Well Leo... I expected almost everything you said on your post today 😛
Here goes my Ramayan... Good luck reading it
So, let's recap this track >>
The woman's best friend comes into the picture and begins to question her relationship with her husband. The best friend points out that her husband is perhaps not the best man, and that she would be better off living a life without the emotional baggages of her husband, her marital home and in-laws. The woman doesnt see this friend as a threat or even something like a nosy-neighbour, but she does sense a small tinge of jealousy in her husband. She does plan to tease her husband more using her friend.
The husband is told by his wife's best friend that he is not the best person. He is not even close to being an ideal husband. The husband looks for ways to become the best husband. After a certain point, when he sees his wife's closeness with her friend, he crosses the line of sanity and morality and threatens his wife physically.
Then, the woman's sister gets into trouble with the people from the man's past. The woman, her sister and parents are publicly humiliated. The husband feels really responsible for all these incidents. He feels guilty for bringing pain to his wife (and her family). He remembers his wife's friend and comes to the conclusion that the friend may have been right along.
While all this was happening, the custody of the child that they shared was threatened. The court threatened to send that child away from both the families. This made the man worry about his kid's future along with his wife's happiness. So he takes this decision to leave his whole family and identity behind. He decides his daughter will be better off with his wife. He thinks his wife's friend can take care of her. and he thinks without him being around, people from his past will not trouble his wife.
He sends divorce papers to his wife, and she catches him at the precise moment he is going to leave and drags him back home saying she isnt complete without him. He also says he doesn't really want to leave her. His family mocks him for taking a unilateral decision. His wife's friend also grants his blessings to the couple in question.
***
For someone like me, who was taking this show seriously, these are the things that still don't make sense:
- They went overboard when showing a woman's platonic friendship with a male friend. They could have toned down the fevicol-bond between Ishita & Mani and still have the same effect on Raman.
- Completely out of character: the man getting drunk and almost molesting his wife. This is not the Raman they had written earlier. He spoke rudely but would never 'attack' anyone.
- Highly unrealistic approach to sexual harrassment by the victim planning a sting operation on her own. Mihika's plan not only failed, but also backfired big time.
- The fastest custody hearing in the world, based on the testimony of all the people involved who have vested interest about the case. No independent verification from the child's teachers, school friends or even the child herself.
- The chase & beating of the man by the woman in a public place to make him realise that they belonged together.
Finally at the end of the track, I still have a few questions:
- Why did Ishita not ask him why he was running away without a reason?
- Why did Raman never confront Ishita about her relationship with Mani? (when sober I mean)
- Why did Ishita not confront him about what he did when drunk? Why did Raman not apologise?
- The only positive outcome of this story has been that they realise they do love each other, but this has been achieved without any serious conversation/confrontation or tackling issues like trust, love, sacrifice. I wonder how much of this would have actually happened in real life.
*** About the airport scene -
If they wanted to show a woman who did not take it lying down, like a daily-soap heroine, that woman should have slapped him the day he tried to 'molest' her when drunk. If they wanted to show a man who genuinely wanted to keep her far away from trouble, he should never have returned. Whether or not she loved him shouldnt have mattered if he was really serious about leaving in the first place.
If anyone survived reading so far, then I have 2 points, to summarise:
- The need for drama shouldn't override the need for good story telling.
- The need to preach feminism shouldnt come at the cost of emasculating men.
Done... I have really tried to take an 'outsider's' view of the whole thing. and I have tried not to be too bitter towards anyone but the writers of the show.
So no one here should really take offence... but if you do, then please throw only UK size 5 shoes at me. They should be women's shoes, in pairs, and not too high-heeled.