Dancing with the Stars (Crossed)

That Raman and Shagun danced together --Raman out of spite and Shagun out of a sense of conquest-- is not exceptional, but it could have been portrayed differently in a manner that was more natural to the plot and the characters, instead of what appeared to be sheer misogyny couched in a lofty rhetoric of teaching one woman a lesson at the cost of another.

These dynamics were an interesting repetition and reversal of the last time there was a dance in YHM --during the holi function. Then, Raman had already made his point that a dance shared between a married couple was special, and proceeded to use a confused and angry Ishita to prove his point.

Here too, we have more of the same dynamics, this time with two women being used by Raman to grind his various axes. Interestingly both are dropped by him, one figuratively when he states at the beginning that he would not dance with her, and the other, literally, in the middle of the dance itself.

Raman's philosophical observations the dance, and its symbolism regarding the two women in his life --his past and his present was at best awkward and at worst downright tasteless. It was neither the time nor the place for airing such musings in public, and would have definitely made the guests ill at ease, and taken the limelight away from the two couples who were there to get engaged. Although he apologised to Ishita later and requested her to walk with him step by step in the dance of life, it was insufficient to assuage the public rejection delivered by Raman just moments earlier. We know that Ishita is very sensitive about being rejected and, although rather resilient, emotionally speaking, does not recover easily when she is rejected.

Finally, the gap between Raman and Ishita's public presentation of themselves, and their private lives is larger than a crater on the moon. In private, they struggle to express themselves even for the most basic things. They are so busy playing savior in others' lives that they have a wall of unaddressed issues separating them. Ishita retreats to her speeches, and Raman to his one-liner zingers, and in this way they proceed, moping and coping along with each other. Instead of playing PDA -PDA (public display of affection), these two should work on at least having a civil relationship one on one before they foist their version of an ideal companionship on another audience.

I agree that it was insensitive of raman to create such a tasteless spectacle on mihir's special day, there was no need to air his dirty laundry in front of the guests like that. But this is ekta's drama. her dramas are known for public tamasha's and I choose to ignore a lot of things because it is tv serial.

Damage is done - Though for a moment he did humiliate Ishita. She was all ebullient when she stepped in to dance, only to be stopped by Raman and then had to get her ears stuffed by what followed - "Mera pehla pyaar".

Again aimf, such a well written post.

@ pomegranate

Thank you for your well written response.

@Indian Isha

What a great analogy of the sugar following the bitter pill. All their interactions are like that.

@ asha

Thanks for your kind words. Your point about the lead couple being frightened of physical and emotional intimacy is spot on.

@all

Thanks for participating in the post.

Great post aimf .👏.👏.👏Much needed post .

@ Heema

Wonderful post as usual. I am happy that you responded. Your diagnosis of Raman as bipolar and ultimately a wounded and insecure hero is right on. You are also correct about the fact that these kinds of "contrast" scenes with how the hero treats the lady versus the vamp propitiate the Mahamata called TRP Devi. The irony is that because deep down our hero hates himself, it shows in the way he treats others, starting, as you mention, his own daughter. CVs, your show is slipping!