Slow burn or fizzling ashes?

Slow-burn romances are captivating. They generate a mix of anticipation, excitement, and a fluttery, warm feeling in your stomach. The gradual building of the deep connection between the main characters leaves you hooked and on the edge of your seat wondering whether they will get together. However, this adored style of romance is not so easily achieved and one missing element can transform an intended slow burn into a fizzling pile of ashes.

Although it’s hurtful to find fault in this show, the truth is that the romance in this story has become a pile of fizzling ashes. This is not a reflection of the actors who are all incredible, rather it’s a lack of elements in the story that is causing the fire to slowly fade between Kunal and Vandu. Plus, creating the perfect slow burn is no easy feat. 

So, here is why this slow burn is quickly dying out…

Lack of banter

Initially, the witty banter between the leads, the gazes from Kunal at Vandu, and the unexpected encounters where Kunal carries her in his arms all ignited a slow burn for viewers desiring nothing more but for the two enemies to become lovers. However, some of these elements that created the initial spark between the two leads have slowly fizzled out. For example, the banter ceased very early in the serial once Vandu became Kunal’s employee. Her helplessness in having him as her boss has driven her to transform when she is in his presence and tolerate his awful attitude. 

Lacks reason to keep viewers believing they should be together despite conflict

It’s been said by Vedika and Auntie that Tara is the link to the void in their lives and the key to their happiness. It’s true that Tara makes Vandu happy but it wouldn’t make logical sense for her to enter into another marriage with a man who is a tyrant just for the sake of a child or because they both share a similar pain. These two reasons are not enough for a middle-aged woman who was recently betrayed by her husband to enter into her second marriage or another relationship. Also, it’s obvious that Kunal isn’t over Sonia and likewise, it appears that Sonia isn’t over Kunal. It’s more reasonable for this pair to work out their differences and be happy with each other versus uniting Kunal and Vandu.

Lacks focus on the leads and more focused on their other relations

With the addition of characters like Sonia and Tara, the recent reveal of Vaibhav’s betrayal, and the Karmarkar’s ongoing house discussion, the focus is far more on the main characters’ dysfunctional relationships than the relationship between the two. In addition, Tara and Vandu’s relationship has become the highlight of the show. By the time the writers make their way back to focus on the main characters’ relationship, viewers have forgotten what made them seem like a good idea in the first place.

Vandu’s Fear of Kunal

More often than not, Vandu is fearful of reacting in the way she wants to with Kunal or in the way she is known to act with those who are belligerent because she fears she will have her home taken again. She is always on her best behavior around him because he’s her boss and it’s sad to see the once strong character who was free to say what she wanted to in his presence be reduced to calling him “Sir” every day. Most popular slow burns with an enemies-to-lovers trope don’t include a female lead who is fearful of the male lead. Instead, the female lead is actually headstrong and challenges the male lead which contributes to his transformation and ability to abandon his previous misconception about her. Take for example the classic well-known story “Pride and Prejudice,” the protagonist is known for her sharp wit and strong character which is soon admired.

Empathy for Vandu

After witnessing Vandu’s horrible marriage, dysfunctional family relationships, failed dream of receiving a singing contract, and infertility, there is a high level of empathy that exists for her character. It would be heartbreaking to see her enter into another marriage with someone who can’t make her happy. At this point, the last hope for Vandu is to be stuck in a relationship with Kunal that will cause her heartache before it causes happiness. There is no evidence that Kunal can make her happy or that being with him is of any benefit to her. Actually, it’s hard to see if a relationship with Kunal would be better than her previous relationship with Vaibhav. For example, Vaibhav embarrassed Vandu with accusations of her betraying him before a public crowd while Kunal did the same exact thing days later on Diwali. He made baseless accusations against her in front of their families. Considering the level of empathy viewers have grown to have for Vandu, why would they root for her to be with another man who doesn’t value her or see her worth?

When these elements are lacking or are present, viewers might struggle to find reasons to root for the main characters to be together, causing disinterest or detachment from their romantic storyline. The romance feels disjointed or confusing, making it hard for viewers to root for their relationship. A slow-burn romance should leave viewers confident that the characters are going to end up together regardless of conflict. Enjoyment is found in how the two end up together through the occasional soft touches, the looking into each other's eyes, the pining and angst, the teasing and banter, the jealousy and miscommunication, and the sexual tension. However, this serial is almost at episode 100 and it’s not clear if the two main leads will end up together or not. Writers need to make the characters ache for each other, causing viewers to ache for them as well.

Hopefully, the flame between Kunal & Vandu is ignited again soon as it would be disappointing to see a show with so much potential go off the air. 

So, on point!

When kunal had insulted vandana in the very first episode, it had been tolerable because vandana had retorted with twice the fire, a challenge had been issued and then she had beaten kunal with a jhadu too.

Then he hsd visited them to use the loo, and was smitten by vandana in saree. She had been as moved by his music, and both had another war of words that had been an absolute treat to watch.

But then he practically disrespected her as a PA. But he was blinded by his father, so i could still forgive him, for he actually over and over tried to warn vandana regarding vaibhav.

But then, came sonia and tara and sh*t show began.

And kunal has become the kind of man a girl like vandana should never love. He is destructive, unapologetic and rash. Him being a good man sadly doesnt make him a good partner for vandana

I agree. I am still not sold on the fact that Kunal is good for Vandu. I feel as if writers are missing opportunities to highlight more of his nice or good side to combat the negative feelings viewers have of him as well as Vandu. 

For example, Kunal has saved Vandu numerous times but we never see him care for her in these moments. She needs to get hurt so we can see him react and care for her... wipe her blood, help her walk as she limps, or grab her some water after she’s fainted. We haven’t seen these pivotal moments and they could have easily been shown because there has been numerous opportunities.

It would have been so much better in the episode where Vaibhav pushed Vandu in the street if she would have fell on the ground. After Kunal’s altercation with Vaibhav, he could have went to help her up off the ground only to discover she hurt her ankle. Next, we could have seen him grab her belongings from out the rickshaw and help her to his car as she limps. That would have made a major difference in the scene. Also in the episode when she fainted in the street and Kunal carried her home, we didn’t see him place her on her bed. Instead we had to assume this happened after he carried her into the house. Seeing this small part would have changed the entire episode.

The show is called unsaid conversations so that means interactions between Kunal and Vandu should be meaningful and say more than spoken words would allow. At this point, I don’t feel as if we are getting enough of these scenes. Writers keep skipping over the moments that viewers swoon over.

This is exactlyyy what went wrong with this show!!! 

They started off really well..there was that tension, angst, mutual admiration kind of and some humanly care towards each other in the beginning...I really loved the show up until Vaibhav-Vandana marriage..I had accepted that as well hoping for some more pining, care and protectiveness towards each other...a strong support while Vandu deals with problems at home...eventual friendship and then love...I initially tuned in to watch the show that was promised to me in the promos...I was ok even when I realized I'm not going to get that as I was hoping for something equally good in terms of a love story...but enter Tara and Sonia and it has really gone downhill..

First of all I hate it when ITV uses this "Kids" trope for no reason...there are shows where it makes sense- like Dheere dheere se, Ye hai mohabbatein, Veera...these were the shows where kids actually played a pivotal role and were always set up that way...what the creators of this show are missing is that YHM didn't become what it was because it had a kid, Anupama didn't become what it is because it had a cheating husband..there is something called as an art of storytelling...and originality in the screenplay...that's what makes viewers stick to the TV shows..Here, what they are trying to do is to just pick random concepts from random shows- cheating husband, a kid for a lady who can't get pregnanct, a third angle for jealousy, lousy family, angry young man-and stitching it together with no rhyme or reason...the flow of the story literally doesn't make sense..there are soo many inconsistencies, loopholes, just bcz of the pressure to run after the TRPs and amend the story every few episodes...This has helped noone in the past and will not help this show too...I would have been perfectly happy with the show wrapping up bcz of low TRPs but sticking to what it originally set out to show and have a good story for how much ever runtime they get...this khichdi of characters and stories makes it impossible to root for anyone really in the show and viewers are bound to get turned off...

Good analysis and on point 
I watched this show for Mohit Malik .. I loved the way he looked at Vandu whenever she dressed up or whenever she seemed sad … but then it all went downhill with his father coming back and later Vaibhav and Mrinal’s cheap love and house fiasco 
And whatever happened to her big dreams of becoming a great Bollywood singer and his dreams of making his company worlds no 1 and blah blah !!! I would have loved to see the story develop around this theme because the shows promo pitched this only!

They somehow want to get the leads married and hence this Tara angle which is absolutely not appealing to me honestly!!!
And Kunal and Sonia story is simply a poor copy of the Ye hain Mohabbatein story of Raman and Shagun :(

I must say that I saw a shift in the episodes last week than previous ones. For the first time in a long time we saw Kunal mesmerized by Vandu as she was towel drying her hair outside the house. It was a brief few seconds but it was certainly welcomed considering this slow burn came to a screeching halt months ago. 

Also, with the current track and promos featuring Kunal’s father, I’m thinking that writers may venture to the original storyline that viewers hoped to get from the show’s teasers. And her is why. At this point both Mr. Molhotra annd Mr. Karmarkar are aware of the marriage between Vandu and Kunal and are not happy about it. I think the only way for Kunal to have his father’s blessing is if he lies and says it’s a deal to make Kanak Records #1 or if somehow his father gets this impression. Kunal was told by his father to do anything to land a music deal. So I’m assuming that if he think the marriage is beneficial for Kanak Records then that will be the balm to calm his anger and Kunal will win the approval he so desperately seeks from his father. 

Although, I would have loved to see an organic relationship develop between the middle-aged leads versus a marriage of convenience, I’ll settle for it if it finally leads to KuVan.

Hoping for the best at this point for BKAS!