Malini and her character development

Malini... had so much hopes from her character. The way her insecurities were building up, her shak growing etc since the PD track I thought she’d be one of the most interesting characters to witness in terms of character development. I think the makers got confused with her character and how to incorporate these shades in her. They made her too sweet but even then her layered emotions were visible but for some time it seems like they’ve been jumping between one and the other with no idea how to do both. I still think she was rightfully upset during the knocking time but the way she forgot it after that and went back to sugar mun was very confusing. After yesterday I was sure it was finally the character’s time to move on to the next phase... but what was the next phase they showed today?? what was that, it had nothing to do with her insecurities or doubts regarding aditya or imlie more about.... want to keep aditya around me at all costs and some very confusing statements about her parents.

Makes me think this is all a reaction to her parents’ fighting and the fears she developed due to that and maybe has nothing to do with aditya either. But I think I am giving her too much here. What are they even trying to do with her character? That mandir part was so unnecessary, none of her dialogues made sense to me. Just to show her as this pati vrata patni or something? That part had people rooting for her but it disappointed me greatly. If you want to be strong, be firm with aditya, communicate with him and don’t let him weasel out of the conversation or conveniently forget it in the next moment. What does strong have to do with being rude to imlie? Especially at the beginning of the episode it was out of nowhere, she was mad at aditya and took it out on imlie because I am sure malini is not doubting aditya and imlie right now it was obvious from her actions it’s all about keeping aditya to herself and being upset about his time being shared with anyone. Which makes the outburst at imlie even worse.

Her questions, her outbursts, her anger should all be for aditya but she’s ready to forgive him if he’ll give her some time. When she’d know the truth or had strong doubts, according to me her actions would have been justified then but the way she’s acting right now really disconnected me from the character. Aditya’s character development and grey shades are well written but they’re missing the mark with malini. I guess in itv female characters are not allowed to have much scope to be grey like male characters are. They’re doing the same thing with imlie, but at least imlie’s background makes her actions have some sense. I think in itv, the female character has to be either mahaan or a villain is why they’re having such a difficult time doing grey shades properly. Her being rude to imlie because she wants to be like her mom is such a weird turn to take with her story, it would have been so much better for her if it came out of her doubts or something like that. But right now, it’s very difficult to connect with her character at all, it’s too all over the place. Sad, I had much expectations from Malini’s character development :-(

Hope they salvage it somehow in the coming episodes.

Couldn't agree more..

I didn't exactly loved the character, since she was always too bland or should i say, one dimensional for me. But this 180 degree flip of so called realism, is hardly convincing.

Malini since the beginning of the show, has been point of earning just sympathy and nothing beyond that. Some people compare her with Mauli of Silsila, which I find absurd, because Mauli was such a strong and wholesome character, the kind of character whose individual journey you would enjoy. That kind of emotion I feel for watching Imlie's journey in this show, which is unfortunately being marred by sindur drama.

But you are right, flawed female lead, either Imlie or Malini are not something ITV Cvs could manage. They have to show them mahan or vamp, hence butchering there characters.

I mean strong does not equal rude 🙄 is this to appease malini fans? I was a malini fan and it just makes me upset. More than empowering her.. it just felt demeaning to me.

Sadly that is the perception honey the more rude the more savage it is considered. Somehow. Savage and rudeness are different things being rude doesn't make one automatically savage or above anyone else..or a hero. But I have seen that pattern way too often now it doesn't even effect me anymore caz people just doesn't seemed bother enough to differentiate between the 2.

Malini has been a weak character since day 1 no matter how much she claims to be ab "strong" jisko strong hona hita hai woh naarabaazi nahi karta..

None of this is stemming from I need to hold into my relationship and make it work no matter how much she keeps saying it is her absolute need for control and wanting to be the center of attention that is making her do all this.. all that she has hidden underneath that perfectly put together image is coming out. Her privilege her entitlement all that looking down upon others based on how belongs to the elites. She always had that I am superior than you all pheasants vibe and we have given her a benefit of doubt for too long but not anymore it came out so raw in this episode

As for Imlie I do not agree with you that she is written in a bad way or not as fleshed out.

Originally posted by: naadanmasakalli

Sadly that is the perception honey the more rude the more savage it is considered. Somehow. Savage and rudeness are different things being rude doesn't make one automatically savage or above anyone else..or a hero. But I have seen that pattern way too often now it doesn't even effect me anymore caz people just doesn't seemed bother enough to differentiate between the 2.

Malini has been a weak character since day 1 no matter how much she claims to be ab "strong" jisko strong hona hita hai woh naarabaazi nahi karta..

None of this is stemming from I need to hold into my relationship and make it work no matter how much she keeps saying it is her absolute need for control and wanting to be the center of attention that is making her do all this.. all that she has hidden underneath that perfectly put together image is coming out. Her privilege her entitlement all that looking down upon others based on how belongs to the elites. She always had that I am superior than you all pheasants vibe and we have given her a benefit of doubt for too long but not anymore it came out so raw in this episode

As for Imlie I do not agree with you that she is written in a bad way or not as fleshed out.

Malini, I am losing hopes for and I am too confused about to defend or comprehend right now. But I didn’t mean imlie is written in a bad way, she’s very well written. It’s the tyaag for didi aspect I was talking about, even the motivations for that are understandable in some ways. They do show imlie upset about adi mun but it quickly turns to not wanting to hurt malini. She’s not as allowed to have emotions like proper jealousy and anger like adi is because I guess they think it will come out wrong? It just upsets me how much burden is put on female leads to be a certain image opposed to male leads. I liked her admittance today, that she does feel upset but her showing those emotions will take a long long time I guess.

I echo all your thoughts. Malini was swinging wildly between two extremes and the dialogues were totally disconnected yesterday. The writer does not know how to make her gray shaded. These people are so used to writing characterizations for completely black villian types (komolika) on tv that i think it will be quite hard to fix it going forward. Lets see what they do.

Hey, first of all, I just want to appreciate again that you try to post your thoughts genuinely on the characters to stimulate good discussion here rather than the many other threads that are initiated to blindly hail one person or put down another based on a person's own presumptions about the story/characters.

That said, I think you have to view Malini not from the burden of how women are expected to be shown in a story, but from her character basis regardless of gender. This is not about her being a woman....people can be flawed regardless of gender.....aren't we privy to the whole spectrum of Adi's faults? Is that because he's a man? No, those are his flaws as a human being irrespective of his gender.

In Malini's case, I think to understand her, we have to understand the part that class consciousness and elitism can play in shaping a person.....you may be finding all her reactions/behavior yesterday jarring....but to me, those reactions finally filled in the missing pieces of the puzzle that was showing an incomplete picture about her. To me, it was much more jarring all this while to see how she flitted from one emotion to the next pretending like she couldn't comprehend anything, that she was just this one-note sugary sweet person being so generous and compassionate to everyone out of a genuine sense.

The moment she SNAPPED at Imlie in that scene with a taunt about how coming first in her exams isn't enough and how Imlie needs to learn manners, it all became crystal clear who Malini actually is. She had no problems with Imlie's exam results when they weren't impacting her life....when it was just something general the family celebrated and also when she herself could orchestrate the whole revelation of the results to be center stage....but the moment Imlie's exam results became the reason for her dinner date with Adi getting cancelled, Malini became jealous of the very achievement she was claiming she was proud of for Imlie just a day before.....then when Imlie was praised even more at the press conference, Malini's resentment continued to build cuz she took every praise for Imlie as somehow a slight on her own importance......to now when it built up to the point where a scene which was supposed to be about Adi being sick also became cause for Malini to lash out at Imlie in jealousy over her exam results. This shows that insecurity has always been the biggest part of Malini's personality that she has sugarcoated for so long by doing nice/generous things without really meaning them genuinely. That bitterness/ugliness doesn't suddenly manifest in jealousy unless it's a part of you already.

So that is what they are now showing with Malini as she is embracing this side of her personality that she long suppressed......it remains to be seen how she comes out of it on the other end but for now, it is her time to descend into darkness.....she has given in to her worst impulses and I don't really think anyone else can be blamed for this....she has chosen this for herself.

*Edit: And I have to add....see, there was a reason some of us were pointing out the door knocking incident as a sign of where Malini is going....it was never about her right to privacy as a wife with her husband even then....it was the tone she used with Imlie that was wrong then also, which she never even apologized for using with Imlie cuz she feels entitled to that tone......and now by repeating the same situation even without Imlie being at fault, we can see it was never about the door knocking.....Malini is snapping at Imlie because she is jealous of Imlie....plain and simple....or she wouldn't be using the words and tone she's using now....she's trying to put down Imlie from a place of superiority, talking to her like she's a servant....it wasn't right that day also, and it's worse now.

P.S. Malini has totally sensed that there is something between Adi and Imlie now....but she lacks the guts to confront either of them directly. That is why she is freaking out over things like seeing sindoor on Imlie....there is no reason to panic over it otherwise....why take sindoor on Imlie as some personal affront to yourself unless you think that sindoor is connected to your husband somehow?

So Malini is noticing everything but doesn't have the courage to admit it to herself yet....so she is just coating it all in a generic, "I'm fighting for my marriage and my husband" funda.....all of this will come out in some outburst at some point but all that Malini is doing right now can no longer be filed under generic jealousy.....she is consumed with complete jealousy of Imlie because of all the attention/importance Imlie is getting from the family as well as Adi.....Malini is not being able to bear it one bit.

Originally posted by: AreYaar

P.S. Malini has totally sensed that there is something between Adi and Imlie now....but she lacks the guts to confront either of them directly. That is why she is freaking out over things like seeing sindoor on Imlie....there is no reason to panic over it otherwise....why take sindoor on Imlie as some personal affront to yourself unless you think that sindoor is connected to your husband somehow?

So Malini is noticing everything but doesn't have the courage to admit it to herself yet....so she is just coating it all in a generic, "I'm fighting for my marriage and my husband" funda.....all of this will come out in some outburst at some point but all that Malini is doing right now can no longer be filed under generic jealousy.....she is consumed with complete jealousy of Imlie because of all the attention/importance Imlie is getting from the family as well as Adi.....Malini is not being able to bear it one bit.

I loved Malini since the beginning so I think I was trying to find excuses and really believed the behaviour was because of her parents and fear of losing Adi. But the words she used today, like you said, did not seem to be coming from a place of fear but rather a feeling of superiority. Makes me think back to the beginning of her character, seems like everything was fine until imlie was ‘in her place’. Nevertheless, I wanted shades from her character and I got them, no matter how badly they came out. I think I would have enjoyed it more if people didn’t think of this as some empowering ‘fight for my rights moment’ but well, everyone has their own perceptions.

Originally posted by: spelano.ws

I loved Malini since the beginning so I think I was trying to find excuses and really believed the behaviour was because of her parents and fear of losing Adi. But the words she used today, like you said, did not seem to be coming from a place of fear but rather a feeling of superiority. Makes me think back to the beginning of her character, seems like everything was fine until imlie was ‘in her place’. Nevertheless, I wanted shades from her character and I got them, no matter how badly they came out. I think I would have enjoyed it more if people didn’t think of this as some empowering ‘fight for my rights moment’ but well, everyone has their own perceptions.

@bold: Bingo. That's exactly what it was....Malini's generosity/niceness towards Imlie was contingent on Imlie staying "in her place"....the moment Imlie's talent/abilities started to put her in the limelight, Malini wasn't able to handle it and now her pettiness and superiority complex is coming out in the way she is snapping.

Her attachment/dependency on Adi is one part of all this....but she is feeling an overall threat from Imlie, not just cuz Adi is giving attention to Imlie.....I think she resents how everyone is starting to be impressed by Imlie beyond just laughing at Imlie's antics....it was all well and good for Malini when they all considered Imlie a goofy clown....but now she's realizing that Imlie has the potential to be given that elevation and respect...and subsequent limelight. That limelight is what Malini is not willing to bear....she seems to think Imlie being in the limelight dims her own importance....so that does show the level of insecurity that's always been inside her that she's covered up all this while. Otherwise why would anyone be insecure of such a giving/selfless soul like Imlie?

Re: "fight for my rights" perception.....lol well I can't speak for those who actually buy into that logic....to me the mandir scene was not any display of strength or fighting...it just showed the level of Malini's delusions and excuses she is giving to herself to justify what she is doing even though it is clearly wrong...she now feels entitled to misbehaving with Imlie as a part of her "fight for her rights".....that will never be considered right in the books of anyone viewing this with logic.