Wednesday 3rd April
You win some, you lose some ...
So Chhanchhan wins over Manav ... because she's smarter, he's dumber ... using a dog to bite a dog trainer, really?! And she gives him a well-deserved ticking off ... what happened with him was not pre-meditated, and she was genuinely apologetic about it ... what he tried to do with her was deliberate and with malice ... and it back-fired.
Hope Manav has got the message.
And Chhanchhan loses with Uma Ben ... because Uma Ben is smarter and more manipulative ... and also puffed up in her own arrogance ... CC is naive and dumb enough to believe that a simple apology will cure matters.
Uma Ben reminds me more and more of ASR ... she has diabetes too!!!! And now badmouthing in the media?!
*Quick edit* to add
Uma Ben's sons are fairly decent blokes, who don't like the way Tushar bhai has been turned out, besides the man does a lot of work. And breaking a marriage alliance doesn't seem a good enough reason to turn out a decent guy. But they can argue with Uma Ben, but not with their dad. And dad supports his wife, because she helped save his business in the past, when they were down and out.
Yet another similarity with ASR ... a dark past when they were on the streets.
Yeh dono kitne milte julte hain!
Is this the first time the dad is hearing the whole story? But he supports UB nonetheless ... much to her satisfaction.
Manav and Himanshu make a juvenile, not to mention, dangerous plan to take revenge on Chhanchhan.
Farhan needs to improve his expressions ... very flat. His dialogue delivery is not bad, but his expressions don't change at all. If he's angry, he's angry ... no variation at all.
Chhanchhan and Mom ... mom teasing her again about kismat and canine connections.
Manav-Himanshu - CC and dog ... Manav really is a sulky brat ... Himanshu is much better. CC apologises again about Mogambo, shows the certificate (thank god for details) ... and the brats shut her into room with dog.
And belatedly realise that maybe they did something a little stupid.
A little?!
Fortunately plan backfires, as CC is not only a dog trainer, but Changhez Khan is one of her old clients. And everyone knows dogs are very faithful creatures
CC gives them an earful about their plan, their stupidity and their mean mindedness ... she could easily retaliate, but she won't stoop so low, because although humans can save themselves from the dangers of animal bites, there is no way animals can be protected from the dangers of human beings.
(Which is very true ... which is why there are so many animals on the endangered species list, but human beings are proliferating unchecked.)
Manav and Himanshu have the grace to look a little ashamed.
Tushar bhai tries to stop CC from going to Uma Ben, but CC is adamant ... UB blames her, she knows that ... maybe if she apologises, UB will relent.
Near-miss between Manav-CC at his house ... so CC doesn't know yet that Manav is UB's son ...
Uma Ben - CC confrontation ... UB polite and smiling, sweet poison ... CC nervous, apologetic ... UB in no mood to forgive and forget ...
Lady has strong memory and knows how to hold grudges ... 'good rishta'? Saved from being married into a dowry seeking house - that's what happened to Purvi.
And Uma Ben wants unconditional apology in the newspaper ...
Thoughts:
I really don't like the way Uma Ben's character is going right now, it is far too dark. She is manipulative and dominating ... which is all right, a lot of women are like that, they dominate sweetly and with emotional blackmail, which is far more difficult to fight than blatant threats and anger, because the person on the receiving end is made to feel like a heel for even trying to oppose. Which is exactly what she makes Chhanchhan feel ... that the broken rishta was all her fault, as is Tushar bhai's loss of job and house ... no raised voices, all sweetness and honey, the poison well hidden ... The way she handles her DILs is also interesting ... no threats or strictness, instead sweet-voiced complaints, fired from husband's shoulder ... 'I don't mind, but you know, he is very strict ...'
But the way she goes about her plans, makes her very black ... from bribing the panditji, to actively encouraging the dowry demands, to her personal vendetta against Chhanchhan for causing the alliance to break, not caring about the harm she causes an old faithful employee, or even pausing to think whether the breaking of the alliance and the dowry demands were right or not ... Being conservative and orthodox is one thing, being strict for the good of her family, is also okay, but actively doing wrong things like encouraging dowry cash demands, and then sacking an employee for no reason other than her own personal loss of face ... these tip her over into black shades.Hope they redeem her over time ... it is impossible to be sympathetic towards her right now, and the best thing about Dina Pathak's character was that it was a sympathetic one.
Chhanchhan is very sweet at the moment ... very straightforward, well brought girl, very self-confident, due to her upbringing and her family, which is really very sweet, a bit naive, because all her life has been lived among people who respect each other, adults and children included ... she cannot fathom that families can be any different, or that people can be unreasonable and petty minded for their own reasons. She has strong opinions, well supported by her family, so she holds on to them, and is ready to make amends when she feels she has gone wrong ... and even when she hasn't. But I want more of a spark in her ... she is too sweet as of now. I love the teasing naughty side with her mom and daadi, want to see more of that.
So how will she deal with Uma Ben? Before marriage, that is ... as of now, I cannot fathom how she will ever marry into that house and family, even less so when she realises who the family consists of. But before marriage ... there should be sparks ... she was very quiet and polite during the confrontation with Uma Ben, but it will be interesting to see how she deals with the challenge.
Manav ... the actor needs to improve ... a lot! And the character needs to grow up ... however, am betting the latter will happen only when he falls in love, and has to stick up for his wife. Happy go lucky, irresponsible, the youngest in the family, and a pampered brat ... he did have the grace to look ashamed when CC was lecturing him, and he didn't answer her back ... though he forgot about it later, and refused to accept that he might have been wrong. Not so surprising, actually ... boys have big egos at the best of times, and when they have been proved wrong, even more so. And most men are big kids when they get married ... they actually grow up only after marriage. Especially sons of doting moms.
You win some, you lose some ...
So Chhanchhan wins over Manav ... because she's smarter, he's dumber ... using a dog to bite a dog trainer, really?! And she gives him a well-deserved ticking off ... what happened with him was not pre-meditated, and she was genuinely apologetic about it ... what he tried to do with her was deliberate and with malice ... and it back-fired.
Hope Manav has got the message.
And Chhanchhan loses with Uma Ben ... because Uma Ben is smarter and more manipulative ... and also puffed up in her own arrogance ... CC is naive and dumb enough to believe that a simple apology will cure matters.
Uma Ben reminds me more and more of ASR ... she has diabetes too!!!! And now badmouthing in the media?!
*Quick edit* to add
Uma Ben's sons are fairly decent blokes, who don't like the way Tushar bhai has been turned out, besides the man does a lot of work. And breaking a marriage alliance doesn't seem a good enough reason to turn out a decent guy. But they can argue with Uma Ben, but not with their dad. And dad supports his wife, because she helped save his business in the past, when they were down and out.
Yet another similarity with ASR ... a dark past when they were on the streets.
Yeh dono kitne milte julte hain! Is this the first time the dad is hearing the whole story? But he supports UB nonetheless ... much to her satisfaction.
Manav and Himanshu make a juvenile, not to mention, dangerous plan to take revenge on Chhanchhan.
Farhan needs to improve his expressions ... very flat. His dialogue delivery is not bad, but his expressions don't change at all. If he's angry, he's angry ... no variation at all.
Chhanchhan and Mom ... mom teasing her again about kismat and canine connections.
Manav-Himanshu - CC and dog ... Manav really is a sulky brat ... Himanshu is much better. CC apologises again about Mogambo, shows the certificate (thank god for details) ... and the brats shut her into room with dog.
And belatedly realise that maybe they did something a little stupid.
A little?!
Fortunately plan backfires, as CC is not only a dog trainer, but Changhez Khan is one of her old clients. And everyone knows dogs are very faithful creatures
CC gives them an earful about their plan, their stupidity and their mean mindedness ... she could easily retaliate, but she won't stoop so low, because although humans can save themselves from the dangers of animal bites, there is no way animals can be protected from the dangers of human beings.
(Which is very true ... which is why there are so many animals on the endangered species list, but human beings are proliferating unchecked.)
Manav and Himanshu have the grace to look a little ashamed.
Tushar bhai tries to stop CC from going to Uma Ben, but CC is adamant ... UB blames her, she knows that ... maybe if she apologises, UB will relent.
Near-miss between Manav-CC at his house ... so CC doesn't know yet that Manav is UB's son ...
Uma Ben - CC confrontation ... UB polite and smiling, sweet poison ... CC nervous, apologetic ... UB in no mood to forgive and forget ...
Lady has strong memory and knows how to hold grudges ... 'good rishta'? Saved from being married into a dowry seeking house - that's what happened to Purvi.
And Uma Ben wants unconditional apology in the newspaper ...
Thoughts:
I really don't like the way Uma Ben's character is going right now, it is far too dark. She is manipulative and dominating ... which is all right, a lot of women are like that, they dominate sweetly and with emotional blackmail, which is far more difficult to fight than blatant threats and anger, because the person on the receiving end is made to feel like a heel for even trying to oppose. Which is exactly what she makes Chhanchhan feel ... that the broken rishta was all her fault, as is Tushar bhai's loss of job and house ... no raised voices, all sweetness and honey, the poison well hidden ... The way she handles her DILs is also interesting ... no threats or strictness, instead sweet-voiced complaints, fired from husband's shoulder ... 'I don't mind, but you know, he is very strict ...'
But the way she goes about her plans, makes her very black ... from bribing the panditji, to actively encouraging the dowry demands, to her personal vendetta against Chhanchhan for causing the alliance to break, not caring about the harm she causes an old faithful employee, or even pausing to think whether the breaking of the alliance and the dowry demands were right or not ... Being conservative and orthodox is one thing, being strict for the good of her family, is also okay, but actively doing wrong things like encouraging dowry cash demands, and then sacking an employee for no reason other than her own personal loss of face ... these tip her over into black shades.Hope they redeem her over time ... it is impossible to be sympathetic towards her right now, and the best thing about Dina Pathak's character was that it was a sympathetic one.
Chhanchhan is very sweet at the moment ... very straightforward, well brought girl, very self-confident, due to her upbringing and her family, which is really very sweet, a bit naive, because all her life has been lived among people who respect each other, adults and children included ... she cannot fathom that families can be any different, or that people can be unreasonable and petty minded for their own reasons. She has strong opinions, well supported by her family, so she holds on to them, and is ready to make amends when she feels she has gone wrong ... and even when she hasn't. But I want more of a spark in her ... she is too sweet as of now. I love the teasing naughty side with her mom and daadi, want to see more of that.
So how will she deal with Uma Ben? Before marriage, that is ... as of now, I cannot fathom how she will ever marry into that house and family, even less so when she realises who the family consists of. But before marriage ... there should be sparks ... she was very quiet and polite during the confrontation with Uma Ben, but it will be interesting to see how she deals with the challenge.
Manav ... the actor needs to improve ... a lot! And the character needs to grow up ... however, am betting the latter will happen only when he falls in love, and has to stick up for his wife. Happy go lucky, irresponsible, the youngest in the family, and a pampered brat ... he did have the grace to look ashamed when CC was lecturing him, and he didn't answer her back ... though he forgot about it later, and refused to accept that he might have been wrong. Not so surprising, actually ... boys have big egos at the best of times, and when they have been proved wrong, even more so. And most men are big kids when they get married ... they actually grow up only after marriage. Especially sons of doting moms.
verrrry sweet SBS of Sanaya meeting her "fan no. 1" .. a competition hosted by SBS..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyp94z_saas-bahu-aur-saazish-sbs-abp-news-3rd-april-2013-video-pt2_fun#.UVyLT5N-YqZ
I fell in love with Sanaya all over again... :)) and it helped that she was looking ultra adorable in the pink sweater and printed leggings.. :)))
seriously, all the actors should take a leaf out of her book and learn how to deal with fans... "relax, you don't have to be so nervous...I am just a normal human being, you can see me walking on the road...you can see me shopping in malls.." :))
AND...she says next time MoNaya will be meeting fans together.. :)) already cannot wait for that day! :P
start watching around 12:00..
DeleteI saw it ... really sweet! Sanaya was looking adorable in pink, and she is so sweet with her fans! That girl was totally tongue-tied, and she completely put her at ease ... the fan was chatting away with her by the end!
Deleteand this is her breathless report on IF
Deletehttp://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3517678
so adorable :D
Hello! I am a fan of Sanaya since IPK and hence started watching Chhan Chhan. I accidently found this blog a month or so back and started reading it. I find the comments and analysis interesting but most importantly it is OK to agree to disagree here.
ReplyDeleteNow for my views on this show. The first week left me a little confused and incomplete. I desperately wanted to fall in love with the show and that was not happening. I guess a lot of that is because like many IPK viewers, I was expecting the same magic here right away and I was suffering from withdrawals.
It may not happen here as the chances of such magic happening is greater in love stories and only with the level of CHEMISTRY which Sanaya shared with her previous co-actor. The BG music of IPK also helped BIG TIME!
Now coming back to Chhan Chhan again...from this week the show has started growing on me, I am not crazy about it yet, but good enough for me to tune in the next day. To be fair to the makers they are still introducing all the characters and they are taking their own sweet time to do that. Simultaneously I think they want to maintain focus on Supriya Pathak and Sanaya as these two actors are their biggest draw right now and they have to catch eyeballs with IPL and big competitors on other channels at 9pm. I agree with the above comments and I hope they bring in more nuances and layers to Uma Ben (UB) and ChhanChhan as show progresses. Fingers crossed!
As far as the rest of the cast members are concerned, I hope they are utilized well in the story, unlike the previous show I watched. I like to believe that so many characters/relations have been introduced because they will all contribute to this journey of Chhanchhan and the various tracks will be interwoven. We are yet to see how the 3 daughter-in-laws(DIL) think and how they are different from each other and their relation with other family members and their husbands etc. etc. If I remember correctly UB father-in-law is also there, we have yet to meet him. Interesting to see how UB will be with him, considering all the expectations she has from her own DILs.
DeleteThey have already hinted at some cracks in the seemingly tightly held together family of UB, what with convincing the elder son to stay back etc. Even yesterday when Uma Ben said that she fired Tushhar bhai with full consent of her husband, UB's husband gave her some furtive looks. Maybe he is not all that henpecked after all. He may agree to UB in front of their sons to maintain peace and help Tushar bhai behind UB back. Yet to see...
Similarly, we have not seen CC's siblings after the first two episodes...hope they have a story too.
So, I guess we will have lots to see ahead and I am really hoping for Sanaya's sake that this show takes off. I would wait for couple of months to see how everything shapes up. Hopefully (hope seems to be a word I am using a lot!) by then Farhan too will improve his act. But I also pity him because despite all efforts, he is also competing with memory of ASR and it is a tall order to say the least.
Coming to suspension of logic and glossing over loop holes, I am already prepared for that when I am watching desi TV serials (IPK was first desi serial I have watched fully in 15 years, I live in U.S. and I subscribed to Indian channels only a couple of years ago). From the sample I have seen all have loopholes and bloopers, it is just a matter of degree. IPK had so many loopholes, bloopers, BDs and tracks not getting closed, but I kept watching it. So, for me it is only fair to give this one a chance and wish they have less of them.
Sanaya coming back after the disastrous end to her previous show, generated quite a hype because maybe somewhere we felt a tiny bit of IPK will be back. But once we remove our Rabba ve glasses and alter our expectations this show has some future. How successful it will be, is a different story.
DeleteI suppose Sanaya chose this show because a back to back love story would generate more comparisons. Even when there were some speculations she might be doing another love saga produced by MB makers for Star Plus, I remember reading articles criticizing her for sticking to one genre and taking a safe option. Plus there maybe other shows she might have considered but may not have worked out for various reasons. This channel and production house are giving her lot more attention then the previous one did, right now it seems she is the center of attention.
There are many Saas-bahu shows, but it this definitely a first for her, and how one portrays a 'bahu' makes a big differences. Just like there a lots of love stories on TV too, but how Khushi and Arnav were portrayed made all the difference to me. Hell! I stuck to the show even when my favorite character Khushi was being brutally killed by the writers. Despite that Sanaya managed to make me empathize with Khushi at some level! By the end I think all characters of IPK were hara-kiried.
This show may not lead to obsessive fans and some IPK fans may fall out or wait to see Sanaya in Jhalak or another show, but it may create it's own fan base among other demographic groups . In a way it may be better for Sanaya in the long run to widen her fan base and she lost one show because of an obsession and it is casting a long shadow on her current show too, gauging from some of the comments I read on IF.
Gosh! I have gone on and on, I apologize but I wanted it out of my system.
My best wishes for this show and I sincerely hope the channel, production house, writers and creatives do justice to the talent they have recruited.
Hey Anonymous,
DeleteA very warm welcome to you on RnR ... all silent readers are welcome and all Sanaya fans are doubly so! :))) Do give us your name - an alias will do if you're uncomfortable sharing your real name, but we like to call everyone by name :)))
And thanks for posting ... what a superb maiden post! Don't apologize for the length ... all of us tend to go on about our favorites! And I love reading anything from Sanaya fans :)))
I am in complete agreement with everything you wrote above, and loved the way you put many points across.
First of all, am in the same boat as you ... I was unhappy for Sanaya with the way IPK wound up ... I was resigned to Barun's leaving, and was perfectly happy to see Khushi's further journey without Arnav ... but unfortunately that didn't happen, and I felt it was highly unfair on Sanaya and the rest of the cast and crew. So I started watching this show with a determination to watch it regardless of whether I liked it or not :))) I was a Sanaya fan when IPK started, but I became a bigger fan during IPK ... and this despite the fact that Khushi was in many ways, NOT my ideal heroine ... mainly in her childish antics and her OTT scenes (how I hated those!) It was only because it was Sanaya that I didn't switch off IPK during those times, otherwise I would have said farewell to IPK long ago. Sanaya, and the Arshi chemistry, of course ... both kept me hooked.
Regarding the IPK hangover ... again, very true! I think everyone expected an instant repeat of the IPK magic all over again ... there are many reasons that will never happen. One, this is NOT a love story, and that kind of magic happens only with love stories, not with family dramas. Two, the Arshi chemistry was really extraordinary, I don't see it being repeated in a long while, not with either Barun or Sanaya with different partners. It might not even repeat with Barun/Sanaya together again ... because it was a combination of the actors, the screenplay, the dialogues, the music, everything ... although the actors lifted it to a completely new level for sure.
IPK was not an extraordinary show. It started off slowly, it took time to build up and it petered out in many tracks, the writing became mediocre after a while, especially after Holi, most tracks stopped making sense. But what kept us all enthralled was the Arshi chemistry to which we were all hooked by then.
I went back to my earlier posts on IPK when Chhanchan started, to remember when IPK really took off - and to see how much time I should give Chhanchhan before passing a verdict ;)
DeleteDuring week 3 of IPKKND, I was seriously questioning Sanaya's choice of show, and wondering whether I would ever be as hooked to it as I had been to MJHT. That was when they were portraying Khushi as goofy and silly ...
Then the guesthouse, Teej and Diwali tracks happened, goofy Khushi was left behind in favour of a much stronger, fiery Khushi, and I was hooked. Arnav's vulnerability started showing through his bloody-mindedness ... the Arshi chemistry took off. After that, no looking back ... although OTT Khushi seriously strained my tolerance limits, but by then Sanaya kept me hooked. Those were the only episodes of IPK I never re-watched, not even the repeats on TV.
But there were so many faults in IPK, which we never noticed during the show ... the destruction of all the characters, not just Khushi ... the complete absence of Arnav's famous dimaag - we spent the latter half of the show waiting for that elusive dimaag to re-appear, but it never did ... we never knew why Shyam behaved the way he did, and he was never exposed for his murder attempts of Anjali and Babuji ... Payash were never explored well, the actors were faithful to the show till the end, they showed up in full make up and costume every single day, only to stand silently like mannequins ... Anjali went through her own destruction with her blind belief in Shyam, despite all the evidence to the contrary, and when Shyam was exposed she was never shown to even contemplate on all the times she had noticed things and ignored them ... no character was spared.
I think Chhanchhan will be much better in the story-telling, all the characters will be given their due space and the hara kiri will not happen. Partly because the obsession will never be there for this show the way it was with IPK ... the Arhi obsession caused many problems for IPK, most of all, it caused the untimely end of the show ... that will not happen here for sure. Also the PH is more experienced, they will not follow the whims and fancies of obsessed fans, and the channel has a long relationship with the PH, and won't interfere too much.
And like you rightly said, it will widen Sanaya's fanbase, and bring in a different demographic group ... plus it will probably shake off many of the obsessed Arhi fans sooner or later ... which to my mind is a good thing. They caused her previous show to shut down, and they are determined to dislike this show, be it for the genre, the male lead, the music, the similarity between Khushi and Chhanchhan, the dogs ... the silliest of reasons is enough to criticize the show. Considering that they were the ones who wanted IPK to end, am not sure how logical their thinking is - they didn't want Khushi without Arnav, they got what they wanted, now what is their problem?
How successful Chhanchhan will be ... I don't know. At the moment, I am not very concerned. The channel is backing the PH, starting TRP's are decent, the best for a Sony show in over a year ... so it will stay on air for at least a year if not more.
DeleteI am more concerned with how they tell their story ... the theme did interest me to watch it, quite apart from Sanaya. DABH had a similar theme, I tried watching that when it started, and gave up after a month or so, when it went the predictable way. Remains to be seen if Chhanchhan also takes that route, or actually does manage to be 'different'. Like you said, Sanaya made a stereotyped 'angry guy-bubbly girl' love story into something extraordinary, so let's see if she can make a saas bahu show also extraordinary.
I am actually enjoying the show for the most part ... the dowry message appeals to my own values ... and I am a complete dog-lover :)))
Where I have my doubts is with Uma Ben's character, and with Farhan's acting. Vipul Shah's latest quote seems to indicate Uma Ben will not be black, but will have shades, so that is reassuring, I think Supriya P also said the same thing.
Farhan's acting ... he is okay. I think one big problem is of course, that even without wanting, one tends to compare him with BS, which is quite unfair on him ... IPK was BS's third show, and even he took 3 weeks to get into character, he was very stiff initially. But after the huge hype on the hunt for the male lead, one expected better. I would have preferred Varun Kapoor, the first choice ... he was good looking in a boyish way, and from the one clip someone posted here, his dialogue delivery and acting was good too. But again the IPK hangover and the uproar over Sanaya's new lead probably affected the search. So I will be glad if Chhanchhan does shake off the last of the IPK hangover ... at least, the negative effects of it. I would love to see Sanaya in another love story after this show, maybe a year or two down the line ... and by then Chhanchhan would have shaken off the memories of Khushi and Arhi. Till then, am hoping and wishing for the best for Chhanchhan and for Sanaya.
Hello Dia, my name is Uma. Enjoyed reading your take and will post rest of my thoughts a bit later. Thanks for the warm welcome.
Delete