META Pyromaniac Padmini v Roaring Radha!!

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Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Dear Meta peeps,

This is a new initiative for those forum members who like to take part in more complex discussion than is normally engaged in forum land during the week.

For the uninitiated, a meta- discussion refers to themes and ideas expressed in a piece of fiction or an art work which relate to the wider social, political, economic, cultural, and psychological issues as are manifested in the work.

Commentators discuss not only the content of the show, but the conditions of its creation. The fourth wall is taken down and the universe of the work loses its integrity and becomes open to analysis. For example, and this is a distinction which I have seen very few people on the forum make, which is perhaps why there is a degree of quite illogical outrage at any criticism, that there is a separation between the intent and ideas expressed within the internal logic of the show by characters, and those expressed by the creators who drive the show, ie authorial intent.

Without making this a university lecture, and moving swiftly on: what is the weekend chai party for?

We are looking for long and complex discussions. Raging debates. Lets get it on! We are not necessarily look for things like ' great post' or ' me no like u u suk lol' but strong, complex opinions that express complex ideas. sure there won't be 50 people who are able to take part at this stage; we are happy to have 5!

Today's topic is MOTHERS. How do the two mothers Padmini and Radha, and their own biographies and life choices, affect those of their children Madhubala and Rishab?

Argue away!

Edited by Foucaults-qalam - 12 years ago

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Frequent Posters

Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Okay, i've had my coffee and Saturday tea cake, ( coffee, god- awful, never buying Kenyan roast again, tea-cake, surprisingly good, thanks, finest from Tescos), and am ready to go where no man or woman has dared to go until now.

Padmini first. She comes from a poor family, was married young into a powerful clan to a sadistic husband and cruel mother-in-law. The first few months of her marriage saw her succumbing to the situation; she was brought into the establishment as a breeding heifer and obliges her cruel husband. Nothing in her upbringing with her completely unsupportive, regressive family has trained her to consider that she might protest against the injustices heaped upon her.

Then, one day, the mid wife, a woman who has more freedom than other women from that socially backward area, coaxes her, chides her. She is worse than an actual breeding heifer, who will gore the hands that seek to harm its offspring. Suddenly, at these words, Padmini is inspired to be something else than the completely passive being she has been thus far. She shows, if not innovation and resourcefulness, at least an incredible amount of bravery and moral righteousness as she goes back to rescue Trishna as well as they escape from Motihari.

Her struggle in Bombay is well documented, I need not dwell upon it. In the metropolis she meets her first truly modern woman, Roma, and i will discuss her character in a later post. Despite the shortcomings of Roma's characterisation ( not her character), she comes across as a role model who lives and works for herself, without the support of a male crutch. Now Padmini comes into her own, and she brings her daughters up to be modern and independent too.

The character is not always consistent, however. But i think it is the feebleness of the creative team's own understanding of female emancipation, or the easy plot device of the arranged marriage, which made Padmini arrange that weird marriage for Trishna when she failed at school. A woman who escaped such a horrific marriage in unlikely to force any daughter of hers into a similar prison, without at least equipping her to maintain a separate existance.

But coming to Madhu, it is her mother's rigidity and strength that gives steel to her own convictions. Madhu is strong because Padmini is strong. Madhu is highly moral because Padmini is like that. Madhu trusts because Padmini learnt to trust again.

And Rishab? And Radha ji? Later!

Edited by Foucaults-qalam - 12 years ago

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Neelum.drashti

@Neelum.drashti

Trailblazer

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

Nice thought👍🏼

Padmini is a women who takes whatever life throws at her until someone she loves is affected by it...she was bearing ballu's toture, his mother's jibes quietly and thinking this was written in her destiny but for her daughter she went against all the hurdles and left ballu behind, putting her life in danger ,ignoring her patni dharam, and losing respect in the eyes of society. she left her pati behind but still she wear his mangulsutar,and may be even take varth for him ...and t this strength of character all became a part of madhu, to respect relations but to fight for right became her morals and that's why she respect her mother and womanhood and because of shamsher she believe in fairy tales...

Radha ji, her story is not completely known but from what i have seen, she was not there for rk when it counted, i don't know what were the circumstances back then but her being a katputli at her husband's hand shows that she was weak...and this weakness made rk insecure, makes him disrespect womanhood and because of kuko ji he take world as his enemy where everyone is against him

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Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Now on to the other mother, Radha ji, or as many have come to know her, Saddoji. She must have been a loving mother to Rishab as a child, we do not know. Yet it is the memories of his father he obsesses over, not of his mother from before her fall from grace.

Radha has acknowledged that she married Kukku because she could not think of spending her life alone. And this support was Kukku, someone who probably swindled and cheated her husband. Her child could see the truth behind Kukku, she apparently cannot. That story is yet to be revealed. But it would be hard to believe that she is still completely taken in by Kukku despite his many transgressions, both public and private.

Radha's succumbing to her own weakness is something that Rishab has never been able to forgive. Her weak, passive, tear-filled demeanour fills him with intense dislike, not just for her but for ALL women.

In his eyes all women are weak, cheating, unfaithful beings, not worthy of respect.

He demonises Padmini because to him, she too is a woman who left her husband to live with another man. He demonises Madhubala because he cannot see any purity in her motivations at all. He seeks out and expects deceit, and more often than not, he finds just that. He finds his beliefs regarding women completely ratified by Madhubala's blackmail and the subsequent publication of photographs.

What he finds both intriguing and irritating, however, is her strength of character. No-one has done that to him before, least of all a woman.

She completely throws his preconceived notions about women out onto the rain-soaked pavement of Mumbai. He strikes her down, she comes right back up again. He grinds her under his heel, he insults her, humiliates her, and she does mot flinch. He cannot break her but he is trying very hard.

This angers him. Why is she not like all women? Why does she not admit defeat like his mother did. Why does she make him question his convictions? Make him uncertain of the life choices he has made?

Why does she affect him so? And because she does, she must suffer till he is proved correct. That Madhu and Radha are exactly alike.

Edited by Foucaults-qalam - 12 years ago

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Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: Neelum.drashti
Nice thought👍🏼

Padmini is a women who takes whatever life throws at her until someone she loves is affected by it...she was bearing ballu's toture, his mother's jibes quietly and thinking this was written in her destiny but for her daughter she went against all the hurdles and left ballu behind, putting her life in danger ,ignoring her patni dharam, and losing respect in the eyes of society. she left her pati behind but still she wear his mangulsutar,and may be even take varth for him ...and t this strength of character all became a part of madhu, to respect relations but to fight for right became her morals and that's why she respect her mother and womanhood and because of shamsher she believe in fairy tales...

Radha ji, her story is not completely known but from what i have seen, she was not there for rk when it counted, i don't know what were the circumstances back then but her being a katputli at her husband's hand shows that she was weak...and this weakness made rk insecure, makes him disrespect womanhood and because of kuko ji he take world as his enemy where everyone is against him

Well put. I am going to add the extra dimension of time in Padmin's story. She was a married woman for a very short time, not more than two years. So her convictions of being a married woman, a passive, tortured woman were both formed and torn away in that short period. I wonder, if the writers take that into account at all.

Edited by Foucaults-qalam - 12 years ago

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Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

I've edited the thread title because someone just said to me it sounded like a cozy club for fat aunties who are moms on the forum. I'm sorry, but my tiny alaia bandage dress will have a lot to say to that! So title changed to what's in the bottle.

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Foucaults-qalam

@Foucaults-qalam

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Interesting idea going forth from Neelum's post. Is Padmini's wearing of the signs of a married woman really an aspect of her connection to Ballu? Or is it her reluctance to shed the safety net of her status as a married woman? So that she is is seen in society as 'unavailable' and 'in the protection of a man' because in societies such as India, isn't that one of the primary functions of marriage still? To prove and manifest ownership? Yes it is disguised as izzat and dharm and all that in a paternalistic discourse, but it is nothing but a title deed, isn't it?

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Shridevi Gaddam

@0-SD-0

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

I have not seen the show from the beginning. The information that I gather through the posts on the forum tell me where does Padmini come from and how Madhu takes after her. So that brings me both Padmini and Radhaji on the same platform, seeing them since RK-MB's marriage.

With due respect to today's chat topic, I take liberty to digress a little before talking about the mothers, I have been saying that this show has the potential to go to EPIC Proportions and become a magnum opus. If Charles Dickens or WM Thackeray were to write this story, we will get a peep into all the characters. The show does have all characters with absolutely something original about them, be it their strengths or their weakness or eccentricities, they are wholesome people. Too bad that the format of 20 minute episode per day and the Fandom makes the creatives show only the protagonists !

If RK hates women all alike, and if Sharad Chandra Chattopadyay were to write this story, these five women would have been the protagonists, Madhubala, Padmini, Radhaji, Roma and Trishna and RK would have been the man through whom we would have seen these women. I know its too far fetched when I say RK may even have chances at seeing Roma and Trishna. But then why not ? He is in show-biz industry. He is the white collared one. They too are in show-biz, albeit more on production assembly line floor like the blue-collared workers.

Anyways...Pyromaniac Padmini v Roaring Radha. 😆 Alliteration at best. Pyromania 🤣

Padmini -Madhu

Like Mother Like Daughter - Start the fires. And I am seeing how they lit up RK 🤣

How will they defend themselves ? Like Billy Joel said

Balraj Choudhry, Super Star RK ...

We didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning.

We didn't start the fire. No we didn't ignite it. But we tried to fight it.

We didn't start the fire. But when we are gone, will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

Radha - RK

Like Mother Unlike Son - Roaring she will become for once rebelling from her Meek form. Can't wait to see it.

Padmini - RK

LIke Mother in law - Like Son in Law - they lit up each other with taunts. Equals.😆 The Saasuma never even acknowledges what the damaad is saying about her. Its like the words falls on deaf ears. All she is concerned about what he does to his daughter

Radha - MB

Good chemistry so far. So much that MB's roaring temper infected Radhaji 😆

Jokes apart.

Padmini

A dramatic, excruciating and visible pain is far easier to address and treat it. That's the story of Padmini. She had a visible ogre kind of husband from whom running away and taking shelter in Shamsher Malik's human place seemed so much sense to her. She just needed small help to stand on her feet to save the two innocent souls, her step-daughter and her unborn child. This woman is epitome of compassion and courage. Having walked out of the Devil's Den, this woman does not need any other person to tell what Devil looks like and is happy to live amongst human friends. That is her saga. No societal laws, only survival laws apply to her.

The same survival streak appears when she decides to marry of her two daughters 1) when Trishna fails 2) When Madhubala gets the Mukund proposal. After all she is not a rich woman to think of fancy women's emancipation. She barely has time and resources for sophistications. True to her background, she makes assessment what's good for her daughters. Its age old wisdom. One or the other day woman marries, why not now when I don't see any means of you getting independent and achiever (Trishna's case), why not now when I don't see why I should not accept Mukund's rishta ? (MB's case). A case of Practical Philosophy.

This compassion + survival + Pragmatic approach of her mother is what has been inherited by Madhubala. She is using it all in dealing with RK.

Radha

In contrast, Radha seems to have been showered with love and affection and had comfortable shelter, well taken care of and nothing to worry about. Basically she never knew what is survival when she was living in heaven. And once that source of goodness gets rudely cut-off, all that this women faces is her Fear. And she is so scared that she takes the hand of the first help that she gets even if that be a satan in the garb of god. This woman is an example of Fear and with that fear she attracts the devil and is successful in making her home a Devil's Den. Who is her company ? Unlike Padmini's friends who behave like a family, Radha's family behaves like foes, The womaning husband-stepson duo, the cunning husband and monster turned son...these are the samples she lives with. How she survives her day ? I have no clue. Sigh !🤢

Courage - Makes it - Padmini - Homemaker.

Fear - Breaks it - Radha - Homebreaker.

My friends, FQ and the second TM (pardon my inability to recall usernames) have used the words - TRUST for Padmini and DECEIT for Radha - ofcourse as perceived through their children's eyes.

How true !

MB is courageous to trust and forge with world around her.

And RK is even now scared of getting abandoned and will not forge with the world around him.

Edited by shridevigaddam - 12 years ago

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Shridevi Gaddam

@0-SD-0

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: Foucaults-qalam
Interesting idea going forth from Neelum's post. Is Padmini's wearing of the signs of a married woman really an aspect of her connection to Ballu? Or is it her reluctance to shed the safety net of her status as a married woman? So that she is is seen in society as 'unavailable' and 'in the protection of a man' because in societies such as India, isn't that one of the primary functions of marriage still? To prove and manifest ownership? Yes it is disguised as izzat and dharm and all that in a paternalistic discourse, but it is nothing but a title deed, isn't it?

Yes, in India, 90% of the time it turns out overtly and inadvertantly and at sublime levels that Marriage is a licence to live an honourable and peaceful life devoid of taunts. Its a certificate of your virtue even if 10% of the same population may indulge in extra-marital affairs.

Those who remain unmarried, walk on fire day in day out expecting tests of virtue/eligibility of being considered as human living being with its own thoughts and aspirations.

I attributed this aspect as survival when I analysed Padmini and her wish to marry off her daughters in my post.

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xodramalover

@xodramalover

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

#10

I believe Padmini is a fighter though yet she is still under this society's influence. I think if she didn't find Roma or Shamsher her transition to the single mother would not have been great. Even though she doesn't like her husband she still performs the religious rights of being his wife. She tells Madhubala it is because he gave two daughters to her. Someone can view that as strength or something different entirely. However, I think she is courageous to do that. Indian society has definitely changed, but I still think the double standard and harsh criticism remain concerning single mothers, divorced mothers, etc. For me Padmini's actions has made Madhubala a fighter and a pure person who fights for what's right.

When it comes to Trishna I'm at a loss...

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META Pyromaniac Padmini v Roaring Radha!!

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