Monday, July 21, 2014

21/7 - Epi 147 ... Misfired Bullets, Misfired Plans

Monday 21st July

Well balanced episode today ... two parallel tracks starting to take shape.
Paro Rudra Shantanu ... with Sunehri as catalyst ... or catalyst number 1. Don't know how many more Shantanu will use in his attempts to destroy PaRud.
Mohini- Shatabdi- Maithili- rest of Ranawat family ... which will go parallel with the first one, crisscross for light moments, intersect to give push when required. As in the munh dikhayi rasam.

Paro Rudra Shantanu ... so Rudra wasn't jealous, he wasn't worried, he wasn't tense ... he was just grateful to Shantanu for helping Paro and rescuing her. So he goes and thanks Shantanu.
Hmmm ... Rudra losing his sharp edge here, in his worry for Paro. This seems to be the JDJ effect.
So is there a role reversal coming up here? Rudra trusting Shantanu and Paro suspecting? If it happens, I will be happy. Even happier if they both work in tandem.

Shantanu very happy ... his happiness loses its edge when he sees PaRud in perfect cohesion and collusion ... if she stumbles, he holds ... Shantanu vows again to destroy them.
And who can be a better medium that Rudra's sister ... that foolish starry eyed girl? Easy as pie ...

Not so easy, as Shantanu finds out the next day. Sunehri might be dumb and starry eyed, but not so starry eyed that she will agree to run away with him without trying at least once for parental permission. Which Shantanu has no intention of doing.
So plan A down the drain ... along with the very nice flowers he brought for Sunehri ... neither worked. And he was almost caught by Paro.

In the middle, a small dining table scene ... I really don't understand the cvs ... the smallest, most insignificant scene of the episode used as precap for the next week? Paro tries to persuade Samrat and Maithili to accept Shatabdi ... they hved very understandable reservations ... Paro as usual, seeing the other side of the picture ... Shatabdi's side ... with some justification. Shatabdi makes kheer with Mala's help ... this girl is not bad, she's doing all the rasams a new bride does, with no hesitation, but without the usual coy 'sharmana' of a new bride.
Maithili agreed to taste it ... Mohini and Sumer of course refused ... so the family gets divided again, again with Mohini and Sumer on one side, and the rest on the other side.

Paro works on persuading Maithili for the next thing ... munh dikhayi for the new bride ... in the privacy of her bedroom. And almost stumbles on the bullet Shantanu fired into the wall in the mock fight. Another near miss ... Shantanu sees the bullet and realises it can cook his goose ... so he tries to retrieve it. And fails. But Paro is confused at his repeated appearance in her room, and asks some searching questions ... which he manages to duck.

But no near miss this time ... Paro finds the bullet.

In the meantime, Maithili confronts Mohini about a munh dikhayi for Shatabdi ... and counters all her barbs with polite, quiet confidence. Mohini has cooked her own goose with her latest antic ... neither Paro nor Maithili are prepared to put up with her nonsense any more ... and they both have the full support of their husbands and the rest of the family. Mohini is increasingly isolated ... with only Sumer for support.
And judging by the way he's getting cowed by his new wife with his old belt, that might not be for too long either.

Paro ... thank the Lord the cvs finally listened and showed us Paro's feelings!!! Her fear palpable as she stares at the bullet, the remembered terror of the night mirrored in her eyes, the voices and gunshots echoing in her mind ... as always, Sanaya nailed that scene and brought in the much needed emotional connect ... could feel her fear, smell it, taste it, as she sat trembling, hunched on the floor, as though transfixed, not daring to move ... till Rudra came in and saw her ... tried to comfort her ... Again, thank god the cv's finally gave us Paro's fears as her words tumbled out ... her fear of losing Rudra, losing this perfect life they had built for themselves after so many hurdles and obstacles ... her tears falling unchecked as she clings to Rudra for dear life, and he tries to console her ...
And as usual, when called, she goes where she is needed ... wipes her tears, hides her fears ... but this time Rudra has seen what she always tries to hide ... her weakness, her worries, her fears ...

So Rudra will send the bullet for testing ... or will Shantanu waylay his plans?

Precap ... Paro gets another jhatka about Shantanu. 

20 comments:

  1. My only comment to the CVs: "Abhi tak kahaan the tum log?" or is this the effect of having moved to a new studio? Which ever one it is, we are very happy with the way they are developing the parallel tracks and especially pacing the story.

    Finally, Paro got an opportunity to voice her fears!

    Take your time in telling us your story CVs - we are in no rush, if the story is told well. :)))

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    1. Aki ... you bet!!! If this is what happens when AS goes missing, all I can say is ... long may he stay missing!

      Jeez, do NOT quote me on IF .. I will be lynched!!! :)))

      We have been saying for ever and ever ... SHOW PARO'S POV ... do NOT neglect her emotions ... and make her on the right side ... the makers did all the reverse ... they made her inscrutable and ever-smiling and ever-strong, and made the hero become a watering hose ... they made Paro trust Tejawat, then Laila and now fight with Rudra over Shantanu ... who the heck was writing the script?

      Anyway, I have a horrid feeling that Paro'e fears are a one off, only to lead up to the consummation tonight, after that, they may be brushed under the carpet again. Hope to God I'm wrong.

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  2. It does say something about a serial when one of its lead actor is missing ( well almost ) but still the serial manages to hold your interest!!!
    Will Sunehri succumb to Shantanu's consistent advances towards her? Will he succeed in his evil plans? Will Paro be able to catch onto Shantanu's actual agenda?What will be Su-Mo-Sh next comical adventure? All these still manages to grab my attention on to this serial, then what's wrong with the TRP's? Forget it , let's not go there! :-/

    Shatabdi has said it all, I am no 'gaay' I am 'Sherni', and god she is one!! I am not worried about Mohini-Sumer anymore, Shatabdi is going to get them on track! !;-)) LOL

    Lately I had been a little irritated with Paro's Diaalogues to her Major saab stating 'aap hai na', 'hame koi darr nahin, aapjo hai hamare saath",etc etc on those lines, well its nice to reassure your husband, trying to ease the tension filled environment but I used to feel that it was a little bit excessive,and it made Paro appear like an airhead , but a big thanks to the CV's today for letting Paro explain herself, as to how she is trying her best to think positive be optimistic, trying to live their life as happy as it can be, pushing away all the fear clouding her mind, now I now all the time she was saying those lines to her husband she was trying to reassure herself and trying to stay strong!

    As for the precap why do I have a feeling that Shantanu is going to convince Rudra that he will deliver the bullets for analysis to Aman and considering the recent impression that Rudra seems to have on him looks like he may even oblige!!
    Whether the reason is JDJ or anything else, they are totally assassinating Rudra's character or maybe since Paro is involved he is so emotinally attached to this case that he is unable to think clearly ,happens to most of us!!, but even I am with you Dia I would be happy if they show Parvathi catching onto Shantanu's evil plot and then working with Rudra or even solving it for that matter all by herself, Go girl power!!! ;-)) :-)

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    1. MB, forget the TRPs ... that is a puzzle we cannot solve. Although I do feel that if the writers tried to showcase Paro's emotions more ... not only Paro's, but ALL the female characters, then the show would do much better. The way they've written the female characters, no one can connect to them ... or rather, they don't give any opportunity for anyone to connect with them at all. Paro repeating again and again that she trusts Rudra for her safety is very unreal ... she has to show some signs of fear ... and I'm so glad they brought that out today ... and explained her a little by saying that Paro tries to keep her fears under control, but today they spilled out.

      I hope they write the Shatabdi-Sumer track well ... that needs good comic writing, I think the actors can pull it off.

      Shantanu will do something about the bullet ... he won't get caught so quickly. This track will be stretched for some time... at least till JDJ ends, or near that. In fact, considering that AS is going to have 2 performances every week from now on, it might be good if he got caught at the border, or disappeared on a secret mission, leaving Paro to handle the danger completely on her own, just as her suspicions about Shantanu start to crystallise. The way PaRud are as a couple, it is impossible that she won't tell him of her suspicions, and equally impossible that he won't come rushing back for her safety. And if he comes back, they can't stretch the track, because they can't show Rudra being deceived by Shantanu ... Rudra is the all-wise, always right one.

      Also, itihaas gavah hai :) that after every consummation, there is always a separation.

      So let's see how they take this track.

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  3. Nice take Dia - my only question - how come Rudra the bahadur (and sometimes shatir) BSD affsar, did not search the room and find the goli after the incident? Dimaag kaha gaya tha uska?

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    1. Archana, when has Rudra ever used his dimaag? After the fire in his dad's room, did he search the room for clues? No, it was Paro who did that. Did he question Mala or Laila about where Tejawat's hideout was? Nope, he was too busy sulking over Mommy reappearing ... he left it all to Aman.

      Rudra ka shatir dimaag is like Arnav's shatir dimaag ... gone into a black hole!

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  4. Nice takes everyone. I enjoyed the return of our sensible, sensitive, calm yet vulnerable Paro today. Agree MB, today we heard why Paro keeps repeating those lines of reassurance to Rudra, she is trying to keep her sanity and be strong and also knowing her husband's temperament, she trying to maintain some semblance of calm and normalcy. Sanaya nailed the last scene.

    I think Rudra has started to trust Shantanu. MB, here again I agree with you that it is difficult to maintain objectivity and clear head when a loved one is involved in a case. VK Singh said the same lines.

    -U

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  5. There was some talk on Ashish's participation in JDJ in the last thread, copy pasting my take on it.

    RR has been on a downward spiral for a while, I myself am not that gungho about episodes as I was in the beginning, but it retains enough interest for me to watch the episodes at least once and read/ participate in analysis here. I will give much of the credit for this to the talented ensemble cast than the narration of the story. The reasons for this loss of sheen of RR have been discussed and analysed by many on this thread and over the months on this forum. It ranges from story being too dark, violence, lack of comedy, negative montage, too many villains, jumping tracks, over emphasis on one protagonist to the detriment of other characters, no proper closure to tracks and deviating many times from the tagline of the show "rakth se rachi prem kahani", editing, loud BG, lack of promos, panic due to TRPs and even off screen issues like split in production house etc. So one can take a pick depending on one's perspective on the show, and taste in entertainment. However, just like every successful venture needs plenty of things to come together so is the case if a project is not doing well, there are multiple reasons for it.

    Coming to Ashish's participation in JDJ, at the end of the day it was his personal decision no matter who persuaded him, and it was bound to have an impact on his schedule and energy levels. At the same time he is there with the blessings of the PH and the channel, so ultimately all three are responsible parties for any consequences on RR due to this decision of theirs.

    Now coming to the current situation, the decision is made, Ashish is in JDJ and by all accounts he is doing very well there (am not following JDJ) and may become a finalist, so some more weeks of these double shifts is inevitable. With that in mind it is upto the entire team of writers, creatives and actors to pull up their socks and give us reasonably good episodes without deviating much from the core theme of the show because they made a commitment to RR audience too 6 months back "rann ke bhoomi mai rakth se rachi ek prem kahani", for which most of us signed up. Now more than ever the entire team needs to pull themselves up and put their heads together because RR is now literally fighting for survival due to TRP and revenue pressures.

    So, in a nutshell my point is just like success should be shared collectively, so must be fallouts of missteps and their redresal. (BTW, this the same thing I have to say to those who single out Sanaya for low TRPs and/ or mock CC, every TV show is team work).

    -U

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  6. My views with respect to few comments in the previous post,
    @Ratna,
    Glad to hear back from you, looks like busy AD is taking over most of us, Shweta ( ulta decoding ), lakshmi, Madhu-mitha and many other regulars all seem to be missing!
    You are right that Dharshti was in JDJ last season but we got to see her in her show and it was more than a guest appearance. ( she did look really worn out but poor girl, I remember )

    As to why guys manage to get the better deal, even I am clueless! And as to why can't they juggle both the departments equally as the ladies do- well they are just LAZY! ( Just kidding) ;-) )

    From my general observation men are not good at multi-tasking unlike women !!,of course there are exceptions here, but I felt this from observing my husband, my brother and few of my cousins, its not that they were unable to complete them all but they were all extremely tensed, irritable and angry all the time, It took a toll on their health, missed everything and everybody, looking haggard a.k.a Barun Sobti syndrome!!
    Plus Ashish did say in of the articles that he is not a natural dancer and needs lot of practice and attention to what he is doing to get good scores.
    So its understood he will spend more time and he is in limelight now due to RR, so his idea must be to strike the iron when hot!
    I agree with 'U' joining JDJ was his personal decision but the rest of the RR team is still present and they can also tell us a good story and I feel they have been trying to compared to IPKKND where during the male lead's absence the story had started turning stale and I was watching it because it had become a habit, for Sanaya and Dia's blog!!!

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  7. Hello everyone.

    @U : Initially, I didn't care much about Ashish's absence. Because, the PH managed with BDs. The scenes looked weird, but I kind of overlooked such things. Atleast the guy or his BD had some screen space. Even now, when Rudra is making a guest appearance in every episode, I am not too bothered about his near prolonged absence. But the point is that there is a large group of people who connect with Rudra and they would obviously like to see him on screen. That is clearly not happening. Again.... I am happy with the parallel tracks and the supporting cast has been just awesome. So, I don't really miss Rudra. But that cannot be said the same for everyone. The sad part about shows like RR, IPKKND is that the audience connect well with the male lead. Is it because of the narration? Or acting? Or the actor? I can't really point out. IPKKND was a balanced show in terms of narration. Not very biased towards Arnav or Khushi. The few episodes when Arnav was missing were actually good. I liked the way they showed Khushi's feelings in those episodes.The way she misses Arnav, her instincts about Arnav's situation, her detective efforts, the way Naaniji, Anjali and the rest of the family (except Shyam) supported her and tried to cheer her.... these things were shown really well. But I am sure that the typical TRP audience and the so-called phangirls (whatever that means!!!) would have been hugely disappointed. We have a similar situation here. I don't know about other shows like Madhubala and Qubool Hai, where the male leads quit the show. I understood something very clearly. No matter how well the CVs present the female leads of the show, at the end of the day, it is always the male leads who are the crowning jewel of the show. The exceptions may be Smriti Irani and Sakshi Tanwar of Kyunki Saas.... and Kahani ghar... I am not sure if my observations are 100% right, because I don't watch Television very often. When my friend suggested that I watch IPKKND, she was going gaga over Barun. The truth is that there are many people who connect with Barun Sobti only and in that process, they overlooked everyone else's efforts. Even now, when I talk to people who had watched IPKKND, they talk mostly of Barun. Am not trying to criticize or bash anyone here, but I think that is how the industry is. I also noticed a similar fan following for Karan Singh Grover, Vivian D'Sena. I would like to share another thought with the disclaimer that this is purely my imagination based on observation. Instead of Barun quitting the show, if it had been Sanaya the one to quit, there would not have been much of a hungama. Some of her fans would have been disappointed, but the show would have gone on. Male dominated world, ladies..... Takes a while to change things.

    @ Morning Breeze: Dhrashti managed to manage both the shows. Ashish is not able to do so. For the girls, TV shows are their bread and butter. And no one in her right sense would want to compromise with that. I am not sure what problems Ashish has. He might have different priorities, ambitions, goals, but he is truly professional. And I like him for the fact that he is professional. Hope, I keep liking him.

    Lastly, I would like to say why I had to post this comment. Normally, I stay away from discussions that are one-sided. Because I feel that at the end of the day, all the movie stars, TV stars, and everyone else in the entertainment industry have a life of their own. They have their own agenda that they got to stick to. And everyone would want something better than the one they have. I read something like this in IF too. The author and his/her post kind of mirrored my thoughts. And I have made an effort to explain a few things about the current scenario, without trying to hurt/bash/criticize anyone. I hope I have succeeded in making my points clear without hurting anyone.

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  8. Hi Madhu- Mitha, I think you got me wrong, I wasn't commenting on Ashish's professionalism nor that he was being/not being professional, I was simply stating my observations in general, nothing personal.
    Moreover I meant to say that even in his absence they need not make a big deal out of it because the supporting star cast is so strong that they can manage on their own if given a good plot, like they have :-)

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    1. Hey MB.... Relax.... I too was stating my thoughts on it. I comment only in Dia's blog, because it is the only "shaanth" place that I know of. Having visited and read many posts/blogs in IF and other forums, I know I can state my opinion comfortably in this forum. You know what? These kind of issues (like the lead actor/actress quitting the show) can be perceived in two ways. Let us talk about a known example (read Barun Sobti). What he did was technically right. Yes! He put in his papers well in advance. But the problem was many of us found that ethically incorrect. I hope I am using the right terms. Ethically incorrect might vary from person to person. What may seem right to me may not be right to you. Since I watched IPK much later after it went off air, I didn't know about the way the show ended. So, my friends told me about the male lead quitting the show, the PH trying to find a new guy, the fans' reaction, the channel's decision, etc. I was in two minds about his decision, it felt both right and wrong at the same time. That is when I read what someone wrote about the personal lives of celebs, which is what I had mentioned in the last paragraph of my previous comment. That kind of made sense to me.

      Nothing against you, MB. Let's not argue over Ashish. :D :D Well, I did mention that I liked him as he was professional. I also mentioned that hopefully I should keep liking him. Meaning, he is my favourite as long as he gives his best to RR.

      Ladies: Not trying to criticize anyone here. :( :(

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    2. Oh alright, then I think I misunderstood what you said earlier!!! ;-) No biggie anyways :-))

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    3. Thank you :D :D

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  9. Now coming to the episode....

    @Dia: Rudra thanked Shanthanu for helping Paro. Last week, after the threatening voicemail, I thought Rudra was still suspicious of Shanthanu. Looks like he was not sarcastic. He was his usual (brusque) self, when he questioned Shanthanu about the bullet being fired within a close range. Urrrrgggghhhhhh.... It is very confusing, you know. Rudra is giving mixed signals. I really hope that the CVs keep Rudra intelligent. Now Paro feels something is fishy. That's a good sign. Like you said, I would like to see Paro and Rudra working together against the common enemy. Again.. why do I get a feeling that there would be a separation? I know that I said that there might not be enough time to have a separation track. But not sure what goes on behind the scenes. Well, I am not complaining as the track is built in a holistic manner. And we have parallel tracks going on, which are equally watchable.

    By the way Dia, was it Kheer or Halwa? :D :D

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    1. Madhu-mitha, I completely agree, we have a separation coming up ... every time there is a consummation, there is separation. So be prepared :)))

      Rudra is giving mixed signals ... is that because Ashish is not available, or because Rudra is confused? Don't know ... but I am happy that Paro is getting suspicious.

      Kheer or halwa? Don't remember ... which was it? It looked like goo, that's all I remember!

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    2. Dia,

      I am ready for a separation track. :) that would be a good platform to show a bolder paro minus the dumbness. Because in rudra's absence, she has to fend for herself.


      - Madhumitha

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  10. Hello everyone
    First: Today's Episode, wonderful job with parallel tracks, well written, tight and did not get bored The last scene was lovely, more of this CVs, please use Sanaya for her skills, she does not miss a beat in these kind of scenes.
    RE AS absence, it's only been sparse past 3 episodes, before that it was fine, yes he's tired, he probably didn't realize how hard it would be doing 2 shows and is feeling it now. Agree with everyone's points above, ML are the bread and butter of the industry. Dia i want to thank you for this calm place, bc IF is going crayzayyyyy over this.
    I think its a perfect opportunity to let Paro come to the forefront! Sanaya carried ipk the entire time BS was gone and here AS is only somewhat absent, so it is manageable,
    IF fans have their knickers in a knot over this LOL. Keep Calm

    Kiran

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  11. Just went through all the comments here on Ashish doing JDJ ... since this is a peaceful place, I will add my views.

    I feel Ashish behaved quite similarly to BS here. He has been in this industry for 4-5 years, this is his fourth show, and the first time he has been approached for JDJ, that too, after Sanaya turned it down. Don't forget, JDJ is very lucrative for the contestants, they get paid a packet, and he is a professional actor, with a wife and a house to run. So I don't really blame him for taking it up, knowing that most likely RR will be off air by the same time next year, and he probably won't be called again. Making hay while the sun was shining ... the same way that BS did for MAMR.
    It was a joint decision by him, his PH and the channel, he didn't take it alone, but at the end of the day, it was HIS decision to take part. The PH and channel must have encouraged him, agreed to give him some time off for rehearsals etc ... but he must have known that doing two shows simultaneously, was going to be tough at best. Especially when Rudra has a lot of screen space ... he is not an Ahem dikra. Yet he took it up ... for his own personal reasons. He gets money, he gets exposure, he gets seen by three BW biggies. So I don't feel very sympathetic when he or his nutcase wife tweet all over the place about how hard he's working, and how tired he gets. But I can understand his taking it up.

    Do I blame him for not doing RR justice while working on JDJ? Yes, I do. By his own account, he spends 12 hours a day on RR sets, the same time as he spent earlier. Then why are we not getting enough Rudra scenes? I don't blame the cvs here ... they have given him ample screen space all through the show ... too much at times ... at the expense of all the other characters. If he was available, they could easily write a parallel track for Rudra, showing him doing some investigative work on Shantanu ... the way he has casually accepted Shantanu does not sit well with me at all. Or even coming across one of the missing girls, thereby creating a new track which would run parallel with Paro finding out about Shantanu this side ... or finding one of Varun's relatives, and investigating that end ... CVs could have come with a number of things, and the fact that they are giving him barely 2 min screen space per episode, means that he might be physically present on the RR sets, but he's not doing much work there.

    Like some people pointed out, Drashti managed her show along with JDJ, so did GC the previous year ... how is it that AS is getting away with so little work on RR?

    Anyway, speaking for myself, I don't really care ... let him stay missing, and let the CVs make Paro the strong one in the track, showcase her development, let her get suspicious of Shantanu and be the one to expose him ... Rudra can come in at the end, like our Indian police in movies :))) Or the way he did in the laddoo track ... Paro and Maithili collected all the evidence, he came in and took all the credit. I will be happy if Paro emerges the hero in this track ... and he comes in at the end, just in time to join her in exposing Shantanu.

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    1. Regarding TRPs, that's a whole different ball game ... I don't blame Ashish for falling TRPs, that's due to the badly written and jumpy tracks ... an actor can't do anything about TRPs, that's the responsibility of the writers and screenplay writers and director. If even Amitabh Bachhan cannot get sky-rocketing TRPs on TV, that just goes to show that content is king on TV, especially well written saas bahu type content ;) ... and Indian audience is really not ready for anything very different right now.

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