Thank you, mishkil88, for reopening the thread. I wasn't here while the show was on air, but I would like to share my thoughts with anyone who might be interested.
I'll start with something that I really liked: the surprising good qualities that Shiva possessed.
The political schemes on this show never made sense to me.
The premise being that Siddhi and Shiva are forced to get married to protect Ātyābāī's position from Narapat Chikane, the events should have been set up somewhat plausibly!
And if the planned ending was that Siddhi wins Ātyābāī's seat in an election, Siddhi's community work should have been a focus of the story throughout!
If I were Ātyābāī, and people all over Maharashtra could watch a video of Siddhi accusing my pāḷalelā kutrā kāryakartā Shiva of serious crimes: sexually assaulting Saumya, kidnapping Siddhi, and crippling Gaurav, what would I do?
If I were Narapat Chikane, and I wanted to use Siddhi's voice against my rival, what would I do?
If I were Siddhi Shiva Lashkare, and I wanted to destroy Ātyābāī's political power for forcing me to marry a Rākṣasa who kidnapped me and crippled and killed the man I loved, what would I do?
I appreciated the show's inclusion of appropriate Saṃskṛta verses and subhāṣita thoughts wherever possible. Someone obviously did it with love.
However, too often, there were mistakes in the actors' delivery of Saṃskṛta words. I commend their efforts to speak an unfamiliar language, but little flaws spoiled the illusion of the character being educated.
The worst was when Siddhi read yādṛśī as yāddaśī and tādṛśī as tāddaśī.
Nandakumar once scolded Sagar, nirlajjaṃ sadā sukhī - but correct grammar is nirlajjaḥ sadā sukhī.
Siddhi's morning prayer, written correctly:
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः
करमध्ये सरस्वती ।
करमूले तु गोविन्दः
प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ।।
kar'āgre vasate Lakṣmīḥ
kara-madhye Sarasvatī
kara-mūle tu Govindaḥ
prabhāte kara-darśanam
She would mispronounce Lakṣmīḥ as Lakṣmī and Govindaḥ as Govindaṃ.
Vijaya's prayer, written correctly:
यन्मूले सर्वतीर्थानि
यन्मध्ये सर्वदेवताः ।
यदग्रे सर्ववेदाश्च
तुलसीं तां नमाम्यहम् ।।
yan-mūle sarva-tīrthāni
yan-madhye sarva-Devatāḥ
yad-agre sarva-Vedāś ca
Tulasīṃ tāṃ namāmy aham
She mispronounced Devatāḥ as Devatā and yad-agre as yadā'gre.
Hearing the words karpūra-gauraṃ karuṇā'vatāraṃ (fair-complexioned like camphor, compassion incarnate) while dark-complexioned Shiva raged on screen always felt incongruous.
New show on Colors Marathi..
Heyyy
Can you please our team with the game we are are playing by commenting the mentioned line
“Do me a favor, let's play Holi”. You’ve been colored by Team Basanti
Please comment “I’ve been colored by Team Basanti" on our team thread
Would anyone like to look back and discuss which parts of the story were powerful, and which parts didn't have the desired effect?
I liked the sūramārī concept. A grand spectacle with the whole cast dressed up ... Shiva has been training for this event since the earliest episodes, and now, winning will give him a chance to ask Ātyābāī to break Sonal's engagement to Sarakāra. Shiva learns that his opponent is a killer, but with Ātyābāī's prestige and Sonal's safety at stake, he doesn't back out. Siddhi, unaware of Shiva's resolve, thinks that it is up to her to protect Sonal, and is persuaded to sedate Shiva so that he will lose. She remembers the times Shiva terrified her, ruined lives, brutalized her friends and her brother ... and feeds him the peḍhā because vengeance is due. Then she realizes that Shiva's life is in danger, remembers the times when she saw his humanity, and plunges into the water to save him.
Of course, the execution could have been better. It didn't make sense that Narapat would have Shiva stabbed. How could he expect to be awarded a ritual honour for such an underhanded win? The murder conspiracy would be obvious, the hit man couldn't easily escape from the well, and Narapat even made a video of himself giving the peḍhe to Siddhi! If Siddhi had just heard people saying that Shiva was underwater for a long time, she could have realized that he had fallen asleep, and she could have felt remorse, taken the plunge etc.
The multiple coconuts were a terrible idea. What sort of spectators would find it entertaining that their favoured contestant's hard work finding two or more prizes wasn't rewarded, just because the other side picked up the golden prize?
The throng of people visiting Shiva in the hospital and opening Siddhi's eyes that he is their hero would have been just as effective, I think, if Shiva had been conscious. Imagine if Siddhi didn't just hear each person's one-sided story; instead, she could witness Shiva's concern for them and his modesty! Siddhi's realization that people would vote for Shiva should have been connected firmly to Siddhi's earlier visits to poor people with Ātyābāī, and it should have been developed with further plot points (village has problem, Siddhi has idea, Shiva makes it a reality, Ātyābāī tries to take credit, Siddhi rallies villagers to cheer for Shiva ...) until at last Siddhi stands for election against Ātyābāī.
Gaurav's return was my least favourite phase of the story. Gaurav's personality was totally changed, and it made no sense that he would come back to the village where he was beaten and almost killed, just to break up Siddhi and Shiva. If Gaurav had been reintroduced in a way that would tempt Siddhi to leave for a better life, her dilemma and Shiva's realization of love would have been dramatic. Instead, Gaurav being needy and creepy appealed to the audience's prejudices against disabled or mentally disturbed people. As soon as he appeared, it was predictable that he would be exposed and run away.
Ātyābāī being Siddhi's birth mother could have been a good twist, but why did they have to imagine Ātyābāī's past as a tamāśā dancer - no, wait, a lāvaṇī saṃrājñī? The character had never even walked gracefully, and her signature cackling laugh made it impossible to believe. And going into labour while dancing - that's taken out of Vitha Narayangaonkar's biography, but when Champa reminisced about it, she made it sound routine!
Five of the actors from Jīva Zhālā Yeḍāpisā can now be seen on Ābhāḷācī Māyā (Sun Marathi). Vikas Pandurang Patil (JaLaWa) is the dialogue writer for both serials.
Jayadev is played by Ashok Phaldesai (Shiva), his cousin Raghav is played by Rohit Haldikar (Sarakāra). Raghav's mother Sarasvati is played by Ketaki Patil (Gaurav's mother). The new character Maya is played by Kadambari Sanjay, the actress who was Siddhi's city friend Tanvi in the earliest episodes, and her mother Shalini is played by Shveta Mande, the actress who was Champa.
When Shalini said, "Jayadev, Jayadev ... why do I have the feeling that I've met him somewhere?" I thought, is that a nod to the actors' previous roles as Champa and Shiva?
I used to watch this show, it was one of the better shows⭐️, the lead pair were good, especially Siddhi 😊
The arguments between Shiva and Siddhi made very good drama. Both of them justifiably felt wronged by each other, and didn't hesitate to insult each other, but they were both trying to do the right thing in their own ways, and tried not to be unjust to each other. Their attraction grew naturally out of their shared life, and the guilt that stood in their way also made sense: Shiva's fidelity to Sayali and Siddhi's feeding Shiva the peḍhā.
I also liked how well-developed some of the supporting characters were. Mangal, Yashavant, JaLaWa, the twins with their matching shirts and gradual growth apart, Nandakumar and Malini all were believable in their unique personalities and views.
Sagar was a glaring exception. At first he cared about Siddhi and there were hints of romance with Madhura, but then the writers just used Sagar any which way, abruptly inventing the plot without any sensible motivation or continuity of character. When Sagar was a threat to Ātyābāī, she ignored him, and as soon as the writers decided that she would kill him, we were told that Sagar had been quietly earning an honest living, unseen. Such lazy writing!
Ātyābāī's character also had inconsistencies over time. At first, she was ready to let Shiva stay in jail, but suddenly Bhave convinced her that only Shiva had the physical strength to restrain Sarakāra when he craved drugs. Then Bhave wanted Shiva's place for his own nephew, while Ātyābāī nonsensically insisted that Shiva's marriage was her reelection strategy, until she wanted Shiva killed, and at the end of the show's run, we found out that Shiva gave her the idea to challenge Narapat's father. It was always ludicrous that a female politician would claim to be married and refuse to name her husband. But it got worse with the revelation that Sarakāra, whose sex offences and addictions constantly endangered Ātyābāī's seat, was adopted to lend credence to her marital status. One time, Ātyābāī reminisced about his childhood and we would think that she loved him, but as soon as she found Shiva ... oops, Sagar Sarakāra ... oops, call off the hit! Siddhi Kanchan, she dumped Ranadhir without a thought for her public image.
Was Narapat supposed to be gay? Pro: he resented being asked why he wasn't married. Con: he smiled into the mirror and said ladies would be impressed.
comment:
p_commentcount