Since we live in the era where repeating the same thing a 100 times without factual evidence to back it up has been completely normalized, it's important to jog people's memory from time to time to set the record straight.
I sometimes can't believe this needs to be re-stated 3 years and endless debates later. 😕
Shivaay and Anika EVOLVED, notably evolved in 2 years of the original Shivika storyline with all the ever changing senseless storylines in IB, and people still distill his character down to some manhandling and so called "abusiveness". 🤔
Firstly, speaking strictly of the original Shivaay here (since redux is not even worth counting), he had sexist tendencies which got quickly course corrected over time due to his interaction with Anika. A truly sexist and regressive man would never fall in love with a girl like Anika who basically tried to emasculate him at every turn....lol she made fun of everything from his height, his name, his stature, his thoughts, his actions. There was hardly a topic she didn't put him down over. He bristled in turn, grumbled about it, threw tantrums but he still LET her....a regressive man wouldn't stand for this....a regressive man would make it his life's mission to kill her spirit. Shivaay CELEBRATED Anika's spirit.
Let's not forget the high level points here. Shivaay felt challenged by Anika and did initially try to quash what he saw as her ego but very quickly he fell on the backfoot since she utterly baffled him with how easily she prevailed in the face of all his brazen scheming. After that, it was mainly Anika trying to quash HIS ego more than him managing to make any headway in making her cower.
Which brings me to the fundamental point regarding this.....there is no EQUALITY in regressiveness. Most regressive ideologies don't dabble in equality in relationships. Roles are assigned and expected to be adhered to according to outdated norms. Did Shivika have that from any angle? Can someone seriously say that to me with a straight face and a good faith argument?
Shivaay was a strong overbearing personality....if that makes him regressive, then Anika would be equally regressive because she was just as overbearing as him. They constantly clashed in trying to assert their viewpoints.....that was the whole story. Those who actually missed out on that basic point while thinking that Shivaay being able to cook was progressive...I don't know what to say to those folks😕😆.....if Shivaay's cooking is the sum of progressiveness for this show, then by that logic, Gul's claim of a jeans clad Anika being the ultimate progressive symbol should be enough too😆.
In this marriage, Shivaay was the vulnerable one way more dependent on Anika....humbled by her faith in him, awed by her capacity for compassion.....if that is considered emotional abuse, I'd love to see which dictionary this is being pulled from. Anika CHOSE to never focus on an independent career post her marriage....Anika CHOSE to dedicate herself fully to Shivaay and his family. So where does the regressiveness come in on Shivaay's part? A regressive man would COMPEL this....not let his wife make that choice for herself.
Assigning regressive labels to a relationship where two equally strong personalities constantly took turns asserting themselves is something I don't get. Is it that people are not able to fathom how two people can find happiness despite having gone through some awful circumstances? One set of circumstances then defines their entire life no matter how far they come?
How are scenes like this invalidated? Is this what a regressive man would say?
Would a regressive man subscribe to this kind of thinking?
How is it that a man's flaws....his overbearing nature, his tendency to hide things in trying to be protective become cause for being called "regressive"? Is it that it's unfathomable that two individuals can find such a sense of a unit together and people can't process how that's possible so it has to be labeled "regressive"? lol
Honestly, even after all this time, I remember all these standout scenes because this is what made IB rise above the fray even as the general storylines were a mess. It is this journey that remains memorable even as most shows have only continued to deteriorate further in terms of storylines since.....basically making even original IB messy storylines seem like gems in comparison😆
NM and SC may have long since moved past the show and these characters, perhaps forgotten what original Shivaay and Anika even were given the redux and all the mess that followed.....but for me, and I'm sure many others....there are just too many special memories with these characters to cherish and value.....this bench scene sums it up in some ways....they may be long gone....but those smiles will live on.
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