Phew - sorry I was so deadbeat by the time I got back to my apt, I just had to crash in early. But here goes now, the post for today. I'll do the 3 bits, with 3 subtitles----Illegal SmilesGonna start with liking the scene, from the start 😊 Kesar walks in, and as Nur says, hisdhyaan is in one direction only, as always 😆 Reserved for Gulaal - the primary and singular focus - for now, with vengeful motives. the eye conversation - Gulaal wary from the fresh snub charges; Kesar the bull head, raring to go, breathing fire. But PB steps in before he can further his death glares - not with sensibility of that intention sadly - asks him to take a seat, and he pulls off his first one of his illegal smiles. Illegal, because really, he's not smiled genuinely one time, since he came down those stairs wearing a 'saffron' instead of the chosen purple - the sinister sadism has been peaking! Consequence of his signals to Gulaal is evident, when standing with the food bowl between Yogesh and Kesar, she serves Yogesh and moves towards Rewa - while Jhalli Talli skittles off to Kesar to serve the meetha halwa*diabetic* Not to focus on a KT bit, but I feel sadistically peaceful myself, at the blank what is she doing/saying look Kesar gives her, when she urges him to eat 'halwa' she has made with her own hands - boy, she makes me wanna pull at my hair with her simultaneous brash and coy ways! You know when PB accused Gulaal of having fixed the alliance between Kesar and Talli without ever seeking out her, the mother's opinion? I've always thought her to be objectively fair as a mother, but subjectively unfair as a mother who has truly been superseded in her role by another. Not to trigger the debate of Gulaal in a 'motherly' role for Kesar - I'm only trying to say, PB has never known her son's heart like Gulaal does. And this is not from after Gulaal comes into the scene - Kesar has always been the pampered laadla of the house, who no one strives to understand, writing him off for a child! Gulaal may have miscalculated the consequences of his 'growing up' but in certain ways of empathizing with his love and 'feeling of' responsibility for the rest - she has seen him beyond a child, from the days of calling him a kavachh in addition to being a sapna. She has sensed a mature sensitivity in him, which most elders lack in this house. Anyway - yes, maybe they brush off the overt KT interactions as those between a girl and a boy who grew up as thick mates - but really, the 'oblivion' to Talli's virtual buttering and sugaring of Kesar 😡 is almost like Gulaal's family letting GV openly flirt and skirt the roads of Rasipur. Chalo they to were two single people in marriageable age - and at least Revji still had a problem, and I think PooBaa had more acceptance in her heart for Vasant, than unawareness of what's brewing - but PB just makes me shake head sometimes. Even though I like this old one.Khair, return to the scene - Yogehs asks him aage ka plan, and Kesar says the most Kesar defining statement in the world - sochna kya hai?! 😆 (reminds me of what MB told him about not thinking out his decisions. adat se majbur praani 😆 ) Declares he will now on stay here. And JK - interestingly not his mother or well wisher tends to read his mind and intention so much better even if in effect of her ill intentions! The interesting piece of conversation here - where the 'real' participants are only GK, and JK. Baaki to 🥱 The paradox of his scene, where Kesar declares he still likes the village (which translates to hislikes being the same) - when only seconds later he is going to shove away the Gullu cooked delicacy of undiyo and defend it with a pasand badal bhi to sakti hai na! - yeh right! 😉 For now he goes on to create an analogy between a cloud of dreams for a child being only a piece of smoke for an adult *shakes head* Obviously a jab at his 'illusion' of Gulaal not being what the 'real' Gulaal is. And even if Gulaal is hurt by his words which she knows to be for herself - she's just as lost about what's really happened.Jhalli Talli comes in and the dimwit that she is, tells him kha na! halwa kab khayega ...*head desk* The sadist in me roots further when Kesar disregards part of her words, preferentially, and proceeds to take his first bite, of Undiyo instead. Gulaal's look of anticipation at this point - despite his persistent mean streak - always opting the food-way to patao Kesar, isn't she?! Not just in the future, but even in the past when Kesar after learning the Dushyant truth goes missing for the night and reappears in the morning, Gulaal - beyond all her mollycoddling tactics failing, tells Kesar to sit and she will get him'garam garam paranthas' 😆 which incidently Kesar feeds to the street dog, or is it a cow?! Anyway! Sadly, the Kesar of future times who does get appeased with undiyo is still buried beneath quite a few hard shell layers - so although his recognition of taste is instant, it results only in his further rebuking her now. Shunning the food she has cooked, and declaring change of 'pasand'. He eats the halwa instead, and praises Talli - yes duly perhaps, but exceedingly to nail his point for Gulaal, especially when he asks PB to hand over the kitchen to Talli 🤢 Gulaal is hurt - why does no on at the table except JK and PooBaa comprehend his point?! Ajib log hain (read ajib maa hai Kesar ki!) @Talli-giggly-poo rushing to Gulaal - the latter pulling off her share of 'illegal' smiles this time - fake and forced - to the whole way to a man's heart through his to his stomach gyaan from Talli - she's probably thinking what the way to this new Kesar's heart is - cause food has certainly failed. If only she knew every road from Kesar's heart leads to her own...***Tu Nahi, To Koi Nahin!I love how this bit plays out - just like the little dialog over the kurta conflict which Reemz 'translated' to real meaning - here too, the lines have implicit sense.The initial debate over who should sit behind Kesar on the new bike reflects all three characters.Kesar - Traffic ke niyamon se motorcycle par do hi log baith sakte hain - tumse se koi ek hi baithega. (by societal norms in my life, and by my own rules in my heart - there can be only one)Talli - Yahan kaunsi police hai! Hum teeno kyun nahi baith sakte? (No one cares in this haveli about me throwing myself at you, even if you're a married man! Everything is 'okay' here - why can't we be three together?! Reminds me so bluntly of Talli's horrifying line - jahan tum dono, wahan main! And Kesar's then reaction to it 😳 It's just amazing how she has really not been perturbed by the idea of pursuing a married guy - whatever she may have been brainfed with! And still, its just as amazing how thick her fidelity towards Gulaal is - in equal rage with her 'self thought' love for Kesar. Talli is an odd peacemaker - she wants to establish equality in as unreal a way, as socialism in the society - idealism much!)Gulaal - To tu Talli ko hi leja *goes and hits a virtual wall exasperated* How did Kesar deal with this butt head of a woman he loved so endlessly? Good for us that Kesar had other ideas. He wasn't going to take Gulaal - because he has to put up the cold front. But if not Gulaal - then no one else! When he does the tch tch tch to result of the coin toss - he's so Gulaal from the scene yet to come 😆 baaz nahin aate ye dono! And then he declares - lagta hai main akela hi jaunga. Again, the three in character -G: Aisa mat kar Kesar, kam se kam Talli ko to leja! Interestingly, here is a difference of nuance from the ever sacrificing vintage Gulaal. Her 'kam-se-kam' signifies how badly she's seeking and in need of - not the damn ride, but Kesar's 'affections' - and yet, if there has to be a choice, she'll put Talli ahead. But in a strange way that is what is most stark about her insistence to 'inject' Talli in to Kesar's life - somewhere she knows she is prime to him. For her, what Kesar and she have may not yet be the relation it is in name - but she holds onto it like a priceless something exclusive and beyond all else - and believes he does too, no matter his crass attitude! Its almost as if she's telling him here to go on and please Talli with the lesser thing - a bike ride, because those are the kind of 'romantic' ideas Talli has - and all she, Gulaal, really cares about is setting this strain straight. Its like she's mentally postponing a one on one chance to talk with Kesar for later - a chance she could have had on the bike - cause really, she doesn't give one hoot to the bike ride itself, we all know!K (to Talli, despite G telling him to take her): Pakad legi to bitha lunga! How preemptive of the future is that! Kesar almost just told Talli here, that if she could win over the man in him who had long been sworn and committed to the one and only - well, she could have him as her own. Because really, just as impossible as Talli catching up Kesar on a bike is, was the impossibility of Talli winning Kesar out of his Gulaal pledge!A good symbolic scene - even if every time Talli opens her mouth I want to mute her sound permanently***Concern(s) UnadulteratedKT enter the house ' late for the hour, and after missing dinner at home ' and Gulaal jumps at them. The dynamics is obvious again, Gulaal full on patronizing mode on Talli, saying things which really are meant for them both ' but to Kesar himself, she is reprimanding with a consciously averting eye, and with reproach only to have 'disappointed expectations of the family'. I can mentally hear Kesar toss another 'aur tu' at her ' cause at this second, his disdain and blatant disrespect of her is mostly against her seemingly patronizing demeanor. At this second, he's not hurt to be rude to her ' because he's all enveloped in his conviction of Gulaal's concern being a show, an imposition, a control she's trying to exert on him ' which he in his rebellious show of disregard is telling her can no longer work on him! So even though Talli apologizes, Kesar is all defiant and brushing.
The next cutting gesture ' Kesar indicating for Talli to serve him, and Gulaal a second too late, but catching the cue 😔 and telling Talli to serve. And again, after she's done serving, Kesar tells him to share his thalli. Another quick trio sequence where characters come to fore. Kesar tells her to share - plainly in making a point for Gulaal of his utter lack of regret at whatever the late hour, or dishonor of 'family expectations'. He adds, for Talli - ek aur thaali kyun bekaar mein jhuthi karni - and the hint is literal, except, the dimwit that Talli is, and the clouded logic that Galool is, neither get the point. Kesar isn't 'sharing' his food with Talli - Kesar is simply keeping Gulaal devoid of 'sharing' anything with her! Thumbs up to an exception of reaction from Gulaal here - a hurt one, when they share the plate. It takes me to wondering the eternal question - if Kesar really had tied up with Talli, would Gulaal have seen her folly sooner? This woman truly had no cognizance of where her error lay! How much she had misjudged not just Kesar, but even herself, and her 'acceptance' of Talli stepping into the wife shoes. At this point, she is overtly hurt only at his crass attitude - but really, even if Kesar was an angel to her, but was to keep Talli one step up, Gulaal would have felt all the strain in her heart! Reminds me, of how even the older version of chirpy careless Gulaal had shoved her hyper gushing crushing friends onto Vasant - even when she was so all out smitten by him! Its like she has an innate tendency of testing the fidelity in the life of 'her men' 😆 Acha hai the Talsagra men are so one dimensional 😆
Anyway - then comes the crux moment. PB walking in and announcing Gulaal too has not eaten, awaiting the return of these two. Or really - Kesar. Classic, if only momentary, reaction from Kesar. This rattles him up for good. All this time since he walked into the house with Talli to hear Gulaal's 'usual' correctional rant, he has put it off as her eternal habit to preach. A habit, that he has decided pointedly to ignore and give no damn about! What he's trying to bury beneath this 'conviction' of Gulaal's lecture being but another pep talk, is knowing the fact, that she truly has been worried, and disappointed. Or well, whatever of her 'hurt' he does acknowledge, he believes he wants to inflict on her anyway. The blatant coming to fore of her very unadulterated concern - is like a momentary flash of the past for him. Of his Gulaal. She would have done this for him - stayed up on him, not eaten until he had... worried herself sick over his getting so late. All the calculative discerning he's been at this day - gauging her gesture and word, and convincing himself (in an unassuming vain) that this Gulaal is not the illusion he once worshiped - everything goes for a toss in the second he learns of her unspoken concern. He realizes, how even in all her reproach of them getting late and whatnot, she doesn't once accuse them, or make them aware of the fact that they've inconvenienced her, kept her up and hungry - the silent selflessness of such a gesture is so classic of his Gulaal - he can't but be thrown off guard at getting this blatant sign of her existence in this Gulaal he's trying so hard to hate and hurt! The vulnerability threatens to surface - and Kesar, in an uncharacteristic way finds himself the luxury of an escape - because if he was to stand around anymore, he was likely to be betrayed by his cold facade slipping - a lapse he can't afford, or maybe doesn't want to deal with at this point. The last thing he needs, is for her to know his care too, remains as unadulterated as her own...
***
Okay then - done up with today - longer than usual cause I did 3 scenes, and cause I just never seem to get the hang of brevity and such!
Now lets bring on the discussions!
Illegal smiles : what an amazing title and amazingly justified - I never could have thought of their smiles as "illegal" , but now that you put it this way - my God they were just that - Kesar's smiles illegal as all they did was mask his pain and need to somehow prove his nightmares wrong about Gulaal...and Gulaal's smiles illegal as either trying to give false reassurances to Tally or..to her own self !
Tu Nahi, To Koi Nahin! : I thought Gulaal said "kam se kam" talli ko to leja...and I thought that indicated that she herself also wanted to go , or had originally thought Kesar would take her also with him (before she saw Kesar's harsh side to her after coming back)...and ofcourse even if she thought she would go , she thought she would "also" go - Talli was there for certain in all her plans for Kesar ..oooff , Gulaal ! Sometimes I feel it was almost as if she was unconsciously hiding behind Talli for being with Kesar - so that her own "being" with Kesar was hidden , even from herself...
Concern(s) Unadulterated :..the faces Kesar was making to convey that he doesnt care for Gulaal's reprimand ! so much of a defiant "kid" , no matter how grown up he thinks he has become ... lovely scene ... but when he mentioned eating from the same thali - I cudnt help saying wait till you eat in the same thali with Gulaal some time later... and you'll know how much you "dont care" for her ... ofcourse the best was his expression when he learnt that Gulaal had not eaten ...it mattered so much to him , he had to rush out to hide it this time.
Oh all the GK scenes have such liofe in them, no matter how long or short - each clipping here was telling a tale of its own - thanks Jzee , for a lovely , lovely post !
VJ
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