After writing a post on another thread about the ongoing, and often acerbic comparisons between Shakti Arora's Onir and Rithwik's Arjun as they both are at present, I went on a sort of nostalgia trip about Arjun in the old days. I dug into my old PR files, for being technologically challenged, I had no idea then, in April 2012, how to save IF coordinates for individual posts.
I found the texts of my posts on two of my all time favourite scenes of Arjun's - the one with Aashana, and the one at the mandir the day he is to leave for Canada and he accidentally meets Purvi there , which was to my mind,better even than the airport scene. I do not know how many of you read these posts at that time, and if you did, whether you remember them. I enjoyed going back to those days so much that I am taking the liberty of reproducing both these posts for those of you who might be interested. I hope there will be many among us who would love to remember both Arjun as he was just 8 months ago, and how superb Rithwik can be when he gets the chance.
It makes me weep to see what he has been reduced to now, and this proves anew how vital it is to have the script support the actor, even a very good one, showcase his real strengths and camouflage his weak points.. This applies,of course, both to Rithwik then and to Shakti now. Rithwik then was charming, dashing, impulsive and passionate. Shakti now is controlled and serene, and subtle and nuanced in his underplayed acting, especially the way he uses his eyes. Each is, at his best, a delight to watch. Think of what it would be like if they were allowed to be both at their best together!
It is not necessary to run down any one actor to boost another. But it is the best scenes of any actor that show us what he or she is capable of when pushed to the limit - Rithwik then, Shakti and Asha now. We should be grateful for these virtuoso displays, whoever makes them, and enjoy them individually.
And, like Oliver Twist, ask our Mr. Bumble - Ekta Kapoor - Please ma'am, may I have some more?
I am now going back to my hibernation, which is probably going to cause a collective sigh of relief!😉 Before pushing off, I want to warmly thank all those who, perhaps for old times' sake, read my latest post in unprecedented numbers, and participated in such a very lively discussion on that thread. I cannot tell you how touched I am.
Warm regards.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
ARJUN AND AASHANA
Sashashyam: Posted: 14 April 2012 at 4:05am | IP Logged
It was truly an amazingly good double episode on Friday. The CVs seemed to have woken up and done a surprisingly good job of practically all the different sections. They have also avoided the usual cliches of a drunken car crash and the like to resolve the Arjun-Purvi impasse, and also that of Arjun's inability to understand his own feelings. The way in which they have materialised Aashana's spirit is a wonderful device, and it plays out in a fabulously acted scene.
Of course the tour de force of yesterday's double episode was this scene between Arjun and his mother. It was incredibly moving - Arjun's raw anguish, and his feeling of being lost, with the whole world against him, he knows not why., come through so clearly that your throat aches with empathy.
Rithvik is a very resourceful actor, with an incredibly nuanced range of expressions - wrenching anguish as shown yesterday, the Devdas look, the one like a lost puppy wanting to be claimed and loved, which he has when he is standing at Purvi's doorstep in the precap shown yesterday, the heart-in-his-eyes look as when he stands leaning against his car watching Purvi go into the house (after picking her up from the roadside bench and bringing her home), and a very sweet smile that appears but rarely. He is the mainstay of the ArVi pairing, for Asha Negi, while competent and very charming when she is laughing, seems to have just one rather scared, frozen look in all her emotional scenes. it remains to be seen how she copes when Purvi really falls in love with Arjun. In the precap yesterday she looks more dismayed at seeing Arjun than anything else. There was no reaction to the strain and worry in his emotionally battered face. One hopes she will be better in the scene than in the precap.
Though he is almost uniformly good, yesterday Rithvik surpassed himself. The slurred agony in his voice when he talks to his father, the bitter helplessness when he clings to his mother's hands and seeks answers to the puzzles of the heart that plague him - " When she cries, it pains me, I do not know why", which sums up the whole essence of love - this is acting at a level that is practically unknown in TV. It was wonderful to watch him even as tears of sympathy filled my eyes.
At the end of the scene, when he looks at himself in the mirror, with a stray tear trickling down one cheek, and smiles, very slowly and very slightly, as the realisation of what he feels for Purvi finally comes to him, his face displays shades of emotion that are so nuanced that they are mindblowing. One forgets the actor and thinks only of the character, finally freed from gut-wrenching doubt and confusion. That is of course the final triumph for any actor.
ARJUN MEETS PURVI AT THE MANDIR THE DAY HE IS TO LEAVE FOR CANADA
sashashyam: Posted: 25 April 2012 at 11:24am | IP Logged
Exquisite Arjun-Purvi scene
While Purvi is going to meet Arjun at the airport only in tomorrow's episode (it seems to be quite dark, and so it is probably an early morning flight), today's PR episode had an incredibly sweet and moving scene between Arjun and Purvi that is perhaps the best I have ever seen on Indian TV. Those who have already seen the episode will, I am sure, agree with me. This post is really for the benefit of those who have not seen it.
It is at the mandir. Arjun has just finished tying the bell on the tree when he hears the temple sevak, who had earlier given him his bell, talking to Purvi. Purvi tries to leave without attracting his attention, but he goes after her and tells her that there is no need for her to go away like this.
He knows that she is trying to stay away from him, but he is in any case leaving India and going far away from her. All his life, he had been able to get whatever he wanted, but this was the one time when his heart had sought something that he was unable to give it. He thanked Purvi for having made him realise that he was not God, and that he could not have everything he wanted. Aise thode hi hota hai ! He could not force her to love him, but neither could he stop himself from loving her.
He was going away, but he would never forget this place and all this - he means India - for it had given him the most beautiful gift of his life. "You". He thanks her profusely, saying that the happiness she had given him was more than he had ever experienced before.
He had wanted - and here he smiles, saying 'selfish hoon na' - to meet her once more before leaving, just to see her one last time. Today had been a good day for him, since he had been able to meet her here.
He then tells her that some people from the office would be coming to meet her the next day; he had executed a Power of Attorney in her favour and made over the control of the company to her (so that she could run it in his absence) because there was no one else here whom he could trust.
At this point, the CVs give Purvi, who is otherwise looking stricken and ready to cry any second, a fit of foot in the mouth. She says, in her standard abrupt tone, that though she has worked in the company for some years, she has her principles (usool), and she cannot depart from them. I do not know what she was supposed to mean.
Arjun responds by saying that her problem was with him, and now that he would no longer be there to trouble her and torture her, there was no need for her to leave the company. He was sure she would look after it well.
He then tells her to take care of herself and turns to go. Purvi stands there as if turned to stone, and watches as Arjun turns at the car door for one last look at her, and then is driven off. Purvi is still standing there wiping a tear from her face.
You would agree that this is an incredibly generous speech. I was particularly struck by how hard he tries to make sure that Purvi does not feel guilty for not loving him.
Now the above is as close to a transcription of the scene as I could manage without watching the episode once again. However, the text gives NO idea of how wonderfully enacted it was. Mindblowing. Arjun is pitch perfect while making this speech - and it is practically a monologue, for Purvi never says anything except that once. He never becomes maudlin or excessively sentimental , while every shade of expression in his face, and every tone change in his voice, reinforce the pathos of what he cannot help feeling for her. He is self-deprecating and avoids the slightest note of tragedy, but that makes it all sadder to watch.
Purvi does not have as much scope, for the scene practically belongs to Arjun. But she pitches in well too despite this limitation. At the beginning, when he comes up to her, she looks hunted and ready to run away. But as the scene unfolds, her face looks more and more stricken and anguished; she does not know what to say or do in the face of a love so deep and so unselfish, and that comes thru clearly.
All in all, it was a tour de force; a very difficult scene made to seem easy. It went straight to one's heart. Rithwik was truly a revelation; my throat was choked when the scene ended.
You know, normally I can clearly distinguish between the actor(s) and the character(s), and I assess their performances dispassionately. But this time, when that scene ended and he had left, I completely forgot that these were imaginary people who do not exist in real life. And I thought "How lucky can Purvi get?".
To be loved like this - so deeply and passionately, and yet with such unselfishness and demanding absolutely nothing in return - is something that very, very few mortals get, and it is something for which one should thank God on one's knees. Whatever happens to them in the future, whatever the heartache and loss they have to go through, the realisation of this love will stay with her and warm her heart. And I hope the realisation that she has been granted something very rare and precious will make her trust him implicitly and not make life more difficult for him when the storms that lie ahead start blowing in gale force. She should stand by him, and be his strength, not his weakness.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
Seher Hone Ko Hai
