15/5 Dragon Club: My Daddy Strongest!

For today's episode I think the Mittals and everyone involved in the conception deserve a standing ovation because these are the scenes, the confrontations that every jaded viewer of every typical saas-bahu drama on television wants and waits to see. We had the bahu standing up for herself, her husband, though not romantically involved with her, having a spine and going against his parents and most of all we saw the "ladkiwale" act with pride and dignity in the face of their humiliation. Today's episode reiterated the fact that this is no ordinary show we are watching! Off comes the hat! 👏👏👏

I felt that today was all about the relationships between parents and children. We had a wide plethora of scenes and confrontations where this theme was explored, all revolving around the one child they all share in some respect, Ansh. And it was not only the direct relationship between the parents and the child either, but that of parents in law as well, with their DILs and SILs. There was a wonderful sense of interconnectedness and a thread that ran through the episode and for that I commend the screenplay writer.

The first altercation was between the son-father duo of Yash and SP where Yash begs his father to understand and begin collecting the money. However, on being made to understand his father's stance yet again, Yash backs off. Then in storms in Aarti, with nothing left to lose, she will fight anyone and everyone to get her child back. And something in her confrontation with his father turns the tables for Yash. It could be as simple as her revealing that the kidnappers now know about the police, or as nuanced as her call for help reverberating through his very being.

I think it was both and somehow this call, makes things clear for Yash and almost like a rite of passage, he places his father-son relationship with Ansh, one peg above his father-son relationship with SP. It is nothing but the circle of life (can't seem to let go of that reference today) but the time of transition is hard during the best of circumstances, and here it appears even more complex as Aarti and Ansh have just entered Yash's life. It just goes to show how insensitive the Scindia parents really are, when they cant see this huge shift taking place within their own son. He has grown up enough to hold himself profoundly accountable for his decisions and they should be proud. Instead they are wrapped up in the implications for them. In their blindness they will lose their son, in fact it may already be done. This is what we see in the precap condition, the fear that Yash is putting any relationship's value above that of his relationship with them. He is putting his role as a parent above his role as a son and he has never done that before. That scares and hurts them.

Aarti was Shobha's daughter again today, instead of just a bahu of the Scindia parivar. The same way Shobha had a moment of realisation at the wedding as to why she was not fighting for Aarti, Aarti too decided to fight today, simply because she had nothing to lose...as long as Ansh was in danger, it was already lost. And here she throws the final test at Yash as well. She challenges his parents and dares to raise her voice to them, calling them out on their cruelty at this point (I cannot argue that at this point, their not doing anything is deeply troublesome. What use will their principles or their 10 crores be if Ansh is lost?). I can add this to that abbreviated conversation I had put up in the previous thread, where Yash faces all of Aarti's emotional onslaught with nothing but constancy. Here again, she gives the ultimate test by challenging his parents and he only repeats his constant assurance, that Ansh is his responsibility and he will bring him home safe no matter what it takes. And it is definitely getting through to Aarti that he means it.

Working off of Yash's assurances Shobha the mother works to build her daughter's courage and confidence. The same way we see Aarti assuring Ansh that everything will be ok, that he should keep the faith that he will be saved from that darkness, Shobha assures Aarti of the same. Everything will be ok, keep the faith in Yash. He will make everything alright and save you from this darkness.

Gayatri with her bahus was an imposing and dictatorial mother figure. She wanted complete obedience and submission from them. But for the first time we see her attitude causing resistance in her bahus, quite the opposite of what she desired. Children are a different matter. We see how influenced Payal and Palak are by their grandmother and bua and how much they seek their approval. But Gayatri is trying to use the same methods on Vidhi and Paridhi and they are grown individuals who will not respect her for that. Today we got our first powerpuff girls moment with Vidhi actually asking Paridhi to take care of Gayatri in her special way while she pacified Shobha. Together, they stopped Gayatri from saying any more cruel things that they would be ashamed of. Gayatri also seems convinced that she could get any girl for Yash, there is no dearth of them. But Gaya, you forget the crucial issue, Yash will not marry any of those girls. He has accepted Aarti, he has admired Aarti and now he has promised Aarti. He will not back down and marry "any girl".

Finally Dubey and Prashant. I strongly believe that Dubey is not able to let go of his son. He is looking for an excuse to bring him back into their lives, redeem him in Shobha's eyes so that is possible, but how can you redeem someone who is so basically depraved? This is where the idea of khoon comes in. What does it matter if Ansh is Prashant's khoon, if Prashant does not acknowledge that? Prashant is not Ansh's father, he never has been and has never wanted to be. His spite on the phone was audible, when he said that Ansh's responsibility belonged to his new father. He seems to resent that the one thing still connecting him to his parents is Ansh, So while he wants his parents back, without the "baggage" of Ansh, Yash goes against his parents to ensure that same baggage's complete safety. That comparison is not lost on Shobha!