As I sit here after watching this week's episodes I keep asking myself how did we get to a point that the leading lady had to be shown to have died to enable the story to move forward?
This show started with soo much promise. It looked like there would be challenge of tradition and customs being practiced by the incumbents by a progressive family (who have been exposed to the outside world, education, equality etc ) who after many years have returned to their roots. The catalyst for this would be this young girl from a repressed class.
For a while it felt like it would break the norm and show not only difficult issues but also positive ways they would be resolved resulting in the repressed being inspired to dream and then fight for that dream. This was not someone coming in and making wholesale changes for the betterment of all but a girl fighting to change her future (with help of others) and in doing so inspire others to do the same.
The story could have gone several different ways:
Sugni-TVS as a couple.
She is an illegitimate daughter of a prostitute. She has a dream of being married and being part of a family. A simple dream of most girls in the world. But reality of such girl finding a man and a family willing to accept such a girl in middle of rural India is slim at best. Here was a man who was mature, self assured and had the power, wit and wealth to live his life on his terms. They are unconventional because of their age, personality, approach but right for each other in that environment. There could have been many more difficulties with pancyaat and other social order guardians. They were breaking unwritten rules of their caste, creed and society. Perhaps there was an element of envy from both sides that these two had what most couples in their own caste and creed did not have.
They could have even had Reva (a typical high class socialite) coming back.Sugni's first reaction to walk away. TVS's dilemma of his responsibility to his wife and his love for Sugni. Reva's pain of realising that TVS had moved on and changed and in the process she had lost her husband and finally agreeing to a divorce as she realises that there was no way back. TVS telling Sugni that he and Reva are divorcing regardless of what happens between them and leaving her to decide how they move forward. Sugni's dilemma of loving and wanting to be with TVS but worried about the stigma of being thought of as a home breaker Sugni finally deciding to go ahead with TVS which puts even more pressure on/tests the strength of their relationship.
A Thakur and a bedni ' in love with each other despite their differences, fiercely protective of each other standing by each other like a rock while their society and indeed their families threw everything at them, and achieving their goal of being married.
There would also have been the Adi and Jiji who hated the whole caste because of their past, slowly being forced to look at the people in that caste as individuals and accepting that like all castes there were good and bad people within and grudgingly respecting this girl and accepting her. There would Amu making documentary about this repressed class and together she and Adi bringing the plight of these people in focus in the cities.
Adi Sugni as a couple
If they wanted Adi Sugni as the lead then they could have shown the relationship between Sugni and TVS as a pure friendship. For Sugni he is someone she looks up to as role model to aspire to, For TVS this young girl (who he helped as it was the right thing to do) has provided a purpose to his life as he tries to fill the void left by the death of his wife. Adi and Jiji would have stilled hated this caste but slowly being forced to look at the people in that caste as individuals and accepting that like all castes there were good and bad people within and grudgingly respecting this girl and then Adi falling in love with her. Amu would have been the childhood friend more like a sister again bringing the plight of these people in focus in the cities via her documentary. Adi and Sugni's relationship would face difficulties but with TVS and Amu's help they achieve their goal.
They could have had Reva coming back, not understanding this relationship between TVS and Sugni and therefore having doubts despite Adi Sugni being together which results in TVS-Reva scrutinising their marriage and whether they can continue to stay in a dead relationship. This is not leaving your wife for another woman but actually realising that despite all the effort to make it work they are just not right for each other.
In either case their actions would have made people in this caste realise they did have a choice how they made their living, young girls to dream about having homes and families. It would have shown that divorce is acceptable and that there can be a non-sexual relationship between a man and a woman of any age even if they are not related by blood or marriage.
Either way
They could have then had the DV-Champa-Kuhu relationship where DV romances Kuhu and has genuine affection for her and marries her and respects her as his wife, bahu of the family with all that goes with it. He then meets Champa and does/intends to do her sardhakai which puts the focus back on progressive verses tradition. Sugni on finding out having the difficult task of telling TVS and the family and then family having to tell Kuhu. Kuhu being a young educated intelligent girl cannot accept that DV wants a mistress while DV who was bought up in the village see this as normal / his prerogative and cannot understand why Kuhu has a problem as she is his wife and has status, respect, love etc she is due/entitled to.
The struggle would be Kuhu and her family respectfully trying to make DV see why its wrong, Sugni and TVS trying to understand Champa's position and making her realise that the path she is/will be treading will never lead to anything tangible. TVS also putting financial arrangements in place to force DV not to stray.
They could also have TJS behaving like a predator slowly but surely creeping upon Kuhu who after the shock and disbelief that this is happening, fighting it but struggling to convince her husband and MIL. As she,Sugni and Amu are similar age she confides in them and you see the conflicts between Amu's modern, educated view of wanting expose to TJS to the world verses Sugni's rural view of protecting Kuhu not just from TJS but also from stigma that society will attach to Kuhu. The harder task for Sugni is to tell TVS and knowing that his first instinct would be to physically hurt TJS. Then the real dilemma of whether to expose TJS for what he or sweep it under the carpet but DV and Kuhu move to a different home and have nothing to do with TJS.
But instead:
- we had a girl who auctions herself in the middle of the village and used the most crudest and vulgar words to entice men to outbid the man who had come to save her because he knew that his mistake had her acting out in this manner. Gulki called it hard hitting scene. For me personally it left a bad taste in my mouth and me wondering who was the real Sugni, the young feisty innocent girl or this crude vulgar girl.
- we had a mother who fought like tigress to bring the marital status of the man her daughter was marrying to light but then did nothing to stop her daughter auctioning herself because she threatened to kill herself. As mother you have to make tough decisions and force your children to comply whether that's not doing Sardhakai or going somewhere else and starting afresh.
- from then on it went into a downward spiral to a point where the three characters were backed into a corner from which there was no way out except Sugni dying.
What was the need to for any of this, why where simple solutions such as divorce, ignored. Why could Adi and Amu not have been a good friend to Sugni and be supportive TVS understanding both of their stands and helping them realise that they need to talk and agree a way forward together or separately. Why did no one ever acknowledge that whilst what TVS tried to do was wrong they understood his dilemma and understood the pain/heart break he was going through but that he also needs to understand that the ultimate choice is Sugni's and he has to respect that. Why did not one person say it is wrong, not legally but morally wrong for Adi and Sugni to have a relationship and if they do they cannot be in the same vicinity as TVS let along have all the ceremonies in front of him. No girl would ever be comfortable having a relationship with a new man in front of her ex regardless of whether she was in love or infatuated or hero worshipped her ex. Why was the DV-Kuhu-Champa storyline soo rushed and executed soo crudely that its hard to believe the fall out. Soo many whys?
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