PR This week: Redemption at last - Page 9

My dearest Archana,

Spellbound. Well, thank you, sweetheart. That is very flattering coming from you, as you are one of those least likely to be spellbound by anything!

As for me, I found both your posts, the one to me and the other to Pari, characteristically clear, coherent and very forceful (re: the deadly comparison to Cinderella's evil stepmother. I hope the CVs know their Grimm's fairy tales!).

I am not, much though this might surprise you, going to disagree with anything that you have said here. That is not because I have suddenly come to be on the same track as you, but because we are proceeding on different tracks, which may be parallel (in which case never the twain shall meet!) or they may not. So I simply accept that you feel what you feel – about Purvi, Onir, Arjun, Ovi, and anyone else for that matter. You have every right to do so, after all.

I seem to have somehow failed to make it clear that my post, rooted in my delight at the episodes of earlier this week, was because of the unquestionably, and unexpectedly (from both of them) excellent performances by Asha and Shakti. Not because of the still daft storyline, which is of course going to get worse. Or because I had begun to endorse Purvi as a character . Not at all. I have been very critical of her in recent months, and my assessment of the character is unchanged. So all that you have stated here about her does not make me want to do anything about it.

I have, however, always liked Onir as a character, and I do not think, as is repeated endlessly in this forum, with unthinking tenacity untroubled by any analysis, that he is "too good to be true". That is what these same people would very likely say of Mahatma Gandhi if he were to turn up here now. And now I am really impressed by Shakti as an actor. But if you cannot accept Onir because you see him as a kabab mein haddi between Arjun and Purvi, why, that is fair enough.

An Arjun-Purvi reunion is on the laps of the gods (to be precise Ekta, if she micromanages PR at all,and if not, the CVs). I was till recently sure that this was a given, even it came thru only in the penultimate episode, and whatever the collateral damage might be at this stage. Arjun and Purvi were, after all, the accredited second leads. Now, after this week's scenes between Onir and Purvi, I am not so sure. These scenes have brought them to a new level of belonging together and, from her side, created an automatic dependence on him and a need for his endorsement of what she has done (very unusual in the usually self-confident and assertive Purvi) that are surprising and striking. There was also the scene between Manav and Onir, and the promise that Manav seeks and gets from Onir. So, I do not know any more.

In any case, to me it does not matter one way or the other, except that to my mind, Purvi will not go off with Arjun even if Ovi frees him and Onir is ready to let Purvi go, which he will be if need be. To do so would be clean against her sanskaari self-image.

Ovi… Shruti has done well as Ovi of late, and my bet is that Ovi will not change back into a temperamental shrew. As for her being punished for what she did to Arjun-Purvi (apart from the fact that they did it to themselves), why, if Manju and Punni and Savita and Vinod and a whole host of others in the PR gallery of weirdos can be forgiven for their sins and rehabilitated, why not Ovi? At least she has not thrown her mother/mother-in-law out on the streets!

As for the baby, I think she will revel in mothering it, especially because it will keep Arjun dancing attendance on the pair of them. If you remember, long ago, when I was still posting on PR, my advice to Ovi was to play up the baby for all it was worth, and now it is a real live baby for Arjun to hold and to croon to. An ace of spades, in short. She will not lack for practical help at home either, unlike the young mothers in the US who have to cope with an infant with no househelp or family support

But if I was she, and had Purvi breathing down my neck all the time and wailing about meri beti, I would take some drastic action.

Arjun..he is still my poor boy too, despite all his follies, and it pains me to see him sidelined recently, and given nothing to work with as an actor. Perhaps in sheer frustration, he seems at times to be sleepwalking thru whatever scenes he does have. But I am sure he will come around soon, both in terms of his role and his performance.

As for Purvi making amends for what she has done to him, Archana, you have a hope! He would be the first to sing her praises for that too, as he does to Onir every chance he gets. A less gentle husband would have told Arjun where to get off. As for this latest bit of Purvian skullduggery coming to light, why then the whole Deshmukh parivaar would strain every nerve to keep the secret from Ovi, and would simultaneously mint a soup plate sized medal for Purvi for her latest and mahaanatam tyaag. Even if not, her Devaki spiel will be viewed with extreme sympathy by all concerned. No, my dear, Purvi is not going to pay for anything. She is, never forget that, Archana II.

Now this is more than enough to test your patience and my poor wrist, which has been very ill used since Wednesday night. So I will call a halt to this now.

Affectionately,

Shyamala (whatever)

Originally posted by: archverma10

Wow. My friend- I came on expecting to fully disagree. But I found that spellbound is actually an excellent word to describe what I felt in reading this.

Now- I find that I cannot abandon my "ladla"...daft and spineless though he has become. It is unfortunate what the CVs have done, but the fact is keeping the truth from him is another wrong we can add to the little chit's list of what she has done to him. He lost himself when he fell in love with that female and that is the fact. So that is that.

I have nothing against Onir but cannot accept him as I firmly believe Purvi needs to be with Arjun and right the wrongs she has done. Nor do I accept the newfound Mother India side of Ovi- she is going to change back to her normal self very shortly when she realizes motherhood comes with great sacrifice and responsibility. The baby is not a doll and it is not so easy to raise a child. Am sure we will see this soon.

Otherwise, I agree with everything else you have written in regards to the horror and disgust we have faced and the stupidity of the above tracks. For me, my beef is and always will be with Purvi until she rights the wrongs she has done. I probably will expound upon this more deeply later- reserving further detail until I see the episode myself tonight as to the acting and everything else.

See you back here...soon...

Pari...Amen. What you say regarding Purvi...100%...no 150% correct. My dearest Shyamala may have felt the episode was a little redeeming for the show...but there is absolutely no redemption for Purvi in this- None at all. Frankly speaking, the CVs have butchered her so much that to love her seems to be a one way ticket to nothing but a bunch of pain, grief, and sorrow.

Purvi has much to answer for and many wrongs to set right. I dont care what her justification is or her sob story regarding her Aai and her adoption. As for Purvi and her new found burst of motherhood: Oh please- cry me a river! She just thought and decided to give up her child as casually as if it was a decision on what to eat for lunch that day. Without so much as a by your leave and deserves absolutely no sympathy for this at all. None

As for what she has done to Arjun- spineless or no. He is the victim here. He had the bad luck to fall deeply in and lose himself in his love for a chit of a girl who didnt give a damn about him. Slept with him, broke up with him less than 48 hours later literally just hours before their wedding, and browbeat him mercilessly into marrying that harpy to prove how much he loves her. And now I feel more than ever- now that we know of the physical intimacy he had just shared with her- he sincerely made the greatest mistake in his life. In his grief, horror, shock, and vulnerability, he finally decided to call her bluff- fully believing that she loved him too much to make him go through with it. He called her bluff, the stakes being his life, and of course- he lost. She came through. Cold blooded. Makes Cinderella's evil stepmother look like a saint and smell like roses.

As for the baby, she will indeed realize motherhood is a totally different thing. Giving up your baby is a far different thing than giving up your love. Purvi will indeed suffer the pangs of being separated from her child, but she deserves no sympathy for this foolish decision of hers, and she will get none from me.

Varsha my dear,

Thank you so much for such warm praise of my post, and this despite your views on many points seeming to differ from mine. It is testimony to your sense of fairness and your openness to all sorts of viewpoints.

I would like to clarify the point about the word 'redemption' in the title. I meant that the episodes earlier this week, those of Tuesday and Wednesday, were, because of the very good performances, in particular those by Asha and Shakti. a redemption for the viewers from the endless cycle of moronic tracks and pedestrian scenes that has been the norm of late. I liked Shruti's Ovi a lot too, and not just this week, but even earlier,when her long scene with Purvi was exceptionally good and moving. But this week, I loved Asha's take on Purvi and, even more so, Shakti's masterly rendering of Onir's travails and his hidden griefs.

This has nothing to do with approving what either character does, especially Purvi. One can admire superb acting even by an actor playing an out and out villain, can one not? Then why not admire these moving depictions of two very foolish persons, one of whom is consumed by her self-image of a tyaag ki murti, and the other is helplessly under her spell?

Nor was I endorsing either the still daft storyline, which is of course going to get worse.

But I can't let you be so harsh to poor Onir. As a matter of fact, that ought to be Poor Onir, for there never was such a man for looking out for everyone except himself. Including Ovi; he seems to be about the only person who looks out for her.

As for his not blocking Purvi, as her husband, on the baby swap, I think he feels he has no real rights to hamara bachcha, and so he does not assert any. But he would obviously have loved to have kept the baby, and when he kisses it goodbye, his sadness at the loss is so evident.

As for Onir's breach of his professional ethics, I am with you in that it was very wrong of him not to have told Purvi to can her mahaanta obsession. He should have stood firm against her emotional blackmail, and should have told her to keep quiet. But then, Purvi is like Homer's Circe, she has some spell for turning otherwise strong men into compliant poodles.

So, like Arjun on that hilltop, Onir too succumbs, as I have noted "against his professional code, against his better judgement, against his own deep affection for the child which was not his but was still, for him, hamara bachcha". So do the best of men fall, and if they did not, there would be no story, at least of the kind the CVs want.

However, even if his transgression were to come to light, I doubt if anyone of the Deshmukhs is going to go to the police to file an FIR against him and get him arrested and struck off the rolls.They would be too busy giving Purvi a soup plate size medal for her latest display of tyaag!😉

The factual position is that this sort of thing is not a cognisable offence on which the police would act by themselves, there has to be a complaint by the affected parties. The same for the pregnancy report, where the affected party is only Purvi, and no one else has any locus standi in the matter, so who is going to lodge a complaint?

The poor guy is going to have all sorts of trouble anyway, trying to keep his Mishti from exposing what she desperately wants to keep secret. No one can envy him as he faces this plight! But he is a strong man, and he will not run away however bad the situation might become.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: Dabulls23

Shyamala dear wonderful efforts in your post above though I am with Pari and S. Nina...First time I even agree with archverma10 's post quoting Pari 😃

Asha Negi may have acted well but I cant connect with her crocodile tears which has 0 effect on moi..

Pari and S. Nina has written what I really wanted to and cant think of adding anything else..

Do agree with you on Shakti-Onir role, acting and expressions-emoting...But he is helping a criminal so should be punished as an accessory to the crime of swapping babies...His license should be taken away and be in jail for supporting crime..

God help person like Purvi who has totally distorted, scewed image of her Aai, Aai's life and herself to be like her aai..Sometimes I feel Purvi would have been better off being at orphanage or with other couple than being raised by Archana...In a way I felt pity for Purvi today...How screwed up she is..

Arjun is more worried and guilt ridden for Purvi than happy for himself-Ovi and their baby...How sad..

BTW the redemption part in your title of the post which I did not get...

Shyamala, i did watch the epis...or part of them. To be honest i found it too painful and shut it off. 😆