Akshu's Character - Page 3

Softness isn't one and all. It lies along a spectrum I suppose. She's definitely softer compared to a Sai from Ghum but might seem stronger than a docile or submissive heroine. Again, being soft doesn't mean submissive. It's being more forgiving, softer in your words and in your actions, letting go more than holding onto grudges, so on and so forth.

I don't think it was her being strong per se, which is irrelevant because strong heroines taking on abusive in-laws is what gets trps on ITV, it was her being the prime mover of a plot in my opinion. I've not seen a lot of the show so this comes off as a generalization but the show's best, most-trp-fetching tracks were where Akshara's been the prime mover's object of desire. Point in case the beginning to the mandir track. Her resistance -- or feelings for that matter -- in the show have always been quiet, muted, in the background compared to that of someone like Anupamaa or Sai who are much more forthcoming, open, and gung-ho. She's never the driving force of these plots and so her reactions are passive and reactive rather than active and proactive. She's been the proactive character in a few tracks but none of those registered as such -- hence Garima's rant of ppl not appreciating 'softer' heroines or whatever she meant by that. Abhimanyu's hand track to the 2nd leap track before Abhimanyu became the prime mover again -- the trps weren't supporting them the way they wanted. They tried to bring in several tracks with Akshu vs Arohi/Akshu vs Manjiri//I don't think they saw a pickup so they again discarded tracks faster than they picked them up. Again, apart from these very few tracks with not enough traction or mileage, every other track saw Akshu in a reaction phase opposed to a proactive phase. A simple comparison can be seen between her and Naira in the same kind of track. When Naira found out about Shubham she was the single link joining the entire family, proactively trying to bring together Manish and Suvarna, Kartik and Suvarna, Shubham and the entire family. Akshara on the other hand was blamed for Neil's truth coming out by her entire family and her response in that entire track was reactive as she fought to stay afloat and hold onto these relationships on the backfoot. The Shubham track's focus was on Naira proactively changing the course of things and reconciling her family. Neil's paternity track focused on Abhimanyu trying to reconcile his family and relationships while Akshara was much more muted, reactive, struggling to tether herself to this family in the background. Those are the dynamics this show works with.

I feel like the CVs -- whatever data they've been able to collect so far -- often backtrack to the dynamics of the one track that worked so well for this show and it was the initial track up to the mandir track. And those dynamics are working so far, aren't they? I'm waiting for the trps tomorrow to understand whether the audience is accepting of the show's alterations, and if they are then there's only so much the rest of us can say or do.

That is an interesting take. I haven't seen ghum or too much of Naira, but I do remember that Naira was always the central character around whom things happened, and I think for this generation, that has been Abhimanyu. Most ITV shows have the same formula of the female lead bringing the family together, but they completely changed that with Akshu, where instead, she was blamed for interfering, and Abhi was always the one trying to keep the balance and help everyone.

Do you think it's cause Abhi has such a huge personality? I mean, everyone in his house loved him and feared him, which is rare. He does get influenced by some people, but at the end of the day, he can resolve pretty much anything, so why is Ak even required? What does she bring into the relationship or into the story that's uniquely hers?

Even at this point, Abhinav is the caregiver and the provider; what is Ak's role? Now there are no family dynamics to resolve, but even now, Ak is the bystander in her own story. The more I think about it, the more I am confused about what they are trying to show.

Abhimanyu's definitely this gen's Naira. Anyone who disagrees must be watching a different show altogether.😆 I'd say Akshara is a lot like Kartik. But because one was an ML and one's an FL the dynamic's a little altered. I'd say with Kaira as well Naira was the prime mover of the tracks and Kartik was often the reactionary character. In fact the 5 yr leap track, he had a similar dynamic to Akshara. He was forced into a marriage and the focus was highly on Naira vs Vedika. But Kartik had a very stable clear core trait and that was that he only ever wanted Naira. So, there was some interchangeability because there was some space for Kartik to become the prime mover of tracks in which his object of desire was Naira. This allowed the CVs to work with very clear very stable dynamics imo. This obviously altered with Naira's death but then Sirat became the prime mover so I wouldn't say they changed their dynamics all that much?

Interestingly enough here, Kartik's core trait has been lent to Abhimanyu but not as prominently because he's also got Naira's trait of initiating the major separations?😆 I don't see Akshara having a stable core trait one can point to? The show's focus has been Abhimanyu from the beginning. He's been the prime mover of all major tracks. Which is understandable I guess because 1) they trusted HC to do it and 2) Abhimanyu has been written as this tragic larger than life character. The show has always been focused on him and Akshara -- as his primary desire. I think the show saw its highest ever trps when she had a random accident and the entire focus was on Abhimanyu's reaction to that after they had this big ass confrontation? schadenfreude + prime mover in focus = trps?

Dynamics produce their own effect, whether intended or not. I think an effect a dynamic like this produces is that you also want to see the reactionary character 'react'. Initially, you wanted Akshara to 'react' to his love. To his moves. To his advances. The audience began to see her in a reactionary role as well I suppose.

I think from the beginning of the show there was no balance between these characters. Abhimanyu was always in the driving seat and so when they tried to go the og rishta way -- the FL entering a home, solving its problems, making it her own -- they couldn't alter the dynamics to do it. When they tried to make Abhimanyu a reactionary character -- the only way they've ever done it is by giving him so much trauma he ends up being depressed and isolated -- in the hand track, in the akshu left track, and she took over it didn't work for them. One can argue the writing was this or that but from a producer's pov his system, given HIS capabilities and capacities, was malfunctioning. So they went back to the dynamics that are familiar to them I guess. I think going by that theory, I can understand some of it? Akshara is now the object of desire of two men. And there's a lot of schadenfreude involved here. The audience wants Abhimanyu to hurt. What better way to see him do that except show Akshara genuinely moving on with another man? But also leave it open-ended enough to steer the story in any direction you please later on? Once Abhimanyu finds out Abhir is his son he will be far more proactive again. Akshara/Abhir have been set up as the perfect object of desires again. These are dynamics that have worked for this gen, these are dynamics the show knows how to work with I suppose.

A story where Abhimanyu gets to slowly and steadily win over Akshara and his family again? That's what it's been setting up to imo. An Akshara who's fallen out of love with him and has perhaps started to like another man just means more intrigue and conflict from a storytelling perspective.

Again, as an Akshara fan who wants to watch the show from her perspective, there's not much to see here and people who think she's a strong this that character and consistent from the beginning might be seeing some different show altogether. 😆 I've yet to see her as a clear prime mover in a track with a clear goal and a consistent stable base. When that happens, I might be able to understand and analyze her better. But for now, she makes much more sense to me post leap than she did pre leap when I couldn't even tell how on earth she fell for Abhimanyu. Here at least I understand that she's deeply traumatized, stuck between a rock and a hard place, doing her best to survive one day at a time with the choices she's made. That allows me to somewhat empathize with her. One can also say she's relatable because she's been cast in the mold of a desi woman we understand very very well. So maybe it is that mold we understand and empathize with than the character.