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Arjun- A guy who loved his sister from day one of the show. Who cannot see even a single drop of tear in her eyes, remember that loving and caring Arjun from the episode when Naina's mood was off as she was punished in school. Arjun an obedient kid, who helped a lady get down the bus when his father was busy arguing with other passengers. Eventually we came to know overtime that this poor chap was immensely pressurized by his own dad to achieve trophies in order to boost his ego. This is the time when as audience I started connecting with this poor kid on an emotional level.
Then the headboy competition happened and we came to know a flaw of this teenager. We came to know that he cheated during the competition which is ethically incorrect. But when we saw that his father doesn't even let the guy breathe, we started sympathizing with him. Yes we were angry as audience that how can a person lie to such an extent that the matter is still under the wraps till date. But still I saw a teenager in him who lies just like all of us and hence we were a bit hopeful that he is not that bad, just another teenager who will own up to his mistakes someday.
Then enters Shefali in his life- a headstrong girl with guts to learn and train in cricket along with the boys, during an era when teenage girls hardly even played gully cricket. Shefali a character who carries her own mind starts visiting Arjun's house on daily basis to teach Pralay. What did I as an audience notice?... I noticed a shy guy who feels socially awkward talking to girls, especially when they approach him openly (many guys I know have this problem). Now here is the point where I noticed that there are chances of a good love-story or at least strong friendship being developed soon between the two. And yes bang on! Friendship started developing between the two.
Now we all have always thought that why Arjun needs a Shefali type person in his life. She is the one who can develop some courage in this meek character, the one who can help him take a stand. But why does Shefali need Arjun?...Shefali has always been mocked or teased by boys for being bold and headstrong. She has always seen boys who come and talk to her because she is bold (meaning different from the lot) and hence think she is available. She might have also been many times seen in an inappropriate manner by boys. Some light has been put on this in the show. So now Arjun is the first guy in her life who doesn't look at her in an inappropriate manner. Not for a moment in any episode I have felt that Arjun in anyway has seen her or thought about her in a disrespectful way. Yes there was a time when he had raised some questions on her character. But after that he was even sorry about it. We always considered Naina as a shy person who won't express about her feelings easily to anyone. So a slightly different case was of Arjun. A shy person who lived in a cocoon and hardly interacted with any girl, thought the approach of Shefali to be a bit direct and hence he judged her. But eventually he apologized and hence the matter ended there and that to on a good note.
Then develops a friendly relation between the two. A relation where he is a strict coach to her but also an understanding friend. I remember getting some wonderful Shef-Jun scenes during the Mt Abu track which were laying the foundation of their relation. I also remember Arjun giving Shefali his share of food, when she didn't have anything to eat. Didn't we like Arjun there?
And then the bet revelation leading to Arjun-Sam fight. He is a possessive brother and I have already made a post on it in the past justifying his anger, which unfortunately now they are stretching it way too much. Don't know what are the makers thinking, but what I was disappointed with the most was during the whole illness of Arjun, they sort of lost track of Shefali-Arjun's friendship. The concentration was so much on Arjun's anger and Sameer-Naina's story, that in all this Shefali-Arjun's budding friendship was just eclipsed. In the whole 2 months we hardly get 2 scenes of Shefali-Arjun and that to of only 5 mins max. Sameer-Naina are the leads agreed, but after them the potential and interesting story was of She-Jun. If not the love angle then at least they would have continued with their friendship. Only one scene we get that too horribly dubbed where she apologizes for exposing him. Seriously?!
Arjun's character I'm sorry to say but is being assassinated day-by-day, we all can see that. Okay if they want to show him as an angry brother...fine, we will accept that, but at least don't show him to be a character who is growing to be so selfish and so self-centered that other than these traits we cannot see anything else of him. If he doesn't like Sam till date even that is acceptable, but atleast don't make him a person who has lost all the ability to think reasonably and straight. We know it sure shot that he is not a villain. His character was never of that a villain, please don't lose the essence of it. We all know that eventually in somedays Sameer-Arjun problem will be solved. But Naina is not the only relation he has, please don't revolve his life only around this. Sameer-Naina story is getting so much concentrated on him that all other relations of him are dying a slow death. His story was supposed to run parallel with Sameer-Naina, it was running successfully till December, I don't want it to be entwined with the leads and that to horribly.
As an audience I'm in dire need of a good relation and healthy scenes between Shef-Jun. Romantic angle woh baad ki baat hai, but atleast don't kill their friendship by not showing them at all. There are very few shows who show girl-boy friendship in a good and sensible way and YUDKBH was one of them.
PS: Yes I know they are trying to show that Arjun is behaving like his father, and all the flaws in his character are because of him, but still I expect there are better ways to show it rather than stretching things like a chewing-gum. Show him as flawed, please don't make him a polished just-out-of-a-90s-movie villain!
PS: This is my thought-process about the current graph of Arjun's character. This is completely my POV. I still love YUDKBH just like you all. Hope I haven't offended anyone Let me know your views on this.
Hindi TV Shows
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
