August 2nd Episode - Belated Observations

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Angie

@Angie12

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Since nobody has posted anything about Friday's episode, I am posting some of my thoughts.

I have mixed feelings about this episode and so I am dividing the episode into things I liked, things I found amusing and things I did not like.

First of what I liked:

I liked the scene of Sita looking mesmerized after seeing Ram and running to Gauri's idol to pray for getting Ram as her husband. The words were beautiful and Sita had a good display of emotions (overwhelmed at finding someone with whom she felt a connection and a sense of urgency) while praying. The narration of Mahadev while describing Ram and Sita first meeting was also very good. The words of Shiv and Sita were beautiful.

Amusing Stuff

The authors decided to take Minakshi's scene of Ganesh/Kartikeye coming to Kailash and having a discussion about Ram and Sita's wedding. So now the whole family is planning to go for the wedding even though nobody is yet invited.

Parvati wanted to be typical MIL (mother-in-law) and wanted to visit her sons. Mahadev stopped her as he wanted to enjoy Ram/Sita action drama (breaking of his age old dhanush and his disciple Parshuram exploding) rather than watch saas-bahu drama. So he tried to tell her to give space to his sons. Well, Parvati was quite adamant and so Mahadev was forced to compromise and instead instead invited Ganesh and Kariteya to Kailash.

Ganesh and Karitikeye were wise and left their wives home so as to avoid catching between saas-bahu drama. Ganesh being the wisest God knows diplomacy and managed to make his mother happy by giving a convenient excuse of not wanting to share her attention with daughter-in-laws. They also wanted to enjoy the wedding of Ram/Sita without any nagging wives.

Stuff that I did not like

First of all I know this is Mahadev show and hence he is the hero. So even though they are now showing Ramayan, Ram/Sita will be shown from Mahadev's point of view. So Mahadev will be part of this Ramayan in one way or another.

I don't have problems with this because all these are interpretations. So as long as the basic story and characterization remains constant, there is room for creative license. In Mahabharat, I can only remember Shiv in context of Arjun and Jaidrath. But in Ramayan, he is a big presence. So I do not mind seeing Mahadev even in scenes where he has never been mentioned.

But my problem was with the scene of Ram and Sita. I really liked the way Sita was introduced in Ramayan and she is the major attraction for me to watch this version of Ramayan. So far such a characterization of Sita has never been presented on the screen. So I was expecting something different for the first meeting of Ram and Sita. But the focus was never on the scene. Mahadev was on screen for almost the entire screen. That scene would have been much better if they had shown Mahadev in the beginning, end and had him narrate the meeting. The words were beautiful but they ruined that scene.

I watched first few episodes of this Mahadev and I realized what was bugging me. Mahadev in the beginning was never in all the scenes. In fact, I always would anticipate when he would be shown because all characters were given appropriate space. So in many episodes, he was just there for 5-10 minutes of an episode. But anticipation of his scene was always the major attraction. Daksh, Prusuti, Sati, Kashyap etc.. were given appropriate spaces. This is what is missing in current episodes of Mahadev. They are using Mahadev way too much even when he is not needed. If they are showing Ramayan with Mahadev as a narrator, they need to limit his role as a narrator.

The family scene on Kailash was fine. But it was Mahadev's constant presence in Ram/Sita's first meeting that made that scene very ordinary. If they have decided to show Ramayan in a Mahadev show, they will need to show a proper emphasis on Ram and Sita's characters if they want viewers to watch this version of Ramayan. I understand why CVs want to use Mahadev as he is the major attraction for viewers. But if they use him inappropriately or more than needed, the scenes would lose their uniqueness.

The early episodes of Mahadev were so great because no character was being forced in the story. Everyone had his/her place in the story and that was shown. Now it seems that CVs are thinking that if they just insert Mahadev in every scene, this version of Ramayan will sell. I wish they would stop forcing the story and let it take the natural progression where Mahadev will remain an important part of the story but will not take unnecessarily focus away from the story.

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Frequent Posters

Nishajos

@Nishajos

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

In the first phase of the show that is the Sati era the story was from the point of view of Sati infact at that time the makers where planning to name the show Sati because she was supposed to be the main protagonist but later on named it Devon Ke Dev Mahadev which was the right thing to do because the show would have scope to continue even after the death of Sati and would come back as Parvati.
Mouni got an author backed role and she did a fab job of it unfortunately the channel being new and not so well promoted at that time that era saw the lowest trp.

That phase was good and it was superb right through the Parvati phase up until the beginning of this year because show was Shiv and his family centric.

The show enjoyed huge popularity with highest trps infact the trp soared after the Sati phase because than Shiv came into prominence and Shiv/Parvati stories are quite popular and known to everyone one and there where so many things to show.

The show started declining after Askok Sundari's marriage. The track of Jalandhar got the audience excited because Mohit was doing a double triple role at that time and his acting was at the pinnacle during that phase.

Now with this Ramayan track the young Ganesh had to be shown grown up and the young lad who played Ganesh was an audience sweetheart so that was one less charm and than the major blow of replacing Sonarika last month and she was also a huge favorite among the audience and now this cooked up version of Ramayan is not exactly something many are liking.

One would say they are showing something new by playing around with a popular story but how many are actually buying this version.
The makers have run out of stories because most of the popular tracks are over. There are still few that can be shown which is related to Mahadev and showing those would have been the right thing to do.
This show is about Mahadev and they should have kept it at that rather than playing around with popular mythological stories.

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?married with 2 kids

@chayya55

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

I agree with Angie no doubt this is Mahadevs show but to insert him like this in Ram Sitas story all the time seems ----

Let him narrate the story but show him only at the beginning and end of an episode let us enjoy Ram and Sita

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Mirela

@Myra.nelly

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Very good points Angie.. i also liked how sita was spellbound from first sight and ran to pray for ram to be the one.. very cute scene..yes, i too wished their meeting to b longer..but i am thinking cvs are afraid if they give mahadev less screen space they will lose the viwers who dnt appreciate this version of ramayan and only watch the show for mahadev...if u ask me i would have wanted parvati-mahadev just to play the cupids and be spectators to ram-sita story...both commenting on man-wife issues..and give them advices some time to time..
I watched some old episodes these days and liked this character God Ganesh, was very cute as a kid and now grown up is also interesting..liked the scene with his parents..i like both sides of this show, mahadev, his wife and sons story, and ofcourse ramayan..but i too wanna see more of sita..as thats the reason i came to watch the show in first place..

Edited by Myra.nelly - 12 years ago

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Deboleena

@OtakuGirl-Debo

Sparkler

+ 4

Posted: 12 years ago

m not commenting for the others but for the part about Sati era...yes you are right..that time Mahadev was just like a side character...bcz b4 it was a show about Sati and her life..her journey...and the name of the show was Sati..but then just b4 the launch of the show they changed the name to DKDM..bcz they thought if the show did grt then they can continue with Parvati...but they just changed the name not the story so you will see that it's all about Sati..from her POV...after her death the show turn to Mahadev and the show from Mahadev's POV...this is the another reason why we old members always told that the Sati era was different from present time..

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Angie

@Angie12

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Gertrudis, thanks for telling me about the history of the show. Yes, it does seem that the initial story was from Sati's POV. Also it makes sense why the show would be renamed Mahadev because Sati's story finishes with Parvati taking birth even though she was Sati in previous birth.

But regardless of whether the story was from Sati's POV or Shiv's POV, Mahadev was an important part of the story. So this weekend while watching the story, I also realized that the story is from Sati's perspective as her emotional turmoil and agony was depicted very well. But Mahadev got that too because they concentrated on his emotions too. In fact, I really liked the interpretation of differences between Daksh and Shiv as not only differences because of Daksh's ego and arrogance, but also there were deep philosophical differences between freedom of thought and rigidity. It was an excellent interpretation with really good lead actors and side characters with a very tight script.

I have seen Mahadev on and off since Parvati's puja of Shiv. The episodes were good but the quality of script was not entirely same. It is common in the serial world where usually even for a good serial, the first few months are always the best.

Yes, I can understand many old viewers having problem with replacement and disappearance of some characters. But Ramayan is being introduced because they want to extend Mahadev as this way, they can extend it for a longer time than they could have done with just purely Mahadev stories. I can understand it from a business point of view. This is Life Ok's most successful show and they want to extend it as much as they can even if viewers don't like it. Also there will be new audience because Ramayan remains the most popular epic of all times.

I am just talking about flaw in execution. I like Mahadev and Mohit is the best actor to play Shiv. In fact, I was shaking my head when I read that Karan Johar is making Shuddi (based on Amish Tripathi's trilogy on Shiv) and has taken Hritik and Kareen for Shiv/Parvati's roles. But to insert him and Parvati constantly in an important scene where he would have worked as a narrator (with him describing this meeting using the same words but in the background), did not work for me the way it was shown.

Edited by Angie12 - 12 years ago

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Angie

@Angie12

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: chayya55
I agree with Angie no doubt this is Mahadevs show but to insert him like this in Ram Sitas story all the time seems ----
Let him narrate the story but show him only at the beginning and end of an episode let us enjoy Ram and Sita

Chayya, he can be inserted in Ram and Sita's story but there has to be a balance between where he can be shown. When Sita was introduced, he was not inserted in that scene unnecessarily. So that really worked well for me. When Sita came running towards Gauri to pray for Ram, I did not find him unnecessary either. It was just in that first meeting between Ram and Sita where it was ok to show him in the beginning and the end and maybe a little bit in the middle. But the camera was constantly on him and that scene became very muddled. Also the treatment of the scene was very typical with nothing special about Ram and Sita's meeting.

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Angie

@Angie12

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: Myra.nelly
Very good points Angie.. i also liked how sita was spellbound from first sight and ran to pray for ram to be the one.. very cute scene..yes, i too wished their meeting to b longer..but i am thinking cvs are afraid if they give mahadev less screen space they will lose the viwers who dnt appreciate this version of ramayan and only watch the show for mahadev...if u ask me i would have wanted parvati-mahadev just to play the cupids and be spectators to ram-sita story...both commenting on man-wife issues..and give them advices some time to time..
I watched some old episodes these days and liked this character God Ganesh, was very cute as a kid and now grown up is also interesting..liked the scene with his parents..i like both sides of this show, mahadev, his wife and sons story, and ofcourse ramayan..but i too wanna see more of sita..as thats the reason i came to watch the show in first place..

Myra, for me Sita's scene was the highlight of the show. I understand that CVs are afraid that their Ramayan won't work if Mahadev is not there. But the show won't work either if Mahadev is shown in every scene either. Since the show is Mahadev and this Ramayan is only for few months, they will show Mahadev in every episode. That is all fine, but it has to be done in a balanced manner where the presence of Mahadev doesn't overwhelm the story.

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Angie

@Angie12

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: deboleena.manna
m not commenting for the others but for the part about Sati era...yes you are right..that time Mahadev was just like a side character...bcz b4 it was a show about Sati and her life..her journey...and the name of the show was Sati..but then just b4 the launch of the show they changed the name to DKDM..bcz they thought if the show did grt then they can continue with Parvati...but they just changed the name not the story so you will see that it's all about Sati..from her POV...after her death the show turn to Mahadev and the show from Mahadev's POV...this is the another reason why we old members always told that the Sati era was different from present time..

Deboleena, I never felt while watching those episodes that Mahadev was a side character. Yes, the story was from Sati's point of view, but that was needed because they were trying to show Mahadev's transformation and realization too. To me, screen presence does not imply that a character is a side character or main character. I always felt that Mahadev was the main character regardless of whether he was shown for 5 minutes or for the entire episode. It is important to show a main character regularly as majority of viewers want to see his story. But even then there needs to be a balance.

In the few episodes of Ramayan I have seen, Friday is the only time (in that Ram Sita scene) where I felt that Mahadev's presence was too much. In other episodes of Ramayan (Sita introduction, Ram's scenes), I did not have that feeling.

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Prem(ms)

@radev24

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

#10

When I watched Fri epi both on the internet and telly, that was my exact beef as to why Mahadev had to be shown almost to the point of interrupting Raam-Sita milan, consequently reducing their milan to the minimum. Balance is the name of the game whether for a mytho, or regular serial or a b'wood movie or anything in life for that matter. My instant reaction was of imbalance. Granted that we were anxious for the milan, but that did not in any way make us feel the way we did about Mahadev's unnecessary intrusion, regardless of whether we are new or old viewers.

I had been wanting to express my feelings but held back as we, rather I have come into the serial much late and was not sure if my sentiments would touch many sensitive nerves. Turns out that's what happened. No offence Deboleena but I have a feeling my sentiments echo similar reaction from at least few other members like Angie, new or old.

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August 2nd Episode - Belated Observations

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