going to read this post again and again.

I am huge fan of subtle and slow burn romances too! They have their extraordinary flavour! And, I would love to see these being played out in a endearingly sweet manner at a later stage.

But, Shiva and Raavi, right now in an exhausting relationship. Such kinds of relationships exist in the real world, too, where couples would be ready to hit each other one day while wanting to kill each other the next day. Such tormented toxicity happens because of the lack of communication and empathy.

Hence, I have chosen option two, which is ‘I am pretty much happy with the pace of their relationship.’

Both of them don’t realise that they are in love right now! Not that they are in love yet in the literal sense of the word.

Shiva has started developing genuine attraction towards her; the reasons could be many!

The first Raavi being an object of his obsession from childhood. Secondly, they are in a relationship which is transactional Matrimony. I have reiterated that no matter what we like to believe, but physical attraction is the first step in a matrimonial alliance.

They’ve had a fair share of ups and downs, and the level of attraction is very interestingly shown! The biggest problem with this show is that they do not develop on individual issues for long. ITV is volatile, and thoroughly runs week after week based on TRPS.

Sometimes, the track changes if it’s not working out. It’s sad, but the Hindi version is nothing like the original, which I assume to be more beautiful and subtle.

Despite all the hurdles, they have kept the essence of both individuals true to their essential characterisation and have developed them interestingly. For Raavi, it’s a very long journey; it started today with the burning of her past.

Can we call them in love yet? Are they a couple yet? The answer to all these questions is no. There is a long journey towards emotional intimacy, which both of them sorely lack.

If you see today’s confrontation too, they severely lack sensitivity towards each other even during fighting. Even if you consider Shiva to be love, it will take ages for him to reach out to her emotionally.
He is hitting from inside, and he was vocal about it too! He hasn't reached that state where he even tries to understand her emotions.

And, despite accepting this relationship, Raavi needs to feel certain emotions even understand the level of hurt that her words could have caused him. We don't see that! Not yet! She is guilty and in pain. He is in pain, yet not emotionally fixated on her.

When I say I’m happy with the pace, I mean that they have wonderfully portrayed their journey from enemies to finding mutual coexistence and peace, to the growing attraction from his side, a hint of hope from her side.

Their journey towards an emotionally intimate and fulfilling relationship needs to start only when both of them are able to bury the angst of the past. Without addressing the past, they will never be able to enjoy the lighter or deeper moments as well.

That's why - Rip the band-aid and let it heal! They are going through an excellent phase right now.

Shiva falling in love is not even extraordinary, and generally, there’s no particular reason he felt that. The near-death experience could have been a trigger for his emotions! Also, he is fairly a simple man. For him, husband and wife love each other. That's the only relationship he has seen. It's hard for him not to fall in love with Raavi!

I come back to your moot point; they need a much Deeper engagement, meaningful conversations and an eternity of moments before they can fall in love! R