30/12 - Epi 1 ... Rangrasiya - explosive start!

A bus hurtling through the dark night, a quick refresher stop, fond parents carrying a doll home for their beloved pampered child ... and through the darkness of the night, explosive bursts of sharp gunfire ... the killing fields.

The child Paro awaits her parents ... young, innocent, her face alight with the sheer joy of life and living, chasing butterflies as flighty and pretty as she is. And her life as she knows it, is wiped out in one tragic accident. She cries for the loss, as her loving uncle and aunt and cousin comfort her in their warm embrace. Orphaned, but her life has warmth and love still ... she is not alone. She hides her tears and turns a smiling face to the world, to those who try so hard to comfort her.

In another place, a boy ... a bubbling cauldron of repressed anger and hate ... abandoned by his mother, teased by his fellow mates, abused by harsh uncaring teachers, his bitterness nursed and fomented by an equally bitter father ... his life's lesson, don't trust beautiful women, for they belong to no one, neither parent, husband or their own children, hammered into him by his father. No softness, no comfort, no gentle embrace in his life, father and son both imprisoned in their individual and collective bitterness and hate.

The first meeting across the two buses ... brilliantly done! Both kids were brilliant ... the angry young Rudra, his hate barely contained inside, threatening to erupt at any moment ... and the sweet, smiling Paro, so quick to see another's pain, and offer comfort ... she presents him with a sweet smile, and with a quick throw, her smiling doll. Is that the first softness, the first smile that Rudra has seen since his mother left him?

The foundation of the story, of both the characters, was very beautifully laid in the initial episode itself ... the explanation of why they are the way they are. Both the kids were very good, both completely laid the base of the adult characters beautifully. The little Rudra was brilliant, his eyes showed the anger simmering inside, just waiting for an outlet. The sweetness of Paro's character was showcased beautifully by the little girl. Rudra's breakdown in the bus, Paro seeing his tears, her instinctive offer of comfort ... I thought he would throw her doll away, refute it, but he didn't ... he accepted the comfort. Will that doll be the medium through which they recognise each other?

And then fifteen years later, the grown up Paro ... love the title song as Paro runs swiftly over the hot sand, her pallu held between her teeth, her face lit with a soft smile, her cousin chasing after her ... then the girls run to the injured camel, Paro dispatches her cousin to fetch some healing herb and tries to comfort the camel with some mantras ... calls for help to a strange camel rider in the distance ... and watches with horror as he approaches her ... she backs, only to fall, and stare in stupefied horror as he encircles her with a ring of gasoline poured from his canteen, and with a single shot sets fire to it ... leaving her inside a glowing circle of fire .
And she screams ... as the silhouette stands towering over her.

SN - Sanaya's complaints that she had to run over the hot sand, and they showed it only in slow motion ... Sanaya, they did show it at normal speed too, and you ran very fast! I was impressed at how quickly she did manage to run across the shifting sand.
Her scene with the camel ... reminded me about the story of Sanaya befriending the camel :)
The circle of fire ... reminded me of the article about how Sanaya had to sit inside the ring of fire over four hours for that scene.
Am thoroughly impressed again by Sanaya's voice modulation ... her voice is completely different again, soft, and with the Rajasthani lilt in her words. She is looking gorgeous too ... so young and innocent and pretty!!!