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After last week, The CVs gave us another dhamaakedaar Tuesday today with events that uncoiled and struck with stunning intensity.
Battle lines were already drawn by the close of yesterday when Kakisa decided to summon up a storm partly in retribution for Paro's undue interference, but mostly for the pleasure of paying Dilsher back for his taunts that she might be afraid of Rudra.
Today Kakisa took off the gloves and decided to hang out her soiled laundry in front of her employees. In the guise of celebrating the birthday of her runaway sister, she ditched the Queensberry Rules, and unleashed every dirty jab, kick, punch in her laundry bag of old, hurtful memories, carefully picked to cause maximum damage. It was a full wash-load of breathtaking cruelty - the abandonment of the father and son; the husband's grief and shame; a little boy's bereavement, his unextinguished hope of his mother's return; and his heart-breaking disappointment...
Shaking with fury and anguish at the sight of his son's seeping wounds, Dilsher struck back with the only weapon in his possession - the threat of having Kakisa thrown out of the haveli if she didn't shut up.
His threat had the desired effect in that it got Kakisa off the topic of his wife. But Kakisa countered with the promise of swift repayment: snatch the haveli from her, the person who had nurtured it when Dilsher had left it to ruin, and she would turn it into a funeral pyre.
That's when Dilsher exploded, raining hot retribution down on Kakisa, scorching her where she stood. She wanted the haveli, she could keep it. But what would she do with it? She had no grandchildren to leave it to. After her death, pigeons would roost in it. That was Bhole Baba's punishment. That she could not become a grandmother. But Rudra would have children and they would live in the haveli, fly pigeons, be its real heirs. Dilsher had found Kakisa's open nerve, and succeeded in shutting her up.
When Dilsher fought back, he couldn't have imagined the repercussions that lay in wait for him; for them all. Because Kakisa wounded was Kakisa at her most dangerous. And now her heart craved some in-law blood.
Kakisa was not to know that her wishes would be fulfilled quite so quickly. Dilsher, still suffocated by the ugly confrontation, was determined to make his threat to Mohini a reality. So he asked Rudra to get married. "Don't let that incident ruin your life like it ruined mine. Be a human, like you were born one, not a bottle of poison."
That's when Dilsher was paid back in full measure for all his fathering sins. Once before, when he had asked Rudra to marry Paro, Rudra had told him off. That was a gentle scold in comparison to Rudra's reaction today. Today, fifteen years of bitterness, poison and hurt spewed from Rudra, in a toxic shower that flayed Dilsher's flesh. "You are fifteen years too late... You should have thought of it every evening, every night, every moment when you drip-fed me poison. Thought that this is the age to give him milk, what am I feeding him?...When you were giving me burnt roti and hate for women... Should have thought what am I turning to ashes in his chest... Now it's all burnt out...only gunpowder is left which knows only to explode, not to heal."
And Rudra walked out, leaving Dilsher broken and slumped in defeat, and Paro, an unwilling witness to this bitter exchange, appalled and agonised.
There was to be no reprieve for Rudra in his HQ, either. There, battling his freshly-churned emotions which were suddenly swamped by the memories of the day a newly-bereaved mother had cursed him that he too be separated from his mother, Rudra learned that he was to be called to account before the Inquiry Committee. Rudra was never going to stand a chance at this trial. There were too many civilian and military losses for that. And Rudra and his witness had failed spectacularly to deliver proof of either the baraat's gunrunning or the Thakur's involvement in it. Rudra was given four days to keep his rank, his office and prevent being court-martialled.
Back at the haveli, Kakisa's plan for retribution against Dilsher was already underway. The Pandit was waiting to match Rudra's horoscope with Paro's. Dilsher was sure he would have grandchildren. Well then Rudra must have a bride. And who better a bride than Paro, the smoke maiden who could sew and cook and who was already engaged to Rudra, but who was like no fiancee she'd ever known? And before a shocked Paro could absorb the implications, Kakisa managed to extract a birthdate from her; got her and Rudra's horoscopes matched, and found a date for the wedding. All that remained was deriving entertainment from the girl's reaction, when she asked her to inform her relatives that the wedding would take place after ten days.
But that ambition would be thwarted for the moment thanks to Dilsher, who unable to get Kakisa to jettison the plan, decided to leave it to a better man to sort out. Dilsher insisted that the marriage would not take place without Rudra's say so. And Kakisa agreed readily; she wanted to see how Rudra got out of this coil.
A powerful episode today sending shockwave after shockwave as each round of retribution found its mark. But there were some heart-warming moments too that stood out for their sheer loveliness. The first, when Rudra brings a choking Dilsher back to his room, and Paro reads his every wish before it was even formed - the chair, the inhaler, a glass of water. Paro remained a witness to the father-son exchange. And that was all to the good, because it gave her a better understanding of Rudra. Then, there was Aman's vote of confidence in Rudra just before he went up against the Inquiry Committee. And finally, Mythili and Paro's brief alliance against Kakisa.
Today's was clearly a key episode, in that new events (marriage and court-martial), were set in motion. And these key events will have their own surely significant repercussions to drive the story forward. Will the marriage take place? Will Rudra be court-martialled? How will that affect the PaRud equation? No doubt, the remaining episodes will be littered with clues and red herrings for our puzzle-solving pleasure.đ
Much to applaud by way of acting today. A standing ovation to Ananya, Kali Prasad ji and Ashish for outstanding performances. The CVs revisited some key scenes in previous episodes: the one-way mirror scene and Rudra's reaction to Dilsher's proposal, the first time. Dialogues were punchy as usual and screenplay sure. đđđ to all for today!!
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
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