episode 134 love, pyaar, chemistry

"bhai... khushi ji thoda pagal hai na? ekdam alag hain..." khushi ji is a bit mad isn't she... she's absolutely different, said akash with a bemused look as the two cousins walked into rm after a successful mission to save akash and payal's love.

khushi was exactly that and therefore totally valuable, especially in the context of indian tv where girls are constantly being told to be the same, the same and more of the same.

but that wasn't the reason a man in brown looked sort of lost, a gleam in his eyes as he said, "haan pagal toh hai..." yeah, mad she is. a graze in his voice, especially on that "haan!"

oh the tender tender look. khadoos has no idea how that pagal-ness is completely taking over his every feeling.

cut to gh, and a girl is doing a pretty convincing jija ji act. the specs look large and awkward, the voice is halting and gentle, there's utter confusion in the eyes... and payal is blushing practically at this. because that indeed is how her... akash ji is... say it softly, sigh.

that love between two sisters. it all started there, didn't it? that very first episode... a young woman most perturbed by the thoughtless act of her sister's to be in laws, and out to change things around.

jiji means the world to khushi, she will do anything for her. actually, payal too... she is completely doting of her sanka sister and protective. that night when khushi finally returned home, though her own wedding lay in a shambles, payal stood by khushi, refusing to blame her for anything. intelligent and strong enough to know that perhaps it was better not to marry such a spineless man. she told khushi, abhishek ji knew.

deepali portrayed a deep and lovely girl who always stood by what she felt was right and had a special place in her heart for the little girl who came home one day and became her playmate, her sis.

a sense of full circle as we sat in the room with the two watching them fool around. from jiji's wedding to jiji's wedding again.

khushi is delighted. and of course, delight brings on a special dose of madness and so the out of blue the jija ji act. hidden behind the big specs and the act is all her love, her joy, perhaps even her relief, because she has seen her sister balk at any talk of marriage and maybe even somewhere blamed herself for not reaching in time that night...

payal is smart, she worries about her paramour's family accepting her. in a totally trusting voice, khushi says, arnav ji has said he'll take care of things.
"khushi, arnav ji bilkul waise nahin hai na.. jaise humne socha tha..." payal says, arnav ji isn't at all the way we thought he was.

a play of emotions on khushi's face, suddenly vulnerable. perhaps too much has happened between them and the hurt is deep, but then she smiles and tells one of her little lies, for her jiji's happiness and peace of mind... no he is nothing like that.a feeling of family as two brothers do a bear hug, a solid jhappi, in the hallway of rm while the sisters hug on that bed of theirs in gh.

just a couple of steps into rm and all hell is waiting to break loose. mami is holding court as prospective daughter in law's parents beam at her while the girl simpers. mama ji sits a little away.

how gleefully manorama calls out to her son, her mr india, to come and see his bride to be. miss india (of some colony or the other). the always amiable akash, who never ever says anything to his mother... or anyone, suddenly starts acting completely unlike himself."main yeh shadi nahin karoonga!" i shall not marry... good boy says grimly.

bad boy looked on keenly.

akash's rebellion... like a chapter in itself. an insight into pyaar itself perhaps in that very stance of his. pyaar does make us do things we never ever would otherwise. it made akash stand up straight, look his mum in the eyes and say "no", loud and clear.

he will marry someone else... aur unka naam hai payal ji... and her name is payal ji.

hello hi bye bye... said manorama. possibly the most killing use of that favourite phrase... akash was pretty magnificent. not as gussa as the one true gussa man, but angry enough, young enough, and totally smitten man.

he refused to marry the girl his mother had invited home. this being a scene around mami, i guess had to be campy. there sat the young girl all giggly and overdressed between her proud parents, while mami beamed and cooed in loud turquoise and kilos of gold.

the whole family was soon there. the young girl's father admonished manorama. akash was resolved. arnav sigh looked surprised, but happy... and he watched his mami. he coudl sense managing would be needed. mama ji also did an about turn and supported akash bitwa. nani ji beamed at teh thought of payal being akash's wife and scolded mami, you don't even know the sort of person your son likes... di grinned and stroked akash's cheek.

mami swung her hips angrily, her lips shimmied. but not a scratch on akash's resolve.
authoritative akash now,"main sirf aur sirf payal ji se shadi karoonga. and that's final." i shall marry only payal and that's final.

mama ji looked proud of his son.

bad boy was struck by this new facet of his cousin.

does love do this to us? it can... sigh, it can.

but mami ji was having none of it. the lady has managed everything with her melodrama and canniness and a fair bit of crassness all her life.

she would not let that khoon bhari tang get her poor bitwa. she decided to bring hell to that girl's life and made a phone call.

oh so much storm and thunder all around. lovely.

as the bolts landed on payal and she wept and called akash to say, they really must forget each other, khushi lost it...

two little whirlwinds seem to whizz away through the episode. mami... khushi. each balancing the other. almost in harmony.

hah, that man. arnav singh raizada, muttered a furious khushi... pehle kahte hain ki sab kuch sambhalenge... aur ab? ye? first he says he'll take care of things, now? this? angry cute and trusting girl... call the man. rave at him.

"aap kya kar rahe hain... aap aap ko pata bhi hai ki kya ho raha hai? aap kuch kar kyun nahin raha hain???"

what are you doing... do you do you even know what's going on? why aren't you doing anything? she went at him straight.

what the f... said the eloquent one and disconnected the call.

raging and undeterred, khushi stormed out of the house to meet him. yes, at night, she'll be back in an hour... she the "lakshminagar ki baan" as per bua ji, who is totally perplexed by the "ganga jamna" tears covered payal too.

and in no time, she was there where so many things transpire. the poolside. she had walked into the house and not bothered with any niceties, going straight to where she was told arnav ji would be found.

he sat working, she stomped up to him.

"khushi?" he looked up.

a gorgeous sequence followed with dialogues and expressions that had most of us laughing and happy.

there was no talk of love between the two, no emotion charged fight, no almost kiss, no falling, no catching, practically no undercurrents.

but that chemistry.

i noticed just how much of that was there between them. funny dialogues, repartee, great comedy... but always that sexiness somewhere there. the body language between them sparkles with something. as if they are in some sort of constant tango... so much vibe and rhythm. the jhalli girl in classic khushi attire with gota and bad hairstyle and the suave man in smart well cut clothes, just to see them in the same frame brings on acidity.

she raved.

"relax... calm down..." did he say that. aargh.

clearly when it comes to shatir mami, nautanki is failing... strategy boy's input is needed.

"gehri saans lo..." take a deep breath he advises. note, he is not yelling. that funny sort of feeling for this spitfire girl... i think this huge love she has for her fam always touches him. that's one place where they are identical.

"shh... maine kaha hai na main baat karoonga..." i have said i'll speak. so tender. why why why?

maybe because she is looking so distraught. maybe because he plans to kill the onlooker, as in me.

"main baat kar loonga..." i'll speak.

she is not convinced. she knows he and mami will cross swords and then he'll lose his cool. she knows her candidate well. his gussa is at his nose practically.

poor man, tries to hold down his temper, "main kah raha hoon na, main baat kar loonga..."

"ek kaam karte hain..." let's do something, she cuts in, "hum abhyaas karte hain..." let's practise, she's looking sanka devi.

"what?" deadly look.

"haan, aap sochiye ki hum mami ji hain aur aap hume manao!" commands the goddess, think i am mami and you appease me.

what the f, says man.

she clears her throat, narrows her eyes and goes hello hi bye bye...priceless look on lg's face.

while madness and mirth rise by the pool, fury courses in a room in rm, akash is angry.

at the poolside, khushi points out her plan has worked before, so he must listen to her... what is he going to say to mami ji.

sure enough, tycoon reels off survey figures re love and marriage. i giggle thinking this is what i wrote in 133.

"aap aise kahenge?" horrified sanka devi asks, you'll speak like this!

survey? percent?

"aap thode bhavna ke saath kahiye na..." say it with some feelings, please...

"maine kaha na... main apne tarike se kar raha hoon... bhavna ko beech mein kyun laa rahi ho..." i said i'll say it in my way, he avers, why are you dragging bhavna into this. clearly he has no clue what bhavna is, he thinks it's a person.

pretty hackneyed joke, but smooth to and fro... that chemistry at work.

"feel..." she's trying to explain.

"feelings..." curtly, and devastatingly he.

"haan, wahi... feelings ke saath kahiye na," yes, that... say it with feelings.

he is about to erupt.

deadly khushi does the most flaky, couples are made in heaven bit.

asr gobsmacked.

"aur yeh sab main kahoonga?" and all this i will say? clearly the incongruity of it has completely escaped kkg in her desperation to get things going.

"mami ji se?" to mami ji? he knows what cuts ice with his favourite relative.

"bilkul!" absolutely.

"aur iss filmi lecture ke baad bhi woh mani nahin toh?" and what if after this movie type lecture she doesn't give in?

well if she doesn't, advises chief planner, then turn lightly thus and say, "kuch kuch hota hai, mami ji..." 

khushi in her world all smug and happy... asr's expression changes... 

what a sequence.

"aap nahin samjhengi..." something happens, mami ji, you won't understand, goofy dreamy look on kkg's visage on that filmi dialogue from a very filmi hindi film.

camera pulls focus... asr in sharp lines... i need to say the next two words for him...

"what crap."

the new assertive akash is leaving... the fam runs after him. that music in the background, where is it from.

end note
somewhere in the middle a hiss was heard. poor bua ji has a cold but you know syam babua has given her that medicine, that special marham, that cures everything. really? and where has khushi heard someone say exactly that? quite smoothly alongside is building the shyam's revelation story. nice detail that prayer book in bua ji's hands.

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episodes 133/134/136/137/138 it's in your eyes

time was running out... saansey was about to complete its term, i was still far behind the target 139. only done up to 132. decided to do some ramanchi. i would try and find one scene to talk about in the episodes pending and see what i came up with.

and so i began to search and noticed the moments... "something in the eyes" little scenes that were there right through. almost every episode had them. asr's eyes mainly... once in a way khushi's too.

after the blast and heat of:
"tum samajhti kya ho apne aap ko"... who do you think you are...  you think i am angry because of you... that whatever i do i do because of you... if you think it makes any difference to me your being or not being here... "tumhare hone ya na hone se koi faraq padta hai..." then forget it... you don't even exist for me... do you understand...  tum ho ya na ho... whether you're there or not... kuch kaho, kuch karo... mujhe usse koi faraq nahin padta... whether you say something or do something, doesn't make a damn difference to me...
after that tirade, that spiraling of rage, something seems to have cooled inside this ravaged, man constanty grappling with that edge of raw pain writhing in him, trying to shut out all feelings with desperate ramparts of don't care. but suddenly now there's an easing... especially since she cut the fire with calm... and non aggression. a sort of cleansing perhaps in that outpouring, a detox as it were.

ever since that evening, he is curiously aware of her. and of course, just now in the restaurant her "phree biskut" spin has him reaching desperately for his smug, superior air just in case he should completely melt and show those "pyaar wyaar" feelings he knows nothing of.

i was completely blown away by these scenes coming up. if you string them together it's a gorgeous length of, well this is ipk so it must be pearls, pearls that would never lose nacre or lustre. arnav means ocean, and pearls find so many references and allusions here. sometimes i think, the ocean had all the pearls in him, among them the most precious one, his dil, someone had to dive in and find it. then she came, togged in gota and off centre plait, slip off mojris, pompoms bobbing, and a smile that would cheer up the gloomiest soul. sunny, bright, sparkling a creature, that could reach and light up the darkest corners of the ocean and find those pearls.

how he enjoyed her "khushi" type sanka as they planned the charging of jiji's resistence and uniting akash and payal. a love of their siblings brought them together, but those hours of scheming together, guard down, khushi in filmi overdrive, and then success, achieved together... somehow it all made him feel all sorts of funny things for this jhalli babe.

i must say again, he fell for her at those weird khushi moments... that's when she got right through, past all barriers and reinforced concrete walls, to his heart and left a little mark there that was indelible. permanent damage.

and yes, he did feel a certain something when she fought back and refused to take nonsense from him. i think that fire attracted him too.

anyway, the scenes.

episode 133

here as she tells him to manage akash, he looks at her home and suddenly his mood seems to shift. a bit thoughtful, almost mellow, then he turns and wants to tell her something... "uh, khushi, mujhe tumse kuch... "

uh, khushi, something to you i wanted... the quality of his voice, a little lost. contrite? unsure? the music had changed, become tender, like that day that she told him about the stars.

what did he want to say to her? this was a moment of quiet after the rage the previous evening and all the hectic activity of the day... did he want to tell her he didn't mean those things he'd said? about her not mattering? tum ho ya na ho?

i couldn't figure out, but there was something sort of terribly important he wanted to tell her... however that was not to be since someone had disappeared.

"tum wahan kya kar rahi ho!" what are you doing there?

then the crazy coot talk from the floor... tell me he didn't fall for her then.

a cute exchange:
"akash achha hai... mera bhai hai." akash is good, he's my bro. so innocently arrogant if that makes any sense.

"usske bawajood bhi achchhe hain..." despite that he's nice. at his what the look, khushi's spin on that unwise comeback was really funny.

my favourite line:
"par khushi ek problem hai... tumhara plan bahut stoopid hai... fail ho jaayga." but khushi there's a problem... your plan is very stupid... it will fail. love the way the boy says "stoopid." very delhi... i say stoopid just like that too.

a series of moments from the time he comes to give payal the letter to all four of them walking back happily to the car, where he looked at her, sometimes exasperated, or challenging, but also oddly tender, considering, curious. they even managed to laugh together, he was certainly utterly amused with this melodrama queen. and had to admit her plan, however stoopid, had worked.

though uncomfortable with the plan, he is happy for his brother, and at least once he looks at her with what seemed like acknowledgement; of course, our jhalli is in her hyper, over excited, doer mood and possibly misses it.

his eyes find her again and again and there are so many things they seem to say... but for now she misses most of them, though once in a way there's a meeting of eyes and and a delightful awkwardness in her, always a search in him.

"main baat karoonga, ghar walo ko main sambhal loonga..." i will talk to the family and manage them. when he says that, she looks at him with clear, happy eyes, gentle, grateful, acknowledging.

so she does one part, he the other. partners... team... equals? can't stop looking at her as they walk to the car.


episode 134

"bhai, khushi ji thodi paagal hai... ekdam alag hai," bhai, khushi ji is a bit mad, absolutely different... when akash says that, involuntarily a look in asr's eyes. akash walks away. a pause... music running around the mind...  his face getting softer, he's reflecting upon something rather lovely... a smile lifts a corner of his lips. "haan pagal toh hai..." yes, mad she is. sounded like, "absolutely gorgeous she is." and tell me, what's that look in his eyes. i mean how terribly doting and tender and dreamy must a man look.

"pagal," he said like a man in love on a holi morning, even when he thought she was a harlot, a home wrecker.

such a telling scene this. she is firmly entrenched under his skin... dare i say, in his heart.

when she storms his den with many questions, alleging gross inefficiency and ineffectiveness in his mission, he doesn't yell at her... most unusual. instead, he tries to get her to calm down.

"khushi? relax... calm down... gehrin saans lo," take deep breaths. but she is incapable of such things at this point... too excitable.

and so comes the fabulous...

"shhh!"

a hilarious exchange between the two about the problem at hand. he is trying to stay cool, obviously he's told himself that he can handle miss sanaka. brave fellow. see i'm cool is his air. but she manages to irritate him and the snarl is almost out. madam is delighted, hero is unable to control emotions, gets gussa. she will teach him how to be poised and persuasive and influence mami. after listening to her filmi dialogues for a while, asr has to say what he has to say.

"what crap."

episode 136

  
everyone is at gh, nani ji has come to ask payal's elders for her hand in marriage...  as everyone settles down, khushi goes to shut the door, and his hand comes and touches the door at the same time as hers. his hand covers her hand. neither flinch from the touch. instead, a long, aware look. he seems to just want to look at her... almost searching for something at times. i loved the car keys hanging from his thumb... felt like asr. something terribly active about this character... he strides, he goes up to life, he moves... sometimes mountains. that key looked somehow sexy, don't ask me why.

later his ire at the talk of khushi's fiance and those looks exchanged between them as she knocks on her fiance's door. this man is terribly aware of her. more than ever before.

episode 137

a moment with her when she is troubled... a helping hand on the door, as though to say, "i am here." what an intimate and intense shot up there. the body language is so expressive. they seem to flow into each other, she turns to him, seeking, he look sat her, his body protective almost in stance, eyes looking into hers... need me? i'm, here.

they are just acting, right?

then he lingers... shall i call the doctor... some people feel like your own, even if nothing says so officially.

"kuch dawaiyya ya kuch..."  some medicines or, some... he doesn't just walk away. even when he leaves, a turn back, a bit of thinking, perhaps wondering if he can help her in any way.

later, he returns to apologise to payal.  the sorry is almost blurted out like he couldn't wait to say it. asr never says sorry. "sorry, meri vajah se apki shadi tot gayi... ekbar rishta pukka ho jaye, phir sorry bol doonga..." sorry, because of me your wedding was called off... i thought let the relationship get the nod, then i'll say sorry. an air of urgency, an innocence, an almost vulnerable open face. "maine use jaane se roka tha... i'm really sorry," i stopped her from leaving... i'm really sorry.

and finally, jumping to her defence... "usski koi galati nahin thi," it was no fault of hers. bravo, asr, you've come a long way, baby.

my favourite line, "decide khushi kumari gupta, what do you want?" around that forceful turn around and almost collide into each other... lots of centripetal force here.

then as she is about to answer, he says, you know what... i don't want to know. nice. when his eyes said things, she was too hyper to hear. now her eyes are soft and yielding, so he must run. could be because he could sense the danger... he might melt and become puddle.

no problem. she lets the air out of his tyre and we are treated to another classic bout of comedy.

episode 138
 
as i look at babu ji reacting to anjali, and all the "sya... sya," i am amazed that khushi never made the connection once she found out... she didn't figure out that babuji knew.

138 builds up toward and gets set for the revelation of 139. khushi has picked up enough hints to get really concerned. perhaps a part of her has already arrived at the truth. but it is so shocking maybe she can't process it. 

"tum yahan kya kar rahi ho..." what are you doing here, he asks sensing she's not quite herself. in her confusion and growing suspicion she's wandered into his den... it's him always she needs when she needs real help, like in the hospital... beautiful touch, she does it instinctively.

"kya hua?" what happened? she's silent, eyes lost.

"kuch chahiye tumhe?" do you want something? a little brusque the coice, yet there's concern... and patience.

"kuch baat karni hai?"  do you want to say something? i wonder did he want to hear something from her?  so tender...  seems to bridge right back to 133 and his searching preamble "khushi, mujhe tumse..."

  
she is terribly troubled. her eyes focus but it's brimming with an ominous feeling. she turns and leaves, unable to say what's bothering her.

edit: reading anita's comments reminded me of something i wanted to say here. it's such good story telling and insight, she's found her way to his room... to him, without knowing so consciously. in fact, she's startled to find herself here. it looks as though she's wondering aimlessly in her frazzled state, but she has unerrigly made her way to the place where she needs to come... to him, to find calm, sense, protection. her insides have sensed that care, that protectiveness that flows from him. beautiful. there was never any need to say this was love, you just felt it was. uff if only i could write like that.
 
he goes back to work with an "unbelievable..." maybe, he needs to shake off that unfamiliar feeling of concern and care for this woman who means nothing to him... whether she's there or not, it really makes no difference. faraq nahin padta.


only one piece, this item.

 

completely unedited. hmmm.

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