i watched 77 after a long gap and it struck me again what an absolute beauty the episode was. i get the feeling the entire krishna season, starting with rakhi and ending a couple of days post janmashtami, took us to the heart of love. it's absolute awakening and establishment. and since it was the time of krishna it was as playful as the flute player himself. a keen tune he seemed to play and everything danced to that. even his dark side... shyam.
from 64 to 77, we went from khushi's return to asr's home... this is my house he had hollered as we remember... to his "get out!" and then on to a series of strange goings on, plenty tricks (by both good and bad forces), almost a sense of a crazy gaming arcade till we reached the ethereal moment at the pool, when her sanka finally cut through all the resistance, the rave rant accusations, everything... and made him smile.
and she was in his heart, you could almost feel it.
and finally at the end, the chunari chose its bride, the asli lakshmi, his "my house" on its way to becoming hers too.
from "get out" to a point after which there is no way out. a story got told fluently, almost flawlessly. khushi even managed to shock an auto driver with her forwardness and he had to refuse her offer of a coffee or tea.
i think the beauty was so intense, writers looked for little laughter patches so we could breath and so could they.
out of sheer curiosity, i searched for rakhee and janmashtami and came across this quote by an eminent cardiologist who is also a padma shri awardee, had to be a heart doc i thought. this is what dr k k aggarwal says:
"eight days after rakhi we celebrate janmashtami. the sacred thread tied during raksha bandhan connects us to janmashtami, when we celebrate the birth of lord krishna. in this period of eight days between purnima' and ashtami' we get a chance of cleansing and purifying our soul and subsequently getting reborn again.
this seven-day period, symbolic of the time taken for creation of the world by god can be likened to a recreation of the self by us. this period is to be seen as a time for penance when all negativism is purged to achieve the level of pure spirit. needless to say, all forms of spiritual downers' should be abstained from, so that a hindrance free communion with the soul is made possible."
in a way i am happy that mami took the opportunity to insinuate the worst possible thing about khushi. not only did i thoroughly enjoy kkg's attitude, i was again entranced by her true blue craziness... she carries chana, chips, chyawanprash (huh!) and what was the other thing, chameli tel?? in her jhola bag. when she upturned her bag and shook it, chana fell out in slomo... something real there about us and our bags. funny and tender.
but the most touching thing was her hand chancing upon the the final "ch" thing: "chabi" the key... the mannat ka chabi that she had almost forgotten.
felt to me as though it stepped in to save her. to remind her of a beautiful moment, of a man she was driven crazy by but who she couldn't hate. as though he himself came over to protect her at her difficult hour. her honour was being questioned, how could he not be there.
that thought of him at the darga, that memory eased her from within.
again and again in ipk, inanimate objects come alive to take a story forward or elaborate a nuance, i enjoy this storytelling a lot. the key can mean so much, it is about unlocking always and this one had mannat, a powerful wish, attached to it. khushi was perhaps the key that unlocked asr, that opened the door to a whole new world and answered all his questions. in fact she had just unlocked a door by the poolside... and she was perhaps his most powerful wish, one he had asked of life, only he had no idea.
pearls, doris, payal, jalebi, dupatta, pickle jars, gust of wind, a name, a song in the air, all tell their own tales and complete a story. each one is adept and most eager to take us further and further toward the core of it all.
the necklace was found on lakshmi. she who is named after the goddess of wealth would surely not let any harnm come to the real wealth of the house... which was to me the precious priceless love that was taking root in two beautiful hearts. when arnav singh raizada's father had betrayed his mother a terrible strike had been made on this wealth.
pyaar had lost its place in the hearts of those most able to bestow it and value it. nani ji had told chhotey way back that love was a problem and led to only terrible things so he should marry the girl she chose for him and not even think of love.
he had retorted he had no place for pyaar in his life. he, who had such ability to love, had done away with it from his lexicon. if there had to be a relationship, it had to be one based on being like minded, respect, even trust... but love? never.
he had lost all faith in love.
did lakshmi ji just make sure that love can find its way back to him and shantivan itself?
khushi survived the mami test but her heart was down. so much was happening to her today. and now to be accused of being a thief? well she had stolen a priceless thing and it was nothing as paltry as a diamond haar, but mami ji was not to know that.
jalebi came to the rescue... via anjali, who had been feeling pretty bad for this dedicated worker, spunky young girl, and her new found friend, la. khushi's instant bounce back was heartwarming to see and of course once she is up and upbeat, can sanka be far behind?
i loved the attitude of the heroine in ipk. no prolonged misery and moping and tears. she is sensitive, she feels things, she gets hurt, but she has sunlight in her being, she is bright by nature. when you turn yellow gold to white you'll notice it can turn yellowish again i awhile. that's because the nature of gold, its yellowness is so intrinsic it is really hard to mask it.
like that, khusuhi's laughter, her optimism, her sprightly sparkly brain, her loopiness.
jalebi is very hardworking, just like khushi today. it takes them to talk of marriage and the fact that arnav ji will not marry. this is when khushi must prance in and tell her friend why that is just not acceptable. khushi is an instinctive deal maker. she knows nani and di want la to marry asr. she also herself has a major problem with live in relationships, it's totally alien to her. and khushi has her flaws, she does tend to interfere even if it is to make others happy. but today the alacrity with which she plays on la's basic insecurity about her looks and ageing is really sharp. khushi would have done well in advertising, she knows nothing makes us move as fast as fear.
fear, as alistair maclean has told us ages back, is the key.
so hold up the heebie jeebie of age and la is hurled into the inner space of terror. where there are wrinkles, grey hair, a lack of good age vanquishing creams and her heart throb looking drop dead in grey hair with two hot young babes on either arm. shivanya and shana... maybe those names have deep meaning but i am too busy staring at the man with silver in his hair and playboy air to really care.
till suddenly the photo speaks. nani, now presumably dead with that haar on her neck, guffaws at la and says hah, see the result of opting for live in. even a goat knows what's a better choice. shadi. lakshmi ji, that caretaker of precious things, readily agrees. i liked this light handling of a matter on which all serials on indian tv have obviously a very serious view, along with much shaking of head and self righteous moral lectures. here it's in a fantasy with a very strong and intelligent woman saying frankly it's not to your advantage to pooh pooh marriage, and the execution is through jest. nice. sticks in the mind, you are free to agree or not. no bludgeoning.
khushi is overwhelmed by the response she gets from la and in her wonder way sets about cooking up a plan. there shyam is always up to some plot and here kkg, difference being one tries to bring about good and the other anything but. however, shyam's plans make sure they fail but not before they have done some good too. after all it is the season of krishna and his namesake can't do only bad.
and so it is that thanks to shyam, anjali wants to wear the necklace and then again while talking to him, leaves it on the bed... making for that plausible explanation as to how lakshmi got it at all. and shyam it is again that is really instrumental in bringing about the search operation, that egregious allegation from mami leading to khushi touching and connecting with the key.
the best part about shyam's plan, asr hears that khushi was subjected ti a bag search. instantly something registered. he could sense she had been through a lot that day and he had added to her burdens too...
when di said she felt they were being unfair to khushi, he sounded offhand. don't worry about such little things he said.
i wondered if he meant that. maybe he did i thought because he has shut himself out of the emotional scape so much, telling himself only di matters and nothing else. but i was wrong.as he leaves di and walks down the corridor, he is thinking of khushi and di's words. while the subject of his thoughts is happily rushing out of the kitchen having cooked up a plan to mount the shadi charge on him. a happy girl... elated with the thought of positive action and also in a fret about being late.
the episode moves into another space you sense, it's in the way the camera moves, the rhythm of things, the energy lifting up... something you know will happen.
look at the two of them. a thoughtful dark one, flowing smoothly inexorably silently. like the ocean, my mind says.
and there is she, a sprightly bouncy one, dashing, making noise, aaj toh bua ji hume bahut daantegi, sanka devi parmeswari saare naam ek saath... like a rill or a mountain stream, tripping along.
they had to meet. bang. she is plastered against him. his hands come up instinctively. everything pauses. i often think how economically and beautifully ipk made use of the simplest of places for the most breath taking and exotic of lovers' meets.
hey hey... the song starts almost instantly. little movement of brown irises; the slightest turn of head and a look at fingers on shoulder by hazel eyes.
an awareness. almost a new awareness. an intense one. and in both a quiet, a silence some where as if something has been touched within for the first time, it fills them and makes them want to linger there.
he moves his fingers off her shoulder... did he think of the day in the rain? he was thinking you could see? she is stuck. that jhumka... always something of hers seeks him or so it appears. beautiful design of character and costume, nothing is wasted.
"ek minute!" a little impatient and yet patient, husky and soft yet brusque. "main nikalta hoon," he'll take it out.
right by his heart a part of her.
this time the rabba vey is loud clear happy traipsing, there is no doubt in its mind that the story it writes just entered a whole new chapter of that feeling people call love. chhoti chhoti baatein... unimportant things he had said these were. yet the man who was accusing her of all sorts of horrible stuff just a while ago is now unable to just forget those chhoti chhoti baatein...
and here perhaps he is so very gentle because he knows she has been through hell.
the jhumka in his hand, days later there'll be a pompom in his hand, giving him succour as the key gave her today.
so enmeshed with each other through these telling objects they are.
she looks at his hand hold her jhumka, intensely aware of his nearness... ironically, she had just hatched a plot to get him permanently tied in marriage... to someone else. that was her job the way she saw it, she was not thinking of this undercurrent.
for some reason, today her heart really longed not to leave him though she didn't know that, or was it his heart? because now the dupatta got stuck on his cuff button. not once, but twice she got entangled with him.
looking at her as they tried to free the dupatta, he seemed to be lost... then he suddenly touched reality and said... i love you.
it came out as... "tum theek ho?" faraq padta hai, asr... and lovely that you don't even know.
her eyes widened... did she hear the subtext? she blinked. miss madness. with the sanka that cuts through to his dil and doesn't let it hurt.
and then the most tender parting between them.
he couldn't look away, she had to turn and look at him.
outside all the plots and plans we make perhaps the heart writes its own story. falling in love could simply be the moment we learn to hear that story. their time had not yet come, but something told you it will. it surely will. hey hey...
at home, shyam waited to commiserate, instead she left him winded.
"haan, hum toh badhiya hain!" yes, i am great! she replied when shyam feigned concern.
she smiled remembering laad governor's smile... that ajeeb poolside tryst... such an inviolable moment of connection. she remembered there had been something bad in the day but also she had made a new friend.
khushi was too happy to care about anything... she prattled away with jiji.
and when morning came, she set off to get her plan activated.
the look on asr's face when he saw la and that "lavanya" deserves an award.
he was flummoxed, concerned and then totally irritated by the new unimproved la... don't call me arnav ji, change your clothes.
sana was goofy and cute and strangely vulnerable. may not be politically correct or acceptable what she is doing, but she was willing to do anything to get him. was that bluetooth being used for the shadi plans? the humour was dotty and fun. where do they get these deadly auto drivers from and what is with ipk and auto drivers?
khushi was in top sanka form. she went under jp's arms when he opened the door while jabbering nonstop.
a very angry (again) hot young man in brown shirt and waist coat (the wearing of which had left sundry older women dead before their computers) flung a chunari... nice story the writers had thought up to arrive at the next scene.
the dupatta flew and found its mark. after all, arnav singh raizada ka nishana kabhi nahin choogta. plus it seems their was outside help from dm. hey hey heyheyhey.
the time of krishna, radha had been found, i thought. all creatives deserve applause and acknowledgement for this beautiful episode. in it, all the flavours and tastes of an emotion and such fine entertainment. barun looked young handsome, a little vulnerable; sanaya was fresh and pretty and fey and beguiling; they both calibrated and touched and felt each moment making that meeting on the landing classic, unforgettable. all along there was that different canny look at pyaar.
as i watched them on the landing... so tender, unhurried, deeply immersing in each other, a little lost, not so focussed, silently appraising each other, a feeling rumbling... i thought of this very well known gana. enjoy.
credit: uploader
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