brothers and sisters, enemies and lovers. an episode that opened out and seemed to do a big group hug all around, a smart move i thought by writers to bring two antagonists to a place where they must stop fighting and collaborate. and so it was that asr and khushi got seriously involved in sealing the fate of payal and akash's love story.
the two may hate each others faraq not padta ways, they may hurt each other, okay, he manages to hurt her more most times... but when it comes to their siblings, they are putty and completely like each other. they will both do pretty much anything for their family. some day he will use this knowledge to force her to go to a temple, but for now, he can't bear to see his coz, his brother, sweet lost akash so forlorn and she has understood that her sister actually loves akash ji, just that she is stubborn and must be persuaded to change her mind.
to solve this imbroglio, the gussa and the sanka are out on their first date. i am totally delighted, i don't care what the reason is why they sit across the table from each other, they are out together, makes me happy. kkg is looking totally cute and lovely today. never more kkg. and asr, uff in that brown three piece and all his asr-ness about him... supremely amused and superior, a bit giddy too i think.
of course, he repeats this "deal" will be good for akash, has kkg immediately cutting in "deal? deal matlab?" quite uncharacteristically i thought, he looks about a bit then says okay, "this" will be good for akash. of course, he is a good boy, because he is asr's brother. in that tom and jerry back and forth that is quite their way, kkg almost falls into the teapot as she says, yeah, despite that he's nice.
an eyebrow ascends. dealmaker hasn't missed it. must have sharp hearing i guess to be good at making deals.
"usske bawajood bhi jiji ne na kaha..." despite that jiji said no, aww poor sanka devi is trying to be nice to her favourite most hated laad governor. he is not taken in.
he devices a simple plan to make payal change her mind. get akash to flood her with many gifts and... he thinks that is what girls like... poor chap. i have to say, a part of me feels bad for this slightly dry young man who has never really understood girls or romance or anything like that. he has never gone that route and so the obvious things are what strike him.
kkg is horrified. what... never. not going to work. one must think, "kuch achha... dhamakedar... alag!"
priceless expression on self confessed unromantic man's face.
"humare paas ek plan hai!" i have a plan, beams she. the most "yeah, really!" look on his face and a matter of fact, "bolo." say.
she actually waves to him to come closer. lovely feel for khushi's character. when she is engrossed in something that she believes is important and all her energies are engaged, she forgets to keep barriers and be stiff, even with lg... i loved the way she beckons him.
so she must whisper this whole thing to him in the middle of a restaurant where no one knows them? completely ripping off an old ad slogan, all i can say is:"only kkg". maybe even, only sanaya.
while writing was smart and took the story forward effortlessly, there were many things that happened, that kkg or even at times asr did, which were really not that sharp and a bit silly too. i feel sanaya got khushi so so well, she could do the oddest even pretty duh stuff and still keep building khushi, making her come alive, everything added to that sunny jhalli sanka clean lovable and pretty sexy personality. there was a disarming openness in sanaya's acting that was hard not to fall for.
not even the slightest self consciousness marred the portrayal... made khushi really unbelievably cute and dishy, despite all her weird ways and clothes, even her sanctimonious preachy bits.
"aaiye toh sahi!" she insists when he just looks around a bit frazzled.
"wait!" says tycoon loudly. killingly. that accent, sigh.
and then he actually leans across to hear her.
much gesticulating, he looks totally unconvinced.
"hamare beech jo kuch bhi hua hai... ya... ho..." whatever has happened between us... that... ahem... as they leave the restaurant, a truce is called for the sake of siblings. hands are shaken... but...
"par khushi ek problem hai, tumhara plan bahut stoopid hai.."
"kya!!"
"fail ho jayga!"
he's sure her stoopid plan will fail. but then he is a man whose mind operates more rationally, western in attitude. he would possibly do a feasibility study, and apply other validated means of examining a situation before devising a plan based on research, calculation and much deliberation.
whereas madam is a master of the instinct. what's beyond the strictly rational. she knows her sister is stubborn, but she also knows her sis is in love and her key consumer insight comes from watching many films most likely... people in love behave irrationally. she is a hundred percent sure her plan will work. because it will tug where it needs to tug.
later he will tell her the plan had several loopholes... it did. yes, really, what was he doing bringing letters to payal if he knew his brother was out there about to kill himself. and yet, khushi is right... doesn't matter, plan is good. it worked. the proof of the pudding.
i thought, this is true in life too. we tend to over cogitate, over rationalise. sometimes you need a khushi strategy... kuch alag, dhamakedar, that comes straight from your gut and you just go for it.
a poignant scene as he drops her off. a look in his eyes, a strange hesitation. takes off his shades... ruminative music, as if something is on his mind.
the little eye movements of asr...
he's trying to say something. was it sorry for his behaviour on diwali as i thought earlier? or was it an apology for that terrifying meeting in sheesh mahal? he has just realised, what khushi said that evening was true.
"khushi, mujhe tumse..." he takes a decision and turns around to talk to her, alas...
"tum wahan kya kar rahi ho?" what are you doing there? a totally wacky and cute sanaya. seems jiji is out there and so she must elude detection. again i wonder... why? what would happen if jiji saw her with arnav ji...
he actually leans back to see how her crawling off is going... khushi does take you to her crazy land with you. you forget to say this is dopey, even if you do, you go anyway. sanaya knew this bit of kkg like no one else could. we keep talking about the cleverness and smartness of script, but i abs believe, you needed these two actors to make this whole thing so totally unforgettable. even to pull it off.
the hair brained plan involves the horoscope of course. so payal is a libran. yeah, she feels like one. does anyone know kkg's bday? she feels like a scorpio to me teehee. there's also suicide... we met this devil first in the funny post janmashtami scene in the guise of a scene from sholay, now it's here as the filmi ruse to get payal to agree... but in its third appearance suicide will be really damaging. i wonder who was into this self killing idea among the writers, seemed sort of irresponsible after a point. especially that third time. here, though, it didn't offend, it hinted more at the nature of the planner than anything else.
in his den, the leo is trying to assert his superior might.
no need to call the "client" four times as advised by that khushi, three is enough. why, asks hapless fuzzy akash. because you must do things with apne style, apni sharton, your own style, on your own conditions, client must not think you're desperate.
really, we must all remember, the other party is always "client", even if she is your lover or wife or light of your life.
he fails to sway his smitten brother, who decides he will do exactly as kkg says. again, kkg shows a feel for pitch... how far a thing must be taken to have the impact one desires. maybe she should start teaching marketing and advertising...
a look from bhai. and like most of his looks, one can't put a price on it.
fourth call has a very angry payal... and khushi in throes of major happiness.
she loves natak. this is essential khushi, i think she's born this way, the drama gene inherent in her. even with la, it's constantly weird overly dramatic means that she must devise for her to win over asr. the character comes with its resident over the topness...
the scene at the verandah... i guffawed at the thought of poor lord of all he surveys asr having to do things the way madam has decreed. so he stands there with a letter yelling at payal as per script provided by khushi. but when the smart, rather rationally oriented payal points out the gap in the whole scene. what are you doing standing here if your cousin is about to commit suicide?
the completely flummoxed laad governor.
the opposite of ott is he. no drama in him. not a jot. so now what... the deal maker is stumped.
and the cutest, angry, "kya boloon ab!" what should i say now. exasperated man. can't take all this any more.
in her elements though is his partner in mission and she saves the day.
"mananiya arnav singh raizada ji.. yeh kya hai?" respected arnav singh raizada sir... what's this! sanaya does a brill job of reading the suicide note, which for some unknown reason has words in hindi printed on the flip side, the beginning of a letter to the honourable mr raizada. let's not discuss how it got there. writer was in kkg frame of mind no doubt... damn the loopholes, on with the plan.
"itne loopholes hain... tumhari jiji sahi kah rahi thi..." there are so many loopholes, your sister was right.
"shhh! jiji aa gayi na, matlab plan achha tha." shh, sis is here, means plan was good.
it was delightful to see the two who had fallen out so badly after diwali and who were both hurting at what had happened, on the same side and at complete ease with each other, vibing. every time something happened the way she had predicted it would, or there was success, he looked at her... then she at him... smiles, wonder, even liking perhaps in each others gazes.
and when payal cried out, they ran together to be by her side. somehow this one scene really touched me.
khushi was anyway in that ecstatic mood over her sister and akash's love, because she believed in this emotion... so much.
not he. yet, the look on his face when with a "samhal ke, payal ji" his bro comes back... hmmm, again, no price tag.
when the mention of family comes up, the brave, strong brother steps in, "main baat karonga..." i'll talk to them.
asr is pretty much head of family when it comes to the big decisions, but for him to be involved in the romantic pursuits of akash, beautiful... and that look of almost gratitude, trusting and happy, kkg bestows on the khadoos... you can sense a trust, a bharossa grow.
the two hugs between siblings added layers to asr and kkg too... such complete people, not just whimsically drawn characters, devised to create dhakdhak trp generating romance.
of course, the most telling and lovely scene, khushi jumping with glee and grabbing asr's hand. they'd shared smiles at payal's despair before, two slightly heartless but completely loving brother and sister. now khushi held his hand, without thinking. an instinct? she knows whose hand she wants to hold maybe? and there's enough comfort between them despite all the nastiness of the past few days. there seemed to be that sense of huq she has too... and he didn't draw his hand away, just let it be.. looking at her searchingly. maybe searching within him too to understand what he was really feeling. tender, ephemeral, beautiful moments.
felt real to me. when people care for each other, they may hurt each other badly, even hate each other, but then that abates and somehow normalcy returns and sometimes with it a little unguarded moment of happiness shared.
four young people walked toward us, the sky big behind them. a simple effective shot. i always appreciated this about ipk... the creative team got the most out of whatever they had. and they rarely had fancy budgets or sets or locations. to me that's a sign of true creative ability, to find the dhamakedar, the alag, the achha, in the ordinary, in whatever one has.
as they walked, asr and khushi kept looking at each other... so much conversation in those silent gazes.
through payal and akash a love story continued and got thicker, more entrenched.
just a thought
seems initially there was no plan to write a payal akash romance, but then it came along... possibly as a good means of allowing the asr kkg relationship to progress. both deepali and akshay were great at being akash payal, a depth to their feelings added by payal's deep nature, her denser emotions that when expressed spoke volumes, balancing tat, the gentler, more expressed akash... this jodi deserved more attention i can't help but think.
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