The vultures converge on Riddhima, mislead into thinking she is a cuddly bunny rabbit who will just flop over & die, that balloon sleeves adds to the bunny effect btw. Rather the horde of cowrdly vultures are in for a nasty surprise when the rabbit turns out to be a lioness who stands defiant & unsheathes her claws.
Where Kabir & Aryan & Co expected easy victory, Riddhima through sheer presence of mind buys time to fend off their move. She pawns her husband to Kabir to achieve this end. Vihaan who has been more or less is playing the part of bored spectator is least bothered about him being sent to limbo to vegetate peacefully.
The concerned wife, Riddhima comes to meet her darling hubby Vansh who has been placed under house arrest & is being guarded by Kabir, no less. She seeks to speak to her husband alone & Kabir who feels he has already won the game feels quite magnanimous, allows Riddhima to have a private conversation with Vansh.
Riddhima who has conveyed her moves to Vansh, now co-opts Angre into her plan to find the culprit. An angry Angre reluctantly agrees to help Riddhima. Their plan works , culprit is caught and it turns out to be Aryan!
Kabir dream of VR Mansion domination stutters to a halt ……………. for the moment!!
** This perhaps has to be one of the best & most sublime episodes of IMMJ 2 ever. Almost every word uttered had an opposite & apposite meanings..so much so..sometimes their clever interplay threw you off course.
Kabir who has made plans to oust both Riddhima & Vansh is almost hopping in joy at how neatly everything is falling into place. During his crowing, he lets loose something to Riddhima who has been accused & derided for bringing an ‘imposter’ to the place…
Kabir says “Shuruvat tumne ki thi” .. beautiful line.. Yes, It was Riddhima who initiated the cycle.. not by bringing Vihaan as imposter, not by coming in as a spy for Kabir but by being the change in Vansh’s life & she will take it to its culmination. The beginning began long before either of them knew one another. She took the first step, crossing his path as he hurtled down the road to his destination. She will be the one who will lead him to his destination.
Vansh has come, Yes !! but he has come day’s late. In his absence, Kabir has entrenched himself well into Raisinghania household. For Vansh to plan his game, he first has to study how deep has Kabir managed to make his way inside his home. Any moves from Vansh will see the family hiding their true feelings or affinity & swinging solidly behind him thus protecting Kabir from his grasp. But if Vansh was the man in trouble, if his position seemed weaker & if Kabir was ALLOWED TO DOMINATE, make him appear as a “winner”.. Then it would bring out the snakes from their hidey hole out into the brilliant sunlight. Easy for Vansh to identify the rot that has set in and plan on how to treat it. As expected, things went as Vansh expected. But this is a long term plan..
At the moment, Vansh & Riddhima are in hot soup with almost every family members intent on throwing them out or handing them over to police. But Vansh is least worried about it, he seems almost like a passerby who stopped to watch the unfolding drama. In other words, he is content to watch Riddhima fielding this moment.
In my previous posts, I had often mentioned, Riddhima will be the Queen, the pawn sent to tackle Kabir by Vansh. Quite recently, I had also said that Vansh will play the role of Master manipulator, the one who strategizes the war games while Riddhima will be the warrior who will enact it, sometimes without her even being aware of it and sometimes fully aware of Vansh’s moves. Vansh will be the mentor, guide & teacher who will provoke her, coax her, intimidate her, support her & when in need will even fight in her stead.
Today we saw that happening.
Riddhima, the warrior does not surrender easily to the family who has surrounded her in quite hostility. Riddhima pleads with Dadi to give her a chance to prove her innocence. Dadi who has been shattered to know that Riddhima toyed with her emotions, who is almost broken by the thought that the girl whom she loved with all her heart cruelly played with the memories of her cherished grandson rises. She proves truly to be the Dadi of Vansh when she acceded to Riddhima’s plea & offers her a chance to make her case, the same way Vansh gave a chance to Anupriya to state her reasons once.
This is enough for Riddhima who quickly takes charge of the situation WITHOUT appearing to do so,she stands in front of Kabir fearless & in a clear voice assures Kabir that neither she nor Vansh will escape from the house. If Kabir is suspicious of her/them then he is free to arrest Vansh for the said period of time.. The GAME SWINGS towards Riddhima & Vansh at this point even though Kabir seems oblivious of it.
Two very interesting moments unravel here. One, It is not Vansh or Aryan or even Angre who goes to stand by Dadi (The Queen). But it is Kabir who has his hand around Dadi as he calmly takes over from Dadi. An illuminating moment watched keenly by a quiet Vansh as it reveals to him the depth of Kabir’s influence in the house.
Another absolutely brilliant moment was when Riddhima tells Kabir that he can as a symbol of trust “arrest” Vansh for the allotted period of 3 hours. Watch Vansh’s reaction at that moment, he quickly narrows his eyes, his mind spinning at top speed as he processes Riddhima’s words, comprehension arrives at the true intent behind Riddhima’s words. Once he figures out Riddhima’s move, he relaxes knowing that the game is well in hand.
House arrest for 3 hours !!! But the arrest was NOT for Vansh. Riddhima NEEDED Kabir under HOUSE ARREST !! She needed him out of her way, unable to see or fathom her moves. Kabir who knows her fairly well would soon smoke out her plan and make a counter move that would scuttle her plans. For her to prove her innocence, Riddhima HAD TO take Kabir from the equation, keep him cut off from everyone, isolate him in a room without alerting him to THAT Fact as she begins her probe. What effective way than to offer Vihaan as that attractive pawn? An egoistical man like Kabir would not be able to resist having someone like Vansh or even his doppelganger under his control. Kabir’s desire to humiliate, taunt and crow over Vansh will make him blind to everything else especially when he is fully confident on his own infallibility.
In here, we see the appearance of Riddhima, the ardhangini, the equal half of Vansh Raisinghania. The Yin & Yang in perfect complement. For out of the whole group, it is just her husband who understands her game instantly & appreciates her plan when he lauds her mentally saying,“Riddhima, you really have learned to plan.”
Nevertheless, when Riddhima knocks on the door of the room where Vansh is kept under detention. Vansh presumes quite wrongly that Riddhima is in panic mode & immediately launches into reverse psychology where he enters into full blown panic mode, getting stressed & painting pictures of doom thus forcing Riddhima to take a higher ground & turn into HIS MENTOR. He listens bemused as Riddhima tells him to de-stress using the same technique that HE, Vansh had taught to her when she went nearly hysterical.
Once Vansh realizes that it was not blind panic that brought Riddhima to his doors, Vansh calmly asks Riddhima about her plans,listens to it & his part in the plan. He does not critique nor impose his views rather lets Riddhima lead the way as he stands behind her, being the source of her strength, of her courage – watching over her as Riddhima begins her trial or trials.
Trials that will be a preparation for War! Trials that will make her an asset! Trials that will turn her into equal half of Vansh. The two equal halves now combining to form a seamless whole!
