Ragini Maheshwari (nee Gadodia) is the daughter of Shekhar Gadodia and Janki Gadodia. Ragini's mother Janki died when Ragini was a child, and she was brought up by her father Shekhar, and her dadi, Parvati. Shekhar's first love (and eventually his wife) was a woman called Sharmishtha Bose, who he had a love child with, a daughter called Swara. Ragini's grandmother deeply disliked Sharmishtha and held her responsible for Janki's death. Resultantly, she weaned innocent, naive Ragini on hatred, mistrust, and insecurity, borne out of her own loathing of Sharmishtha and the relationship that she shared with her son Shekhar.
Because of this flawed upbringing, and her mother's example, little Ragini grew up with a deep rooted sense of insecurity - and an idea that only first love is real love. It was love at first sight for her when she met her promised husband Laksh - he became her entire world, her very being, the moment she set her eyes on him. Laksh was intended for Ragini, but fell for her sister Swara instead. Swara embodied everything that Laksh had ever wanted in his dream girl, and he was willing to do anything to ensure that he got his happily-ever-after. In his quest for Swara's love, he mindlessly trampled over Ragini's heart, whose love for him knew no bounds, and destroyed her sanity and her very being. So much so that she would have gone to any lengths to have him, and she did. Her obsession and madness, fuelled by Sanskaar Maheshwari's (Laksh's brother) quest for revenge, lead Ragini to do everything under the sun to ensure that her first love remained hers. Ragini and Laksh got married...and so began their tumultuous journey of pain and passion.
In the beginning, Ragini, for Laksh, was a simple tool against Swara, and unwittingly, like many others, he ended up pushing Ragini, weaned on insecurity and mistrust all her life, further down a path lit with hatred and obsession. Ragini, completely consumed by her obsessive, frenzied love for Laksh, set out wreaking havoc on anyone and everyone who seemingly stood in the way of her quest for Laksh's love, even if it be her beloved sister Swara.
When Laksh discovered Ragini's insidious manipulations and bore witness to her madness and her ill-treatment of his family, he decided to break Ragini in the worst possible way - by playing with her emotions and using her body, and leading her to believe that he loved her, before breaking her completely, utterly into tiny pieces. Ragini, utterly happy and content for the first time in her life and blissfully ignorant of Laksh's quest for revenge, began realizing the error of her ways and returned to her innocent, naive and loving ways.
Laksh's pursuit of vengeance blinded him absolutely - so much so that he wilfully ignored what his heart was telling him, that people do change. Laksh listened to his mind over his heart, and in doing so not only destroyed the one person who loved him absolutely and to the point of madness, but also set himself up for more unhappiness - for unwittingly, somewhere along the way, Ragini had broken into his defences and had stolen his heart. Somewhere in the midst of the madness, destruction, chaos and immeasurable pain that Laksh caused, his heart began to beat for Ragini, the same person who he had set out to break. Understanding finally dawned - Laksh finally understood that he could not live without Ragini, for how does one live without one's heart? And of course she could not turn him down, could never turn him down, for how do you refuse your own heart, how do you stop your own breaths?
It is at this point that Ragini stands today - content in the arms of the only man she has ever loved, the only man she will ever love, the one whose name is written on her soul. Beautiful, flawed and damaged, Ragini's biggest strength, as well as her Achilles' heel, is her infinite and fathomless love for her Laksh. Ragini, like Laksh, is immensely damaged and has done terrible, terrible things, but all those things came from a misguided sense of love and hate, and the inability to let go. As the cliche goes, she loved with a love that was more than love. And that fathomless love is the very foundation, the embodiment of who she is. Her sanity, her life essence, her heartbeat, her very breaths. All inscribed with one name - her Laksh.
Laksh Maheshwari is the son of Durgapasad Maheshwari and Annapurna Maheshwari. Irascible, spoilt and flawed - on the best of days, Laksh is difficult and frustrating and hard to like. However, his abiding love for his family, and his willingness to put everything at stake for them, including his happiness, do twinge the heart. Laksh doesn't do things in half measures - he feels everything deeply, be it overpowering rage or overwhelming passion. These are the contradictions that make him such an interesting character.
The inherent contradiction and dichotomy in his character is evident in his two personas - on one hand, there is Lucky, the rich, spoilt brat with a devil may care attitude, born out of his need to rebel against his family and its stifling ways. On the other hand, there is Laksh Maheshwari, devoted son and beloved brother, who can go to any lengths to protect and avenge the same family.
It was the fun-loving, irresponsible Lucky who was intended for Ragini but fell in love with Swara, and it was the sombre, penitent Laksh with the weight of the world on his shoulders that eventually married Ragini. It was fickle and reckless Lucky's actions, really, that set in motion the events that would make and break so many people and so many lives, but little did he realize it then. Swara embodied everything that Lucky had ever wanted in his dream girl, and he was willing to do anything to ensure that he got his happily-ever-after. In his quest for Swara's love, he mindlessly trampled over her sister's Ragini's heart, whose love for him knew no bounds, and destroyed her sanity and her very being. It was guilt and remorse that eventually lead him to marry her, and Lucky gave way to a dutiful, responsible, mature and grown-up Laksh.
When Laksh discovered Ragini's betrayal and bore witness to her madness and her ill-treatment of his family, repentant, remorseful Laksh burnt to the ground and out of the ashes emerged a new Laksh - this time forged with rage and a thirst for revenge. Not a man to do anything in half-measures, Laksh's thirst for revenge blinded him so completely that he decided to break Ragini in the worst possible way - by playing with her emotions and using her body, and leading her to believe that he loved her, before breaking her completely, utterly into tiny pieces.
His pursuit of vengeance blinded him absolutely - so much so that he wilfully ignored what his heart was telling him, that people do change. Laksh listened to his mind over his heart, and in doing so not only destroyed the one person who loved him absolutely and to the point of madness, but also set himself and his family up for more unhappiness - the same family for whom he had walked down this path in the first place.
Laksh may have succeeded in breaking Ragini into shards, but those shards cut his heart into tiny little pieces...with each piece screaming her name. Somewhere in the midst of the madness, destruction, chaos and immeasurable pain that Laksh caused, his heart began to beat for her, the same person who he had set out to break.
Understanding finally dawned - Laksh finally understood that he could not live without Ragini, for how does one live without one's heart ? With that understanding, and acceptance, and his beloved Ragini back at his side, the storms within Laksh's mind and heart have calmed at last - leaving behind a stillness of love and peace. The devoted son, brother and husband is firmly back at the helm - shouldering the responsibilities of his family, and assuaging their grief in these turbulent times.
That, basically, defines Ragini and Laksh's relationship in a nutshell. Born out of deception and betrayal, and forged in profound love and overpowering hatred...their's is a story like no other.
Laksh was intended for Ragini, but fell for her sister Swara instead. Swara embodied everything that Laksh had ever wanted in his dream girl, and he was willing to do anything to ensure that he got his happily-ever-after. In his quest for Swara's love, he mindlessly trampled over Ragini's heart, whose love for him knew no bounds, and destroyed her sanity and her very being. So much so that she would have gone to any lengths to have him, and she did. Ragini and Laksh got married...and so began their tumultuous journey of pain and passion.
In the beginning, Ragini, for Laksh, was a simple tool against Swara, and unwittingly, like many others, he ended up pushing Ragini, weaned on insecurity and mistrust all her life, further down a path lit with hatred and obsession. Ragini, completely consumed by her obsessive, frenzied love for Laksh, set out wreaking havoc on anyone and everyone who seemingly stood in the way of her quest for Laksh's love, even if it be her beloved sister Swara.
When Laksh realized the demon that Ragini had turned into, he set down his own path of vengeance and hatred. Not a man to do anything in half-measures, Laksh's thirst for revenge blinded him so completely that he decided to break Ragini in the worst possible way - by playing with her emotions and using her body, and leading her to believe that he loved her, before breaking her completely, utterly into irreparable shards.
Shards that cut his heart into tiny little pieces...with each piece screaming her name. Somewhere in the midst of the madness, destruction, chaos and immeasurable pain that Laksh caused, his heart began to beat for her, the same person who he had set out to break. And of course she could not turn him down, could never turn him down, for how do you refuse your own heart, how do you stop your own breaths? Woh kehte hai na:
"Bada badtameez, besharam, khudgarz hota hai par pyaar toh aisa hi hota hai..."
When you look at it, at the core, Laksh and Ragini are literally the same people, really crazy, really f**ked up, and their capacity for both love and hatred is infinite. Be it love or hatred, they both do nothing in half measures, no matter what the cost. Soulmates and twin souls in the truest sense of the word. Sane people, normal people, may simply not be equipped to handle that level of passion and insanity. Both Ragini and Laksh are immensely damaged people who have done terrible, terrible things, but all those things came from a misguided sense of love and hate, and the inability to let go. To any sane person, it may look like they've ruined things far too much to be able to salvage any love out of the wreckage, but since when has love been sane ?
Cricket
