"just get out, khushi, aur mujhe nahane do!"
just get out, khushi, and let me have a shower.
i hear a lot of heroes with this hate ya madly or don't want you near me thing these days on tv, saying shut up get out, etc., in english too at times, but the deep dense intimacy asr brings to his ire, gussa, nafrat, irritation... not one does. some are downright ludicrous, some not too bad, but this thing... so much nuance, voice, eyes, body language, all so tuned to who asr is, what he feels, why he says what he says, how he is, what is essentially him, undeniable and one of a kind really. i am always grateful that i got to the tv screen one fine evening.
khushi is delaying him... so she can haul him out for a tubewell bath.
i sat tight watching, i would examine the scenes i decided, but at one point it all got to me... i skipped... this is all wrong. the khushi i know would never do this to him, her revenge is taken her way... but in private. she has every reason to be completely hurt by him, and furious too. but to me, messing with his food is not khushi.
khushi as who she is, that is.
and this bath, well, definitely alien abduction.
having said that i have been thinking and going nuts. finally, reading from real life and my most flawed self... yes, under duress people do crazy things. crazy crazy things. khushi perhaps wanted him to feel insulted too, not just learn how the other half lives... yes we do stuff not "normal" at all... we err...
what was sorely missing was what we do after that. asr did it... but khushi never really did. she never ever thought through these thing. nor apologised.
again, i feel because audience is mainly female... there is a lot of "buttering" going on by mainline television. so while all our stories finally convert you to an "achhi bahu", and we have no place whatsoever in our lives for girls who are not married nor girls with ambition other than marriage... we try and keep you happy by saying you are "devi," you are flawless... you are too good...
you. are. never. wrong.
this is ridiculous. even dangerous.
so... asr, on behalf of khushi, may i please apologise to you for that unforgivable pull out onto the street. both amma and bua ji were horrified too. but the biggest sorry really for treating you like a moron... in your towel (and i love large white turkish tawliyas), with your eyes closed, you walked out of the house, down steps, onto the street, without even realising you were out in the open? no breeze on your beautiful skin so exposed for trp, no sound in your ear with those most devastating lobes, no sense in your head to calculate, o shatir one, that this can only be the road and that water from some well there?
sorry sorry sorry...
and see, star plus, production house, writer... i am one of your most devoted female viewers of this show and i have survived being less than perfect and apologising when i realised my folly.
khushi would have too.
in fact, that would have made her truly wonderful... original. without that, she feels just cantankerous and unresolved, nutty but not cutely so.
"khushi, tum meri beizzati kar rahi ho..." he was so natural... khushi, you are insulting me before all... he said it as she explained to an onlooker that he was asr, the owner of... khushi gave him an sp achhi bahu lecture... but he was right... that is exactly what she was doing.
throwing khushi out on to the stone floor by the pool was not right. dropping her from his office floor was not right. taking him out for a tubewell bath, without his knowledge, was not right. all of them came as a result of some provocation... but as actions they were all galat.
achhi bahu talk, garib amir talk, smart writing about how in which case people of middle class come out and willingly get beizzat every day as they have no choice. none of it saved the scene. not even the most perfect naked torso. here, asr, take your brown shirt, wear it and devastate me with just the inflection in your voice... i don't need bare body flaunted.
"baat mat karo mujhse, i don't want to talk to you!" he was brusque, real, and he did look hurt...
he knows why khushi does what she does... but he is hurt by the extent to which this is being taken... he will say as much when in a vulnerable moment he will call gh ghatiya, a couple of episodes down.
izzat is key here.
to arnav singh raizada, that izzat of his is really all he had left when everything collapsed. he has worked very very hard to be respected. he was the son of a man who played with women and whose mother committed suicide because of that... imagine the gossip and curiosity around it. pays wit your sense of respect.
then his uncle threw them out onto the street, again showing great disrespect to them as people. ridiculing them.
clings to you these feelings of shame and failure, on the skin it sizzles... asr needs to be respected, even if he is not loved, for perhaps he has decided di's love is enough, but that respect?
crucial to him.
khushi plays with that. knowingly.
can we forgive everything in the name of sanka?
yet, strangely, despite his anger and hurt, he finally lets it pass. arnav singh raizada truly does get my respect for that.
he looks very very upset as he sits to work.
"of courrrse, no electricity... annnd no battery." man is angry. who wouldn't be.
"bijli aa gayi...!" the electricity is back, he runs to charge the phone. cute. "suniye, khana lag giya" khushi apprises him that they are ready to eat.
"no! phir se wahi bakwas tasteless khena..." no, again that bad tasteless food. he looks fragile...
a decision is made...
and buaji opens the door to receive the parcel she hasn't asked for...
a paanch hajaar/five thousand rupee bill, lovely how the two women try to pay it... because how can you ask the son in law to pay.
"shayad unhe khana accha nahin laga hoga na, iss liye manga liya hoga..." garima feels a pang in her heart, she has been cooking stuff she normally wouldn't and he has perhaps not liked it so he has ordered food...
they empty out the their bags and coffers to pay... that rupee by rupee add up, something so endearing there, they want to keep his izzat...
bua ji is natural, real as is amma. money from dibbe waley businness of kkgsr and bua ji's husband's pension money go toward paying the five star bill.
i am thinking, oh no, now what has this matter of fact man gone and done. didn't he learn from the ac incident?
and khushi is angry... no thought of the bruising of his self respect just a while ago. she knows arnav singh raizada can do awful things, hurt her folk. oh the layers of misunderstanding about each other these two have.
"arre khana aa gaya aapne mujhe bulaye tak nahin... paise aapne..." brown man appears, oh the food is here, why didn't you call me... the money... he reaches for wallet.
the ladies can't take money from him...
and a love for the people in khushi's life begins to grow here, to him they were elders whom he was supposed to respect... he tried to do that. the ac thing had told him he had hurt their pride and self respect though he had not meant to.
but bua ji's fussing and amma's gentle care had started a connection quite different. one of love, not just distant respect. just as khushi grew close to his fam, he is getting attached to hers.
... he is totally at a loss, they paid, he didn't mean them to and bua ji is all set to start cooler, "baitho bitwa baitho baitho..." such open happy loving, how can a boy who lost this touch of simple unaffected love all those years ago, not respond to this. "asr ke seene mein dil nahin hai..." asr doesn't have a heart in his breast, he had said long ago, nothing could be further from the truth.
the heart was always there... hurt, vulnerable, behind a protective fort of no faraq, and yet it wanted to be loved... asr simply disarmed, flows toward this clean love.
his "ji bua ji," easy, gentle, so telling... he is feeling pretty awkward.
considering what khushi did... really the boy is nand kissore.
"arre, maine sabke liye mangwaya..."
he has got food not just for himself... for everyone.
beautiful beautiful scene... how much this arrogant unthinking man who cares not for middle class people who has to be taught so much has thought of each person.. the best he can...
instantly it registers with khushi. the music of their feelings wafts in. she is completely surprised and touched.
"yeh mushroom soup, ekdam mild hai... matlab halka hai, uncle ke liye..." mushroom soup easy and mild for babu ji, asr fishes out the pack and hands over... something so loving in the way he does it. matter of fact loving asr ishtyle.
khushi feels all sorts of things, she had just assumed something... but no it wasn't so. and when was the last time someone got something specially for babu ji... he knows how much she loves him, is that why he thinks of the soup first, i wonder...
then the sweetest thing ever, for the wife who he is angry with and hurt by even... "aur yeh pasta red sauce, spicy hai... woh... khushi ko teekha khana accha lagta hai..." he has ordered a spicy pasta, because she likes hot food, the opposite of what he likes.
this very tender side of asr, always there. a complete contrast to his other side it is. i find this natural, life like. he is a full deep character, every trait of his has weight, nothing bland about him. and to spike and accent it, his particular brand of gussa.
"toh maine socha ki... khushi ko teekha pasand hai..." so i thought... khushi likes spicy... he sort of lets it hang in the air. khushi is close to tears.
she holds the box... i am thinking of that "tum kuch kha lena" day when he had handed her a box of food and she had been so touched though she didn't know why; bemused, she had sat staring at the food. and he had just wanted to give it to her himself, though ostensibly he was doing it to help di... that day they had warred constantly and he had been hurt by her describing him negatively to the kids and he had felt really bad for misjudging her, not replying to her call. he had also been grateful to her for what she'd done for di... of course, the ankh micholi playing with op had left him totally spun weirdly.. layers of feelings of so many kinds they always ignite in each other.
and today as well. it's not that simple ever. anger hurt tenderness hate laughter more, many things tie them to each other.
"yeh macaroni white sauce, aap ko achha lagega..." this white sauce with mac, you will like... he has got that for the two ladies.
bua ji and amma are terribly touched, a tad shy too, and they have no idea how to eat the stuff.
for this scene really, the episode sparkled with beauty. pretty rare this beauty.
the bad boy who doesn't know how to live the way they live, knows how to love the way they love it seemed. he watched them intently for a bit, saw his ma in law struggling with her fork, then showed her how to use it.
... this episode is really about these two and a boy... about a distant damad who became like a son, though he couldn't call anyone mother.
"aunty, isse aise khate hain..." aunty, it's eaten like this. asr solves, directs, talks straight, does what he thinks is right. never meant to hurt anyone... as he feels their love he seems to blossom...
khushi watches her fam being shown love by her husband, she is entranced by the happiness around the table, he brings it. he has watched her doing exactly this too at his place. the feelings these moments generate finally hold sway.. the bad nasty wretched feelings have to give way.
beautiful detailing by director of the two women warming to this overture by damad ji. bua ji is spectacular, ah those many expressions. music is mellifluous. feelings murmur, a family bonds, over small little gestures and looks, so much happening, very ipk.
he asks tentatively, "aap ko khana achha laga... " do you like the food? unbelievable... i am thinking. look what a bit of love from the heart does to this softie. he is not thrusting his taste down their throat, he wants to know if they like it; it's important, he wants to get it right and he wants them to enjoy the meal. the faux pas of last evening perhaps makes him want this even more.
i remember him watching with a moving smile as his whole fam gathered around shyam while he made jalebis, the day after teej. these things have always mattered to him, but he has chosen to watch from a distance... now, he is ready to close the distance, get involved, be part of it...
bua ji is totally smitten with her rude damad, she bursts out, "bahut achha haai... itna majaa aaya!" is's very good, really enjoyed...
amma gives a sweet gesture of approval.
and just as you think this is so lovely, the sugar is controlled. not good for a man with diabetes, after all.
and so mohan comes with news.
asr sees the suv. minus wheels, sitting on bricks. expression that was soft and puppy dog cute hardens instantly. what the goes all the way to "f".
"khushi, ek minute bahar aao..." coe out for a minute... he is tense but trying not to yell and scream before the family.
asr music is starting. war coming up... we are being conditioned and prepared.
and holding her hand he charges down the steps.
hmm, he is very angry, but no need to do that cheek thing in front of the whole world, asr.
"aap ki seat, ab aap kahan baithenge..." khushi's mouth opens, eyes go saucer like, hands come up to cover mouth. she is horrified. only the shell of the suv remains, everything is gone.
"gadi ke spare parts kahan hai... abhi batao..." where are the spare parts, tell me now. he is harsh. can i blame him for thinking she is the culprit, given the last few days.
she is upset that he accuses her of stealing, but he "bloody well can" assume that because her brain can think that way... and neatly comes in the humiliating early moments of episode. if you can devise that public bath, you can do anything.
"sahi hai, tum mujhe pareshan karne ke liye kuch bhi kar sakti ho..." to hassle me, you can do anything.
and just as we saw at the head of episode, the mohalla slowly gathers around.
"humne kuch nahin kiya..." i've done nothing.
"agar nahin bhi kiya toh bhi galti tumharo hi..." if you haven't also, even then it is your fault.
divine senselessness.
yes, everything is khushi's fault. who told her to appear before him, fall into his arms, tremble those lips and go straight to someone's heart piercing right through that fortress wall, through each and every faraq nainn padta. yes, khuhi, it is your fault. exactly as once she had yelled, "sab aapki galti hai," so here... your fault. bas.
and a nice husband wife fight.
call police.
don't tell me what to do. i have already called.
good... then come and eat.
i won't go inside till spare parts come.
"theek hai, khade rahiye tab tak jab tak khud ke purze kharab na ho jaaye..." fine, keep standing, till your parts all stop working. teehee. um, what does that robbing of each car part mean? all his insides are stolen by this mad wife of his and getting spruced up nicely?
she tells him to calm down, neighbours watch.
"right, sab mujhe nahate hue dekh sakte hain, lekin chillate hue nahin!" right, everyone can watch me bathing but not shouting.
got to give it to the angry asr. he's got a point. shatir connection, my dear man.
girl storms in.
hot man leans against car, of course after banging it once. characteristically. aadat se majboor.
yeh shyam nahin mastani.
a quick mention of shyam ji the boringly evil. he is angry with the locksmith for taking time.
he loudly talks to no one in particular about "badiya mauka", great chance. something very unpolished in the way shyam is directed. unnecessary typical serialness. he was so interesting when it al started.
damad ji...
mama ji finds him here. he even sees the soap with the key impression. he comments this damad's ajeeb aadat... earlier he was there when the wire in the pool incident happened. yet he never connected anything. they simply disappeared him.
while one damad took big steps toward becoming a son, the other who always behaved like a son again showed his true colours. green and vicious.
last
thought: all about food this episode... eating together, feeding, such
primal human ways of bonding, trusting, creating community. and over
this spread a delightful feast of emotions... the starter was a little
off, but the main meal, lovely, and the sugar free dessert, wah wah...
especially upset man standing leaning against his robbed ransacked car
... and that topping of, so they can watch me bathe but they can't hear
me shout.
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