i watched this episode quite perplexed, what was being established here i couldn't quite get, though everything seemed to be crystal clear.
amma was avoiding dadi.
asr had at last entered a temple and the family was pleased.
khushi knew on a fabulous day at ipk, when outside a temple a young man with extreme pain and innocence in his heart bought all the pigeons there were to buy for a little girl lost and hurting, that one day he would step inside the temple.
shyam had reentered rm and was being worshipped in the living room.
things seemed pretty simple, yet i was confused.
amma was scared of dadi had been established across several episodes already, so why waste precious time underscoring that yet again? all it highlights to me is that for some unknown reason nobody other than dadi thinks this is positively weird. the mother of the bride is absent from every function. yet no one is even mildly bothered about it, including her two daughters and her very canny sister in law. is that a gap in story telling or am i imagining things? shouldn't khushi be aware by now something is not quite right? and payal too?
about asr and the temple. in the second episode we see this man spending a fair bit of time, although with grim visage, at a mazar doing what he has been asked to do by his dear sister. it is clear, he does go to religious places for those he loves. although he does not really believe in these gestures and observes without expressed faith... he does it because he loves. later during teej, he accompanies his sister and family for all temple visits and steps in also. he even performs rituals. there is the memorable scene of him and khushi exchanging the puja platter in the mandir. so, honestly the significance of this scene in 325 completely went over my head.
he heard this was a ritual, he with his current focus on getting all rituals done properly, walked into the mandir to stand by his wife and make sure the custom was observed properly. he has done this for his di many many times in his life. while i completely understand people falling apart at the sight of this unbelievably good looking man climbing the mandir steps, i can't take my eyes off him too, i did not understand all the dramatic individual shots of awe shock surprise joy.
i did not also understand why khushi has to be made into the changemaker extraordinaire in his life. also the all knowing one, who knew back then... and i notice a strain of quid pro quo in storytelling suddenly. one day she says let him be, don't force him to observe; the next day he is all set with his knowledge of rituals to make her happy; then he makes her realise their roka was done way back: now she is the cause of his being redeemed through mandir entry, and she tells him how way back then she already knew; now she has decided since he did it all for her, she must do something for him...
a bit tiresome really and tiring. this love story has a beauty all its own, it speaks through emotions that are movingly enacted and nurtured, not through politically correct action. in fact, its score in the political correctness department is pretty low. yet it triumphed because the core had honesty... an extreme integrity. that man woman thing was instinctively understood and delineated without fudging. now that tenet is compromised and we are in a world of being television perfect and blandly edifying, love as it should be, not as it is, right? oh what a ritual we must observe...
i absolutely abhorred asr being shown to fold his hands before dm only to please khushi. he has stood by at prayers with his hands by his sides, a stern look on face, disengaged. at the mazar he has raised his hands in the accepted way, one gets the sense because his sister has kept a mannat and he will simply do what needs to be done in thanksgiving, almost mechanically observing... otherwise he is not exactly the tie thread for wish kind...
but here, that namaste almost as if he means it and then smiling at khushi, felt terrible. not right. we get the point that he is doing it all for her, no need to have him constantly smiling tenderly sweetly gently utterly unasrly all the time. and no, he will not fold his hands like that unless he means it. certainly not to see if khushi was happy with his loving sweetness. all very not asr. have him walk in by all means and stand by her quietly, steal a glance at her as she prays, smile slightly, bas. and cut out those excessively surprised fam shots also khushi's know all, see i knew it you'd come to the temple bits. man has often done this, nothing new.
we do not have amnesia. especially me. i am too shallow. how not to recall this gorgeousness at mazar and temple before.
about shyam and anjali. why would she bring him into the house like this? why should he want to be here. okay i understand his ploy... see me here where you always have, want me here... do what you must do to get me back. but anjali? why is she taking this risk? she has been meeting him all through we are shown... but today suddenly, she just can't help herself and tells hp to vamoose while she gets her man across? then starts making tea for him? i get it... a simple pleasure... you have missed this... but the family has gone to the mandir, not for a prolonged holiday...
i have always liked anjali... i can even accept that when her husband is thrown out without any explanation, she might lose it and her weaknesses start taking over. she may whinge and whine and even get nasty about khushi, she may pressure chhotey to bring shyam back, i would have thought that's what she would do... even threaten to leave home... which would have possibly had him accept shyam back but with certain restrictions or whatever... but this whole making anjali into a highly sneaky woman who keeps saying in childish vein, "kaash... kaash," if only... if only... and wishes things were back to how they used to be... totally unfathomable and feels like very lazy writing.
i felt for akash and payal... what the, they seemed to be saying, are they really giving us lines? oh they have remembered us... maybe? i have a feeling, it's around this time that both akshay dogra and deepali pansare were indicating their unhappiness with their roles. i think daljeet had just taken back her resignation...
anyway...
that walk up the steps with a matter of fact, let's get it done air, stylishly taking off his shades... frowning, maybe because he'd waited too long in the sun and is getting impatient to see khushi, the reason he is here. shallower than the mandir steps is my shallowness and i own it proudly, and leave you with what stopped my eyes nose throat ear and heart.
i want to write an essay on the frown. just look at that perfect specimen of one. and if he can smile ever ever ever so slightly, he can do the same with the frown i noticed. when khushi reminds him about the day of the pigeons at the temple, a very very slight one comes on... i remember thinking he just makes it so real... even a scene that is quite empty and flawed.
......................
fanfiction
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