"the gods do make playthings of us ... but it is we mortals who provide them with the tools." melina marchetta
at last, justice did come and strode in determined to have its day. a highly dramatic denouement unfolds. shyam, who is anything but nand kissore, is about to be vanquished and anjali, gandhari in so many ways, must lose her blindfold. how assiduously she has defended him, putting all at stake, even her own morals; but alas for nought, an evaporating feeling in her eyes seem to say. not april, with apologies to t.s e., october is the "cruelest month." alas, poor anjali. we enter the days of check mate, the last few moves, the drum beats call out.
i am happy to see the obnoxious and obscene miscarriage maker in the centre of the stage, snarling, spitting venom, writhing and lurching, only one knowledge in his eyes: it is over. yes, this is the end, my fiend.
as the drama began, and nothing seemed to touch me though the content was exciting, i wondered. and then i saw him. the man who'd said, "main laaoonga."
he sat by his sister, watching her every move silently. she laughed, she smiled, the little princess of her castle, she who'd never been asked to grow up, get real. he watched her without word, his eyes worried: what will happen to you, my dearest one, when your fantasy disintegrates as it will any second now?
as the emotions moved across his face, i knew it'd be he, who will check. and mate. check aur mate hui gawa, trilled the shatranj khiladi mami of yesterday.
every frame of this man was moving, and spoke and said stories no one could have written. without him, this episode would have left me just disturbed and cold. there were vignettes of fine acting by daljeet, abhaas, nani ji. but who kept it ipk and together for me personally was this man.
ipk always took me to the greats. there was always a moment in it completely missing in tv soap. isn't there a something of macbeth and his lady so black in the character of shyam? he who killed his own baby, the way lady m told macbeth she could if need be.
"i have given suck, and know
how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
i would, while it was smiling in my face,
have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
and dash'd the brains out, had i so sworn
as you have done to this."
oh shyam had a lady macbeth in him and it's a pity his raanisahiba never saw who he was. she allowed him to become god in her eyes, and he did just make her his plaything. his pawn. as a woman there is an insane rage i feel for her, as a person i wish to tell her: this is what happens when you don't take charge of your own life, when you refuse to see reality, refuse to get hurt.
yet all my self righteous rant was silenced as i saw the truth hit her eyes. i wished to protect her just like her brother. there is something truly vulnerable in anjali, that makes you want to forgive and hold her even when you know she is wrong, or she is partly responsible. i always found her character interesting, touching, and full of possibility... one could take her to great heights, however trp and things kept that from happening.
she never became the raizada she had it in her to be.
the warrior had tears in his eyes, but he was ready. when the cue came, he sprang, "you tried to kill my sister with those medicines." and after two days of baiting and the fresh raw recounting of his deeds before all, the enemy slipped, "that was not to kill her, that was merely to abort her baby."
"if the assassination
could trammel up the consequence, and catch
with his surcease success; that but this blow
might be the be-all and the end-all here,
but here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
we'd jump the life to come. but in these cases
we still have judgment here; that we but teach
bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
to plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
to our own lips."
again words from macbeth come to mind. there are consequences to all our actions. and we face them right here, on this earth. the lessons of our mythologies too, actually, and this is the mythology period of ipk or so i feel. the episodes were first telecast around durga puja, as devi paksha set in and the whole country went into dussehra mode... not a chance happening i think. ram would soon pray to durga to come when she is not supposed to (okaal bodhan) to help him slay ravan. and the goddess would come. evil would be removed.
from a morality point of view and in terms of content, the episode worked for me. however, the execution was not my glass of whisky. as such, that doesn't trouble me. sometimes i'm happy with the content and don't dwell on the form. plus there were a set of eyes that wouldn't let me look away, that brought meaning to the whole thing.
but before i go, i really wanted to say this, for it's on my mind. i have always been very fond of khushi. there is a natural, funky, free, spirited, and "like no other" side to her that makes her very very dear to us. i am worried for that girl. i sense i'm seeing her become "like many others" before my eyes. like asr, this is a rare character.
strange, she no longer speaks to dm, wouldn't taking on shyam be a reason for a deep chat? she rarely fries jalebis, she doesn't even rabba vey. all she wants to do is be patni, and save parivaar and parampara. newly married (as she wished to) to the man of her dreams. no nok, no jhok. even if shyam and his vinaash were the need of the hour, surely there was space for a bit of cootchie cooing in the middle of it all? something unnatural here. i don't even see that khushi smile any more. saddens me. yes, sanaya's voice is lovely and she has incredible poise, a bit of audrey in her here.
that is beautiful emoting there, but still, i miss khushi. ever since her marriage, i have barely seen her as she is. the humour is too much or the seriousness. had i glimpsed the girl i know a few times last couple of days, the impact of this scene would perhaps have been much much more.
if shyam is anjali's culprit, he is khushi's too. in a way more. for she in no way encouraged him or invited his attention.
he duped her, lusted after her, tried to molest her, ruined her hopes of a relationship with the first man she ever felt anything for her and at a time when she hadn't even given the feeling a name. oh those tender days of love awakening, killed by shyam at their infancy. she wasn't pregnant with child, she was pregnant with the first touches love.
khushi's deep, layered and terrible feelings around shyam are justified. i'd like to hear a bit about that too. both the women in arnav singh raizada's life have lost something infinitely precious, thanks to this man. khushi has bravely fought to save anjali, who will fight for khushi? or maybe i needn't ask?
shyam manohar jha is making all the wrong moves. the others, like pieces on a chess board like the day asr returned after being kidnapped and the interrogation got going, stand still as he moves madly about again, much as he'd done during the earlier round which ended on two slaps. not this time. have to say, though most of abhaas's acting felt like jatra, overdone, i did like that break into eyes closed, eyes open, and a sudden flight to "hum bure hain!"
the warrior looked on. eyes like steel. it was done. game over.
adapted from my crooner take on this episode.
......................
fanfiction
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