Hola!
To think that this Maya was Rudra's "Khoon ki pyaasi" , confusing , flirting and seducing the life out of him, was going through 101 ways to be Jack the Ripper with Rudra , had those oscillating expressions of hatred and disdain alongwith confused emotions for the same man. Does she still look like that cold, calculative , seductive pseudo vamp anymore? NO.
Maya's defences, reservations, prejudices and judgments about Rudra have been shed like snake skin. The woman you see with him is shy, soft, soft spoken, genteel, fragile, tender and vulnerable - She is a deja vu of Maanvi. Convinced and swept away by Rudra's love, Maya is giving love a chance again , she is giving herself a chance again - no matter how short or long it lasts or where it will end, she is living in the moment of happiness that has come at a "wrong" time in her life. She is sitting on a ticking bomb but she would still like to feel loved, respected, taken care of and looked at like magic. This is what Rudra has unraveled in her - her deepest suffering , her most hidden longing and her broken dreams finding a new lease of life. Maya's expressions, her whole face, her body language has transformed into something so delicate and beautiful that you are taken aback that how fragile this woman actually is when she takes off her black cloak. She has realized or rather Rudra has made her realize that she doesn't have to carry the load of her darkness alone ; he is there as her fairylight, her helping hand. She no longer needs to hide behind desks, bruise her own skin and roam in a dark palace to save/hide herself . She can hold on to Rudra, she can cling to him, she can snuggle into him when life gets hard. For once, it was a relief to see Maya vulnerable but so well taken care of. It was almost like Rudra stood between her and the world. He always has. And it has seeped into Maya. She could gather her wits and courage to not only face MJ but also answer him back without getting a panic attack. Rudra wasn't there , and yet he was there as her saviour energy in that black thread of white beads. Maya was always a survivor and a fighter , it was just that she was unarmed. Now, she is. She is armed with the man she has married. You feel both happy and sad for her. In a compartmentalized way, she is living a life where she is loved by a man, handled like a cotton ball , respected by him and raised to the moon and stars by him. Everything that she ever wanted has come to her and in that yellow room, her world with Rudra was perfect. For a change, something in her life is perfect. This is Rudra's Maya - Delicate yet powerful. And this rebirth has come from that man's love for her and her confidence in him.
Coming to Rudra, the man continues to be a whole spectrum of emotions and actions that is both "awww" and "errmmm" . Awwww because Rudra took Maya's responsibility as soon as she stepped into his house. He introduced her to everyone with pride, honour and such affection in his voice and eyes. He held her hand and let her lean onto him when he sensed she was unwelcome and anxious. He didn't care whether his folks welcomed her or not. He himself took the pooja ki thaali from Maa Durgaa's seat and did Maya's arti, blessing her into her new life. He made her as comfortable as possible as his wife , without letting the awkwardness and Maya's tension of being in intimacy get to her nerves. He made it clear that he loves her and she belongs to him, but that doesn't mean she has no voice of her own or her own take on this relationship. He has understood that he no longer needs to play push and pull , chase after her or seduce her. She loves him but in her 'Maya' way and the acceptance of giving love a second chance and getting it under her skin completely will take time, affection, care and compassion. He knows that Maya is in healing and as much as she loves him, her inner child needs to let go of the darkness to grab his light. I loved how gentle and almost parental Rudra was with Maya and he is actually handling her so beautifully. He accepts that she is complicated and he believes he can handle this. This is what Maya needed at the right time - love, healing, respect, compassion and tenderness. She almost looked like a child wife with Rudra. So fragile and so overwhelmed with his love. When he hugged her and she closed her eyes - she was soaking in the comfort that came with his warmth. Rudra is everyone and everything that Maya ever needed and he knows it too.
Now , the ermmmm part. Rudra is an extreme personality , his emotions run from 1 to billion and back, he has a certain emotional instability , and all his reactions and decisions often come at impulse or through triggers. He loves Maya with whatever he has seen of her and felt of her. He is accepting her darkness but HE DOESN'T KNOW THE IDENTITY OF THAT DARKNESS. He doesn't know the truth of Maya's tragedy and what her demons have already destroyed. He is in love with a half hidden moon. When the reality is revealed to him, knowing how unpredictable and emotionally intense Rudra is, the pendulum could swing in any direction. Deceived, lied to, taken advantage of, fooled, used, manipulated are just some of the feelings that he will feel.....and the worst would be if he feels that he was in love with an illusion , while that is not the truth. The moon was just half hidden and didn't want to show its face to him. I don't know how the writers will handle Rudra at that time.
Rudra , the namesake of Lord Shiva is more fluid in his personality than Maya and MJ who have their characters and motives etched in stone. Rudra has displayed a lot of shades that have come as a surprise - calmness, hatred, composure, fear, passionate love , madness, wisdom, bravery and all that. But if he is a shade of Lord Shiva, I would like to see 'bairaag' / renunciation in him once. I know we all are expecting anger , grey shades and what not from him once the truth is out. But sometimes, people don't get angry or dark. Sometimes, they first get numbed by the pain, then, they turn within , awaken and turn away from the world , realizing what a 'Maya' it is. They are in the world but no longer of it.
As for MJ, I am going to write a nice piece on this ultra hot but oh so not, pathological , psycho-emotionally abusive , megalomaniac narcissist at night. He is EXACTLY the kind of man women get attracted to but should run away from by the first flight.
❤️
