TV Shows this Month - Random Ramblings

Downton Abbey ... I missed a few episodes, and am struggling to catch up. Didn't watch this season properly earlier, so have a very hazy idea of the story.

Edith is pregnant, her boyfriend Mr Gregson has disappeared, her aunt decides to take her to France for  a few months to have the baby and give it away. Dowager Lady Grantham discovers the truth ... but of course. Nothing much escapes that old lady's eagle eye.
Mary has a surfeit of suitors. Lord Gillingham's valet raped Anna ... and Mary knows. Bates doesn't.
Who is Charles ... need to catch up on that.
Who is the new girl in Tom's life ... need to catch up on that too.

Ganga ...  continues to be interesting, as long as the child actors are there, they are both so good! The little girl is excellent, and Sagar is becoming much more likeable. And I'm liking Hiten more and more ... I can understand why he has such a huge fan following.
Will Prabha mami succeed in sending Ganga away for good? Hope not. Is Sagar's dadi having second thoughts about trusting Prabha?

Begusarai ... the interactions and the characters are interesting ... Rekha, the younger brother Bhushan's wife, is very stereotyped, but all the rest, Dadi, her sister, Phulan Thakur and his sons, are not.  Neither is Lakhan ... either he is quietly and intensely in love with Poonam, or maybe he is just a product of his upbringing and his society, and is merely possessive. However he is not as backward as his mother, he seems to be more like Phulan Thakur's family, and is agreeable to Poonam attending college ... but under his protection ... and he makes sure the entire college knows that.
Will Poonam rebel because his protection prevents her having a normal college life, making friends etc.? Or will she passively accept the situation, much as she passively accepts most things in her life?
Manjeeta is fiercely loyal to Phulan Thakur ... and Phulan confides to his mother that his success is more due to Manjeeta than to his brother ... hence the gift of 10%. But Manjeeta is mired in the Bihar of old, a society that frowns on wives and daughters - and all girls - having any voice. They are to be seen and not heard ... and seen rarely at that. Phulan Thakur's family is more progressive than Manjeeta, so Poonam, along with her friend Guddi, gets to study.
Rekha will be a stereotypical wicked saas ... if Poonam marries Lakhan at all. Of all the actors, Poonam and Lakhan are the weak ones ... the rest are all good.

Sanaya at the F&L Foundation Scholarships Event

Halleluiah ... we finally got some glimpses of Sanaya!!! Sanaya gets together with Mohit, Barun, Akshay and other celebrities to lend their names and faces (in Barun's case, less of the current face, the better) for the cause of women's empowerment and education scholarships, by the Fair and Lovely Foundation.

Good cause ... I am glad to see Sanaya choosing to lend her name to this one ... and the right person to do it too ... as a modern, liberal thinking, educated, successful professional young woman, she is an ideal role model for young girls ... show them how to be financially independent and be able to stand on her own feet ... and be well liked and respected in her profession.

Barun Sobti is honestly an eyesore!!! He looks like a homeless vagabond ... and I find it utterly rude and disrespectful of a guest at a function to show up looking the way he did here. Disgusting! 

Mohit was abrupt at the end of the SBS segment ... is his ego kicking in at Sanaya getting all the attention and importance? Because she did ... she was the centre of attention ... she and Barun ... and Akshay drew attention with his witticisms.

Sanaya was looking absolutely beautiful ... glowing and lovely ... simply dressed and very elegant. And she seemed to be in very good spirits too ... laughing and joking ... and prevaricating about work. Does that mean she has something up her sleeve? I really, really hope so!!!

SBS segment
http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x2jedq0?syndication=184980

A Telly Bytes video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyMgrzgvDfU

An India Forums video
http://www.india-forums.com/video/television/358833-when-mohit-sanaya-barun-and-akshay-met-again.htm

Another video ... quite a lot of overlap ... but worth it to watch Sanaya laughing and in such high spirits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioZ1KzjRsAs&f+eature=youtu.be

Was really happy to see Sanaya again on an SBS ... and even happier at the signs that she might be getting ready to return to TV soon. Hope I'm right on this one.

*edited*
And finally, a video of the actual event they were invited for ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGmYWLle5M

Akshay spoke well, Barun was 'happy to be there', whatever that means ... Mohit basically echoed Sanaya's words in Hindi.

Sanaya spoke very well, her words were genuine and from the heart ... she was happy and humbled to be there ... something I understand, working with the underprivileged myself ... and I was very happy and proud to hear her speak with so much feeling for the work they were invited for, especially because its something I feel very strongly about. As a woman, she was understandably more empathetic to the issue of gender inequality, and the push for women's education ... again I'm glad she was invited for this cause and chose to be a part of it. Loved this last video ... to see a girl I admire standing so passionately for a cause I'm committed to, made me feel very good.

*edit 16/03*
One more video from SBB - seems all the media know  this segments will get them TRPs ... all have broadcast their versions.
This was another nice segment, with serious parts where Barun and then Sanaya spoke about what they were there to do ... again Sanaya's words most heartfelt and one could see she was genuinely moved and touched by the stories of the girls she met.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNn6Pbcfi1A

*****

Some lovely solo pics of San from the event.

She looks so lovely ... classy and elegant and simply gorgeous. She was glowing in the videos ... the break seems to have done her good, she is a picture of shining health. Just hope she is ready to come back to the screen soon! 

TV Shows This Month - Random ramblings

Downton Abbey ... the only show which inspires me to write these days.

Changing times ... Lord Grantham, a man struggling to keep pace with the changing times, a man still caught in the old glory days, who thinks the old ways and the old times will last for ever.
Lady Cora Grantham ... her American background makes her more pragmatic, more realist.

The Dowager Lady Grantham ...how I love Maggie Smith ... what a fantastic actress to watch on screen. She is more pragmatic than either her son and even her daughter-in-law ... she is clear sighted ... maybe with the wisdom of age, she is also able to accept the changes as they happen. Probably she has lived through so many changes already, and with the clear vision that her age gives her, she is also more amenable to change. Nothing is so constant as change ... and the Dowager knows that. 

I love the relationship between Anna and Lady Mary ... they are truly friends, although the strict social class system doesn't allow them to call each other so. But there is no trace of patronage or talking to a social unequal, in the way Lady Mary speaks to Anna ... and even though Anna shows Mary all the respect as her employer and social superior, she feels free to confide in her, and she knows all Mary's secrets, more so than almost anyone else in the family. And Mary too, takes Anna's advice freely, she knows Anna is clear headed and sensible, and she feels no hesitation in confiding in her, or asking her opinion.

Matthew continues to be my favourite guy ... very sensible, very level headed and his sense of honesty and integrity is so strong ... truly admirable.

Mrs Hughes, Mrs Patmore are women ... they know the pressures, the compulsions, the pitfalls women can fall into ... so they don't censure Ethel ... or they did, but they are quick to forgive her when they see her making the attempt to reform herself. So do Mrs Crawley, Lady Grantham ... even the Dowager and the girls ... while Mr. Carson and Lord Grantham are quick to condemn and slow to understand. Why is it that men are the ones who cause a woman's downfall, and the ones who are the first to label her for that downfall? Hypocrisy of the entire male race.

Read the rantings of the rapist of Nirbhaya on similar lines ... Nirbhaya 'deserved to be raped because she was out with a boyfriend at night, women are meant for cooking and housekeeping, she should not have fought back, and her life would have been spared.'
In this day and age, to hear men speak such despicable rubbish is shocking, disgusting and appalling ... what kind of man, and what kind of upbringing have his parents, especially his mother, given him, that he has such an opinion about the female race in general?

IKNMP  ... the wedding continues ... Ragini accepts the news of Neil's engagement with a brave face and even congratulates him, and assures him she is happy he has moved on, they were never meant to be together. Neil doesn't think so ... but then he has to speak up. This comes of having such a bossy sister, and letting her take all the decisions in his life!
Tonight finally Suhani will manage to speak to Ragini ... and the mystery will unfold a little further.