Monday, August 13, 2012

Episode Review: August 13th, 2012


Anjali is sitting on the couch when she receives a text message.  She begins to respond to it when Mami comes and asks who she is messaging.  She quickly puts her phone away and says she was forwarding a message.  Mami then asks where she had been for so long and Anjali makes an excuse of the mandir being crowded.  Arnav is in his room when he spots Khushi trying to move a large box.  Curiously, he watches as she tries to push and pull the box with no success.  Arnav notices that something is stuck on the bottom, so he goes to remove it causing her to fall, as she tried to push the box at the same time.  When she looks up, she sees his face and becomes instantly irritated and when he asks he a question, she immediately leaves.  It is now time for the Janmashtami pooja to begin and everyone gathers around.  They do the pooja, aarti and the jula of Krishna.  Then each couple takes the blessings of the elders.  Nani then tells both Payal and Akash and Arnav and Khushi that it is now their turn to give them grandchildren.  Payal begins to blush at this while Khushi begins to look worried.  Taking the opportunity to tease her again, Arnav whispers in Khushi's ear that she always listens to her elders and to keep in mind what Nani had just said.

Khushi starts to clean up when Arnav calls her to come with him.  She gives him a defiant stare and walks into the kitchen.  He follows her to the kitchen, asking her to come with him when Nani interrupts them and asks Khushi to return the Krishna idol to its proper place.  Later that evening as everyone is sitting together, Arnav comes down and tells Khushi that he has been calling her all night and to come with him right now.  She goes to her room where he hands her a gift, asking her to put it on.  At first she refuses to do so until Arnav says he doesn't want to hear another word.  Khushi comes out dressed in a beautiful red dress and hides behind the cupboard.  She notices Arnav sitting on the couch and he notices her when she makes a bit of noise.  She notices that their bed is covered in roses and he asks her why she is standing behind the cupboard.  She says she is standing there because she has no dupatta and Arnav then shows her the dupatta in his hands.  He then goes towards her, walks her towards the bed and then places the dupatta on her head, making her look like a bride and the two then share a hug.  He then places her on the bed and begins to come close to her.  When Khushi spots an idol of Radha-Krishna, she remembers what Nani told her about pheres and how important they are in a marriage.  She then gets up from the bed, telling Arnav she cannot do this as they are not properly married.  Arnav is confused to what she means as she has been living in the house as his wife for so long.  Khushi says that without the proper rituals, without the blessings of elders, without the pheres, they are not properly married.  Arnav then takes her hand and they leave the room.  They reach the terrace, where he begins to break a few tables and then lights them.

He tells her they will now take the pheres, which are so important to her.  When she refuses to walk with him, he carries her around the fire as she continues to argue with him on how they need a priest, mantras and proper rituals for them to be married.  Just as she mentions that they haven't taken pheres, they notice someone else on the terrace; Dadi, who has overheard their conversation.  After Dadi leaves, she tells Arnav to put her down and then begins to yell at Arnav on the fact that Dadi already does not like her and seeing her like this probably made things worse.  Arnav says that they are doing nothing wrong but Khushi says that ever ritual done has a meaning and asks him what if Dadi heard about the pheres.  Arnav then asks her if these pheres are greater than their feelings.  Khushi then asks him if pheres or rituals do not matter to him, what does and he loudly says "I love you, dammit".  He then leaves from there, with Khushi smiling and happy at what he said.


What worked: The lack of rituals in their marriage.  For the first time in their six month marriage, the lack of rituals conducted for them has been brought into the spotlight.  This worries Khushi more than it does Arnav as he does not believe in these rituals, but what is interesting is how long it took for Khushi to realize her marriage was incomplete.  Khushi is a girl brought up on values on traditions and holds these values and traditions to a high standard.  The fact that it took her six months to realize her marriage to Arnav was incomplete shows us how she as a character can overlook the most important details.  I wouldn't say that they completed none of the rituals but in fact have completed a few of them: they were engaged, she had mendhi applied on her hand with the letter "A" written in and they both had a bit of haldi applied to them.


What didn't work: Dadi showing up everywhere.  Whether it was in the storage closet to the terrace, the Dadi seems to show up everywhere, disrupting moods.  I know it's part of the story where interruptions are suppose to occur but it just seems that the Dadi has it out for Khushi.




Highlight: "I love you, damn it".  Finally, Arnav admits his feelings to Khushi, even if it is in his ASR angry style.  The last time he said "I love you" to her, he was kidnapped and it was out of desperation due to the fact that he may never see or speak to her again.  That time, his confession did not mean much but this time it did.  This time, he said it from the heart, meant what he said and believed in what he said.  Arnav has had a hard time understanding his feelings, let alone expressing them.  The fact that he told her he loves her really shows that he's come a long way in expressing himself and letting others know how he feels.

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