The Lure or the Bait - Something you catch a fish with
Shyam smelled something fishy. He went looking for it. And what did he find? One BIG fish.
The past has finally come in front of her to haunt Garima. She is terrified as she turns to look at Dadiji - but her Devi Mayya in the form of Payal and Mamiji have made her unrecognizable to Dadiji. They exchange haldi tikas and Garima breathes a sigh of relief. She retires to her room, opens her cupboard and takes out a box. She looks at something, when she hears a sound.
Shyam is at the door. Ever since he saw her reaction to Dadi, his insatiable curiosity about other people's lives has had him keeping a close eye on her. He watches her take soemthing out the box and then keep it back as she hears him at the door. He doesn't miss a thing as she quickly puts the box back in the cupboard and leaves. His keen suspicious nose smells a mystery. 'Koi to raaz hai. Aur hamare alawa kaun hai jo iss baat ka pata lagaayega?' There is almost an insatiable need in him to gather information about people in him. Who knows when what will come in handy? He needs ammunition to break apart Arnav and Khushi. And if Khushi's mother has a secret, then that just might be the ammunition he is looking for. To him, nothing is sacred and nothing is private. People's lives are like instruments - use them as long as needed and however its needed.
In the living room, another small scene awaits him. Dadi wishes to leave. On one side of the room, Buaji, Akash, Payal and Mami are standing. Dadi stands apart, and he goes and stands next to her, offering to take her home. He now plays the role of the dutiful, unjustly wronged grandson-in-law. The others look at him in something like disgust, before Akash stops him and offers to take Dadi home. She on the other hand, wants her dear grandson-in-law to take her home.
Back at Raizada Mansion, Dadi and he settle down to have a little chit-chat. He needs to understand what is Dadi's stake in all of this. What is going on with her and Garima? Since Dadi is in his confidence, he knows he can make her tell him all the sordid (as he hopes) details. But he needs more information first. So he plays the victim card. Dadi offers him food, but he doesn't take it. It has the desired effect. She starts off by saying how sorry she is about what happened at the haldi. 'humne gaur kiya - haldi ke waqt kis tarah kinarey kar diya gaya'. I noticed, how sidelined you were during the haldi. Since she wasn't there at the haldi itself, which is when they REALLY sidelined him, how did she know? I am assuming it was from that last little by-play with Akash. And then he strokes her anger down. 'I have full confidence in myself that I will bring them all to my side in a short time. ... It was such a good day. Both families coming together to fulfil the haldi rasam.'
Notice how he 'sidelines' himself here, echoing her words. It doesn't matter how I feel, because the greater good has been accomplished. If Dadi could have glowed with pride on hearing these words from her wonderful son-in-law, she would. But it still has the desired effect. She now sees him as a victim of unfair behavior.
While he is thinking - 'Is masiji hiding from Dadiji for a reason?' What reason? You can almost see him rubbing his hands in glee at having found something, anything - a little nugget that he can use against ASR/Khushi.
The Bite (Is it a nibble? or a Big Bite?) - Has the fish taken the bait?
The next opportunity he gets to show off his 'victim' status is at the dining room. He tries to ingratiate himself with ASR, the whole family and at the same time, show Dadi how much he was trying to be nice to ASR - but really, it's all ASR's fault that he is not accepted in the family. He is setting the stage for the outsider story. Both ASR and Dadi play right into his hands. He hands over the dal to Arnav, who refuses to accept it from him. Dadi's smile turns stony. He offers pickle and salad to ASR who is getting more and more irritated with him. Now he throws in the larger bait.
'jo kuch hua uske baad aapki naraazgi bhi jayaz hai
hamein sirf ek mauka chahiye
hamara rishta sirf rani sahiba se nahin - aake saath - iss poorey ghar ke saath bhi hai
bas uss rishtey ka mazboot hona baki hai'
'Your anger is justified after whatever happened.
I only need a chance.
My relationship is not just with Rani Sahiba, it's with you, with this whole family.
Only that relationship has to be strengthened again.'
NK and Payal look at him disbelievingly. Akash and Mami can't be bothered to even look at him. ASR gets up to walk away.
Did Shyam know that ASR was going to react like that? Absolutely. He knows which buttons to push. ASR as usual puts him in his place. He is only being tolerated for Di's sake, and as soon as Di is better he is outta here. As ASR walks away, Dadi calls him back - exactly as Shyam had expected she would. What good was the victim act if it didn't have the desired actions? And then, Dadi says the F-word.. no, not that (get your minds out of the gutter - this is serious drama we are talking here!!!) - she brings up his father again. All it does is anger Arnav and he walks away. Shyam puts on his puppy dog face for Dadi and then decides to go pay Rani Sahiba a visit.
The Tackle - Reeling the fish in as it fights to stay in the water
He looks suitably sad as he sits with her on the bed. Nothing bothers Anjali than to see her 'Woh' unhappy. So obviously, she asks him what is the matter?
His reply is so well thought out, so well-crafted that I need to give the dialogue writer a standing ovation for bringing this gem to us. Don't know much about direction (Ruby is our resident expert), but even I believed every word that came out of his mouth - and I know he's lying! This is a speech that sets the standards for manipulation. Each word is crafted to bring out the exact desired effect. Watch and learn from a master! But before we start on this - notice he never says WHY Arnav had to be scolded by Dadiji. It's all implied that it's some innocent act of his that Arnav got angry at!
Hamare wajah se dadiji ne saaley saab to daanta. Saaley Saab got a scolding from dadiji because of me. (I am so sorry that Dadiji had to scold your beloved Chotey because of me. I really feel so bad about it.)
hum to kuch bhi sah saktey hain. I can bear anything for you - even a yelling from your Chotey. (I can take anything your Chotey says to me. In other words, your Chotey was being harsh to me. That is why Dadi scolded him. Not really my fault you see.)
hamare wajah se dadiji aur saaley saab ke beech mein koi samasya ho yeh to hum bilkul bhi nahin chahtey hain na I don't want to be the cause of any rift between Chotey and Dadiji. I dont want it at all. ( I am the cause of the rift. But I don't want to be the cause. I want you to tell me how I am the cause of this rift. See, I'm only the victim of Chotey's anger here.)
And now he throws out a bigger line.
... aaj to unhone kaha ki.. jis tarah unhone apney babuji to kabhi maaf nahi kiya, waisey hi woh hamein maaf nahi kar rahey hain . Today she said... the way he (Chotey) never forgave his father, he is not forgiving me in the same way. ( Now he brings in the true reason for his long story. Chotey is not forgiving me like he is not forgiving his father. Tell me, Rani Sahiba, what did your father do that Chotey will not forgive him? What mistake was so grave that it create a lifetime's impact on his son?).
yeh to aapke parivar ki aapas ki baat hai to.. This is your family's internal matter. (Who am I? I am just an outsider. I have already established this in the first sentence. Your family had a tiff because of me!).
.iss tarah hamari saamney bahar aaye.. yeh acchi baat nahi hai... It's not good that these private matters should come out in front of me. (Really, Rani Sahiba, Am I an outsider that you have kept such private juicy gossip out of my reach? I thought you loved me, Rani Sahiba).
And to add cherry to the icing he finishes with: I didn't know about this, that's why I am saying this. (Why didn't I know about this Rani Sahiba? Why did I have to come to you to ask for information on your family? How many more secrets are there, Rani Sahiba, tell me, tell me all)
In less than ten sentences, he establishes himself as a victim. He establishes himself as an outsider. And then he lays a guilt trip on Anjali for not telling him about her inner secrets. This is a master class in manipulation! Kudos to the writer!!
Anjali is devastated. He has put her through an emotional wringer and now he waits while she sweats blood. All her secrets and her Chotey's secrets come out in a rush. She is ashamed that she has not told him all this. Not once does she question why he would be asking about her parents when he had started to tell her about a tiff with Arnav. She has been manipulated so well - she forgets the real story and gladly spills her guts to him. Never did she even think that she is now putting her Chotey's life once more in the hands of a man who tried to kill him.
I never told you all this, because Chotey and I wanted to forget all this. He was very small when mama committed suicide. This affected him very badly. You know my first marriage broke.You also know that my mum and dad were victims of a trauma. But I never told you why and how it happened.Because it was never mentioned. Sorry. I never told you all this before. ... what would i have told you? that our mama and papa committed suicide because of another woman? Till today Chotey and I haven't spoken about this openly. ... there was another woman in my dad's life because of whom our mother committed suicide
Now he has the entire story. All he has to do is land the fish. He already has some information on Garima. He knows that she is scared of Dadi. Here is another story from Anjali about the 'Other Woman' in her father's life. Could it be? Could he really get so lucky? All this juicy information so quickly. Has he been given the key to another of ASR's weakness? He needs to confirm it and he hurries off to Dadiji to find out.
The Landing - The fish is out of the water and on the land!
Once again, he works the Saaley Saab angle. Being the better man. Give him some time. I am surprised about what he thinks about his father. You see, Rani Sahiba told me everything.
In reality she didn't. She couldn't have told him that ASR hated that 'Other Woman' as much as he hated his father. He only ever revealed it to Khushi. Regardless, he continues to stoke Dadi's ego, her sense of rightness. And then Dadi gives him the big reward for being so patient.
In essence, she tells him, Arnav is making the same mistake as he did in the past. His mother couldn't hold his father to the marriage. The other woman enticed him what was he to do? These two women destroyed my son. And now, history is repeating itself. Arnav is again taking Khushi's side, not yours (i.e his father's), he blames you! And then...
It was Garima who was responsible for the past, and now Khushi who is ruining my grandson's present. ... IF SHE WAS IN FRONT OF ME... Shyam's patience has finally paid dividends. He doesn't care how flawed Dadi's version of the present is. All he cares about is finding out people's weakness and using it against them to his own advantage.
Arnav's weakness - Khushi, Anjali and his mother
Khushi's weakness - Arnav and her family
Dadi's weakness - blind faith in strangers, her ego
Garima's weakness - her family and her past
'rum ka ikka to hamarey haath mein aa gayi - ab yeh baazi toh puri tarah hamari hui'! - I have the ace in my hole - this game is mine.
The next day, he will get play his ace. He will manouver Garima and Dadi until he has them face to face. When the Guptas come to RM he puts in his plan into motion. He steals Shashi's meds and has HP give them to Dadi. Stops Dadi in time from taking the meds, and gets Dadi to come downstairs while Garima is busy looking for the meds.
Garima, unaware that Dadi is walking down to her. Dadi marching down the stairs to face the 'Other Woman.' Mission Accomplished?
The Good Wife
Given Dadi's screwed up, biased logic about women in General, and applying the same set of values as she did to Arnav's mom, shouldn't she have been blaming Anjali for not keeping Shyam in her 'vash'?
After Thoughts:
You might be wondering if I was watching the same epi as you were, as I barely have mentioned Arnav and Khushi - except in the context of Shyam.
I was saving the best for the last:
The haldi. A man in love. A man in lust. Arnav is all of that. He can't wait to be with Khushi, can't wait to make her his own, put his stamp on her. His heart, and mind and body and soul are hers. But her body isn't. He knows she is skittish about the physical aspects of a relationship with him. He knows that she runs every time he gets close. She makes excuses to not touch him. And he is determined to break down those barriers. Much as he is enjoying her joy at the rasams, he is also annoyed at the hoops he has to jump through to get her back where she belongs, with him! Every chance he gets, he finds some privacy - be it in GH or RM. He is determined, that by the time SR comes around, she will not be holding back any more. He is a man in love and he needs to be with her every which way. He will play dirty, do ramanchi, find technical grounds on which to see her. The minute his sister said 'We've already broken the tradition with haldi, as we're having it together, instead of separately', you could see his mind going into overdrive. In other words, rasams can be changed on the fly. If haldi rasam can be broken, then the tradition after haldi i.e. bride and groom not seeing each other can also be broken. He is after all, ASR. And right now his whole focus is Khushi, his whole world is Khushi.
By the way - you might want to wipe that drool off your chin, which is now pooling on your keyboard.
Anupamaa
Fan Fictions
MasterChef India Season 9
Indian Mythology
