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This took for freaking EVER to write. So I hope you enjoy this slightly alternative take on things.
Read the bits underlined in red for the overall gist.
The reason we're so bored of episodes recently- the thing that's missing? It's Khushi's half of the love story. We're watching Arnav and Khushi's love story but we're only seeing Arnav loving. Go back over the episodes these past two months and think of the ones you truly, honestly loved- they're all ones where Khushi's love for Arnav came through. You don't notice because her love's so sweet and subtle and it's that innocence that this endless comedy has taken away. You really think Khushi doesn't love Arnav? Well then why does it kill you when it's missing?
Khushi loves Arnav. She fell in love with Arnav just as he fell in love with her- they just took different routes to get there. Arnav raced through a city while Khushi meandered through a forest...
The story of Khushi falling in love with Arnav was just completely overshadowed by Arnav falling in love with her. Arnav's feelings towards Khushi are so extreme and passionate and he expresses them so aggressively- whether it's intense love or intense hatred- that it's no wonder it's difficult to see where, along the way, Khushi fell in love with him.
Khushi's love for Arnav was like a flower blossoming in Spring under Arnav's care and guidance whereas Arnav's love for Khushi is more like a naked flame on a trail of gasoline...
Today's post is about Khushi's path to love, to try and help you understand.
It's easy to see why Arnav fell in love with Khushi because she's so loud and dynamic that we see exactly what he fell for. There were key moments which made our stomachs flip and our hearts beat faster. Arnav was all about the passion and what he could physically see... Khushi isn't (please resist the urge to throw shoes) as shallow as Arnav. To be fair, it's not entirely his fault- Arnav doesn't really need to look too far- Khushi openly shows everybody who she is. But it does explain why Arnav so easily believed Shyam. He knows that he fell for the "persona" Khushi showed him and that if for some reason, that's just a mask and the real Khushi is a homewrecking, vindictive bitch... he'll have nobody to blame but himself for not looking beneath the surface.
Khushi's love is, in my opinion, stronger than Arnav's. You can try and convince me I'm wrong- but you have a lot to contend with. Let me guide you through what in my opinion is the true beauty of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon- Khushi Kumari Gupta's enduring love for Arnav Singh Raizada.
Now this might surprise you somewhat, but several "key" ArShi moments which were pivotal romantic moments for Arnav were almost the opposite for Khushi.
I'm speaking of almost the entirety of her time spent in Arnav's office.
The very first Rabba Ve- I want you, for possibly the first time ever, to really think about it. For Arnav, he realises that his country-bumpkin assistant/ toy is actually beautiful and he develops a physical attraction to her- but for Khushi? It's her amoral, nasty, ultimate prick of a boss who treats her like shit leering at her. How much do we excuse Arnav for simply because he has the face of Barun Sobti? This scene, from Khushi's perspective, wasn't romantic at all. That's why she cried...
Soon after this was the Rain Hug. Another moment everybody seems to love. I feel the need to refer to Arnav at this point. Arnav, by this point in time, already felt something for Khushi. She has challenged him, surprised him, talked back to him and, in a sense, he's already building up some sort of odd respect for her. That's why this moment is so important to him and he flashes back to it and stands in the rain thinking about it for ages on his way home.
For Khushi, it's just him further solidifying in her mind his position as a monster. So he saved her. So what? He'd probably have a lawsuit on his hands if she got run over. But there was the first, tiniest glimmer of something. It's not as big as most people think this whole scene is, but it's the first indication Khushi got that there's something more to Arnav Singh Raizada... he takes off his jacket and offers it to her. He knows and she knows that it's soaking wet and won't help her one iota in that torrential rain... but he offered it, at his own detriment. She didn't accept obviously. But he offered it to her. And she knows that. It was in such stark contrast to everything he'd ever done before that I guess she couldn't help remember the moment. The seed was planted.
Arnav saving Khushi from the building site is the next "major" moment for most people. Although Khushi is rightfully furious with him at the time, he does save her. He helps her. He found her. Nobody else did or could- but Arnav did. I guess you could say this was when the seed started to germinate. Arnav already had a little shoot and root- but Khushi's seed of love for Arnav had, until this point, not even cracked. But now she didn't really have a choice.
Khushi's religious- there's no two ways about that. So whether she actively realised it or not- the fact that they kept on seeing each other in religious places and sharing significant moments. Or the fact that he kept on helping her or saving her or bumping into her- It was fated. And even if she didn't consciously notice- her subconscious surely must have done.
Over time, as she helped Lavanya and ran into Arnav again and again, she realised that her first impression of him was wrong. Just as she proved to him time and again that his first impression of her was wrong and he softened towards her, she also realised that at the core of this once completely dark presence in her life- was a good person.
Whether he was saving her from her own pathological clumsiness, defending her character to the police or apologising, despite himself, when he realised he was truly in the wrong and had really managed to hurt her.
She realised he was vulnerable the day he collapsed from hypoglycaemia.
She realised he was human when he laughed.
She hated the rakhshas but had too much evidence to suggest there was another side to him. She looked beyond the surface- the ASR mask he wore- and found Arnav. And she found, to her surprise, that he was always there for her. Always. Whenever she needed him and even when she didn't. And that she, in turn, cared about him. So she began to ignore ASR and interact with Arnav. She brought him out and she began to fall in love.
Nainital was more important for Khushi than for Arnav. Arnav was already conflicted as he was already quite obviously in love with her by this point but knew that he couldn't be. For Khushi- she realised that this man would not only take care of her but would do anything for her. He beat up those goons for her, after all. Nearly killed them... She had seen Arnav which is why, even though ASR returned and kicked her out of his car... When he came to her in the hospital- not as ASR but as Arnav- she recognised the man she was falling in love with and she went to him.
The problem is, she's young. She didn't understand what these feelings were- quite literally. We got a whole track on this. Another moment that mattered for Khushi were when Arnav untangled her from the lights. I loved that scene because it was really their relationship to a T at that moment in time. He protected her and she fell for the protector in him. She was so used to always looking out for herself and for everybody else- it felt incredible to have someone truly look after her.
As he continued to protect her, she fell for him more and more to the point where she thought he was doing black magic 😆 The scene where he blows dirt from her eye- echoed in the Holi episode... Beautiful.
Diwali for Khushi... I think she fell in love more with Arnav giving her back the anklet and helping her escape the circle of diyas- the kind soul she had already seen within him, than she did for the near-kiss.
She was already confused and his engagement just served to confuse her more.
She saw the rakshas and the rajkumar within him battle it out over the next few months and even when ASR began to bear his tormented head once more, the Arnav inside whose heart already beat for Khushi won out.
Whenever Khushi was sad, Arnav was there. Initially he was responsible for it and then ultimately he tried to eschew it.
Once Arnav realised he was in love and was free to love... everything changed. Arnav is older than Khushi and so, even if it was subconsciously, he knew what he felt and he was determined to draw out the same in Khushi.
Khushi already knew that if she looked, she could find Arnav behind ASR- but in the run up to the MU... She didn't have to look so hard anymore. The man she had seen buy all the pigeons in the temple for a little girl, the one she had seen break down at the thought of losing his Di... he was there all the time. And that love that she had seen glimpses of in the past... he was freely giving it to her.
Arnav does everything to extremes. When he switched from intense hatred to endless love for Khushi- we as viewers sitting in a whole different reality fell in love... so how could she possibly resist?
She knew she had found the love of her life and surrendered to it completely.
And then everything changed again... The misunderstanding happened.
Her small smile to herself just before she turns round and realises it's not Arnav there on the terrace with her, but Shyam, breaks my heart almost as much as Arnav's expression when he turns away from them and closes the door five minutes later.
Now that they're married, Khushi behaving OTT is her defence mechanism. She gave her heart and soul over to this man and he trampled on it. She doesn't know how to cope so she's doing everything in extremes. She's confused and she doesn't understand either her feelings or Arnav's. She doesn't know what happened to make him hate her and all she wants is for him to love her again. She's become a caricature of her past self in the hope that something will trigger him to love her again in the same way he did in the past. But nothing is working.
And today, she just rescinded back into her natural self because she couldn't pretend anymore. The little glimpses of the old Khushi that we all love seeing- they come out because she doesn't need to or simply can't keep up the pretense anymore.
Khushi is always most hurt when Arnav questions her feelings for him because she just cannot understand how Arnav can possibly not know. In fact, she probably thinks he does know and is doing all this just to mess with her.
Different things are important to Arnav and Khushi- different things make them feel different ways. They complete each other. We underplay the significance of Khushi finding out why Arnav married her. We make it seem like a minor detail in comparison to Arnav finding out the truth about Khushi and Shyam... but for Khushi- finding out that the man she loves more than herself thought her capable of something like that... That he truly doesn't know her... That's going to destroy her. It's going to hurt her just as much, if not more, than it will hurt Arnav when he discovers her innocence.
Khushi loves Arnav unconditionally and, truth is, she knows him. She may not understand him but she knows her husband and she's loyal to him through everything because she loves him. She wants to protect both him and his happiness... And she hopes that one day, the Arnav who she loves so unconditionally will come back to her.
The day she finds out the truth and her hope breaks... the day the fire finally burns the flower to ashes... That's a day we'll all weep when we see.
And although we all know that a phoenix can rise from those ashes- it's going to look like an ugly ass tiny plucked chicken for a long time before its beauty becomes obvious once again...
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