- Mami rocked again with her superb dialogues: Kushi spending time with kids because she won't be having "personal kids"!! Superb Mami! Arnav's expression is a must-watch here! I guess Inspector Bond's doing some peeking while we aren't watching! And when she said, "Phatti Sari and Chiller Party": I almost fell off my chair and again when Arnav repeated it!
- And Nani excited like any grandmother about having kids in the house. So natural. But when she said, "Chotey, why? Do you remember your childhood." I was like, okay...is that dialogue an out-of-the-air throw to signal that the revelation of Arnav's childhood is close by as mishti "spoilered" it would?
- The kids were awesome. Questions that were curious and at the same time pointed enough to provide important answers to the main plot: not the plot of Beauty and the Beast but the plot of Arnav and Kushi. Loved that Harpreet (was that his name?) kid: He said repeatedly that if he comes across the Beast, he'll bash the Beast's jaw but when the Beast entered the room, he was the only one to hide behind the curtain!! And what were those kids doing at the pool: preparing for martial arts with a 6 foot Beast? And did they actually carry away all those plants in that nick of time? Some kids!! And did you notice, they were like "yay!" excited when Kushi said you'll have to write the story I'm going to orally tell you now. What? Kids love writing?
- Loved Arnav having to listen to Kushi's narration. And wow! Did he actually smile and joke and fool around with the kids? "I'm a bit hungry, why don't I eat you now?" Goodness! He should reserve that tasty dialogue for Kushi when he has her in his arms in the future nights. And did he actually involve in the post office game? I cannot stop laughing!!! I need to breathe!! Eh...did he actually read Hindi without stuttering? I mean, does he know to read Hindi? Or did the kid meet Payal on the way and she made it into a Hindi in English version?
- Kushi was so immersed in the story of Beauty and Beast that she spoke the very things that the show was not voicing. So what? It was like she had almost made another confession. Again an indirect confession. This time using the frame of a fairytale. I really wanted Arnav to hear it and he heard it and they stared at eachother as she described the Beast in the story. I fell in love with that scene: best one in the epi, I tell you!
- Arnav felt the significance of her story's catchy liner: "One moment Prince, another moment Beast." Its working friends, the wheels of the plot are moving!!!
- Anjali chancing upon the Beauty and Beast mail interactions? She lives in a fantasy world of herself and now she is once again going to step into her Chotey's marriage and create a fantasy for their benefit, possibly by relieving the Beauty and Beast scenario more deeply. With the help of Nani like for the "Delli me Balli" plan. Probably she'll let Arnav do something that will involve himself directly with Kushi and the kids. And when the kid came and crashed into Anjali, I thought she might yelp or hold her tummy or something. Glad that over-exaggeration was avoided and the story was dealt without much distraction.
I can't stop laughing!! Goodness what an awesome epi!! Why should I even bother to make a post? I mean, all the interpretations were already done: the epi was clear and obvious enough...
The PRINCE in my DREAMS and the BEAST in my REALITY
PICKING POINTERS:
DIGGING DEEPER:
Are you nuts? Me do digging deeper for an already deep dug episode? The episode did it for me!! I'm doing a run through of the epi in a different angle and you will see the four kids in here:
Introducing Mother Goose in the Reading Room with Quite Blinky who only blinks her eyes, Pink Princess, Nerd with specks writing Mother Goose's every word and Brave Miscreant with the turban.
Okay, if you want the digging deepers only, read the paragraphs in red.
MOTHER GOOSE AND HER BEDTIME STORY
Mother Goose: "Hello, little children. Today, I am going to tell you the story of Beauty and the Devil...I mean, the Beast." *thunder claps*
Children cuddle together on the magic carpet. "Shall I begin?" The kids nod vigorously. Nerd with specs opens his book and starts writing.
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Beauty who had to go to a huge castle on a terribly windy night." *wind blows*
Pink Princess: "Why?"
"Because she slept all through the day! Sheesh! I didn't even begin the story and out flow the queries! So...where was I? Ah yes, the terribly windy night. Beauty had to cross a forest to get to the castle."
Pink Princess: "A forest? What kind of forest?"
Mother Goose: *groan* "The kind in which wild animals live, of course! I can't believe they've sent me a bunch of dolts to train!"
Quiet Blinky blinks. Mother Goose continues:
"Then soon, Beauty found herself standing before the very castle she was heading for. Suddenly she became Goldilocks and on entering the castle kitchen, ate up all the food kept for Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear. She felt very heavy in the tummy."
"She should be," said Pink Princess, "She ate what three bears could eat."
"I'm hungry," whined Brave Miscreant.
Mother Goose: Shush! Pay attention! Now Goldilocks was so full, she felt sleepy and went upstairs to find a bed. Soon she was fast asleep.
Pink Princess: Did she sleep for a hundred years? Like Sleeping Beauty? Is she Sleeping Beauty? Is there a Prince in the story? Will he come and wake her with a kiss?
Mother Goose: (claps her hands over her ears) Goodness! This duckling will turn me deaf!
Quiet Blinky blinks and Mother Goose resumes:
"Goldilocks turned into Snow White and she started exploring the Castle of the Seven Dwarves. And as she explored, she turned into Red Riding Hood and she began to have a feeling that someone was following her."
Pink Princess: "The Big Bad Wolf?"
Mother Goose: "No, the Small Good Puppy! Close thine mouth, kiddo, and listen to the story! And so...Beauty-"
Pink Princess: "No, it was Red Riding Hood."
Mother Goose: *grunt* Well, she transformed back into Beauty again!
Nerd with specs: (Scratching off something he'd written) This constant transformation of this Beauty is very irritating. I wish she'd stop changing already!
Mother Goose: And then Beauty tried to see who was following her but could only see darkness...and no one else was there.
Brave Miscreant: "It must be the Devil...I mean, Beast...I am fearless. I'll bring down the Beast by with a blow on his face!"
Mother Goose: "I'll bring you down by a blow on yours, nitwit! Sit still." Then she resumes: "Then Beauty saw something..."
Pink Princess: "Another table full of bear food?"
Nerd with specs: "Probably the Devil dancing."
Brave Miscreant: "I'll bash the jaws of the Devil."
Quiet Blinky blinks.
Mother Goose: "Beauty saw...a beautiful rose."
Brave Miscreant: "That's boring..."
Pink Princess: "What colour was it?"
Mother Goose: "Red."
Pink Princess: "Big rose or small rose?"
Mother Goose: "If I remember right, as big as your mouth!"
Pink Princess opens her mouth for Quiet Blinky to inspect the said fact and Quiet Blinky blinks into it.
Mother Goose: "Beauty was certain there was something wrong. The rose was beautiful but someone was certain to come."
Pink Princess: (closes mouth and opens to speak again) Why? Did the rose have a dog collar?
Mother Goose (ignores her): And as Beauty walked backwards, suddenly the Beast appeared!
*thunderclaps* Kids scream.
Digging Deeper: Kushi's story is fascinating. She is of course the Beauty in it. She was led by destiny to reach the Castle of her Fate (Raizada Mansion) and in the initial hours (days) of her visit, she was happy and helpful and loved by all (eating and sleeping and exploring). And then she chanced upon unraveling the mysteries of a man who was hard to read and she slowly crept into his heart (exploring the mansion). However, danger loomed but she wanted to only admire the beauty of the rose (Arnav's love for her). Then destruction struck and she was standing before the Beast (a changed Arnav- no more the lover she knew). Another thing that needs noticing is how we are shown Arnav's passage and walk while Kushi narrates the story to the kids. You see, just when he is about to pass that room, he comes down telling Aman that the press are exaggerating as they try to display AR industries as 'monsters'. Very ironical input! And when they crash into each other, did Kushi really need the lights to see Arnav's face and recognize it wasn't the Devil but her husband? What light will help her realize that the hurting ASR is just a mask and behind it is the man who loves her and hurts for her like anything? Another thing, I wondered was what did that Rabba Ve beat in the background mean when Arnav said "And you, Kushi" and she poked the mask before him and silenced him? Did it signify the sudden realization that she was supposed to do only what he told her to do and here she was 'reacting' to him? Or was it a realization dawning upon them that after two days, they were seeing each other again? Or better still: the way both of them looked at the mask: did it symbolize that Kushi was pointing at Arnav telling him that he is a Beast but withdrawing on seeing he had realized and that she too had realized what she had just symbolized?
Kids still screaming.
Mother Goose: (shoots a gun in the air and the kids are silent and staring) That's better, my dears! What a calm...what a peace.
Pink Princess: (pointing at the door with a trembling finger) But the Beast...
Mother Goose: Ah, Beauty was scared of the Beast. And to scare her even more, the Beast spoke in his croaking voice...
Pink Princess: Croaking voice? Like a frog? Will she kiss that frog? Will the frog turn into a Prince?
Mother Goose (slaps her forehead): Yeesh! I'd rather kiss a frog fresh from the swamp than sit here and tell these cracks a simple story!
Nerd with specs to Quiet Blinky: Was there a frog in the story? I wrote frog, that's why...
Quiet Blinky blinks as she processes the question and shakes her head.
Nerd with specs: Darn! Scratch again!
Mother Goose: And so in a croaking voice, the Beast commanded Beauty to stay away from his rose plant. Beauty remained well away from the plant since then. But she watched the Beast closely. How he watered it, cared for it, tended to it...His life was in the plants.
Brave Miscreant: Cool! So if we kill the plants, we kill the Beast!!
Mother Goose: It wasn't that easy. You see, he kept his plants locked away, and he had a sensor system in the periphery which would notify him if anyone trespassed into that area.
Nerd with specs (looks up from his writing): He sounds like a sophisticated, modern Beast? Did he have robots for servants?
Mother Goose: I never asked him. He was too busy dining with Beauty.
Pink Princess: He dined with her? Did he ever ask her to step into a plate so that he could dine her himself?
Mother Goose: It was better to eat her than what he always did when dinning with her.
Pink Princess: What did he do?
Mother Goose: He asked her to marry her and told her one day she would have to.
Pink Princess: How romantic! (clasps hands)
Brave Miscreant: How boring...I wish he would just gobble her up. This story's too mushy mushy: it sounds like a girl's story!
Pink Princess: Did she say yes? Oh please tell me she said yes...
Mother Goose: Unfortunately, she said no. And then left for her room to sleep.
Brave Miscreant: There she goes again, always sleeping... Why does a Beast want to marry a sleepy-head for anyway?
Mother Goose: But in her sleep...she saw a dream. And in that dream...
Brave Miscreant (suddenly eager): She dreamt of aliens? I love aliens!
Mother Goose (frowns at him): No, she saw a handsome Prince, you idiot! You're destroying my fairy tale with your science fiction!
Brave Miscreant: *grunt* Handsome Prince, my foot! This story's TRP is falling!
Mother Goose: And this Prince was not only handsome, but loving, caring, kind...And every night in her dreams, he asked her a question. But as soon as the question was asked, she woke from her sleep.
Brave Miscreant: What question? Hope it's a clue to a treasure hunt...I love treasure hunts!
Mother Goose: It was this: That the Prince and the Beast were one.
Brave Miscreant: One? As in married? Wow! A gay story! I love gay stories...
Mother Goose: I'll throw you out you little...*beep* *thunder claps*
Nerd with specs: Darn! I wrote that word in my book. Now I'll have to tear the page out and burn it or my mom will see it when I reach home!
Innocent Quite Blinky only blinks.
Digging Deeper: This is so beautiful a scene that I cannot, cannot, cannot write it down. Someone else do the justice please! Oh my goodness, the beauty of the narration. The unspoken truth brought out to light in the mirror of a fairy tale. More than the parallelism with Beast caring for the plant and Arnav gardening and watering his plants, I was struck by the beauty of the symbolism. That he had denied her his love. He told her to stay away from his heart (rose plant) and she is still outside it, waiting for the moment when he will let her touch it. When will that moment come? In the meantime, she watches him care for the plant (certain instances he accidently shows his love for her, his care and concern, his staring, his dancing, his smiles suddenly hidden, his pulling her to him before she fell). The Beast's dining table and the forced proposal were obvious: the night meeting at the poolside. But by staying with him and dining with him, Beauty had made herself enter a contract marriage where they would sleep separate and remain separate all through the day. But they would still live in the same house and meet each other every night (or day). Beauty's sleep and dreams are those instances where she is made to doubt if what Arnav is doing is from his heart: if he really loves her. And the dreams are the memories of his love she draws from before they had married. And she is led to question if the man she loved is the Beast she is married to now. But never is her question answered, Arnav withdraws from answering her. And never is she able to find the answer, her search is either not attempted or has ended fruitlessly. And so she wakes up from her lovely memories (dreams) into reality. Loved how Arnav listened to her narration and how she spoke those words LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. She was realizing it too, as she spoke. And he got the message, which is why he looks away. But when she says, that the Prince and the Beast are one, he looks up. The key is put into the keyhole. Is the key turning? Yes, memories turn it. And her next words back the memory. "How can they be one? One moment Prince, another the Beast. One moment comfort, another its pain." The very fact that the title song is being played itself is of great importance. And did you notice the memories: Arnav remembers his Prince moment and his Beast moment. But Kushi only remembers his Beast moment now. She is too broken. The same man who had tenderly handed her the earring back, threw down and broke the box of jewelry at the staircase during the heat of his accusations. The kids voice our question: "Why doesn't Kushi understand that the Beast and Prince are one?" Because she cannot understand this new Arnav and what made him so. And when they boy asks "if you say it softly, I cannot write": I wanted to tell the kid, "My child, that was not for you to write. That was for someone else to write. In his heart. And to ponder over it. The soft words of contemplation that his wife uttered: Where is the Prince in you, my Beast?" And when the girl asks if the Beast killed or ate Beauty: Kushi will not be killed ever. Arnav may hurt her and pain her so much as to almost kill her, but she will not die, because she is innocent of the wrongs he accuses her of. And then there is love...her love for him will let her survive his hurts.
Also the kids fighting over the pencil, breaking it and Harpreet readily apologizing for breaking it, got me thinking. Arnav has fought with Kushi and broke her heart, and she too without knowing has broken his heart. Will Arnav be ready apologize to her when he realizes he had been wrong in hurting Kushi so much? Will Kushi also apologize for keeping Shyam's truth a secret from the very beginning? And will the other person be ready to forgive...Arnav might forgive, But Kushi? Aren't the wounds too deep and dark on her tender heart?
'NERDY NIKHIL' THE POST MAN AND HIS HOT MAILS
Nerd with specs: I'll manage it. I'll face the Beast. Alone...
Pink Princess: I'll make an epitaph for you anyway. Bye Brave Nerd with specs!
Nerd with specs to Beast: Hiya Pal! I mean...Mr. Beast. I'm Nerdy Nikhil. I'm not scared of your towering height. Coz I've got your plants with me. And I know that your strength lies in your plants.
Beast: *growls* What do you want?
Nerd with specs: First a tryst. Don't want you eating me, you see. Beauty said you eat kids.
Beast: I've heard this same line before *scratches head with thought* was it on the day those meddling kids broke my foam model and drew a mustache on my picture?
Nerd with specs: (wiring something)
Beast: Goodness! Beauty's got a habit of writing in a yellow notebook every now and then. This one's her mini duplicate?
Nerd: (hands him the book) Kindly sign this contract.
Beast: Are we marrying for 6 months too? Two wives? Can I manage?
Nerd: You'll do it, right? You'll eat the Brave Miscreant, right? Deal?
Beast: Deal is my thing, nerdy! Give this to Beauty first...By the way, I'm hungry already. Should I wait for the Miscreant to show up or...
Nerd: *gasps* and scampers away
Digging Deeper: The kids taking the plants away and letting Arnav play in the game itself is a sign of what is coming. The Beast should be set apart from his obsession to keep his heart locked away from Beauty, and to let him find time for her. The kids will help the Beast to connect again with Beauty. And its already started, the kids are building the bridge: Arnav has already turned childish and involved in the little healing process... kids are the healers. They always are. God made them so.
Beauty: The Beast couldn't probably read what he's written himself. Revolting handwriting! I should tuition him first not these learned, clever kids who are also brave enough to face the hungry Beast.
Letter: Don't lie.
Beauty: Brilliant! He calls me a liar! Again!
Pink Princess: Are you telling him you'll marry him?
Beauty: I already did! And how I regret it...do I? (writes a reply)
Nerd (watching her): *gulp* Is she writing a reply? I gotta run! Not me, I won't face him again.
Beauty: Please, good nerdy, shove this letter down the Beast's throat.
Nerd: He just confessed he was hungry. I'm sacred.
Beauty: He never confessed he loved me. I'm fed up.
Miscreant: Coward nerdy! If it was me, I'd smash his face and break into a thousand pieces.
Nerd: Oh shut up, pencil breaker! I'll go...need to check on the Beast to confirm if he'll really kill this friend of mine. He's getting on my nerves by every minute.
Nerd goes to the Beast and then returns.
Beauty: Another reply? I'm not interested. (snatches the mail eagerly) What does it say? I can't read his damned handwriting?
Nerd: (from memory) Stop dreaming.
Beauty: How did you read it when I couldn't?
Nerd: I'm no nerd for nothing. *grins at Miscreant* You're dead soon, buddy!
Miscreant: You wish!
Nerd on the way crashes into Fairy Godmother: I'm busy. Too busy. Please move aside.
Fairy Godmother: Who's the letter for?
Nerd: That Beast?
Fairy Grandmother: That little Beast? I'll hand it over. Was going to feed the little Beast some lion flesh anyway.
Nerd: Phew! Thanks a million, Fairy Godmother. Now if you'll lend me a pumpkin, I could ride down back to Beauty. Too tired to walk with all this to and fro running and half my courage eaten up by having to face the deadly Beast twice.
Fairy Godmother: I'm sorry dear. No pumpkin. But wait...I have a pineapple. He's gone out with his new watch to pass time in a jobless office. He'll come back hissing and nose twitching soon, and if you want, I can convert him into a dog cart for you to go to Beauty. Pineapple loves going to her. He'll only be happy.
Nerd: Your Pineapple? No thanks. I've heard enough terror stories already to be brave enough to ride on a new one now! (and he scrams)
Digging Deeper: Anjali and the kids are out to get these two together. But what of the letters Echoes of Arnav's own words...'don't lie'. He told that on the Holi day when Kushi was about to reveal the secret of their marriage. Is he symbolically stressing it again? To keep it secret? Too late, someone who shouldn't have known it, already knows it. And when he tells her to 'stop dreaming', he repeats what he told her before the honeymoon dance. An echo of what she had told Lavanya, that 'reality hurts and its better to live in dreams'. But wait. She writes back to him today saying that she has stopped dreaming. Stopped dreaming since the day she married him. Would he feel her pain in that statement if ever he gets to read that letter? Would he know how much she is hurting being his unacknowledged wife? Anjali seems to have noted Kushi's pain. She's out to cure that...but what is she going to do about it? Will she drag Shyam to help her cure it? Or would she resort to Nani alone?
In the scene where the first set of kids break Arnav's model and are sent to ask for forgiveness, the kids innocently refer to Arnav and Kushi as husband and wife. Here we have them married and the kids visioning them as characters from a magical story who need to brought together. Because there is a Prince in the Beast and only Beauty can bring him out. Again when Kushi writes to Arnav that kids see the truth, it is true for it was the kids who referred to ArHi as Beauty and Beast without anyone else telling them so. They just connected it themselves, because they SAW what connected Arnav and Kushi...
Also when Arnav and Kushi both tell each other to look in a mirror to see oneself as 'not beautiful' and as 'a beast', it is quite evident, they mean the opposite. They know that the best mirror cannot be found in that house or any house for that matter. Arnav's mirror is Kushi's eyes and Kushi's mirror is Arnav's eyes. They see themselves in all their beauty and love in each other's eyes if ever they stop to gaze...and yes, when Rabba Ve runs in the backdrop. Kushi is beautiful when reflected in his eyes and Arnav is her loving Prince when he sees himself in the reflection of her love-filled eyes..."Unki Anken," he said at Holi, because he saw the real Arnav, hidden inside of him, every time he looked into her eyes.
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