Missed Connections of the Mahasangam

Greetings, everyone! This is my first post on this forum. I am regular watcher and commenter on PV, and I have been watching QH regularly too, since Zoya moved in with the Khans. Given that, I was really excited at the prospect of a crossover between these two because of the many themes that I found in common between them. Unfortunately none of these themes were really capitalised on, so I thought at least we could discuss them amongst ourselves while we have the opportunity during this mahasangam. Many of my friends over on the PV forum had never seen QH, and so those of us who did gave them a brief introduction and it led to some really interesting discussions. I thought the reverse might lead to the same result here!

Please note that this post is entirely in the interest of good discussion, and not meant to compare, say anything negative about either show, or determine which one is better or worse. It would make me really sad if this topic came down to that! Everyone is welcome to share their opinions, but please stick to the discussion of common themes and avoid comparing the shows in any other way!

A short summary of PV for those who have no idea: PV, at a basic level, is a show about these two people, Aarti and Yash, who remarry to give their respective children the other parent. Aarti's story is that her ex-husband, Prashant, the one who was fighting for her son's custody, left her for another woman, when she was pregnant. Aarti is an orphan and her in-laws, Prashant's parents, disown their son and support/adopt Aarti when the divorce happens. When Ansh starts really feeling the lack of a father, they sort of force and blackmail her into getting married to Yash, even though she is still hung up on Prashant. Yash is a widower who was completely in love with his dead wife, Arpita, and has still not effectively dealt with his grief when he is coerced into marrying Aarti so his two daughters, Palak and Payal, can have a mother.

The beauty of the story lay in the fact that while his own family failed to understand Yash's love for Arpita, and how it would always be a part of him, Aarti instinctively did and helped him come out of his grief by supporting him completely until he got closure, even when he was acting like a maniac... but that's a long story. 😆 Then Aarti's ex, Prashant, came back and it got outed that Aarti was a divorcee and not a widow, as her parents had told her new in-laws at the time of marriage. Yash's dad kicked Aarti out and Yash decided to stand by her and share her punishment with her, but Yash's dad got even angrier that Aarti "separated" his son from him and so wanted to separate her son from her... so he supported Prashant in the custody battle, which Yash ultimately won, as you saw.

Aside: Aarti got over her ex when he once called their son a ba****d, gradually fell in love with Yash first, and helped Yash get over his obsession with his dead wife. Yash started realising he was in love with Aarti after he got closure from Arpita's death, just in time for her ex to come and wreak havoc!

Now, if I haven't bored you to death with that summary, here are some of the common themes I would have loved to see explored in the merger of these two stories:

From a practical perspective, both the shows are set in Bhopal, and both families, that is, the Scindias and the Khans are affluent families of the city. It would have been so much easier to have an episode set in Bhopal instead of having the two couples wander all over MP in order to coincidentally meet at a random dhaba. Couldn't they have made them business associates or something? It would have been really interesting if the Scindias' house, which is huge, ended up being in the same neighborhood as Zoya's abbu and they met that way... or if Yash's parents had some information for her etc...

Now to the more emotional connections that could have been really well-used:

Dilshad as a jury member was a brilliant little detail because she is a single mom who raised both her kids on her own. This meant that the jury presumably had, both people who raised their kids on their own, as Prashant was proposing to do, and people who believed that kids needed both a mother and a father's love. So many more valuable things could have been done with this idea of Dilshad as a jury member than her shouting at Yash for being careless, which was totally random and had no connection to the rest of the scenes. What about an emotional conversation between her and Aarti, one graceful, strong single mom to another, who had been one until a short time ago? Dilshad could have talked about how hard it was for her to make sure her kids got everything they needed, emotionally, when they were abandoned by their father and how she still feels something is lacking, though she did her best. They could have talked about how hard it is to forget your first love and move on, but how you have to put on a brave face for your kids... etc.

There was so much potential, also to draw parallels between the PV kids and Asad/Ayaan/Zoya's situations with childhoods and parents. One of the things I love most about PV is that the kids have really distinctive personalities and characterisations. Ansh, for example, has always had this independent streak, where he goes off and does his own thing without paying heed to his elders. This gets him in trouble a lot, and was getting out of Aarti's control when she was a single mom, but Yash handles it much better, being a strong authority figure whom Ansh respects. Ansh is also really, really protective of his mother and becomes much too mature for his age when he feels like he has to support her, as he was before Yash came into their lives and Ansh got to be a kid again. This reminds me so strongly of Asad's characterisation. I really feel like Asad is what Ansh would have grown up to be, had Aarti not married Yash.

So I was thinking it would have been so touching if they had a sweet scene, given that Yash had just won the custody case, where Ansh praised his superhero papa, Yash talked about how important it was to be Ansh's father, and be there for him through out his life, and Asad got all emotional seeing the kind of father-figure he never had. They could have also shown Zoya questioning her mission to find her biological, given the kind of person Aarti/Yash described Prashant as. It would have also tied in nicely with the scene of Rashid not supporting Ayaan in the face of Razia's accusations, showing that Yash was, what men like Rashid and Prashant were not.

Building on this, it would have been adorable for there to have been a more meaningful interaction between Ansh and Asad. The little eye-conversation was adorable and I loved Asad's wink and the whole interaction reminded me of the flashbacks to baby-Ayaan coming to live with them. I would have loved for their to be a cliched, hulking-hero-melts-with-kid scene where Zoya got to see Asad's sensitive side a bit more... and I am sure all the KSG fans wouldn't have minded either; I mean who doesn't want to see a hot guy play with a kid? 😉 Also, in the offscreen segments, Surbhi was adorable and so very "Zoya" with the kids. I would have loved to see more done with that chemistry onscreen as well. Maybe the girls could have talked about how sad they were when their first mom passed away, and Zoya could have totally related, having lost her mom as well. Additionally, Aarti herself is an orphan and Zoya and she could have connected on this point. Instead, we had Aarti portrayed as some sort of nosy matron, asking a young couple when they were going to have kids. Totally out of character for the youthful Aarti, and it was too far-fetched to be really funny from the Asad-Zoya perspective as well.

Most importantly, the theme of "saga and sauthela" which is huge on both shows could have been so effectively explored here, because Ansh, and Palak and Payal are "sauthela," siblings just like Asad and Ayaan. I would have loved to see the kids talking about this innocently while Zoya and Asad remembered his situation with Ayaan, Asad got emotional and Zoya observed him quietly. To be honest, I would have happily sacrificed the romance bit to have more of these kinds of interactions... but maybe that's just me. 😛 I dunno, I am not really in a hurry for Asad and Zoya to fall in love but I think this was a great opportunity for them to see more of each other, and for their charactersations to be emphasised, without the PH even having to change or reveal any essential story elements.

Finally, the juxtaposition of the two couples, I liked the idea of it. Only I wish they hadn't made Aarti and Yash's romance so silly looking, and out of character, with the twirls and the dupatta-catching. The thing is that from a PV-viewer's perspective, and many of us feel the same way, it was misplaced in the context of where Yash and Aarti are in their relationship right now, though it was beautifully shot and captured. Yash and Aarti are in general a very private couple and it looked weird for them to almost be "performing" for Asad and Zoya!

It felt inorganic and contrived, while the Zoya-Asad moments were relatively natural. I would have much preferred it if Aarti and Yash had just hugged and sat down together, as they did towards the end of the song, maybe whispering to each other, smiling and laughing... and just generally wrapped up in their own little world. This would have brought out the contrast between the two couples in a much more subtle and dignified way, with the blooming, tense romance juxtaposed to the mature, comfortable one. The whole choreographed bit was totally unnecessary. Again, good idea, but not enough thought was put into the execution from the perspective of either couple.

So that's it from my side. I thought I would put my perspective out there on this forum as well, since I was disappointed at the missed connections as a viewer of both shows. So much could have been done between these shows and the similar family dynamics and themes they deal with! Thanks for patiently reading if you got this far; this got much longer than expected, but I do hope it generates some interesting discussion here, as it did on the PV forum; I would love to hear what you all thought! 😊

Sorry your post is too long so skimmed over a bit...

Fantastic post, Samana!

Very well written...loved reading your views!!!

To me there was nothing of Mahasangam ...oth the shows were going on their own...ionly in the last scenes just to show that it was MS CV's made the two couples interract...for me both the shows were neither here and there...in fact due to this both lost their own connectivity...and continuity.

Brilliantly written post Samana. I would not be surprised if QH forum people are inspired to start a DC type hub for intense analyses and interaction. Great job.

Great post Samana! You're completely right. As a viewer of PV and QH, I agree with every word you said. The Mahasangam had so much potential to draw the parallel's between the two shows, but it lacked the connectivity.

When Dilshad was present as the jury member, I was honestly expecting something more, like you said. Why didn't Four Lions show the audience that Dilshad's situation was once related to Aarti's? Both of their husband's had once left them. If only Four Lions focused on the emotional aspect more.

I also agree about the last scene... it looked ridiculous that AarYa were performing out in the open. Their relationship hasn't reached that stage yet. I'm just assuming that Four Lions doesn't know much about Punar Vivah.

I'm eagerly looking forward to Monday's episode when the Mittal's direct the episode. I have more faith in them to convey the emotions in scenes!

From a QH viewers perspective though, the episode was really good. Four Lions is really good at romance.

@Kesha: Thanks!

@Vineeta: Thanks for skimming the post, and for your response. Of course you are entitled to your own opinion, and it was very interesting to read it.

@Borna: Thanks, right back at you! That was my main grouse with how they handled the episode. Things didn't really happen organically when there was so much potential for them to do so, given the common themes that are so important to both stories. Like you said, there are so many ways the two couples could have played off each other! If Aarti and Yash had seen the handcuffs, they could have talked about how they were unwillingly bound to each other once too, but look at them now!

I do appreciate the effort of both PHs, I just wish they had tried a leetle harder in terms of story. Anyway, yeah me too, looking forward to Monday!

@piyualka: Thanks! I am so happy to get a positive response from a QH-viewer. You are absolutely right. There was nothing Maha, and no "sangam" to speak of in the episode, and that is what usually happens with these merger attempts. But what I feel sad about is all the untapped potential for an interesting interaction which was just ignored so both shows could go on their merry way. I am not saying the episode was terrible or anything but yeah, there was a loss in continuity which didn't have to be the case if a little more effort was put in.

@aimf: Thanks!

@Saffi: Thank you, and it's great to get affirmation from another viewer of both shows. There was so much there to work with, right? Dilshad and Aarti is the one thing that I really regret not seeing. It would have been so much more valuable than Ansh following a shiny object for no reason and getting his papa a nice talking to from Dilshad! They made Dilshad sound all mean and angry too, which she is totally not! I mean kids run away sometimes, and being the mother of two, and a really nice lady it seemed out of character for her to shout at Yash like that. On the other hand, it would have been really nice for her to meet Aarti in the washroom, where she took the girls and for them to have a conversation of some sort.

I agree about the QH romance, though. That was really well done and from what I can see the tension phase of the love story is going to start now, after Asad finds out the truth about why Zoya helped Mariam escape. That is always the best phase of any 4Lions show, so I am quite excited!

@Zet: Thanks for putting a positive twist on things. I agree that they did do a fine job and sort of kept the continuity of both shows going, but my regret is really that there was so much more they could have done in terms of the deeper themes of both shows.

I am a silent reader in this forum, and I like both the shows and right now these two are what I like on Zee Tv. Thought I will come out of my silent mode to comment on this very interesting post.

When I heard of the Mahasangam I was really excited for some of the same reasons that you beautifully pointed out. The pace of the two shows might be very different but there few similar underlying themes that are running in both shows.

Dilshad is one of my favorite characters in QH. I love her for her strength. I had always wondered how hard it must have been to raise her two kids when Rashid left her for Shirin. And it is interesting that you brought that fact about her past and connected it to Aarti's past who was in a very similar position before her re-marriage. Yes, it would have been wonderful if the writers could have used that connectivity as a reason for Dilshad in ruling for the custody battle in favor of Aarti and Yash but alas that did not happen. I think they wanted to finish off the court scene and quickly move to Mangalpur.

Another scene that I really liked was Asad and Ansh. That was adorable and gave us a glimpse of how cute Asad would be as a Dad (okay I am getting myself way ahead of time here😆 ) which is also very obvious with the way he loves and adores Ayaan. Agreed here too there was a connectivity that the writers could have utilized. Asad did not have a good father role model. Yash is an amazing father. That would have been wonderful if for a brief moment Asad looked at the way Yash interacted with his kids and thought to himself that all fathers are not like Rashid. Absolutely did not like the silly question Aarti asked. That was not in Aarti's character at all. She would never spout such silliness.

The Romance scene. The cinematography was fabulous. The aesthetics was amazing. The ambience and the melodic song was very nicely done. But that was where it ended for me. Asad and Zoya looked so good. But I wish if they had to watch some one else romancing it was not so explicitly done. But their interactions were well done. Good indication of what is in store for us.

As for Aarti and Yash, well what can I say, that was not Aarti and Yash. Their romance has always been situational and never out of the blue. Also, their romance has always been portrayed so much more maturely that this looked out of place and out of context and not something Aarti and Yash would indulge in. Also it was totally weird for a couple who had just won the biggest fight of their lives to go out and twirl and romance out in the public where anyone could see them.😕

But all that being said, now that I look back, I think the Maha Sangam wasn't as bad as some of the MahaSanagams I have seen on this channel before. Sure there was a lack of connectivity in both shows, but still it I think they did a decent job with whatever they had to work with. Bringing two shows together is no easy task. Let us see how Monday turns out. :)

Nice post...bt u r late,many view r like me does nt know abc abt pv,so this kind of mahasangam will cnfuse them.u knw I jst skip mahasangam part becs i cant watch a 1n half hour shw which full with cnfustin fr me.sme time its irrite me when pv seanse r cming between qh.I tried bt i lost my interest.so if u give dis summry befre the mahasangam may be it help sme view r like me.bt seriously i dnt think pv and qh has any similarity,PV is a mature love stry of 2child further and 1child mother.and QH cmpletly base on young love stry.and abt ansh and asad i also dnt find any similaritys between them ansh atleast has a persn who he can calk as dad bt asad jst lost his own fathr.so i also dnt want this shws togethr,they has there own unique ness which is cmpletly diff from each-other.I hpe we zee will nt do dis type of mahasangam again jst fr the sake of trp.