Analysis of the Show...

I only recently started watching the show, and I must say that I absolutely love the characters of Gauri and Rudra. I think they perfectly balance each other. Before I begin the analysis, I want to actually make a point of reference to the basic plot before I go further into details. When I first heard about this show a long time ago, I thought the show was based on the story Devdas, an idea which I little liked (because generally I do not like a book or novel to revolve around or end on a depressing note which is the hallmark of Devdas).

However, in having caught the relevant segments, I now see that the story is not based on Devdas, though initial similarities are present, but the story is a modernized and revisionist and reinterpreted version, which I find very intriguing. Sanjog Se Bani Sangini also goes with my personal belief that one true love shown in Devdas is not the end-all be-all because life is poetry in motion which means that therein lays nothing in life to stop love from happening again. And I think love striking again can be all the more beautiful, meaningful, and yes, even most powerful and all this only for having struck again. For loving again requires a great sacrifice in terms of self-will and willingness to put the heart on the line, an act comparable to a soldier going out to battle after being wounded and knowing what awaits. Love in youth is often an illusion, a fancy, and based idealism. But such love even if it is tasted as true love is immature (and thus often stunted in potential).

Losing in love, as in the case of Rudra, can mean the experience and maturity of pain tempers and sweetens the ardor and shifts the person from the perspective of loving like the heart is on fire to knowing what it means to love like the heart is the hubbub of the water spring that keeps on flowing. Remember that a fire burns out but a water spring keeps to flowing. Remember that fire can involve passion, intensity, and speed but water springs involve sensuality, depth, and sensitivity.

As much as Rudra hates how he lost Pihu to Abhay, Pihu was not ever right for him. If Pihu and Rudra had tied the marital knot, they would have been divorced and remarried at least three times by now and each time to each other mainly to teach each other. Because as much as they loved each other, neither was willing to bend for the other. Part of their love was based on the principle of one-upmanship, but love is not a competition. And the truth is that Pihu wanted someone she could dominate, and Rudra would have let her get away with many things but not dominating him. And the same qualities on account of which she felt attracted to Rudra were also what repelled Pihu. Sadly, Rudra did not understand the fact because to him Pihu was ever the only person who had ever given a love-starved boy any of her attention and affection first as his playmate and then as his youthful lover; and had only they been capsuled in time without growing up, the childhood attention and affection would have been sufficed. But then Pihu grew and so did he and so then the attention and affection he returned to her became for them both a source of attraction and love. So, yes, their love was destined but also destined to be short-lived.

Rudra and Gauri, however, as a couple are shown predestined for one another. Their fates are intertwined as lovers eternal. And they both feel a strange and compelling attraction to each other on a level that is spiritual and yet also earthly as one who is heartbroken and the other his heart-mender. Gauri understands him in a way that Pihu did not and indeed could not. Gauri sees him for who she is and accepts him. She neither seeks to change him nor wants to change him. And though Rudra does not realize this, half the fascination that Gauri holds for Rudra is that Gauri sees him for who he is and accepts him and does so in a way that nobody in his life has, not even Pihu. Part of the reason Rudra is able to so strongly misbehave with Gauri is also because he sees that he can push her limits and that she remains as steady as if he had not done so. And we as audience see Rudra is able to cry his heart out in arms of Gauri, as he did over the peak of a hill after Pihu married Abhay, is because he knows that she will not make fun of him or his masculinity and will not be repelled by his tears and understand and share his pain.

Rudra does not understand that as much as Rudra ever seems to want Pihu, Pihu brought out the worse in him whereas Gauri stems the worst in him. And because Gauri does not seek to dominate him as Pihu did, Rudra does bend for Gauri. Rudra not only likes Gauri (though he does do that) but also on an instinctual level recognizes her as his true equal. He knows he can bend Gauri like a reed in the wind without breaking her. But he could not bend Pihu because Pihu cannot be bent, only managed, and that is what Abhay can do for her that Rudra could not. Abhay is the true equal of Pihu because he knows to let her believe she is dominating him while all the time knowing to successfully engage in silent and subtle manoeuvering to get her to exactly where he wants her.

Rudra will try Gauri hard in the times to come, it seems, because whether he realizes or not, Rudra needs to be loved with a love that is born of strength and determination (and not vacillation like in the case of Pihu). Gauri will need to prove she can go toe-to-toe with Rudra and will not run away from their battles by means of silence or games as Pihu often used as tactics in their relationship to prove her own importance to him. Pihu never seemed to understand that to get importance from Rudra, she only need give him importance and he would lay the world at her feet; but if she does the reverse (which she did), then she will see another side of Rudra, that of an uncompromising man rather than the avatar of a lover.

Part of his childhood proved lonely for him because he could see that the only way he could be accepted was if he shut down what the adults in his life perceived as demands because they were as a rich business family not used to nor emotionally equipped to deal with a sensitive child and instead desired to see in him a sensible child. His elder brother was certainly sensible and did not make demands. So, rather than see that since all children are not equal and Rudra required an entirely different kind of of handling, they simply put him off and gave him a deaf ear and no shoulders to cry or lean on. And in time he realized that since he could not get the needed attention and affection from them, he simply foraged for himself without suppressing his inner desires or demons. And it is this pathway that set him apart from his family as a rebel, because he learned to follow his heart rather than his mind.

Gaurineeds to reach Rudra by driving away the residual loneliness from his childhood and show him the meaning of life away from the idealism of an unfulfilled love and idleness of a monied life. But for that Gauri first has to show him that the stronger person is not the one who easily rages but the one who tames the rage and channels that energy correctly into other passions in life. She needs to show him what it is to love without pain, to love without expectation, to love in humbleness.

What I would personally love to see in the show is a unconventional treatment given to the story because this story carries much potential which only needs correct tapping to reach top of the ratings on television. For example, I would love to see Gauri and Rudra adjusting into a married life with sexual intimacy rather than without because I am not a fan of the many stories now on television that all show the side of marriage without consummation because this plot line has been overused; so, they perhaps need to show that physical intimacy is there but still Rudra is not ready to accept her love and how she wins his love despite his professions of how he will always love Pihu and never her. Moreover, I also want to see softening of the villainess mother-in-law and then a turn around in Gauri's favor. Additionally, I want to see that Gauri adjusts to the lifestyle of the rich and well-known by modifying her outward manners without her inner core. Since I believe Gauri was shortchanged with her broken engagement with a man who was such a "Mama's boy" that even Rudra disparaged as such, I would love to see in the story a very serious and seriously good-looking competition for Gauri's attention coming on the scene as her champion whom Rudra finds himself jealous of. Also, I do not like the idea of Rudra always pining in some dark corner of his heart for Pihu, which is why I believe Pihu and Rudra must be given a chance to be together again in the story by running away again (with emotional and legal consent of spouses) but this time I want them to find that their hearts are occupied by their respective spouses and any love they felt for each other has changed to a tepid feeling of warmth for one another. And this time when they go back to their spouses out of their own true free will instead of (any) misapprehension, I want to see Rudra with Gauri and Pihu with Abhay finally understanding that they are with their only true equals and possible loves of their lives. The remaining story I believe should showcase how Rudra and Gauri deal with the challenges in their life as a unit first, second as individuals in love and third as friends. (One of the challenges that I would love for them to deal with is the surprise element of Gauri's father who I want to see as someone rich made rich by unlawful means and wanting to marry his daughter off to someone better for her than Rudra.) I doubt that what I want in terms of the enumerated points will happen but I believe this will be a mistake because this show needs to be similar in presentation but different at core in storyline treatment and week-to-week progress (without radical departures) to be able to build a strong connective pulling and find staying power with the audience.

So, what would you like to see in the story? I have already listed what I would like to see. And what are your predictions? As far as my prediction goes, I believe that we will see a rehash of all tried and trite formulas of soap opera love in the story (which I really don't want and will be disappointed to find).

Sincerely,
Ek Umeed