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Just when I thought Rangrasiya couldn't get any better, it did. Today, all my expectations of this opening track were met. Anything they dish out from here on is a bonus. What an absolutely mind-blowing episode! CVs, actors, directors and crew take a bow! 👏👏👏
To say that my emotions are wrung-out today is an understatement. And why not, I've lost count of the lives that were ripped apart today. But lives matter, so let me try.First there's Paro: newly-married, dreams-in-her-eyes, hope-in-her-heart Paro, whose life has been blown to smithereens, yet again. There she was caring not a hang for the death staring down a barrel at her, while she screamed her denial and anguish over the broken body of her bridegroom.
Paro's yearning for a home of her own with the nail/calendar/wall-paint of her choice, of belonging to another, of a family of her own, all bit the dust today along with her husband's body. When the mind is overwhelmed, they say, it seeks to escape. That's probably why she lay amidst the scattered fragments of her red bangles on the stone floor of her cell, whispering to herself that nothing had happened; it was all a nightmare; that anytime now her Ma and Babusa would return with a new doll; everything would be fine. She just needed to go back to sleep.
What a brilliant scene! Sanaya, your almost inaudible reassurances leave me with a lump in my throat and eyes that burn as I type this. Take a bow!👏👏👏
Back to the counting: There were five white-shrouded bodies in the BSD's stark mortuary, where drifting dust motes filled in for tears. A handful of lives cut down in their prime. A vast desert of families, friends and other walking wounded, to whom the term shaheed would never offer more than the coldest comfort.
As Rudra learned when staggering out from paying his respects to his dead men, he offered the term to the devastated mother of Vikram Singh. "...I believe that any tears shed at a Shaheed's sacrifice should be of pride and joy," he said. His response was a resounding slap as the grieving woman laid the blame for her son's death squarely at Rudra's door. "Why didn't you take the bullet instead?" Hard words, but harder still to be angry knowing that it was her pain that made her lash out.
Which is why Rudra stood still, swallowing every stinging accusation that she threw at him. Until, unhinged with grief, she cursed him that just as her son had been separated from his mother, so should Rudra be! That Rudra should never have the fortune even of his mother spitting on his dead body! With that she ripped apart Rudra's life all over again, leaving him just as newly bereaved as he'd been when his mother first walked out on him.
Rudra just about managed to hang on to his rapidly-shredding control until he reached the privacy of his office. And then body bowed, face hidden against the glass of the interrogation room, he unfettered his anguish.
👏👏👏 to Ashish for every flinch, grit, swallow, for every breath that was locked in his throat, for every breath that hissed out between his teeth, for the wounded eyes and the trembling lips, and for never overplaying his role.
Which brings me to my memorable shot of the day: Paro and Rudra leaning on each other as they give way to their grief. At the exact same spot on the one-way mirror. For me, it seemed that their combined grief melted this mirror. Once before Paro had gazed at their reflections in a hand-mirror after he had rescued her. Today, after another sort of rescue, it was Rudra who saw his grief reflected in Paro's face, and recoiled. But he still couldn't tear his gaze away.
The spell lasted until Paro slid to the floor. By then Rudra's eyes had already hardened with resolve. His life may have been torn asunder, but the wounds had been papered over...for now. Healing, of a sort, had begun.
👏👏👏 to the CVs, cast and crew for this fascinating scene. The subtleties and symbolisms will require many viewings to decode. But whatta scene!!
Each scene today merits analysis, but I can only cover so many. But the one that makes me want to think is the one they didn't show: what happened between them, I wonder, from when Rudra held a gun to Paro at the border, till when he dragged her out of the Jeep in handcuffs?
But that's a mere quibble. After the precap, all thoughts are on what's in store for PaRud and for us tomorrow.
Kumkum Bhagya
