i have of course seen many films and more than enough shows on tv, can't ever remember seeing this. a man, that too an arrogant wealthy handsome young man, the alpha male type if i am to go with current usage, is doing everything he can to make his wife claim her right.
her huq... over him.
i don't believe in the indian context i have ever seen this happening. usually, it's about the man's right; and if it's about the woman's, it's always to do with her right over/to/in her parivar... family.
but her right, her out and out huq on her man?
never ever have i seen this.
and as i watched the episode with its sad but determined to leave wife and the confounded but equally determined to make his wife happy, comfortable and get her to own him husband... i thought again, this show deserves to be studied, from the perspective of both mass media and society.
arnav singh raizada is perhaps the only "hero" on our screen who has the mind to understand what a husband and wife relationship is really about. it's not mainly about family... children... property... society, though these are parts of it. but the sacred tie that a man and a woman allow themselves to be bound in for an entire lifetime is essentially about the two of them and it grants them a unique gift... their right over each other.
an intimate, absolute right.
i've no idea how this came into storytelling but am delighted and grateful it did. and though it never got taken to the point where khushi actually understands what it is he is constantly asking her to take... i have a feeling her making love to him the night before her "wedding," with those enigmatic few words... hum jaantey hain... hum samajhte hain... humey bharosa hai... has something to do with this elucidation of marriage a man, who doesn't believe in socially correct behaviour, has come up with based on his individual understanding.
come claim me. make me yours. exercise your right dammit.
i want to salaam the man in brown with tousled hair and now smiling, now tired, now befuddled, now irritated eyes. later he will tell his grandmother this woman is his patni and where she is not welcome, how can he be... that too is beautiful.
but this here... killing me.
and what could have been said in a pompous know all sanctimonious way is said so terribly sexily, you almost forget how meaningful and gobsmacking what he is saying is... and then it hits you. this is no ordinary daily serial hero here, arrogant nasty mills and boon man, pretending to be modern with a westernised outer layer... this is indeed a man with a mind strong, fresh, contemporary and evolved. even in dhoti i bet he'd be cool.
but h i do love him in his waistcoat and slim fitting trousers. they often said barun only had two suits... still can't figure out if that is true... even with shiny stuff he just looked ah well you know.
that "mujh pe" i have heard i have no idea how many times and each time felt a new something in it and the gust of love, of giving utter desire... rabba vey is in his pause, his pout, his little lift of eyebrow, his playful indulgent voice...
writers let khushi speak to devi maiyya to expalin to us why she is leaving him. she is doing this because she knows di isn't happy, and if di is unhappy, how would arnav ji be happy... and the transitive equation goes, if arnav ji isn't happy, then how can khushi...
but that is not the only reason, she also knows their marriage is to be over soon.
at last a clear hint, that bringing up of the contract by him has cut deep. and though star plus and writer have decided it must not be brought up expressly, it simmers beneath. hurts her. she will try to assuage her hurt later in a spectacular fight... but again, the story of contract will be left incomplete.
he on the other hand is terribly puzzled by her silence, her morose face, what ails his pagal biwi? even more endearing, he just can't let her be, he must return again and again... to her... to see her... be by her... just fall some more perhaps.
the phone she leaves behind in the car gives him the perfect excuse to go rushing back. khushi of course has lied about bua ji's health... trying to save the situation, she comes out angrily and pretty much shoves him back against the verandah railing, yelling he is disturbing her sick aunt and what does he think he is doing, etc.
he has dragged her many times, hauled her, pushed her, dropped her even... he has snapped the string of her blouse on the very first night they met... perhaps she had got under his skin at first sight, perhaps he never understood why he had to be so harsh with her always, perhaps he never knew it was only his defence... yes, he was short tempered and boorish, but never quite like this with anyone.
she flew at him without thinking, assuming she had every right to do that. and indeed she had.
with her hands on his chest she pushed him back and fell against him, clutching his shirt, usually she held him like that when he carried her, subconsciously maybe needing him to be by her side, never let her go.
when she realised what had just happened, she was taken aback, she would have moved away, but his hand which still had her phone in it came.
up without missing a beat and held hers in place where it was, his eyes took in her hassled expression, her clutching fingers... he seemed to almost enjoy her little display of temper that got somewhat physical. and being the smart man he was, he knew this was an opportunity not to be missed.
"it's okay," he drawled... "biwi ho tum meri... haq hai tumhara..." he paused and looked at her and threw the next two words gently, adeptly, provocatively at her... "mujh pe."
it's okay... you're my wife... you have a right... over me.
she stared at him, her eyes widening... didn't she want to just grab that huq and never let it go?
khushi kumari gupta had never known she could have such exclusive right on any of her relationships. an orphan who had been extremely loved by those who adopted her, she had always held them close with a sense of gratitude, perhaps never quite sure of her complete right on them... but here was this man, who maddened her, who irritated and hurt her, who played strange games and spoke of deals all the time, but who said to her... you are the one who has a right over me... take me... own me.
with her it was not a tie of blood as it was with his sister... with her it was a tie of choice... he had chosen to be bound to her. the dori snapper had come home.
way back, when she had resigned, she couldn't walk away from him... she didn't feel alright about it somehow though she was sure he was in the wrong. today, even though she believes it is the right thing to do, she can't walk away from him without feeling terrible... isn't all of this love?
and although in the thick of a tricky situation, neither is far from his or her character. she is in sanka mode, even more so, and decides to play bua ji on the phone and he, fed up with her mysterious behaviour, yells and shouts on the phone and calls her pagal, not very lovingly this time.
these are really sharp actors, many scenes were shot with doubles, yet the essence of character and emotion is intact.
the episode introduced little beginnings of stories to come, however they never did make an entry later... that mami telling akash not to go near the sea in bombay, surely it was said for a reason.
bua ji was canny in her assessment of her favourite niece's little trip to gh. always good to watch the two of them together... both equally nutty.
but really, this episode was all about that one scene for me... a sense of the ocean in it... a flow and ebbing of tide. in the middle of it an endless moment that makes the world stop.
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