Originally posted by: zara321
Maya didn't have to stay with rishi, if she was so unhappy she could have told him and got a divorce, but why cheat on him? Did he deserve to be cheated on? And she cheated on him with someone who was already married and has a child, which makes the whole situation even worse.
And she left rishi for a guy like dev? A man who does not treat his wife and child right, a guy who is so hot tempered and insecure, what guarantee is there that she would be happy with dev? I mean dev's own mother chose to stay with preity instead of him, that says enough
She stayed with him for the same reason she married him, because she felt obligated to do so. She never was going to leave him but notice that even Rishi notices that in fights and arguments, she always brings up him leaving her. How she's a terrible wife, can't be a mother, and can't make him happy so he should leave her. Even he recognized that subconsciously, she's always trying to find a way to break their relationship. She felt she did not have the right to do so, which is why she would give him the chance to do what she can't do. If he broke off the relationship, they'd both be free and she would feel no guilt anymore. She felt she lacked the agency to do what she always knew she must do. Sam loves Maya like his own daughter which is why he's always encouraging her and Rishi to patch things up but when he finally realizes the truth, that she's never loved Rishi and never will, he gives her his blessing to end the relationship. Because he knows both Maya and Rishi will never be happy this way and the best chance for both of them is only from breaking the relationship. I imagine in a movie where Sam did not die, he would have supported her in leaving Rishi because I don't think she would ever have done it otherwise. Certainly in the version we got where Sam does die, she could never leave him because now she had the guilt of Sam's death and knowing that she was Rishi's only family.
When Dev comes into the picture, there is no intention of starting an affair. Both are lonely and misunderstood and see themselves in the other. Both realize they might be able to help the other fix their crumbling marriages. What neither expects is to fall in love with the other. That's another thing people don't seem to factor in is that these two didn't set off to have an affair and fall in love. They fell in love accidentally, all the while fighting their better natures to reject these feelings and keep them hidden away. It's only when their marriages utterly implode on their anniversaries that they're able to find the courage to admit these feelings out loud. Only because all the bitterness and resentments that have been building up with their spouses for years finally boiled over.
And I also find it odd that so many people on here are so fixated on the physical infidelity aspect because it can be argued that the emotional infidelity is just as damaging. I would consider an emotional affair just as unforgiveable as a physical affair. According to just about everyone on here though, the worst sin they committed was having a physical affair once, nevermind that they clearly didn't love their partners and that should be regarded as just as culpable a betrayal. From some posts I've read, it sounds like this relationship was only problematic for having been consummated once. Notice that only Rishi cares about whether Maya slept with Dev or not. That's the first thing he asks her when he finds out. Rhea never even asks because the only thing that concerns her is if Dev loves Maya or not.
So to answer your question about why she left Rishi for Dev, besides the fact that this isn't really accurate (she never leaves her husband for Dev. She tries to make it work with Rishi once she and Dev agree to stop meeting and return to their spouses for the sake of their families. Even after both Dev and Maya are dumped, both pretend that isn't the case in order to not break the other's family up), it comes down to the fact that she loves one and not the other. Love is blind. We don't choose who we fall in love with. Maya loved Dev and we can't fault her for that. We can't fault her for not loving Rishi in a romantic way. Can we fault her for having an affair (emotional and physical), yes, but I think it's not as cut and dry as claiming she is an adulteress and should be burnt for her sins and doesn't ever deserve a happy ending.
If Dev has all these faults, some might not find him lovable, but Maya did and that's the only important thing. And I have to say that I don't blame her because Dev is one of my fav SRK characters. I think you have to feel as much unhappiness and bitterness as Dev and Maya did to really understand them so in that sense, I'm happy most people on this thread don't seem to understand them because it means you've all probably led very happy lives. But I can definitely sympathize with both of them, and if I saw myself as Maya, I could see myself loving Dev too. What others see as flaws are precisely what makes Maya fall in love with him. Ask yourself about your loved ones' flaws and often you'll realize that if they didn't have them, they wouldn't be the person they were and that's partly why you love them.
As for what guarantee that Maya would be happy with Dev or not, that's true for almost all Bollywood or Hollywood movies that end with the couple together at the end. Rarely do movies go into what happens next and if those relationships would last or not (and Rani dived into this twice with Saathiya and Chalte Chalte). I think it's safe to say that she wouldn't be worse off than she was with Rishi or the 3 years (is it 3 or 5 years) after their marriages end when they're both utterly alone. And even Dev somewhat notes this in his proposal at the end at the train station that they're both agreeing to spend the rest of their broken lives together. Both are very damaged people but they know that.
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