Posted:
Hi everyone.
Sorry for disappearing last week. My internet had stopped working and I spent a week chasing the service provider and discovering new levels of inefficiency. It is restored now and I ended up binge watching all of last week's episodes and am still dazed by the speed at which all of this is happening.
After the confession, when Mehak told Shaurya that his love has no 'thehraav', I wish they had shown him processing that when he is alone. Thinking of what she said, remembering all the nasty things he did and said to her when they were half married, and then coming to the conclusion that he was going to become good enough for her by leaving them alone. Then the media apology for stealing the recipe book, getting the location of her food truck changed and getting the road named after her mother could have all come after this introspection. It need not have been a long scene, but would have added a lot of value to what is happening now.
Which brings me to the title of this post. I would have written it last week if I had the Internet connection. Why does the show need them to marry quickly after he realises he loves her? Well, the main reason for that is logistical. The reason for so many illogical marriages in Indian tv shows is that it puts hero and heroine in the same physical space of the home. It saves money on location, and it is easier to shoot scenes inside rather than have to write them scenes where they constantly run into each other outside. There is general belief in the industry that office scenes don't work with Indian audiences, and when most shows start they set up a variety of locations for the hero and heroine to run into each other, but as time goes by they need to restrict the number of sets and use one or two the most in order to maximise profit. Also, in a home setting they can fit in a wide variety of scenes, cliche and otherwise - ranging from running into each other fresh out of the shower, fighting over wardrobe space, the hero helping the heroine get ready for a party etc.
The sort of story that makes sense to us, where Mehek would go away and grow into her own person, would require a new location, a new set of people around her, and would be seen as far less dramatic, and may lose a part of the audience. It would be increasing investment in the show without a fixed assurance of returns, and so very few shows actually show this.
At the same time, do you know why the marriage cannot be consensual? Why Kanta chachi has to continue to behave out of character and over the top? That is because a consensual marriage or a happy one means that like any normal couple a consummation will follow soon too. Most creatives of tv shows strongly believe that the audience loses interest or the sexual chemistry between a couple is lost once they have shown the consummation. I don't blame them entirely - it has happened show after show, and so creatives will do anything, stretch things as much as possible, in any way possible, in order to delay showing the consummation of the relationship. At least, that is what I have seen in some shows. I hope it doesn't happen here. They have an electric chemistry that can work even when they are happily married. They could be arguing about what to make for breakfast and we'd still be watching, so we don't really need to stretch things beyond breaking point in this show.
This post doesn't mean that the story doesn't matter. But ultimately the producer makes the TV show for the channel, and the channel makes it to sell ads, and these stakeholders often influence story and screenplay decisions. And the marriage track has definitely generated a lot of excitement, and hopefully they'll do full justice to delivering further exciting episodes.
