I like this angle. You're only brave for so long. Courage afterall never means that fear was never present. It's merely an understanding that there is a far more important choice to be made and hence you simply turn away from the fear. You shut it out, you close your eyes to it yet it still lingers. It lingers until you don't have to be so strong anymore, until you can look it in the eye and move on. When Virat had been in prison, his priority had been his family. He had to protect them hence the fear was safely shuttered away. Now that he's a free man, he can't help but allow himself to truly venture in the darkness of that prison. It's a funny thought' Has he been freed at all? In body perhaps but his soul isn't there yet. His soul is still haunted by the loneliness. Because more than anything, Virat had been alone. Completely so. He doesn't regret making the sacrifice, he simply acknowledges the fact that he never, ever wants to go back in their again. He doesn't want to live on nothing but the memories of his loved ones, memories of Maanvi. He says so himself.. she had been his strength in there. I liked the conversation in Thursday's episode.. he opens his heart out to her, he tells her everything and she in turn is so completely torn.. sigh. How can you ever even think that Maanvi could not love Virat? She feels his pain like it's her own, like it wasn't his soul that was hurting but hers and she'd do anything.. anything to protect him, shield him from this pain. She wants to heal his heart of that loneliness and she will never, ever let him endure it again. That much is obvious in the reflexive shake of her head when he says he never wants to go back again. He wouldn't. Not again. Never again. She wouldn't allow it.
He's laid his pain out for her because again they are just so terribly honest that way. He doesn't pretend to be brave or invincible, he lowers his guard down completely and confesses of this pain, this fear that had been eating away at him on the inside.. he shares because she is his partner isn't she? He needs to talk about it, needs to let it out so he does. She respects and feels for him completely, she doesn't undermine it in any way but she shares her personal horrors as well. Yes she hadn't been in prison like he had but then it hadn't been easy for her either. If Virat is to lie on the thorns he chose for himself, then Maanvi must too. There are no rainbows here. Only storms. She had been lifeless without him.. and she has no idea, simply no idea how she survived long enough for him to come back to her and force some air into her again. I loved how he placed an arm around her and she held onto his hands like always. That physical connection always makes them look so thoroughly entwined into each other, the way she always holds onto him always echoes with the fact that Virat is truly her lifeline.. its something that just creeps through. She doesn't even think about it.. she just has to hold onto him.
He may be surrounded by demons of his own yet he still tries to make light of the subject towards the end, trying to get her to smile.. she simply hugs him instead because she needs to. She needs to tell herself that he really is there. That this time when she'd cling onto him he wouldn't disappear, leaving her alone. It's a cruel world for Maanvi when there is no Virat in it. Okay scratch that thought' there is no world at all. He completes the embrace. They are still battered from this war, they haven't quite made it through but they will.. with time they will.
The scenes from today.. okay I'm a little lost about the timeline here. Was there a full day's gap between the scene I just talked about and the one from today's? Bit confusing. Okay whatever.. moving on, I loved the scene from today morning. It was a nice mixture of laughter and a lingering pain as they continue to remain troubled.
Firstly Maanvi's dream made complete sense.. just that night Virat had shared his experience of prison with her and she had taken in his pain and felt it in ways that it was not different from her own, that coupled with her terror of losing Virat forever was what she saw in the dream: Virat serving time.
On a shallow note, Kushal looked really good today' and his hair..
*coughs*
Back to the subject at hand, Virat gets lost as his imagination proves to be rather active and he relives Maanvi's dreams before letting out a small yell of denial.. Maanvi's expression at this point was so comical. Nia.. the way this girl uses her face. 😆 I liked the little edge of mischief on Maanvi's part as she teased Virat over getting scared in an attempt to distract him. Again I loved this particular expression of Nia's,
Yes I'm using caps for this one' I'm actually quite obsessed with them.
He swings her into his arms, I loved the surprised laughter on her face.. it made the moment look so real and natural and oh-so-flirtatious without appearing to be completely filmy and well.. you all know the kind of pulls we have on Indian TV. *smirks*
And I rather like the view of her arm clinging to this his shoulder in that mirror' yes I have the tendency to like the most random things. He says he wants to punish her for this' I liked Virat at this point. He's doing exactly what Maanvi had done a few moments ago.. make light of his own demons. He wants to make her smile and forget about that nightmare so he flirts. He doesn't do a very convincing job though and they both know that. Like I said earlier.. they are far from being their normal and happy selves. They had won the war but like any war there are scars that serve as reminders of what they been through. She had laughed briefly simply because he never fails to make her laugh that way but she can't help but talk about the nightmare again. She shares how it had scared her. Ofcourse it has.. even the thought of losing Virat again is going to break Maanvi. She's absolutely terrified of that terrible, terrible emptiness that had consumed her with Virat not there to fill it. He fills her to the brim with life and we saw that. She reaches out to cup the side of his face.. this to me was for some reason the highlight of the entire scene. Her anguish, her need for him is just so clear here. There was a raw intimacy in the way her hand nestled against his cheek, her fingertips slipping into the hair at his nape and the gradual, torn movement of her thumb against his skin.. it took my breath away for some reason. The broken edges of Maanvi Vadhera's soul clinging onto Virat's.. VirMan define intimacy in the strangest of ways to me. He smiles down at her, she's in pain but he still smiles as he feels her love wrap itself around him. There aren't a lot of people in this world who have needed Virat as desperately as Maanvi has. He makes her, he is her world. There are too many people in his life who have looked past him as if he was never there. Maanvi however always saw him. He is something solid for her, someone that exists, someone who is perfect in her eyes despite his flaws and someone who completes her in a way that she doesn't really need anyone else. They are two people who worship each other when the world doesn't even find them worthy of a second glance. It's that very love, the idea he owns her and she owns him that makes him smile like that at her.. She is his wife. And absolutely nobody will ever see the rough diamond that Maanvi is better than her own husband, the diamond that has learned to simply shine brighter in his presence.
Maybe it just me but there was something really sweet about this one moment where his forehead touches her hair..
Okay I'm just being shameless now but I couldn't help but like the way her hand trailed across his neck and onto his chest... ☺️
He allows himself to revel in her love before pulling her in his arms again. He promises her he'd never leave her again not just because she can't live without him but because he can't live without her either. He makes her smile, he tries to put her fear to rest by reminding her that it had only been a dream afterall. What are nightmares to two people who had once been so completely surrounded by hell that it seemed to be the only thing that existed? He is so gentle and tender in the way he soothes her heart and takes her pain away.
This one little bit where the ridge of his nose rests against her temple? I have never seen anything tenderer than the love that flows between these two. Its just so.. delicate, so fragile when in reality its one of the strongest, most real thing in the world. They are wrapped in each other, they don't just begin and end with each other.. instead they are intertwined in a way that there are no beginnings and ends at all.
She manages to smile, manages to find her peace in his words as they work their magic like they always had.. you see why she was only half-alive with him gone? You see how they really do fit together that if pulled apart they just look broken?
He pulls away from her now and talks about Swamini bua and how they simply have to make her happy again, she places an arm against his shoulder in understanding and simply leans her head against it. Again, I loved the togetherness and understanding at this point. There are just so.. Married. There's no other word for it.
There was a beautiful flow to the entire scene.. I loved how they switched back and forth between laughter and pain, how they rescued each other from that very pain and led each other into a brighter present and in between all that they were so completely surrounded by the love they feel for each other.. they make each other so naturally they won't let each other fall. They'll stand and they'll do it together.. there is no him and her, there is no concept of individual nightmares and pain here.. they love and suffer and feel together. What's his is equally hers and soon enough they will learn to look past this fear that they can't help but get lost in.. they'll find their way out and with that they will move on.
I like the consistency maintained throughout the rest of the episode where the family notices how Virat has limited himself within the walls of his own room. Bringing up the idea of Virat working on his album was effective. Besides Maanvi, singing is the one thing he truly connects with.. it's something that defines him and pouring out that pain into a song would work. A change of atmosphere? I'm all for it if we get some truly decent stuff. Looking forward to it.
Maham.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
