7/8 - Epi 314 ... Clash of the Titans

Tuesday 7th August

Crackerjack of an episode!!!

Arnav Nani entry  ... Arnav Dadi meeting ... liked the touch of Arnav stooping for ashirwad ... Nani, bless her heart, immediately introduces Payal and Khushi ... Mami hides :))
Dadi is furious ... about the mystery wedding? About not being told? About her own mistake? Considering the first two were under her own control, have a feeling her pride is dented at the big mistake she made ... still can't figure out whether she knew about Anjali-Shyam's marriage or not, if she has been MIA for fifteen years.
And she refuses to give Khushi aashirwad ... Arnav is not happy ...

Nani tries to reason with Dadi ... mini clash of Titans here ... as Nani asks the pertinent question... why now? After fifteen years? You abdicated the responsibility to me fifteen years ago, and now you ask all these questions?
And Dadi is annoyed no one invited her for her own grandson's wedding ... did she come for her granddaughter's? Was she invited?
Loved this scene ... two great senior actresses, and a scene thick with emotions, anger and accusations flowing, without a single raised voice ... 

ArHi ... Arnav lost in memories, unpleasant ones ... Khushi tries to reach out ... blames herself, the circumstances of their marriage for Dadi's hostility ... and some miles redeemed on the RTR as he tells her for the first time that it was not her fault, the way they got married, it was all his ... but can't bear to answer her questions yet ...
And leaves Khushi wondering ... sometimes she feels she knows him so well, sometimes he is a stranger ...
Beautiful ArHi scene ... :">

Arnav-Dadi ... Clash of the Titans part 2 ... Dadi asks questions, Arnav answers with his own ... why now? What right to you have to ask these questions, when you refused to even meet me when I came so many times?
And the festering sore is finally opened up ...
You remind me of your father ...
Don't mention his name in this house ... I am nothing like my father ...
How can you talk like that about him ...?
I said, don't take his name ...

Another crackerjack of a scene!!! =D>

Payal and NK try to comfort Khushi ... and she decides to try to apologise ... 'darti hai par karti hai ...'
And Khushi reaches Dadi-Nani's room just as Dadi is levelling some more accusations ... Dadi breaks off mid-sentence to glare at Khushi and stop her entering again ... and Arnav walks out ... to stand with his wife.
'If my wife is not welcome here, I don't think I'm needed either.'
Arnav bitwa, you just redeemed quite a few miles on that RTR  =D> Just seeing Khushi's look at your words made my day :) I always said, if Arnav gives Khushi the confidence that her marriage is a real one, no Anjali manjali will be able to drive her out ... And as her confidence grows, so will her desire to dig into the past ...
(SN - could we see this firmness when Mami calls Khushi PS also? Just a teensy request ... since you did so good today ;) )

*edited* Be prepared for a long rambling take :) :">

The Episode ... Scene by Scene ... 

 The Homecoming ... Arnav's flashback ... exactly the same as Anjali's, when he sees his Dadi for the first time in 15 years ... a reminder of the infamous 'haadsa' that uprooted their lives all those years ago ... and how everyone's present is shaped completely by that fateful night ...
15 year old Arnav became ASR ... abandoned by his closest family ... mother died/committed suicide, father disappeared/died/declared as good as dead ... Chacha threw the young Arnav and Anjali out of their ancestral home ... and Dadi, who could have stopped that last betrayal, made sure the children at least stayed in their own home, disappeared into her own 'peetal bartan' ... as Arnav looks at Dadi, his memories come crowding in, none of them happy ...

Nani puts a gentle hand on his shoulder ... ever-wise, ever-comforting ... she took over the role of parent all those years ago, took the responsibility for sheltering the homeless chidlren and bringing them up ... now she brings back Arnav to the present with a gentle touch on his shoulder ...

And he remembers his duty to his grandmother ... there is no obvious pleasure to see her in his eyes ... there is hope and a yearning in Dadi's eyes as she steps forward to meet him ...
And Anjali's expression was guilty, a little furtive ... Khushi watches anxiously ...
And Arnav bends to touch Dadi's feet ... his duty ... and Dadi is relieved, Nani smiles with relief and a touch of pride ... her well-brought up grandson, remembers his upbringing, his tehzeeb ... even though he's not ready to embrace his Dadi yet ...
Dadi takes the first step ... stretches out her arms ... and Arnav finally relents and returns the hug ... Anjali smiles with tearful relief (all the glycerin reserved for her) ... so does Dadi ... Arnav's expression remains guarded, but more relaxed than earlier ...

Nani steps in to break the tension ... with a lighter remark ... you made us hunt all over for you ... Dadi replies Nani was looking in the wrong place as usual ... a throwback to old friendship? Or an indication of attitude ... you were wrong, not me ...
And the old friends hug fondly, affectionately ... before Nani recalls her duties as matriarch and moves to introduce the two new family members ... Manorama should have done this duty already, but she will repeat it ...
The side cast is so good in this show, and specially in this episode ... Mami shows her consternation that she will be found out, that she shirked her duty ... and NK is pleased ... :)

Khushi is even more worried than before ... another storm coming?
Nani introduces Payal, Akash's wife ... Dadi is only tepidly interested ... Nani turns to Khushi and Mami promptly hides behind NK, this is where she slipped up big time :)) ...  Dadi says yes, Khushi was the one who greeted me very well ... Khushi even more worried, Arnav is pleased and proud, all ready for his wife to be introduced to his Dadi ...
Nani asks Khushi to come forward, Khushi does so very hesitantly, Nani tells her to take ashirwad, and Chotey too ... and Dadi's minds finally clicks ... 'yeh?'
'This is Chotey's wife, and your bahu.' Nani proudly, smilingly completes the introduction ... and Dadi is shocked. NK is very pleased, yes! Now his Khushiji has received her rightful acknowledgement ... Mami hides behind him as Dadi utters a shocked 'Kya?!' and glares first at a worried Khushi, then at the missing Mami ... Arnav, every inch proud husband, steps forward readily to take aashirwad with his wife ... this time touching Dadi's feet was without any reluctance or mixed feelings at all ...
And Dadi retracts her aashirwad from Khushi ..

Loved that shot of Arnav Khushi bending to take aashirwad, Dadi moving back, and that sideways look of Arnav towards Khushi ... ever-watchful, ever-sensitive to any slight to his wife ... they stand, and Nani has also noticed the withdrawal ... so has everyone else, NK, Mami, Payal ...

Dadi gives everyone a glare ... Khushi is distressed and upset, so is Arnav ... and Dadi walks off ... She had decided Khushi was the maid, now regardless of what anyone tells her, Khushi is the maid, or at that level ... or is it just that Dadi hates to be wrong, and she has just been shown to have been completely so?
Nani sees Arnav Khushi upset, and moves to damage control ... presuming that Dadi is upset at not being told about the marriage ... she will explain to Dadi, not to worry ... and a visibly perturbed Arnav and Khushi wait ...

Nani-Dadi ... Nani tries to reason with her old friend ... you've returned after so many years ... be happy and bless your children. Why are you being such a douche bag? (Ok, that last was my addition :)) )
Dadi accuses her ... 'what have you been doing? Anjali is pregnant, but her husband is missing, Arnav is married, but no one tells me how and when he got married ... and the girl I thought was a maid, is actually his wife?'

And Nani takes the bull by the horns and confronts her old friend ... and asks her all the questions we have been asking since yesterday ... 'WHY NOW? Why all these questions now? Why the sudden worry? When so many years ago, you left us all and went off to the ashram? And despite our attempts, you refused even to see our faces ... after that 'haadsa' ...'
 Dadi doesn't answer that 'why ... she doesn't want to talk about the 'haadsa' ... because it reminds her of 'that woman' ... it has nothing to do with today ...

But Nani, although sympathetic, is relentless ... 'that haadsa has shaped our lives ... if that hadn't happened, you would be responsible for your children today, instead of asking me these questions ... because of that haadsa, you haven't even seen the faces of your children for so many years... that haadsa is responsible for everything happening today.' You abdicated your responsibility, and ran away to the ashram, you left two defenseless children alone to fend for themselves, I brought them up all these years, without a word from you ... and now you have the gall to ask me where I went wrong?


A shot I loved ... the two old ladies facing opposite directions ... one still locked in the shadows and chains of the past and refusing to break free ... the other, although she faced the same shadows, lost her own daughter, but she looked forward, to the future, took in two abandoned children and shaped them into the adults they are today ... Both the children still bear the scars from that day, both are trying to deal with them in their own ways ... and Nani as always, tried her best possible to help them.
And Nani continues ... 'don't say this has nothing to do with the past ... it does.'

ArHi .. A troubled Khushi remembers being called a servant, remembers the withheld aashirwad ... enters her room to find Arnav lost in thought ... she knows he's troubled ... but what is he so troubled about? What happened downstairs? And Khushi being Khushi, she tries to comfort himby taking the blame, the onus on herself ... he's not to worry, it's not Dadi's fault really ... or his ...
'Maybe she didn't like me ... maybe I said or did something wrong ... maybe she's annoyed about not being told about our marriage ...'
But he doesn't respond ... and she retreats ... he will blame her again ... it was somehow her fault ...

And her distress reaches Arnav through the black cloud surrounding him ... for the first time, the shadow of the past, the anguish, the turmoil  ... all of that is not so important as reassuring his wife that no, what happened downstairs was not her fault ... because he knows Khushi now, he knows she will take the burden of guilt on herself, blame herself, hide her own pain and try to keep everyone around her happy ... and reassuring her is most important right now ...
And he sees her sitting defeatedly on the bed ... silently shedding tears ... he lifts her face with his hand ... and he knows, yes, she's blaming herself again, and she's hurting ... deeply ...

The change in Khushi - she doesn't try to hide her pain from him now ... she can't ...
The change in Arnav, the Khushi effect - he sees beyond his pain to hers ... and assuaging her pain is more important than anything else ... earlier his own pain would make him lash out at her, hurt her ... now, his pain takes second spot to hers ... RTRW  well under way ...

'Khushi ... Dadi isn't angry because of you ... nor because of the wedding. None of this is your fault. I know better than anyone, that the way we got married, was never your fault at all.'
And Khushi turns to look at him, completely shocked ... the first time he has told her that, the first time he has acknowledged his mistake in marrying her the way he did .. the way he forced her ... she is not to hold herself responsible for any of that at all. The first time he has taken the onus of that hate filled night firmly on his own shoulders ... and lifted it completely off hers. A huge step on the RTRW.

And he goes on to try and explain Dadi and her reactions to her ... 'Dadi is like that, always has been. She only sees things from her own viewpoint, she never faces the truth. She sees what she wants, understands only what she wants to understand (looks like Anjali has inherited this trait of Dadi's) ... and expects everyone to see things only the way she does. And if they don't, they are wrong.'

Seems like Arnav has inherited a lot of his arrogance and stubbornness from his Dadi ... maybe it runs in the family :)) Sounded like he was describing himself ... or rather, describing the pre-Khushified ASR.

And Khushi starts to see the hidden undercurrents, starts to search below the surface of the seemingly calm ocean, to the currents swirling in the depths ... reaches out to her husband for the first time ... seeking to understand this complex man she loves ... 'why so much anger? So much hurt? Not because of what just happened downstairs, surely? Then what? There is something more, isn't there? You never mentioned Dadi ever till today, neither did Di ever talk about her ... is there some problem between you and Dadi?'
And she reaches out again ... tell me, I'm here for you if you need me ... I feel sometimes, that I don't know you at all ... and I need to, I want to ... I want to be there for you ...

He knows she will be there for him, she always has been there ... even when he mistreated her, threw her away, demeaned her, insulted her ... yet when he needed her, she was there, ... fearless, ready to hold up a mirror to him, to question him, argue with him, point out his flaws, his mistakes ... but always there ... showing him just by being herself, the right way ahead ...
But he's not ready yet ... not ready to explore that festering wound so deeply ... it needs to be laid open and cleaned out ... but he's not ready yet for the hurt it will bring ...

But one thing he can do ... and he leaves to do it ...
Leaving Khushi wondering ... sometimes she feels so close to him,and sometimes she feels so distant, as though married to a stranger ...
But she is finally ready to start exploring the man ... to love both the shaitan and the rajkumar ...

Nani-Dadi ... Dadi accuses Nani of not informing her of Arnav's wedding, she would have wanted to attend the marriage of her grandson ...
Umm, Dadi, presumably you knew of Anjali's wedding. You didn't attend that, did you?
Nani fumbles at that one ... but Arnav will not let down the lady who stood by him all these years when he needed support, the mother-figure after he lost his mother ...nor the wife who kept his secret even when she didn't know the reason to ... he is ready to take the entire responsibility for his actions that night ... first with his wife, and now with the person asking all the questions ...
'I didn't tell anyone. No one attended my marriage.'

Yes, Dadi feels she has the right to question him ... he didn't tell anyone, ask anyone's permission ... how can he make such decisions?

And Arnav is angry ... the anger suppressed within for the last fifteen years, the anger and anguish of the fifteen year old boy, forced to turn man far too soon, forced to depend only on himself, forced to take all the decisions for himself and his sister ... where was this Dadi then? Where were these questions then? When she refused even to meet him? And he refutes her haq to ask any questions at all ...
But Dadi is his Dadi ... she has the right, she claims it ... his grandmother, the mother of his father ...
And Nani's expression shows her shock ... now the fat is truly in the fire ... Dadi has mentioned he-who-must-not-be-named ... now the war is on ...
Gritted teeth, face averted ... clenching jaw ... as Dadi continues, unmindful of the storm to erupt ... 'the way you're answering me back, you remind me of your father's khubiyan ...'
And she did not mean the word 'khubiyan' literally ...

And Arnav stops her ... 'Bas, Dadi ...' Enough. I am not like him, and neither will I ever be. And that man is not to be mentioned in this house.
And Dadi is horrified ... how can he talk about his own father like that?
'Maybe you didn't hear me. No one ... takes ... his ... name ... I ... don't ... like ... it.'

A clash of wills, a clash of egos, a clash of two strong headed stubborn personalities ... a clash of Titans ... as Nani watches the battle horrified ... again the family threatening to break ...

Payal tries to reassure a worried Khushi ... Dadi will come round, it was an unfortunate start ... NK adds his counsel for his sakha ... Payal accepts that they made a mistake in not correcting Dadi's impression ... so Dadi felt bad when she realised that Khushi is actully the badi bahu, not a maid ...
Khushi's face shows her emotions, as Payal points out her real status in the house ... NK Payal encourage her to apologise to Dadi ...
And Mami is exultant ... lamb fed to the lions ... or lioness ... she's out of the firing range.

Nani tries to broker a truce ... Arnav tries to tamp down his anger, Dadi backs down slightly from her stance ... 'All I'm saying is ...' but stops as she sees Khushi at the door ... and holds up a hand to stop her ... Arnav watches the byplay ... and makes his stand very clear ... walk out the door to stand by his wife ... much to the fury of his Dadi ... 'how dare you walk away when I'm talking to you?'
To a completely WT* expression from Khushi ... does this run in the family? :))
'Where my wife is not allowed to enter, I don't think I'm needed there either. I can hear you from here ... carry on.' 
Perfectly calm, perfectly polite ... perfectly firm.

And Khushi looks at him with shock, gratitude ... pride ... her husband is by her side ... with her ...
Finally Arnav is giving her all the confidence she needs ... in private, as well as in public. Finally no conflicting, confusing, bipolar stances ... or maybe she is just starting to read them better.
Nani beams contentedly, proud of her grandson and her own upbringing ... she has brought up a fine, upstanding young man whose heart is in the right place.
Dadi says in that case, she has nothing more to say ... challenging Arnav ... her or me. I won't talk with her around ... get rid of her.

Arnav makes his choice without blinking an eyelid. 'As you like.' You won't talk with her around ... your choice. Don't talk. She will always be around.


Quite a big mileage redeemed on that RTRW tonight :)