Wednesday 30 September 2015

epiosde 216 let's fight





"suffer love! a good epithet! i do suffer love indeed, for i
love thee against my will." "in spite of your heart, i think. alas, poor heart, if you spite it for my sake, i will spite it for yours, for i will never love that which my friend hates."
~~~ benedick and beatrice in much ado about nothing by william shakespeare ~~~


"kkgsr dabba service...," she sits on the floor with a satisfied air and talks business... "just write the name properly."

he walks in. in a temper, a flaming one.

their clashes, their takkars, have always been intense. often beautiful, and how powerfully they convey a sense of attraction, of extreme longing. when they can't meet and embrace any other way, they do it through a tearing, ripping, bitter fight... for they must touch, must connect. if either grew indifferent, that would be the end of everything, perhaps life itself...

one look at her happy face, and he seems first taken aback, then completely riled. love is really a strange animal, it sometimes comes out in the most warped ways. he needs something today. her sataana is getting to him. he is seriously irritated by the raiding of his office, and then there is the issue of shyam... he frets for his sister's safety.

in this state perhaps nothing can bring him peace other than khushi. the khushi for whom his heart had raced. but she is not available... he believes she doesn't exist. and yet... the moment he sees her, he must reach and hold.

through a brusque, "what the hell...," an incensed and offensive, "what's this mess, yeh room saaf karo. now!"... if need be.

communication rarely happens in an obvious stated way. i hate you can mean so many things... i love you, i need you, i can't live without you, why are you not who i thought you were, how could you hurt me so...

her papers lie all over the place, she hasn't heard him. she is speaking on the phone. on her bluetooth. he snarls and yanks off the receiver. getting physical again. a violence in him today. deep in him are trapped many things unresolved, untouched, from a deeply violent night, maybe that surfaces when he is worn out, frazzled. he is capable of incredible tenderness we know. and yet, when stoked emotionally, he can strike out almost without thought. the ripping of her dori, the slapping of moolrajani, now this snatching away of her bluetooth receiver.

sign of man very tense and losing control.

she doesn't pick on his seething, his inner state. she is perhaps too wrapped in the hurt she feels. usually, khushi gets asr... knows why he rages. but this time she, knowingly or unknowingly, gives him further cause to fume. she insists she has done nothing wrong, it's her side of the room, etc.

he takes away her bluetooth receiver, saying she'll get it only after she has cleaned the room. gosh, asr, you sound like a husband from the middle ages... you really are frayed today, aren't you. or is it that you can't stand disorder, mess, because you are trying so so hard to put order back in life. and one look at things out of place and your already irritated mind just flies into a rage.

whatever it is, khushi has lunged forward to get her earpiece back. and the first engagement between you two begins.  



ah, the tussle... at one point as her eyes move over his face, something goes thud in me. and just then the first note of rabba vey floats in. it all feels like magic, the perfect syncing. even after so many viewings.

alas, this must not be allowed to go on, so di has to enter the scene just then.

khushi tries to cover up and starts to talk about her happiness at being able to start a business where she can feed everyone. it's what she has always wanted to do... now she can die in peace. a turn of phrase. usually kkgsr doesn't say such things, it felt a bit forced.

obviously the idea was to get di talking about her life span being granted to khushi, again that turn of phrase and custom... "bhagwan kare, aapko humari umar lag jaaye!"

at this, the man who was at his wardrobe trying to get a change and somehow cool down, whipped around, "stop it, di!"



we all know he can't bear the thought of his sister's dath, the last time she had said it was also here, just before the havan of akash and payal's wedding and he had been completely roiled.

writers want him really angry tonight.

he doesn't disappoint.

khushi goes blithely back to being khushi and starts talking to the goat.



"lakshmi ji, di kitni achhi hai na!" di is so nice...

he turns slightly...

 


 
"humne aise hi marne ki baat ki aur di bhavuk ho gaye!" i spoke of dying just like that and she became serious.



he turns more... does it disturb him when she speaks of her death? he is in a dark thick place within. i think talk of her death does bother him.


right at that moment, his thoughts caught between di and khushi, the memories come. nicely written i felt this part was. every time a feeling for khushi sneaks out and catches him off guard, along come the images, the voices, the crashing of his world, all that is imprinted on his mind... chhap gaya hai dimaag mein.



di is saying god forbid, may you have my life span to khushi. shyam is yelling, khushi is my life... there's only one obstacle in our way, ranisahiba. shyam is clutching khushi to him and declaring he only wants khushi. khushi is yelling, then leave anjali ji.

you can tell asr is suffering. breaking.

at "chhor dijiye anjali ji ko!" all the mixed up painful emotions seem to coalesce and focus. in extreme anger.

"just stop it!" loud. aggressive... almost violent.

"meri di hain wo... unhe kuchh nahin hoga... main kuchh hone nahin doonga... chahe tum kuchh bhi kar lo.." she's my sister, nothing will happen to her. i won't let it happen... no matter what you try.

barun did a fabulous job of a man in crazy pain, completely taken over by a thing he is sure he saw, trying to ride the storm. in his eyes, khushi is dangerous. such a confounding assessment of things by a dimaag man.

a nice way to perhaps show to him and to us, how much of a dil man he really was.

he could deal calmly and smartly with most things. yes, he lost it if he felt his di was not safe, or sad. a sure sign of dil that too. but he totally and completely lost it when the girl who made his heart race was involved... to see her in shyam's arms, to hear her suggest shyam should leave his sister... it was such a strike on his heart, he lost his mind.



"kya?" she is totally at sea...

what have i done. and that bewildered girl is back, the one who had wondered, what, what "chot" have i given you?

again the memory of the terrace in him. he swallows hard, staring at her... his temper rising... angry very angry... hurt.

and the words that seem torn from him... because i don't say anything doesn't mean i don't know anything. "main kuchh kehta nahi hoon doesn't mean ki mujhe kuch pata nahin hai..."

why don't you say anything, i want to ask him. why don't you accuse her point blank and charge her directly? why? what are you afraid of? why are you not able to say this to her? is that also a sign of your dil? your love?

she is mystified. he is enraged. a wondrous engagement through aggression ensues. the revulsion in him when he thinks of her and shyam together gripping, sending him to bizarre places. long intense looks at her, full of "dhikkar", righteous condemnation... and yet you felt his longing.



he drags her to the poolside, because he doesn't want anyone to hear, the battle rages. she speaks of her dard... he says that's fine, because she has always deserved only pain.

"kyunki tum hamesha se yeh deserve karti ho..." love the language of asr, that hindi english mix, city... real... totally him. but i feel sad that "hamesha" got a place in this vicious sentence.

"tumhare saath jo bhi hua tum ussike layak ho... in fact, agey jaakey tumhare saath aur bhi bura hoga!" whatever's happened to you, you are fit for that only... in fact, worse will come your way.

"tum jo chahti ho wo tumhe kabhi mil nahin sakta..." what you want you can never get. terrible terrible core of the whole situation. why all that happened, happened. i recall her saying, no matter what you say, itna toh humne aapko majboor kar hi diya, that you had to marry me. yeah, it was more complex that anyone thought... anyone.

i always feel when we name a thing we think we get it, understand it completely. we called that moment on the terrace... mu. misunderstanding.

and thought we knew what it was.

but really it was far more than just a simple mu. it was a killing terrible terrifying thing for a man just beginning to feel a love he had never felt...

evaah. had to say it the asr way.

"vishwas nahin hota ki aap wahi insaan ho jisne...," her heart shredding, her tears pouring out, she said i can't believe you're the same man who...

yeah, who... who was supposed to tell her something. baat karni hai... flirt a bit and say... bas karni hai. the man about whom she had started having dreams... the man who always raided her dreams, but at last she felt, she could perhaps... chooriyan, aapne di hain? all their tender flirty aware of each other conversations float around in that silence... even his anger, his of course faraq padta hain, kyonki...

how could that man be doing this to her.

terrible poignant sadness.

when he hurts her by accident, in a second all the rage is gone... khushi! is she hurt.

no, she is not hurt on the hand... it's elsewhere that she is and she is not going to let you show concern. instead, let all the hurt come, that's what you say i deserve, right?

such a terrific man woman engagement. asr khushi hamesha in it.

he has said the most horrible things... accused her of ghatia harkat, baaton...low down actions and words. he is not going to believe her.. esp those tears.



i am glad he spoke. he needed to say something. as we speak, and express, we ease inside at times.

she also didn't stay quiet and adopt a martyrish air. she won't cry any tears for him and she won't let him help her when she is hurt.

"enoooughh!" he'd yelled. maybe she said it quietly in herself even as she railed and fought back.



awkwardness when he returns. a dark tension in him... real again. he tears up the tickets for bali...

the bali set up was interesting and all the goofiness of shyam scheming then shyam stymied, kind of fun. the nani and family scenes balanced the fight somehow. it's true, family often tries to improve matters when couples fight, often love prompts it and yes, a feeling of interference seeps in. here i never did mind the over concern of di or the great ideas from nani... true to their characters. have i mentioned i am beginning to adore nani some more.


 

i had a feeling that story was ready to engage with the central conflict involving shyam khushi asr. get deeper, dirtier, more confrontational... right through dilli ma bali, heer ranjha, i felt that. then suddenly a break i couldn't get at gh... highly intent on raising the feel good factor and also, hey we got asr where we want him glee. then finally another terrace and the fights that would get it all out in the open.

mystifying, this diversion. but ever since nanital we know, you never really get to where you think you will, and yet destinations are reached.

whoever directed the warring and grappling and clinches of this episode, many salaams to you. 




................

something tells you





"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." began a tale of two cities, holding tightly within the first lines a sense of moment, of bated thrill, and a feeling something huge was about to happen. when i see episode one, there is that extraordinary intensity, like a dam about to burst. and a stunning grandeur, nothing about it feels ordinary, especially once you hear the helicopter's sound, then long legs unfold and a man climbs out and stands with his feet slightly apart looking up at an old mansion. a feeling that terrible things have happened assails you... you want that inert gaze to come out of whichever hell it is in. he begins to walk toward the mansion... dark and dangerous. pink and green and talkative and happy, she races toward him on her blue scooter with milk cans clanging on either side. this could have been a sweet and predictable love story... but something in the look on that man's face, his stillness, his walk... tells you that can never be... there's never been a story like this.





 





about kkg







(part of a chat on india forums)

she was lovely. i resisted watching ipk for months because i did not, could not believe a hindi serial could have anything of real excitement in it... i was not being a snob, till then no serial of these days had really appealed even those with decent stories.

i used to lie on my bed with my back to the tv while things carried on giving me a sense of india... i needed that after many years away...

also i was resisting barun.

as hard as i could.

huh some silly boy, so what i get that funny feeling every time i see him... something about him says my mind... but really he's just a useless serial hero... who does he think he is... as you can tell maine bahut koshish ki... sigh.

i remember one afternoon i turned around and there on the screen was this crazy looking girl with tight choti, tight weird pompom infested churidar, bizarre colours, and mojri and jhola, talking 3456734 to the dozen, and i said uff another ridiculous serial heroine, how crazy looking is she, what's with the costume...

but i kept watching.

she was such a delight.




naturally truly strange. a real girl, with all sorts of thoughts and things, and a different turn of phrase, view of life.

in fact, in 80, just before the hot arm twisting, her speech on marriage... never have i ever heard such a beautiful defence of marriage, such a real heartfelt understanding... sanaya took her dialogues and made them real feelings of a young girl with innocence, strength, genuine cookiness, lots of guts and plenty happy jhalli. a character who became a person with her.





the loss of this girl hurts. yes the make up is heavier... an accent on prettifying... such a reducing of a genuinely funky person, her light lipstick, her tiny jhumkas matching, her teda choti, her khushi from within, as pagal par cute as her aankhen, her baal, her (imagine break in voice) smile. above all, her mind and its crazy connections, its gentle sweet faith in life, its light flowing touch that healed, its refusal to take it lying down, so ingrained that when it showed it felt normal, not like some writers had written her character. (the other day, my husband noticed a scene from another serial by chance while i surfed, he said, oh they are trying to make her do a khushi... this is a man who did not watch ipk... just a few early episodes and yes the august 1 fight.)

post the decision to marry again, the look went even more strange. her dialogues became duller, she had true sanka, not shrill voiced ott, who forgot that.

but we shall always have the khushi we love right up to the wedding... dm is much thanked for that. 






episodes 30/31 of jalebis and life


a few thoughts on 30.

right at the end of the episode he came and stood at the head of those interesting rm stairs. the essential arnav singh raizada. dashing, handsome, authoritative, impeccably turned out, exuding charisma and power, legs planted wide apart, taking stock of the situation. there's no doubt who will take command out here. i melted. complete puddle. even without his music, i could hear it playing, cool and luxurious, heat and power at its core.



yet, just a minute before that, he wasn't so much in control. in fact, akash commented, he wasn't his usual self. what was the matter? hadn't bhai slept last night? what's akash to know of what asr went through the night before. quickly, he gathered himself and shot back, drawing energy into himself, "main hamesha aise hi to tha..." a heartbreaking neat turn of head and, "nahin?" i was always like this... wasn't i?
nahin.

sorry, arnav singh raizada, you were not like this hamesha. because now, to develop a theme as logically as you developed with nani later in 31, now you are not who you used to be. someone has broken into your carefully erected fort faraq nahin padta and look how clearly faraq padta hai.

how peculiarly alike asr and khushi are, i thought. both are immersed in thoughts of the other, yet neither knows why. one doesn't want to know and the other in her wildest wouldn't have guessed; in fact, months later, she would diagnose the cause as gas, dhak dhak. acidity. 


in its delightful light way of handling things ipk had a way of slipping in great insights and truths about human nature.


he's worried sick about khushi, and when anjali confronts him with his follies, his complete error in sending her to the guesthouse, he's without any convincing argument. asr? anjali hits the nail on the jalebi, "tum usse itna pareshan kyon kar rahe ho? tumhe toh kissi cheez se faraq nahin padta, na? toh khushi ne aisa kya kiya-?" why are you getting after her like this? nothing makes a difference to you, right? so what has khsuhi done that's...


before she can finish, he cuts in hassled, lost, unguarded, "pata nahin kya kiya, di?" i don't know what she's done, di... so he does admit he's getting after her for something she's done? hmm. quickly realising that was not what he should have said, it might be an acceptance of something there or a probing he wasn't ready for, he brushes aside, "aisa kuch nahin hai." there's nothing like that.


anjali isn't one to give in. after a very interesting conversation about the past, where he reiterates that he is not letting that colour his present, and he is writing his own kismet, we come to a lovely scene. he will not admit he worries for khushi. how troubled he sounded when di asked him how was khushi when he left, and he said, "behonsh thi." she was unconscious.





of course, straight after that denying he needs to know her condition. anjali has had it. "tumhe faraq padta hai," makes a difference to you. 

she insists. instinctively he looks at his hand, the wound. he remembers. and when she calls, he pretends not to care, while turning to hear the news from a safe spot behind her back. and then quickly resumes fort faraq nahin padta air the moment she puts the phone down. you'll be glad to know she's fine. "maine poocha hi nahin, " i didn't ask... but your eyes asked, smashes back di. good girl. but, win he will, "mujhe faraq nahin padta," makes no difference to me. yet he's thinking of the guesthouse. 

curiously gentle, yet intense sequence, says much about family, ties, elder sisters, relations, and of course, pyaar. barun and daljeet vibed beautifully, and saved the scene from becoming too cute. the asr thing never left, but interestingly the man in command wasn't sounding so sure of himself. interesting, a situation in which the debonair tycoon is a tad out of his depth. 


her head is full of thoughts and images of hims. to drive the devil away, she is making the himalayan range of jalebis.


if he has fort faraq nahin padta, she has her castle jalebi. there she stands, frantically frying, dipping, and munching away, trying to get some equilibrium. trying to get "apne gussa pe qaboo," a grip on her anger. so she too has her gussa, it was good to know.


there anjali, the trusted sister was trying to help her brother calm down. here, shyam, anjali's trusted husband is fluttering around khushi, completely forgetting himself and the boundaries of ties. the episode design and screen play had an enjoyable tension, and cheekiness to it, as though creatives were keen on really crafting and honing each aspect of the production. give it a polished unity and finesse.


anjali made a phonecall. shyam broke a jalebi in two. both achieved what they set out to do. bring someone important to a better frame of mind. shyam's little game with the whirls was sharp, even more because the most coiled of them all was explaining how to simplify things by unraveling the swirls.

khushi went to bed, but her worries and the images of that man wouldn't leave her. would khushi get sleep tonight?
weather phorecasht from mami ji. post anjali's chat with nani re chhotey's marriage, and nani's angry walk out with the promise of getting things done her way, wait and see (oh asr's nani she is alright), mami ji opines in muhavra mode: toophaan ke pahele ka silencewa hai. it's the calm before the storm.






moving on to episode 31.


asr came down those stairs and took charge. he told his prospective in-laws to leave with their daughter, he would not be speaking with her. his logic was simple, direct, compelling, you had to feel a certain empathy with him. sometimes elders can land us in really troublesome spots. nani wasn't wrong, just that in her love, her concern, her worry regarding love marriages (mami ji's hint giving, "repeat telecasht"), and her complete inability to get through to her respectful but individualistic grandson, she thought presenting an alternative might work. ok, i'm being nice because i like the old lady, she wanted to get her own way but, out of love.


unlike last night, in this matter asr was completely sure of himself.

after all, his dil was not in the picture, his dimaag ticked, and using nani's own words and teachings he logically showed her that what he did was right. because nani had taught them never to do galat, and this was not the way to take such a decision. this concerned his life, he would take advice, "par main karoonga wahi jo main chahta hoon," but i will do what i do want to. a character got more and more clearly etched, and the plot was moved toward the inevitable, a real clash over lavanya.

this time, the music did play, and he walked out, elegant and exciting, a man almost recovered from a bad night.


and khushi? well she also hadn't slept last night. unlike asr, she was openly grumbling about it. nothing to hide. just a man to hate and feel confused about.


but today, everyone was after her to get that man out of her life. no, no more office, decided payal. the protective, loving, empathetic elder sister, payal is becoming a woman to reckon with. deepali pansare was lovely in these episodes. good looking, smart, emotionally rich. as the gentle kind akash, a perfect foil to his towering cousin, fell in love with her, it was nice to watch and again in terms of design, a great counterpoint to this indescribable love brewing.


but khushi remembered the deal and demurred. she couldn't walk away. however, by the end of episode, payal's love and commitment got through to her. she promised to go to office for one last time. to give her resignation.


khushi looked beautiful today. who'd have guessed madam hadn't slept at all.


noticed a clever mirror imaging in dialogue. ipk often plays with reflections. here it was with words. the philandering shyam said, "humey toh tabhi chain aayega jab..." then noticing everyone's expression he switched to, "... matlab hum sabko." i will be at peace only when... i mean we all...

his faithful wife who believes in "safi" as the most important trait of a life partner, said while speaking of her wonderful husband, "kyonki sab jaantey hain ki yeh sabse..." she paused and shyly corrected, "humse kitna pyaar karte hain." because everyone knows how much he loves everyone... i mean, me.

also, both presented their object of affection with khana to make things better. food is so important to our way of showing love and a whole lot of care isn't it?
at this point, we are not to know these two are married to each other. only later would we connect. nice. but we wouldn't remember all this in just one viewing surely. uh huh we were meant to watch it many many times too. maybe that's the "repeat telecasht" mami ji really wanted to hintiya at us.

 
while her son walks around in a daze induced by sweet love, where he dreams of the ideal world where money and status don't matter, no no they don't matter at all.

 


g.u.e.s.t.h.o.u.s.e.  e.p.i.s.o.d.e.s
................
fan fiction

 
 

Tuesday 29 September 2015

office and the man












there was always something terribly attractive and downright heady about asr when he was in his office. felt as if he was all of himself here. his brain charged, his mind in sharp focus, his energy kicked up, bristling to go. this was his domain... and he the master the maker the keeper of all he surveyed. once action shifted to raizada mansion, we had fewer and fewer scenes here, till they practically disappeared
he was wonderful in his room too, all grey and black and brown and toned down. at his laptop, by the pool, gardening, frowing on the chaise longue.  looking out, sometimes up.. standing at the poolside or by his french window.

in his suv again he was wonderful... or on tahat staircase at rm.

where wasn't he good.

but in his office, a different sort of high in the man. i loved it.

in 214 and 215 when we came back to the red, black, and glass office as khushi got into her satane ke sau tarike days, i felt a sudden rush of abs happiness. she also looked really mad and cute reminding me of those early days of ipk and he... unspeakably himself.
i had to make many edits. just look at that stance. 

episode 215 can't eclipse love




i always notice the ease with which she hops off the bed using his shoulder for support. you wouldn't normally have this sense of right practically over someone who held your hand, gave you no explanation, no chance, nothing... and dragged you off to a mandir and said here's the sindoor and the mangalsutra, now you are my wife. for six months only. and that too only in name, you will never get the place of a wife in my life.

that night everything should have ended.

but it didn't.

i read about the blood moon today and something connected.

blood moon is total lunar eclipse... yet, light from the sun does reach the moon, despite big huge earth blocking the way. rays of light, the sort we see at sunset and sunrise, make their way undeterred to their destination, passing around earth. and the moon is lit up... red.

isn't that like the love that will not be blocked out despite shyam and all that "chhap gaya hai dimaag mein" stuff? ever since the third episode a song has painted a picture of two people who are evocative of the elements, beautiful magnificent nature, as perhaps we all are.

if arnav singh is dhoop sa... like the blaze of the sun, khushi kumari is chandni raat si, like a moonlit night.

but what if the earth, the mere mud, moved in between them... that shyam, just material, not a trace of the ethereal in him... what then?

would his shadow eclipse all? light? love? truth? everything?

he might well imagine that it will... he did think he had asr and kkg exactly where he wanted them. it also did look like he'd succeeded when arnav singh did what he did.

but the elements have a power and a reach all their own... love doesn't get eclipsed so easily. yes, in the shadow it is now, the umbra of a misunderstanding spreads wide... but rays of love keep stealing away, sneaking out from around the shadow and reach the other side... and light up two lives... perhaps a shade of red. maybe some roil in the heart. but it is there... always there.

when she wants to be indifferent to him she may be able to ignore his stiff neck and pain and not oooh and aah about it but when she sees him eating and enjoying her cooking, she can't help but feel the thrill... her arnav ji enjoying her cooking. such a joy. madam loves to eat and cook. food is pretty central to her being, unlike him...

and work is his life, business his thing... when he sees her talking about business, about being a businessman ki patni and halwai's beti, whom you just can't take for  a ride... kality, she insists on kality... he who must have wanted to yell when he sees her walking on his bed... he has to smile, that glint has to come into his eyes.

blood moon time... and just as the net is filling up now with shots of the recently seen one, that too when it was a supermoon, my heart fills with the many images of this eclipsed but relentless love... no... superlove.

 
i hear of a hard material world around me all the time. where young people dream of money mainly. love, romance no longer such a big deal. things are important, feelings are so receded, are they even felt? then i see iss pyaar ko and its fan following among young people. i feel happy... single handedly it seems to me at times, this show, with its incredible jodi and deeply instinctive writing and showing of an emotion, has brought love romance pyaar dreamy happy love no need for branded goods and big houses love no need for politically correct boxed up love i am yours no matter what love back into the conversation. made us yearn again for that thing afar.

arnav singh and khushi kumari keep love alive and kicking despite that eclipse brought on by our ever more materialistic world.

i sound silly... no problem. i feel this way.


"achha suniye!" what do wear on your ear... where to print a card... khushi is totally excited about her idea. the karti hai girl, who takes action, who does things to solve problems. who dashes off on a scooter to speak to her to be bro in law, who starts a sweet shop to help her parents, who is never deterred by the failures of her ventures, some might say she has a true entrepreneurial streak.

i love this never say die spirit of hers, also unlike other tv heroines, she does her own thing, without waiting for approval/help from the men in her life. and she never thinks she need not earn... even if she never gets around to making a career. kkg is a brilliant attitude especially in a land where women are invited to rely, depend, never quite stand on their feet and be a bit less. men always superior.

i admire arnav singh because he would be the happiest if she succeeded and not feel threatened at all. maybe he'd try and compete with her and beat her fairly... but threatened he'd never bother to feel.



and at the end of this episode i absolutely admire nani for saying everyone has a right to see if they can stand on their own feet. she backs khushi whole heartedly. both asr and anjali ask kkg, why do you need to work? what is the zaroori. both ask this from an economic point of view. only nani sees the sparkle in kkg's eyes as she rushes about setting up her business... she knows this is about far more than money. and money too.

ipk got some ideas so well... and i am forever gobsmacked that they wrote a character like nani. rounded, truly modern for she holds her traditions dear and yet knows what to examine, how to move ahead... even at her age, she learns.

how wonderful her interaction with la, from disastrous and judgmental to examining with an open mind and finally understanding, loving... but without giving in on things she considers important.

she felt like asr's nani... their characters had similarities. both strong. both sort of unbending. both very sharp, given to thinking. both capable of examining things empirically. both capable of great giving love, though it may not be apparent at first.

back to asr kkg. lovely crack about shadi ke card, wedding cards... when asr flummoxed by whizzing wife asks what cards is she talking about. yeah, she is not going to mope, instead a smart come back... like that sugar in the petrol tank. please don't think you've vanquished me because you drag me to a temple.



khushi is on the first day of her business. business ke pehle din pe! while asr is at work. a worry on his mind. beautiful camera angles and movement trying to connect us with his ruminative, disturbed frame of mind. he doesn't trust shyam. mr roy, his lawyer (i think), asks about transfers to anjali and shyam's joint account. asr asks for a bit of time to think things over. he is a think things over sort of man unlike his businesswoman wife (but when the eclipse came, he didn't think, not at all... his emotions were too involved, the pain too sharp and complete). 



beautiful pondering, then a phonecall.. no money for shyam. only for di. after long, he shares a thought with us, let shyam take care of di and prove himself. he is obviously not taken in by ridiculous red rose and baby cot story. after a long time, a shot with his reflection on those windows so much a part of his image in my head.



how happy i feel to see him in his office. something else about him when he is here. all boss, this man. most dhoop sa.



"what the hell's going on?!" he hollers walking up to the windows and gazing down, looking like the master of all he surveys from his den up there. i remember the day he shouted "miss gupta!" from right there. and the day he dropped her, an incorrigible smile on his face.



uff the brusque... "upar aao!" two fingers hooking in peremptory command.


"who the hell is that!", "who the hell are you?!" he's asked mystified. he clearly does not recognise the man who brings him his no sugar tea and coffee every morning and evening. very politically incorrect and totally asr. no fudge in him, no lies...he really has no idea who serves him these things... but now that he does... he is concerned. that he has married apparently is a problem for the man in white

i find shukla ji terribly cute... fabulous casting and that loud straight forward talk, even to the boss, along with the whiny tone... real.

when asr said "
sabki problem kya hai yaar!" what's everyone's problem, with that slight note of tiredness and had it up to here tone... i felt pretty bad for him. he is fraying too.

this harshness he has brought upon khushi, he never wanted to do that... he had just about started feeling a little light and happy. after years and years. a stranger almost to the feeling of happiness, he.

ever since the wedding, there's been too much going on... and almost everyone is mad at him. nani and di may have relented but keep  a watchful eye on him, there's constant drama of some kind or the other at home. and ever since holi.. when he had to say what he felt... it's become possibly even harder to be angry with khushi all the time. and now khushi's assault on him has begun. he is no fool, he knows what she is trying to do, and why.

now the craziness has reached his office, khushi's sataaoing is getting to him no doubt, her totally sanka moves. unpredictable. uncontrollable... he likes to have control. all the while the problem of shyam remains. that one statement, in that tired voice... asr, hang in there.

she storms into his office and deposits his dabba, too busy to even look at him.

at last he connects... so that's what troubles shukla... khushi is about to ruin his canteen business.

 


"so yeh sab tummmne kiya hai!... sit down!" so you've done all this! through clenched teeth, he orders, "baitho!"

she's a bit taken aback, but not too hassled... her mind too much on her new venture. "theek hai, hum baithte hain!"

and so begins a classic asr kkg conversation with the blood moon factor lighting things up... pretty red.

his gussa is out. seething is he.

she is totally unaware of all that, miss motormouth lets us all know how much work she has done since early morning, and phew! really she needs to sit.

he cuts in in his rough way, snatching away her dabba... he tends to get very physical when angry... that's so asr. she's gotten so used to him, she almost doesn't notice.

"what... the hell.. are you doing?"

"kya kar rahein hain? aapko pata nahin? hum humara naya business kar rahe hain... dabba business." you don't know what i'm doing? starting my new business! catering business! (sounds pretty basic in hindi though... tiffin box business)

she is bursting with happiness.

yes... the contrast. always perfect. perfect calibration. barun and sanaya in sync.

"khushi, tumhe business karne ki kya zaroorat hai?" why do you need to do business? he sounds kinda cute. he may hate her, but he will take care of his wife's money needs.. so why?

"yeh sab karne se pehle tumhe... tumhe ekbar mere image ka khayal nahin aaya..." he also shares a concern he has, before doing this, didn't you think of my image? poor asr. i feel like asking him, do you really think after the way you treated her, you can expect her to think of you or your image?

but he does, because maybe he wants her to? ah, little slips of love. she may be a harlot, but please think of him, care for his image.

kkg of course doesn't hear him, she is too busy wondering "gupta raizada ke raizada gupta?" hmmm. and if he's shouting so what, she is used to that too.

the parallel tracks continue. he getting more and more angry, she lost in her world.



he has to get up and get to her... yes, proximity is key, he can't stay away. he snarls, "khushi kumari gupta..."

she finishes, "singh raizada!" she will sataao him, she hates him, but she is singh raizada, even when she is lost in another world paying no attention to what he says... it has become part of her identity in these few days.

that singh raizada. arre wah! i want to say.

arre wah! says she. she's got the name of her business.

kkgsr dabba service.

that frustrated jerk away by asr, so typical. he just can't handle this girl.

he tries to dissuade her. no go. she says he can have the sweet, it's sugar free. he tries to tell her he doesn't want her food. but too bad, she has seen him. yesterday the man sitting at your desk, she retorts, who looks just like you and who hid from all and ate the food, licking his fingers... huh! she tosses her head and departs saying she is good at what she does and takes care of her customers too. she is not like him.
hoi hoi hoi hoi her music starts. these are chandni raat si's days, dhoop sa is frazzled.

"khushi!"

she leaves, she has a blue tooth earpiece on. only a few episodes later will come heer ranjha, the whole idea of lovers merging, becoming the beloved there. in a light crunchy jalebi vein, isn't that what we are seeing here?

in the meantime, shyam in tantramatic mood twitches and plans to manipulate his wife to buy him a watch. so what if saaley saab hasn't given him money to blow up... he is still in charge of all the money his wife has. he is such a dark large object, he does eclipse that thing you can't buy... love. but fortunately, not entirely.

also keeping hope alight and alive is mami ji. question is, should she be akbar or anarkali?


but at ar, the boss is not in a good mood at all. he means to solve the problem. khushi will not continue with her dabba service.

"nobody ever questions me... evaah!" he is emphatic and killer abs when he says that to an employee who asks why he shouldn't buy from the lady.

that asr arrogance simmering. there's an anger stirring in him.

hearing that khushi has resolved the problem her way, by making shukla her partner, his mood doesn't improve. not at all.


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