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After yesterday's emotional battering, today the CVs gave us a battle of minds, of wits. Yes there was a thick vein of emotion pulsing through it all, but it was reined in almost until the end.
Today, Rudra took on the Thakur. It was a high stakes gamble. But then he held the Queen of Hearts and was one deal away from the Ace. Except that the cards wouldn't fall his way. No matter how cleverly he angled, he couldn't get one witness, one testimony against the Thakur. Even when he baited the villagers with the truth about the Thakur and his gun-running in the guise of cross-border marriages; about Birpur's brides who were never heard of again once they went away; the villagers wouldn't bite.
Finally, in desperation, Rudra decided to force the issue - thirty seconds and he wanted that Ace in his hands. His luck had to change. But what was this? Mamisa refused to recognise Paro!! His move had been blocked; his gambit wasted. He hadn't seen that coming.
His shock made him lose control: "...Now along with your country you betray your own? Your own niece whom you raised from childhood?" Then, sensing the hand of the devil behind it all, he summoned him in a rage.
And Tejawat appeared to take his place at the table. The suave, smug Devil, questioning what a cop with Rudra's reputation was doing here. "You should ask yourself," Rudra's discard was equally weighty. "What of the baraat you wiped out," the Devil baited. Rudra sensed an opening and angled afresh: "So you admit you know of the baraat? Now accept that it's to you they were selling guns, and your money they were taking back." But Tejawat wouldn't be lured by so rough a play. He denied any knowledge of either guns or money.
His plans in disarray, Rudra edged forward a teary-eyed Paro: "If you know the baraat then recognise the bride." But as Tejawat made for her, Rudra found himself protectively standing in between. Tejawat hovered over her for a moment, then discarded her, and laid down his hand. "She looks like a bride, but she's not from my village...None of us know this girl."
Ruined! He was ruined and he knew it. Laid low by foul play! He pulled his pistol out on the smiling Devil, and found himself staring into the business end of many more rifles, as Tejawat pointed his vulnerable position out to him.
Then the radio crackled. And many, many more armed snipers took aim at Tejawat. Sweet! Tejawat was out-gunned, but Rudra knew he'd lost this game. He grabbed Paro and made for the Jeep.
But the bride wept afresh, crying for her Mamisa, running to her, hugging her tightly as though she'd never let go. Heart-rending sobs: "I don't want to go...I'm afraid...let me come home."
At this unexpected move Tejawat tensed. Would Mamisa crumble under this fresh onslaught? But she held strong and thrust Paro away from her like a stranger. And Paro? Paro ceased...
It was Rudra, unable to swallow this rejection, who strode to her and dragged the limp, unresisting girl back to her cell. Turning his back on her for a moment he saw her reflected in the mirror, hands held out for the cuffs, and laughed at the futility. There was no need for a cage: the girl had nowhere to go, nobody to turn to. He gave her one more chance: she could sign, be freed, and possibly be accepted by her relations in time. But Paro wouldn't budge.
"Whom are you protecting?" He yelled, "Your aunt, who rejected you?" There was no reaction. And as Rudra saw light, his face darkened: "So what's new!" his eyes burned with contempt. "You are a woman and so is she."
But Paro couldn't see him. She was looking inwards at the ruins of her life.
Today it was the acting that stood out. Ashish, Sanaya and Tarun were superb. Ashish was flawless as the angry cop without the cunning to extract a statement from a slip of a girl, and whose loss of control made a bad situation worse. We saw cynical contempt as he faced the Thakur. And then later facing Sanaya in the cell, the vicious heat in his eyes was stunning.
Sanaya's subdued portrayal of Paro was in stark contrast to the past two epis. Her eyes spoke volumes of her despair and grief. It was only as she clung to Mamisa at the end that we saw the depth of her feelings break through. No wonder, Rudra felt her hurt. š
And the Thakur! ššš to Tarun for this suave, smug, interpretation of this character whose sheer cunning I already hate. š
A calmer note to usher in the weekend - but the calm before the next week's storm.
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