While I agree with you on several fronts, would like to respectfully disagree on others.
I have expressed this on Lazyleaves' thread as well so will put down the same thoughts here more or less:
Was Barun less than fully frank and forthcoming? Definitely Yes...
Will it serve him better in future to have vastly improved PR skills? A HUGE yes..
Now here is a point where I would like to disagree with you-
Should we (the fans) have expected him to be fully frank and open about his decision to quit? Debatable...
In any profession, not just in showbiz, an employee leaving his organization to pursue a competing opportunity, is always on tenterhooks. It is not an easy time for anybody, and generally the employee who is quitting will be quite cagey about where and when he is going. I have seen this happening many, many times over the course of my working life. Probably, the fear being that the current employer could put a spanner in the works?
Now, I am feeling awful that the show ended, I was never part of the spamming/ calling drive, for the simple reason that I never felt harassing Star's employees was the answer to anything. Plus, I was open to the idea of at least seeing how the new entry would do.
But tell me, what was Barun's part in the 'keep spamming and calling Star plus' drive? I don't think it is very fair, post facto, to state that he should have come fully clean about his movie plans, and therefore headed off this imbroglio. Barun did not ask for this overtly passionate section of fans to behave the way they did.
He did say, several times, that he was leaving the show of his own will, he said that Gul was not to blame. I agree he said 'long break' instead of saying 'I am off to Bollywood, wish me well', but he did say that his departure was 'not a short break' and that his return was not certain?
My only point is, why hold up someone to such very high standards of candor which may not be really realistic? Because a section of fans regrettably used immense pressure and were a catalyst in getting the show shut? But Its not as if Barun claimed he was a victim of politics, right?
Mind you, I agree that this honesty, had it been shown, would have been very commendable. Just that we perhaps, should not be expecting it as a matter of mandatory entitlement or even as something which is usually followed ('coz its not, really...) I shall not name any other star here, coz that's against forum rules, but really, haven't we all come across much Bigger stars than Barun being less than forthcoming about their professional decisions/ moves/ signing on or leaving films? In all honesty, can you really say that this ambiguous/ evasive behavior has never been shown by others before?
My last request--and this goes out to everyone-- is, at the end of the day, this is the show which enraptured us (even through its highs and lows) for nearly 18 months. We laughed and cried with the characters (And Not just Barun--Sanaya, I loved Karan and Sana Khan as well); and it gave us a huge number of truly magical moments and a lead pair chemistry which was unrivaled and perhaps shall never be matched.
Can't we all just smoke the peace pipe and instead bid our beloved show a fond farewell? Can't we all wish the entire cast well in all their future endeavors, wherever that might be?
Anway, just my point of view. Dont mean to start a fight, you are entitled to your viewpoint as well, so if we can't agree we might as well peacefully agree to disagree! 😊
Cheers..
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
