Binge-watching MHRW

I recently came across this serial on Hotstar and started watching it. And oh my..I am loving the chemistry between the leads, the story, the execution, the simplicity and simply everything about it ❤️

Hello to fellow forum-members 🤗

I am glad you're enjoying the show. Somehow, it's a memorable experience for me too. But ... "the simplicity," you say?

When I binge-watched it in July 2021 to catch up to Mandar's entry, I was fascinated by how much happened so fast.

I am used to stories in which characters have consistent motivations and conflicts. Here, I couldn't figure out when Raghav found time to set up elaborate traps for Pallavi, in between passing out drunk and waking up on time to pray. How could Raghav grow protective of Pallavi when he thought this woman had drugged him, allowed Anjali to have her way with him, published the photographs of his violation, and caused his mother's health crisis and rejection of him?

Eventually, I realized that none of the loose ends were ever going to tighten up. Character integrity was nonexistent. Raghav would declare his good intentions and promptly undermine Pallavi just for shock value. Pallavi's hurt feelings would be forgotten to focus on Raghav's self-pity. Supporting characters would be twisted beyond recognition and made irrelevant while the leads only interacted with new antagonists.

I felt totally disappointed that Mandar never reacted to everything that shook up his life. His father weakened by two heart attacks ... his baby sister's abortion the talk of the town ... his little brother working for a criminal who threw him in jail ... Mandar had so many reasons to hate Raghav, but all he did was tease Raghav about Pallavi!

How far into the show have you watched, and what are your thoughts?

Hey I couldn't read your reply because I think it contains spoilers to the parts I haven't watched yet. I am currently around Episode 120.

What I liked about the show and what I meant by the simplicity-

I liked the Marathi-Telgu dynamics, me belonging to a Marathi family, I could relate to a lot of characters initially- like Pallavi's aiee baba (MIL, FIL) are really how typical marathi aiee baba would behave..you would have a nice kaka and a villain-ish kaku..all in all a pretty relatable Marathi family. The Telgu backdrop and natural use of the local launguage was pretty refreshing too! I liked how everyone was pretty much positive- her in-laws loving her like parents, kaka, mansi, a little immature but not evil Amruta...even Kaku was not a villain in the beginning..you could maybe put her as a grey character (initially)...This is in contrast to many recent serials I saw (Lag ja gale, bade achche lagte hai) where there are too many negative characters, unnecessary drama, black or white characterization etc. 

I also liked the pace of the show...in many serials, that I have seen recently, the story either moves too slow- like nothing happens or it just moves superfast, so fast its almost rushed and unbelievable...like in ye rishta kya kehlata hai- the main leads fell in love in 5 episodes I think...In Channa mereya, Lag ja gale...In Lag Ja gale (another Sandip Sikand show), the story was moving sooo fast with soo many new twists and turns in each episode, the viewers could barely process, leave alone relate, to what was happening on the screen. 

Here, I liked how they took their time for the main leads to fall in love...how the story developed over the 100 episodes...Also, I truly truly appreciated that there was no unnecessary physical intimacy- again another trend to garner TRPs these days...to show physical closeness between the leads even when the story doesn't justify it...specially Pallavi being a widow, I really appreciated how they showed her strictly saying No to Raghav hooking up her blouse, the safety pin scene where Raghav does sneak into her room but hands her the pin and leaves and thankfully doesn't actually put the pin on...the holi scene and many other scenes where even accidental touches are not romanticized or no too many falling-catching scenes (read Geet and IPKKND lol)...So yeah, I think these are small things but they do leave an impact on how realistic and engaging the story is to the viewers. I really enjoy Pallavi's characterization- how she stands her ground, is firm and is really not shown to be a sad, bechari widhwa who just uses "widhwa" tag or comes across as someone lonely etc..

Of course, like with most serials, as the serial progresses, one loses character arc to increase the number of episodes and no doubt this serial also suffered from that- baba's character change, mansi, kaku becoming a proper villain with planning and plotting against the main characters, re-entry of Ved, sudden character change of Kirti from a mature sister to a dreamy teenager but so far, I find it within my acceptable threshold.

Up until the wedding track, I absolutely loved the story development and of course, the chemistry between the leads!! 

Also, btw- did the serial run into any budgeting issues or something? It was pretty odd how they downsized both Deshmukh and Rao houses post the wedding...specially Raghav Rao living in a tiny-apartment-style house did not feel right...

Looks like both families do go back to their original house around Ep 115 so I am wondering why they changed the houses in between...

When the government of Maharashtra imposed COVID safety rules that made it impossible to shoot in Kolhapur, Mehandī Hai Racanevālī had to move production temporarily to a hotel in Hyderabad.

Janakamma's house, the restaurant where Raghav gave Pallavi the deed to the shop, Raghav's new house with its swimming pool, the hotel where Sulochana was staying ... I think everything was within the hotel where the cast and crew lodged. They minimized outside contact, so Sai Ketan Rao didn't even meet his family while the show was shooting in Hyderabad.

I have commented on the transition here (other posts in the topic may contain spoilers):

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/161240677

Earlier, the creative team had to insert the Lion track for two weeks, allowing Manasi's mehandī to fade before her wedding, because some cast members tested positive for COVID. Before the inserted track, the story foreshadowed that Raghav would perform Bharatanatyam at Manasi's saṃgīta, but his dance skills never led to any story.

Originally posted by: MJHTMonayaSajan

I recently came across this serial on Hotstar and started watching it. And oh my..I am loving the chemistry between the leads, the story, the execution, the simplicity and simply everything about it ❤️

Hello to fellow forum-members 🤗

Originally posted by: BrhannadaArmour

When the government of Maharashtra imposed COVID safety rules that made it impossible to shoot in Kolhapur, Mehandī Hai Racanevālī had to move production temporarily to a hotel in Hyderabad.

Janakamma's house, the restaurant where Raghav gave Pallavi the deed to the shop, Raghav's new house with its swimming pool, the hotel where Sulochana was staying ... I think everything was within the hotel where the cast and crew lodged. They minimized outside contact, so Sai Ketan Rao didn't even meet his family while the show was shooting in Hyderabad.

I have commented on the transition here (other posts in the topic may contain spoilers):

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/161240677

Earlier, the creative team had to insert the Lion track for two weeks, allowing Manasi's mehandī to fade before her wedding, because some cast members tested positive for COVID. Before the inserted track, the story foreshadowed that Raghav would perform Bharatanatyam at Manasi's saṃgīta, but his dance skills never led to any story.

Oh that makes a lot of sense now!! Since I am watching it retrospectively, I missed social context on a lot of these things!! Thanks for responding.

I finished watching the show till Mandar's entry, expose and exit! I think I will conclude watching it now since most of the main story has finished. I loved the show mostly...specially the initial parts until Mandar's entry. The leads have a great chemistry and since I started following them on Insta, I think they are an offscreen couple too 😳

I was curious about how the story develops from this point on since I am not planning to watch it further:

1. Does Deshmukh family ever accept Pallavi-Raghav relationship? Specially her baba and Mansi- do they have a change of heart eventually?

2. What happens to Kirti? Looks like she does see Sunny's true colors but then he also has a change of heart and they eventually reconcile?

3. What about Pallavi's past? At some point Sunny was investigating her birth certificate and her brother's intentions/relations..Does it go any further? I am honestly glad they didnt go down that path and turn Pallavi's brother into a negative character!

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5241906

1. Right after cursing Raghav, Vijay inexplicably goes to work for him, even though Raghav walks into Vijay's interview and ignores him completely.

Raghav barges into Deshmukh Niwas and takes Sharada with him without even informing Vijay that Pallavi is in critical condition (getting shot when Raghav refused to surrender to the police), but Vijay compliments Pallavi on how well Raghav takes care of her because he's impressed by how much ill-gotten money Raghav gives to charity.

Finding Raghav sleeping outside his house because Pallavi won't talk to him, Vijay calls him beṭā and Raghav starts to address Vijay as āpa.

Vijay witnesses Raghav trying to hit the woman who just confessed their adultery.

Right after hearing that Raghav sent a man to molest Pallavi so that he could save her, Vijay disappears from the show, so we don't know how Vijay reacts to Raghav getting arrested for rape.

Manasi does nothing but grumble about Amruta having a boyfriend.

2. Kirti elopes with Sunny, moves him into RR Mansion, becomes pregnant right away, and reconciles with Raghav while Sunny plots with Raghav's partner in adultery including attempts to murder Pallavi. Sunny punches pregnant Kirti one last time and "redeems" himself with self-pity in the next minute - no "eventually" about this reconciliation!

3. After Sunny saw the birth certificate, Pallavi's birth mystery was dropped and her family including her brother Siddhesh was never mentioned again.

Originally posted by: BrhannadaArmour

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5241906

1. Right after cursing Raghav, Vijay inexplicably goes to work for him, even though Raghav walks into Vijay's interview and ignores him completely.

Raghav barges into Deshmukh Niwas and takes Sharada with him without even informing Vijay that Pallavi is in critical condition (getting shot when Raghav refused to surrender to the police), but Vijay compliments Pallavi on how well Raghav takes care of her because he's impressed by how much ill-gotten money Raghav gives to charity.

Finding Raghav sleeping outside his house because Pallavi won't talk to him, Vijay calls him beṭā and Raghav starts to address Vijay as āpa.

Vijay witnesses Raghav trying to hit the woman who just confessed their adultery.

Right after hearing that Raghav sent a man to molest Pallavi so that he could save her, Vijay disappears from the show, so we don't know how Vijay reacts to Raghav getting arrested for rape.

Manasi does nothing but grumble about Amruta having a boyfriend.

2. Kirti elopes with Sunny, moves him into RR Mansion, becomes pregnant right away, and reconciles with Raghav while Sunny plots with Raghav's partner in adultery including attempts to murder Pallavi. Sunny punches pregnant Kirti one last time and "redeems" himself with self-pity in the next minute - no "eventually" about this reconciliation!

3. After Sunny saw the birth certificate, Pallavi's birth mystery was dropped and her family including her brother Siddhesh was never mentioned again.

Oh thanks for the awesomest summary I could have asked for 😊

Sticking with my decision to not watch the show any further lol!