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Brija lovers better gear up for some heartache because the new track is more Arti-centric, which means Brij is going to be less than sympathetic. We start with a new poster pic - a determined Arti crosses her arms, while Brij, Rangoli and Daddaji look worried and angry behind her as they look at her. Then a bullet strikes the background and the threesome shatter into pieces.
It's three months later and Arti is introducing herself to the audience. She says she's just an ordinary girl from an ordinary family and her greatest wealth is her family and her honor. She touches a framed photograph of the 4 Tiwaris together, lingering on Pooja's image, and says today after three months she dares to dream that she will be able to make the two come together at last. But she is afraid because dreams have destroyed her family.
There are a series of scenes in flashback as Arti remembers all that happened to Pooja - how happy they were together in Panchmarhi, winning the competition, and then her decision to leave her family for the sake of Brijbhushan Pandey. There is a scene that we never saw in the flashback mode - a scared Pooja wearing her sleeveless pink wedding outfit and a determined Brij holding her hand while Arti looks on helplessly. Arti says his name with slow emphasis. She says they all thought he was their protector but he turned out to be their destroyer.
In the kitchen Sumitra is weeping as she makes carrot halwa. She asks Arti to check for sugar and Arti tries to cheer her up by saying Pooja will love it. But even before the words are out her mouth, she realizes what she said and stops. Sumitra breaks out crying and has to sit down. Arti keeps up a front of forced cheer as she gets Harivansh's lunch and takes some hawla in her own bag.
In the drawing room (I think this is still the ex-love nest) Harivansh is slumped over in his chair, the newspaper having fallen unheeded to the floor next to a glass of tea. Arti is scared and runs to him but he is still alive. He is staring at a potted plant, withered and dying. Arti again brings up her front of forced cheer as she helps him to his feet and drops him off at the office. She has to tie him to herself with a dupatta as he sits passively behind her.
Outside the office, he is like a zombie, not returning any answer to her when she tries to remind him to eat. She calls "Papa, Papa" after him as he walks away but he doesn't turn. Finally she says "Mr. Tiwari" and he turns around on autopilot. Arti smiles despite her tears and waves brightly at him.
(This was an amazing scene - not only did I feel terrible for poor Arti but I also felt bad for her parents while simultaneously wanting to slap Harivansh silly for subjecting his one daughter to pain of this sort for what the other did.đĄ And yet, this is exactly how someone weak like Harivansh would behave)
Arti says she thinks her father died the day he realized the terrible truth about Pooja's fake wedding. He is just walking around today for Arti's sake. She goes on to explain that Pooja came to know about BBP's married status after her own wedding to him, but she decided to hold on to her relationship with him, trusting him when he told her that he would acknowledge her in public once the elections were over. Waiting for that day to dawn, Pooja is now neither a wife nor a daughter. đ˛
Arti draws up in her scooty outside a temple where a sad, beautiful Pooja is sitting dressed in the simple white outfit that she wore in the 1st episode. She looks ten times more expensive and elegant, yet older, cynical and sad than she did before. Gone is the sweet wide eyed innocence of the Pooja who got married. đ When she sees Arti, she hugs her tight and the two sisters sit down together on the steps. Arti tries to cheer up Pooja by offering her some carrot halwa that Sumitra made and Pooja touches Arti's feet. She says forget going home to meet her parents, she can't even bear to meet their eyes after what she did. All she has is Arti.
The two of them tearfully hug. Pooja asks her sister how their parents are doing. Arti says she already knows the answer to that. Arti asks Pooja if she talked to BBP, and a tearful Pooja says bitterly that Arti already knows the answer to that. Arti is trying to find a way to change the mood and sees two girls cycling past. She challenges Pooja to a race on the spot and Pooja says she will win. Arti teases her about her confidence when it was she, Arti, who taught Pooja to cycle in the first place.
The two girls race on bicycles and are briefly happy in the childish pastime. Pooja is lagging behind. Arti encourages her to pedal faster and Pooja says she won't lose. She edges ahead and shouts out to her sister to look, she's winning! Arti puts on a renewed bout of effort and wins the race. She's gloating about it in typical sibling fashion â¤ď¸ when she turns around to see the reason Pooja didn't win - her little sister is clearly ill. She has difficulty catching her breath and she's nearly fainting.
(OMG, she's definitely pregnant!)
Arti runs over to check on her and Pooja says she lost. She's lost in everything. And she took her family down with her. Arti asks her not to speak like that. As the sisters hug, Pooja's eyes fall on a political poster behind Arti - it's BBP's smarmy campaign poster that used to hang in his office, now with added text:
Charitra ka sachcha
Man ka achcha
Aapka apna beta
đ¤ŁA good man of character, your own son. Vote BBP! (And then watch him run off with your teenage daughters, I suppose!đ¤˘)
Pooja says bitterly that everything has slowly become clear to her and she has discovered the truth. Pooja says she's hurt her parents more than anybody else has ever hurt them. Arti says to come home right then. Nothing has changed about their parents' love for her. They don't say anything but they still love her and wait for her to come home every minute of the day.
Pooja is overjoyed to hear this and she says if that's true then she really will come home. But before she does that, she needs to talk to BBP one last time. Arti tries to dissuade her but Pooja says she has something important to tell him. She says she will tell Arti what it is when she comes home but she needs to go right then. Arti takes her promise that she will come and plans to buy 4 tickets the very next day for Panchmarhi. The two sisters hug and cry happy tears.
At Daddaji's haveli, people are shouting BBP Zindabad as he walks out full Dabangg-style with aviators on. A man named Mishra updates him on points to be raised during the speech and offers to give him a piece of paper with the points written down. BBP takes off his aviators and smiles gently but chillingly at the man. He asks him to hang on to his paper. BBP says the things he needs to remember, he will remember even if he loses his memory. The things that he needs to forget, he won't remember even if the memory walked up to him and stood right in front. (More shades of Shakuntala)
As he is getting into the car, Shamsher comes up to him, holding a phone. He covers the mouthpiece and tells BBP that it's Pooja and she has something important and urgent to say to him. Brij gives him a cold look and says when he is going out to the battlefield, Shamsher shouldn't worry him with little things. He will deal with personal issues once he comes back home. The cheers fill the courtyard as he gets into the car and leaves with a smile and a wave for his supporters. Not smiling and waving is Shamsher who looks after him with a stern, disapproving look. (That's right Shamsher - you did the kanyadaan, at least remember that much đĄ)
Pooja is sitting on the rooftop as in the 1st epi with tears running down her face as she writes in her diary. Unlike the 1st epi, she is writing to BBP, not Krish. (Ugh, a fakeout! I guess even the writers fell in love with BBP and pushed poor Krish out.) She says BBP broke the thread of their love and now she is a kite without control, and she doesn't know where she is headed but there is a part of him that will always remain with her. (Yup, she is definitely having his baby!) Then the doorbell rings and the scenes from the 1st epi play out:
The two ruffians ask for tea, she invites them in, sees the gun, tries to lock the door, calls Arti, Arti races to get to her, the two men break down the door and turn up the volume of the TV where a newsreport is talking about BBP being elected State president despite his lack of seniority and the displeasure this has caused with some senior members. Pooja calls BBP who is busy accepting garlands at his rally and doesn't pick up. She calls again and he is on the dais. He picks up just as Shamsher invites him to speak and he cuts her off unheard, telling her he is busy and will speak to her later.
Pooja falls to the floor sobbing that her life is in danger, Arti is frantically racing to reach her, calls Pooja and tells her the police is on the way and to shove something in front of the door. But it is too late and the men enter. In his office, Harivansh is sitting with his pen poised above a paper, Sumitra eats a tiny bit of the halwa and smiles remembering Pooja.
Pooja tells the men she will leave town and disappear. Arti is racing toward her sister. Pooja remembers Arti's advice and closes her eyes. The bullets hit her with brutal force, one after the other. She falls and breaks the glasstop of the table and her legs writhe. The camera pulls above to show her lying drenched in the pink of her own blood as Aaj More Sajanji plays.
Precap: media gathers outside the hospital as the reporter says the men who tried to kill Pooja Tiwari shot 6 bullets at her. Sumitra is in tears and trying to hail an auto on the road. Rangoli looks gleeful as she listens to the report and she has some kind of pic in her hand. A worried Shamsher whispers something in Brij's ear and he jumps to his feet and runs off leaving the other people on the dais confused. Arti is yelling at a harrassed looking doctor to help her sister who is bleeding to death while he waits for the police. A police man enters and says the public is never wrong.
OMG. This episode. I think I'll need the rest of this week to process. Wow.
Anupamaa
Indian Idol 15
