episode 346 sangeet sangeet

tacky, corny, bad choreography, kitchy lyrics.

so why was i smiling my guts out?

why was i remembering an evening, a very late evening, almost 27 years ago?

the only thing i would change: khushi's earrings.
 


i absolutely agree about khushi's earrings as i watch the episode more than three years after writing this. this was written more than three years ago on crooner, straight after watching the sangeet of asr khushi episode the very first time. and what i felt then remains unchanged.. i was grinning last night too. so i'll just stick to the take... here goes.

actually, after the tension of the past few days, just the time for this goofy, loving break. one evening when we need not worry about what's to come. 

to tell the truth, as the episode started and khushi took off all ott and haw!, i was worried. not a great one for spoofs and parodies me. oh i usually laugh and chortle through them but curiously, along the way somewhere i disconnect completely. but yesterday, i have to say, i found myself still engaged and beaming away as the scene faded away on the last shot.

what a shot that was. he looks at her and smiles. amused, loving, completely in the moment; she smiles back, delighted and in love, still clapping with glee. they turn back toward the family on stage, their enjoyment of the "surprise" all over their faces, not a care in the world. freeze.

"You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long." 
~~~~ rabindranath tagore ~~~~

i hope: har pal yoohin khooshiya rahein... chehro pe bhi smiliya khilein.

unchoreographed choreography (honeypriya's description). that's what made it work, that and the obvious love and good wishes being showered by the family on two precious members who had gone through much. the homey, kitschy, cut out feel made it an offering from the heart. 

matters. 

otherwise i'd never have got past those horrendous colours and badly rhymed words.  i started to giggle as i remembered at my wedding, my dad's chachi's sister, perennially in "let me write a poem mode" at all marriages, leaping up with her really awful ditty on my husband and me and reading it out loud with extreme relish while my friends and cousins rofled, my aunts tried to keep a straight face, and i cringed wondering will the cooky hubs ever let me live this down. then there was my dad's second coz with her harmonium and her long song in nasal monotone. one in the morning, straight after the wedding, my bengali bashor ghor, kind of sangeet ambience but post nuptials, delaying the sr (same problem). there too was that undeniable element: love of family, no matter how extended and how many times removed. 

nk and his thing for older women, maybe time for a real "hatke" romance in ipk? absolutely loved him and utkarsha naik, they captured the essence, mami ji was quite a khushi ji, nk tried his best to emulate hotwa, well since he is my hotwa no. 2, i won't wrinkle my nose at the attempt. karan g is a trained dancer, but mami ji is not too bad either i was surprised to note. while the "poolside pe hua, almost first time kissiya," was funny, the two flowers thrust up front at the "right" moment, was my favourite. perfect spoof, felt like a shared joke between all of us, creatives, actors, viewers, everybody. part of our collective unconscious, the "two flowers" gambit to get a kiss past censors and sensibilities, before hindi films became "bollywood." must say, i kind of like it.  and hasn't crooner been calling for a kiss even if it's the do phool type for a while, esp last week? 

the non sophisticated, almost rustic humour has a warmth of old, and weddings are just the place for it. as i watched khushi's entrance and exaggerated curiosity and demand to know what surprise had been planned, i was a bit irritated. then i recalled the state of the bride to be during the many days of wedding. it is tough, a hyper emotion starts to invade despite one's best efforts. some people get tearful, some cranky, khushi is over excited and "nyaka," super girly being the best translation i can do of that bengali word.

it struck me, there was something ineffably "natural" about all of them here, in this milieu. it was nice to see nani in form, but sorry no one can take off the shades like you know who ; bua ji, payal doing their best as ladkiwale; payal's saas for once forgiving and loving. is there any way our payal can be persuaded to stay on? even akash got into his character. 

"don't let a thief into your house three times. the first time was enough. the second time was a chance. the third time means you're stupid."
~~~ joy c joybell ~~~

and while surprisiya was promising happiness in the sitting room, saazish was planning destruction in the bedroom. khushi was right about that, asr was right to look grimly at her allegations of "saazish!" it is indeed underway. but will it succeed? 

a suspicion arousing snapshot lies on a table. will it do its job or disappear into the black hole like the soap with the key imprint? dadi sits gloating with maliciousness guarding her prey. shyam's dialogue writers and his acting both slip. actually, once he has no connection to the past, how to resurrect his present. but today i am not going to worry about all that.

he's in black (or was it dark brown, no matter, hot in either). he's said, "relax," yelled "kahan!" ( i know i'll never feel the same way again about that word too ), and see how gorgeous he looks as he smiles in the freeze frame. 

do i really care about the plot today? as i said, only those things hanging from khushi's ears...

"persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
~~~ mark twain, the adventures of huckleberry finn ~~~

(colours inspired by the nerve wracking shades of sangeet)

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