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TODAY IS A VERY SPECIAL DAY! 🥳
What is that? You knew?
"DUH," you say, "today is the day we find out if Aarti actually confessed her love!"
Yes, yes, that is true but there is more...
"Of course, the dance sequence coming up with happy Yash and Aarti looking like a red-hot, theeki mirchi" 😈
No, no, even more momentous than that! 😃
"MORE?! What could be more momentous than that," you ask? 😲
Well...😳
**AHEM**
I would like to announce that our DC, which has followed the show from the first episode, under many names has crossed a milestone today!
For the first time, the Dragon Club (10/8/2012) crossed
PAGES!!! 🥳
..along with a whopping 30,000 views!!! 👏👏👏
To all the people who have contributed by reading writing, by analysing or deconstructing, by acting and reacting 😉, with VMs, write-ups, comics, caps, intellect, naughtiness and most importantly to those who have made it, and had, lots and lots of fun!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Here is a toast to us, to the whole PV team who inspire us daily, and to a future of much more discussion, fun and love in this virtual family!
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Today's episode had one overarching message: Yash has begun to notice Aarti as a woman and has started feeling his attraction to her in the most explicit way, i.e. physically. Before this episode, Yash was certainly drawn to Aarti but for much more abstract reasons, his soul called to hers, he was intrigued by the aura of joy that surrounded her and he loved the little family they made with his, hers and theirs. But today that abstraction found meaning.
In addition, the past came to visit both Yash and Aarti in different ways today, where both Prashant and Arpita were evoked. Aarti's love with Prashant was evoked by the near identical recreation of the scene of Prashant's proposal. She accused Yash of eve-teasing her and was about to have him beaten up, and then she saved him in the nick of time by declaring that he was her husband. It is true that the overarching narrative was the same, and yet it was interesting to note the specific ways in which they chose to weave this new version of the same course of events, what was different and what was the same.
Aarti inflicted this "punishment" on Prashant because he kept her waiting, he was late. On the other hand, she did this to Yash because he caught up with her when she was running away, on the children's insistence. It was also really interesting reference to all the misunderstanding Aarti did of Yash before the wedding. At that time, she never got to openly accuse him and the misconceptions were cleared without her really having to confront him. Maybe today was that confrontation, but Yash's answer was so different. When at that time he insisted that he married for his children and did not want to touch her, today he was forced to acknowledge that he had a right to touch her because she was his wife. And Aarti immediately acknowledged it herself, and the men let him go. On the other hand, Prashant begged Aarti to define their relationship, to tell the men who he was to her; he couldn't own up himself. Finally, Aarti had to save him when he was just about to get beaten up, while Yash saved himself by acknowledging publicly, his relationship with Aarti.
Additionally, while Aarti and Prashant were running through a shaded area with lots of trees serving as obstructions, Yash and Aarti were running on the open beach, with nothing between them. This perhaps shows that Aarti was unaware and "in the dark" about so many things with Prashant, but with Yash, everything is clear and unobstructed. Finally, I found it very poignant that while Prashant asked Aarti if she was crazy and told her he would have gotten beaten to a pulp, and thanks her sarcastically when she reminds him that she saved him, Yash just laughed, which to men meant two things. Unlike Prashant, he got the joke, and unlike Prashant, he trusted Aarti to save him. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that she would come through before things got out of hand. It is this very trust that makes Aarti-Yash different from Aarti and Prashant.
And so Aarti confessed, read her rejection and Yash's turmoil in his face and quickly tried to brush it away. It was as though she was in this trance, which was broken by Yash's expression as he heard those words. She suddenly realised this wasn't a dream, this was real and she had just said those words out loud. So she did damage control as best she could, because as she mentioned later in her diary, she didn't want to lose the sapling of a relationship they had now. I love how they are repeating the word "kaash" as though it is the theme of this Bombay track. Because we all know the rejoinder to "if only" is the fact that the thing you wished for, isn't, which is why Aarti turns to her diary in the first place.
Today Yash's so far abstract feelings for Aarti, that were arguably platonic as well, found meaning in Aarti's beauty and sensuality, her mystery and her sheer compatibility with him, and I think each scene explored one of these concrete manifestations of Yash's so far abstract attraction.
Aarti's Mystery
This aspect was explored in the night scene where Aarti writes her deepest and most precious feelings in her diary and holds it to her as she sleeps. I loved the way this whole sequence played out because Yash initiated it subconsciously, which is how I think this relationship has always been. Although we keep seeing Aarti make the first conscious moves, Yash has usually been the first to feel the connection with her, starting right from the bee that sat upon her waist which he felt the pressing need to swat away. Here too, he turns toward her in his sleep, as though he can sense that she has joined him on the bed, and his feet cross into no man's land. It is only then that he is awoken by her feet landing gently on top of his. The dialogue rings true once again, "mein sirf aapko jagane aayi hoon." Once awake, Yash gently slides his feet out from under hers, but her diary catches his attention and as though unable to control himself, he reaches for it, perhaps for the answers to the questions that have been running through his head since she sprung that unlikely "joke" on him. We were waiting for the curiosity on Yash's part regarding Aarti? Here it is!
I think the fact that Aarti wakes up at this moment shows how vigilantly she is still guarding her feelings and her innermost self. And although she looks alarmed and Yash sees her defensive gestures, which seem to expel him completely, he should take note of the fact that she put her feelings, her innermost self down somewhere outside, which means that she wants him to know at some point, just not right now. She justifies this by saying that he is not ready, but I think, neither is she. And so the truth no longer lies only within Aarti's heart. It is literally and proverbially "out there" and Yash can sense it.
Aarti's Beauty
The morning scene was undoubtedly my favourite of the episode! It was so simple and poignant. Once again, Yash and Aarti have turned to face each other in their sleep, despite their best conscious efforts when Yash opens his eyes. In this Mumbai track, we have been exposed to Yash the artist, the lover of beauty and visual harmony, be it through the pottery or the bangles. Who can deny that, sleeping peacefully with her hair falling gently over her face, Aarti was as pretty a picture as any? But it wasn't just her face, but the peace on it that I think spoke to Yash's heart, her hair made him instinctively jerk his hand to move it (a la pottery scene), and yet he stayed still afraid to ruin the beautiful picture before him. I don't know if this makes sense, but until she opened her eyes and infused Aarti into awakened form, she was just a perfect tableau that Yash was drinking in with his beauty-loving eyes, a tableau that stirred Yash from within, whose peace made him peaceful. The moment she awoke, she became Aarti, a living, breathing woman, enjoying whose beauty was forbidden to him. This scene actually reminded me of the morning after the SR, especially since Yash and Aarti were in the same clothes, when Aarti thought Yash was Ansh and stroked his hair...except this was REAL.
And then the ice cube scene. I love how they brought that connection from the morning where Yash noticed Aarti's hair in her face and wanted to brush it away, to the comment that slipped out when she said she had to cut it. And I love how they just had Aarti ignore it completely. She has never been one to take notice of her physical appearance or give it any thought when others do, so while she continues to think she is enjoying her moment with Yash, she doesn't realise what is brewing on the other side and the effect this very beauty she discounts is having on Yash. This scene was stunning and gave me all kinds of goosebumps...and they didn't even touch! That is suggestion at its best!
Aarti's Compatibility
This is in reference to the last scene where Yash sees Aarti getting ready to go to a pub, and remembers Arpita's reaction to the same idea. You have to appreciate the dilemma they created for Yash in this situation. He had to convince Arpita to even put on those clothes in front of him and she refused to go to the disco with him point blank. On the other hand, here is an Aarti who understands instinctively why she can't wear a salwar to a pub and actually wants to go herself, and not just to make him happy. It must be killing Yash to feel that Aarti is so much more sensible than Arpita was about this, because stripped of all feelings, if he were to choose one side on this issue, it would be Aarti because she agrees with him. Naturally, he is shocked that Aarti should "fit" with him better than Arpita did in any situation and he is overcome with guilt when he remembers Arpita's words: that even if he does find another partner, he will miss her because she is the only one in his heart. Finding Aarti, going out with her, and worst of all, possibly not missing Arpita (which Yash knows is possible from the past few days) is a petrifying thought for Yash.
Finally, I end this gargantuan take by saying that significantly, in the original flashback, Yash replies to Arpita affirming that nobody can take her place (AKJ), but today he remembered only until her dialogue that her name was written on his heart. That to me, indicated that while he is guilty about betraying Arpita's trust, as expressed by her in that dialogue, his mind no longer agrees completely with what she is saying in the memory. Squee.