Take a bow, Zoya. This is one of the truest renditions of the character that is so complicated, it could give all story heroes a run for their money and how! 👏 👏 👏
It is not easy to understand Raman Kumar Bhalla, just as it is not easy to understand his even more complicated wifey dear; but for the fear of digressing, I'll stick to Raman for this post.
Before I move on to talking about the character, I want to applaud the actor for a brilliant, brilliant portrayal. The confusion and the smile in the first 5 minutes says it all, silently, brilliantly. This man KP needs absolutely no words to convey what RKB's state of mind are. His inner conflicts, and victories, visible on his face. His eyes doing all the talking. Un-f*ing-believable! 👏
Now on to Raman, rather, Raman Bhalla, aka Raman Kumar Bhalla, aka RKB 2.0 (as you perfectly call him so)
He is insane about Ishita Iyer nee Bhalla. Something that he knows deep in his bones, yet his mind refuses to acknowledge. By the fluke of fate, or was it destiny? Anyhoo, he got her in his life, and it's never been the same since then. She gets under his skin, she drives him mad, she loves him as he has never been loved. And so he gives her back, he drives her insane too, he loves her as she has never been loved. He breathes when she does. He lives when she does. In all these years when she was assumed dead. He was a living corpse, walking dead. The flicker of smile in those first 5 minutes that we saw yesterday was to acknowledge, not her presence, but his own life. Her face that animated every single pore of his being. His Ishita was alive, alive and in front of him.
He was still dazed when he went back, when indirectly he let Bala confirm that she indeed was his Ishita. Once confirmed he did not interrupt the mother-son moment. He stood in the back, letting Ishita recognize Adi, touch him, and if it could happen, hug him. He waited patiently for his family to come together, so that he could regain his composure and embrace them all in one big hug. No problem was big enough if she was alive, she was with him. They'd get Adi out of there together. He'd get her back in his life.
Until.
Until Mani walked in. Mani, who is the very definition of a perfect partner for his Ishita, who claimed that victimised girl as his and her daughter. And hell broke loose.
Raman was sure pissed with her, for leaving them on their for so long, for running away when he needed her the most. But if his anger level was perhaps at a 100, and could be appeased by a mere look, seeing Mani drove his anger up at 200. Up until then, he had a wall around his person, that albeit much stronger than earlier, but one which was in Ishita's power to break once again. At the sight of Mani, his wall suddenly grew spikes. This wall would not just protect his fragile heart from getting hurt, but the spikes would poke anyone who tried to come closer, and spill blood.
She did not just go away, she died.
She did not just lie about dying, she spent those last 7 years with the man who does not think he deserved her.
She did not just leave their kids with him, she mothered the kids of the man who thought him to be the worst father in the world, as was evident by Mani's words yesterday.
And so was born RKB 2.0
Not just hurt and angered, but violently furious at the unfairness of it all, at the sight of his living wife, but at the side of the man that just through his name undermines his aptitude as a husband, and a father.
It's going to be fun to watch. Painful, very, but exciting. Because this time there's no indifference and silly jibes. This time there's a lot of love masked by fury. Words that hurt much more before they even begin to heal.
P.S. I tried really hard to not analyse. But I just couldn't keep away from the episode and your post. Brilliantly analysed, once again 👏
