Writers, Stop Being Unfair to MunRik

*Long Post Alert*

A humble request to the writers — stop being unfair to MunRik. Give them a proper track, a storyline that is just theirs, and stop using them to fill gaps. Stop rushing with them.

One of the reasons I fell in love with MunRik was their very first interaction — subtle, only a few would have caught that they were going to be something. That is when I started rooting for them. They were not a cliched couple — no bickering to love, no disliking each other first, no rich/poor trope, boss/employee trope or bad boy/good girl trope. After years of watching ITV they were different.

What makes Ritik unique is how emotionally secure he is — with Tulsi Maa, with Munni, even with kids. In today's scene him being in tears is not him being a crybaby. It is him fully expressing his emotions, scared of being judged by someone he loves and respects. Munni wiping his tears and him accepting it without putting on a strong front — that is two people who truly know each other.

It is not the characters or the actors failing them. It is the writing, the dialogues and the lack of story build up around them.

Where The Writers Failed Them

1. Keeping them subtle initially is understandable. But a few extra scenes of Ritik taking Munni to night school would have made their history feel real to audiences before the leap.

2. No scenes or flashbacks after the leap showing Ritik missing Munni. The show suggests this by having Mitali constantly bring Munni up as his ex, implying that he thought about her enough to make Mitali feel threatened—valid reading. But audiences needed to see it, not infer it. One scene of him pausing outside the night school. That is all it would have taken.

3. Munni returned as the Collector but was given barely any dialogue in her scenes with Ritik and Tulsi. Not an actor flaw — the actress has delivered lines really well when given proper material. Pure writing and direction failure.

4. The biggest failure — the rushed marriage track. Even a simple "two months later" card before the cafe scene would have helped audiences accept the timeline. The likely reason for the rush is structural — with Vridang leaving, Tulsi needed a bahu in the house. MunRik's love story got compressed to fill that gap. Understandable logistically. Still unfair to the characters.

5. Creating a conflict right after marriage and resolving it too quickly. I don't mind that they communicated — MunRik being friends first means talking it out makes sense for their characters. What I mind is the OTT diaglogues that were used. This was again resolved without too much build up because SN needs one couple who don't have issues in their marriage right now.

Whoever wrote the vada pav scene and the wedding scenes understood these characters better. That person needs to write their storyline.

One small correction — many people say Munni wore the gifted saree on Valentine's Day. She did not. That episode was when she and Rahul were travelling and Ritik came to the car to get papers signed. The saree came in a later episode.

Why I Don't Hate Ritik — And Root for MunRik

Ritik was never the confident hero. He was the nerdy sensitive boy closest to Tulsi Maa while Angad got the girls and Pari got Mihir's attention. Not everyone is flying high on self confidence and that is what makes him human and different from every other male lead on this show.

Munni noticed him when nobody else did. He took her to night school — something he had no obligation to do. Not about class. Just a boy who thought if she wants to study he can help make it happen.

Munni fell for him — they were both young. The fake social media identity was wrong in execution but not in intention. Where she went wrong was continuing it knowing Ritik was getting serious. He took her along on dates with Munmun not knowing it was her. Being stood up repeatedly hurt his already fragile confidence.

When the truth came out his words were cruel and wrong — but he felt completely betrayed. Someone he had shared intimate feelings with had watched him suffer without saying anything. That pain came out badly. Tulsi gave him a strong lecture about respect and he accepted it without argument. That matters.

From there it was downhill. He lost Munni, then Angad, then Tulsi. Became numb. Married Mitali because Mihir asked him to. Got pushed into business he never wanted when music was his real passion. Got called a loser every single day. That is psychological abuse — as damaging as physical. The suicide attempt that Mitali never once acknowledged tells you exactly how broken he had become. People call him weak for it. I call it a man who completely ran out of hope.

Then Munni came back as Collector Manjuri Sinha — bringing old comfort and old pain together. Ritik falling back into her orbit is him returning to his roots. Feeling something real for the first time in years. Not having to perform for anyone.

He says himself he doesn't feel worthy of her. A man who only wanted a convenient nanny does not question his own worthiness.

Writers Please Give them a Proper Track- no rushing or using them as fillers - Send them off in the SpinOff if needed.

• Mitali is targeting Timsy's custody and maybe even winning it, leaving MunRik with a new reality.
  
• Mitali/Rahul framing Munni in a corruption case, or maybe using the factory Ritik set up as unlawful, now that she is his wife.
  
• Memory loss track for Munni, where she forgets about running into Ritik or marrying him, this actually gives them a new start to their love story.

Nice analysis, really enjoyed reading it.

I agree on almost every point you've made here except for the actor part. I feel Prachi is nailing her part while Aman is a big let-down for me because Ritik's character has a lot of nuances which he doesn't deliver.

But that's my own opinion so we can agree to disagree here.

I'm really glad that you mentioned about the particular scene where Ritik cried in front of Munni today. In fact, their portion was the best part of the episode today, for me at least.

I feel the makers have let this duo and majorly all of the supporting characters because there is no proper continuation.

One day one is a vamp, the next day the same person is shown as a saint. Things just don't work like that.

I have read a lot of posts about how Ritik didn't value Munni or how she doesn't have self-respect for still loving him but I think the most crucial part always gets ignored here.

It's not like the situation was very simple there. Munni did catfish him, at a time when people were openly making fun of him that he's so unsmart that only a maid would fall for him. And then realizing that actually a maid was fooling him for a long time using social media must not have been a minor issue for him.

If only the genders were reversed, audience would riot in social media.

So I have always felt more than her social status, it was how she betrayed him hurt him more. And also, at the end of the day maybe there was some bias against her because in reality not even 5% people would go to pursue a relationshp with their maid because education matters; you need to have a certain amount of common ground for your thinking, morale and other stuff.

Had Munni been upfront about her feelings and then Ritik turned her down, I would understand the backlash against him but with all these factors, I feel some people have stretched it too far.

Same goes for Munni. Deep down she knew she cheated Ritik in some ways and perhaps that's why she could never fully hold a grudge against him. So I don't necessarily see it as a lack of self-respect.

Right now, I would want the makers to touch upon these issues but knowing how ITV works, I wouldn't be too hopeful either.

Originally posted by: Nush_Rat

Nice analysis, really enjoyed reading it.

I agree on almost every point you've made here except for the actor part. I feel Prachi is nailing her part while Aman is a big let-down for me because Ritik's character has a lot of nuances which he doesn't deliver.

But that's my own opinion so we can agree to disagree here.

I'm really glad that you mentioned about the particular scene where Ritik cried in front of Munni today. In fact, their portion was the best part of the episode today, for me at least.

I feel the makers have let this duo and majorly all of the supporting characters because there is no proper continuation.

One day one is a vamp, the next day the same person is shown as a saint. Things just don't work like that.

I have read a lot of posts about how Ritik didn't value Munni or how she doesn't have self-respect for still loving him but I think the most crucial part always gets ignored here.

It's not like the situation was very simple there. Munni did catfish him, at a time when people were openly making fun of him that he's so unsmart that only a maid would fall for him. And then realizing that actually a maid was fooling him for a long time using social media must not have been a minor issue for him.

If only the genders were reversed, audience would riot in social media.

So I have always felt more than her social status, it was how she betrayed him hurt him more. And also, at the end of the day maybe there was some bias against her because in reality not even 5% people would go to pursue a relationshp with their maid because education matters; you need to have a certain amount of common ground for your thinking, morale and other stuff.

Had Munni been upfront about her feelings and then Ritik turned her down, I would understand the backlash against him but with all these factors, I feel some people have stretched it too far.

Same goes for Munni. Deep down she knew she cheated Ritik in some ways and perhaps that's why she could never fully hold a grudge against him. So I don't necessarily see it as a lack of self-respect.

Right now, I would want the makers to touch upon these issues but knowing how ITV works, I wouldn't be too hopeful either.

Actually I agree with you on Aman's acting, its a hit or a miss for me some scenes he does nicely, and some that are subpar. Like the vada pav scene, that took me back to true MunRik essence before the leap. Today's scene was okaish in terms of dialogues, but some of the facial expressions were off.

Also agree on the part where most people overlook the fact that Ritik was catfished whether or not Munni's feelings were real. If genders were reversed Ritik would have gotten a lot of lash back for pretending to be someone else and catfishing Munni.

I want makers to give them a solid track. I am hoping that if they are going bring Noina drama back, that would mean Mitali also comes to the virani house leading to an uncomfortable situation.

If not then custody. But honestly I want an intense track like memory loss, so they can live their moments.

Honestly, I would go for anything but Noyona.

I really like Barkha as an actress but a love triangle involving people in their 60s is the most unrealistic thing for me.

As the initial promo suggested, the ideological clash between Gen X and Gen Z would be prfect. In fact, they were showing Pari and Tulsi in that direction.

Then suddenly the EMA kaand happened.

If it weren't for Smriti Irani, I wouldn't give a damn about this show.

As for MunRik, I wouldn't want them to go the YHM way directly because the plot there was entirely different. But Mitali trying to influence Timsi that Munni will be an evil step-mother can be done. Also the points they have missed earlier, like them communicating and trying to have a proper phase where they understand each other - would be very nice.

Originally posted by: Nush_Rat

Honestly, I would go for anything but Noyona.

I really like Barkha as an actress but a love triangle involving people in their 60s is the most unrealistic thing for me.

As the initial promo suggested, the ideological clash between Gen X and Gen Z would be prfect. In fact, they were showing Pari and Tulsi in that direction.

Then suddenly the EMA kaand happened.

If it weren't for Smriti Irani, I wouldn't give a damn about this show.

As for MunRik, I wouldn't want them to go the YHM way directly because the plot there was entirely different. But Mitali trying to influence Timsi that Munni will be an evil step-mother can be done. Also the points they have missed earlier, like them communicating and trying to have a proper phase where they understand each other - would be very nice.

Totally agree Gen X vs. Gen Z was interesting at the beginning before they added Noina. They had good premises for the show to run on the new generation if the gave it time and kept true to the limited series, but the six year leap, adding marriages and kids to the mix kind of put them in a corner.

Like not everyone needed to be married with kids, or the leap could have been just 3 years.

Pari having a daughter was the only one that made sense because she needed to go through the DV storyline and stand up for herself to protect her daughter.

Angad and Vrinda could have been building their lives or trying to have kids or could hold different viewpoint on the right time to have kids.

Ritik could have been married to Mitali or merely engaged.

Couldn't agree more.

They have rushed off to too many directions with too many characters all at once. Now it's just a hot mess to be fair.

I'm still glad that there has been some progress in the couples whether it's MunRik or VriDang or Pari-Ajay.

Contrary to popular demand, I would rather want them to tie all loose ends and end the story with positivity rather than infusing more negative elements like Noyona-Suchu-Mitali trio.