Another day, another party .. Raisinghania’s believe in charity & party and when both can be combined, life is set Especially when you throw in a gun shot or a bomb blast or two!
Riddhima’s long slumbering grey cells finally seems to be in the process of recharging as she put two plus two and is coming up with twenty two. She is slowly almost painfully stumbling on to the fact that Vihaan could be/ might be/ may be .. Vansh!! Hallelujah for the grey cells !!
She watches him unblinkingly throughout the dance , waiting for Vansh to spring out his Aadhar card or Pan or even a driving license that would authenticate his identity, alas! Vansh being a failed graduate in the art of silent communication fails to pick up the cues..so we have a still stumbling Riddhima grappling with the “Is he/Is he not?” question that would have done Shakespeare proud in its never ending probabilities.
But we are talking about VR Mansion, a world where action, reaction, detraction, distraction, attraction, explosion happens every second of the 60 minutes. Soon we have one of the ‘ion’. Kabir has planned on an action that would cause explosion sending Riddhima on a permanent one way trip to paradise. But Vansh with his superfast reactions causes a distraction and does a extraction of the miniature bomb hidden within the heel of Riddhima’s footwear. The commotion invokes the attraction of the family who quickly assemble like well trained pets as Vansh takes center stage in his penguin suit. With enough flair that could cause solar flare, Vansh tugs apart the fake beard of fake santa and turns the Santa into the butt of his detraction to the utter confusion and shock of Kabir.
Anupriya who turned out to be the fake Santa is quite confident of worming herself into the bosom of Raisinghania family with her croc tears but Vansh is in no mood to play. On Dadi’s orders, Anupriya gets marching orders from Raisinghania House.
However, Anupriya refuses to go tamely, she fires a last salvo – attempts to kill Vansh who has momentarily taken his eyes off her but the ever vigilant Riddhima plays the savior and takes the bullet on a sorely abused shoulder yet again. As a lollipop, she finally gets confirmation from the horses mouth as Vansh admits to the fact that he indeed is Vansh, in flesh & blood!
** A rushed episode is what comes to mind when we watch today’s episode. Moments were not allowed to develop to get the impact or to empathize with the characters. Despite the flaws, there were several ‘moments’ that caused a heart warming feeling in one’s bosom.
For instance, the growing conviction in Riddhima that Vihaan is her Vansh. She follows him, keeps an eye on him all the while fighting her convictions, her innate desire to protect her family refusing to accept what her heart has begun to accept. Riddhima waltzes with him, her eyes riveted on Vansh’s face, a Vansh who is quite involved in dancing and is diligently following the moves until something clicks in him, his impassive face loses his mask as he quizzically looks at Riddhima, sensing the change within her.. Vansh, the man who was playing games with her suddenly seems unsure of himself as somewhere within him hope and caution wars, hope that his wife, his wife has finally recognized him, caution that she does not upset the carefully planned game. The passion that is ever ready to erupt between the two is banked for the moment but the emotions are just awaiting a chance to explode…. just a chance….
Our own Tom & Jerry of Raisinghania world, Ishani & Angre suddenly seem to have found a common ground. The hateful bickering or the wounding words that Ishani used to throw on Angre like confetti during a wedding seems to have disappeared! The two actually were smiling & looking at one another (lest we become confused at whom the smile was for) as they danced the night away. Sometimes ocean full of patience becomes a key to opening stubborn hearts.
Sacrifice.. two people who adore each other, who are the apple of each other’s eyes. A relationship where nothing is hidden between the two. Both know and understand each other’s flaws, try to be the shield for the other. Kabir & Anupriya, both worked together almost with fanatical devotion towards a common cause- the goal of attaining Raisinghania wealth and to become the lord of the manor. How one wrong move became the unraveling of their carefully built plan of decades? In Riddhima, they thought they had found a perfect pawn to bring down Vansh instead she brought them down. A quickwitted Anupriya realizes the folly but her counsel falls on the deaf ears of Kabir who is confident of his plans. When their house cards begins to tumble, Anupriya quickly offers herself as the sacrificial goat in the place of the real culprit, Kabir!
How the wheels of Karm turns and catches the culprit!! Once upon a time, Anupriya had pretended to throw herself in front of Vansh beseeching Kabir to take her instead of her son, Vansh. The principled Vansh had gently stopped her from her action, today she has no other alternative other than to offer herself up and Kabir who had enjoyed the screenplay of earlier times now has no other option other than to arrest his own mother! Time indeed has a good sense of humor.
But THIS IS NOT A CLOSURE, it is more like a INTERMISSION!. Kabir has been thwarted from his objective not once but twice.. once when Riddhima refused to play alongside him and once when Vihaan came interrupting his dreams of being coronated as the ‘King of Raisinghania’s’. He will not take it lying down, on top of it his mother has been cast out from the mansion, a mother who gave up her happiness to build a golden castle for him. He is going to be a wounded beast and wounded beast are dangerous.
Anupriya has made it quite clear that the game is not over. She wants Kabir out and free. Kabir, the man who wants everything that Vansh has. Kabir who thinks he has rights over everything that Vansh owns. Kabir who can stoop to any lows, Kabir who is very dangerous at the moment. The Game is on … though temporarily halted …!
On the positive side, Vansh is now not alone nor is he blind. He has found the enemy within and he knows Kabir for what he really is. Besides, he has Riddhima on his side, a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Where Vansh is all clinical detachment, Riddhima is all emotions. Together they balance each other, together they guard each other’s back . Together they will rule!
After a break of almost 10 years, that is after ipkknd, this show brought me back to television. Thee shows were getting repetetive, using almost similar plots and not understanding that once a formula clicked, reached the zenith, if used again and again, the graph will only see a negetive trend.
Just hopping channels, one day I happened to watch an episode, and it caught my attention enough, to go back and see all the episodes, aired before. The plot looked refreshingly different and of course the male protagonist has a screen presence, rare in the television industry. But the best part of the show was that the female, unlike shown generally, had a mind of her own and did not depend on the males who have super human powers and the plot just revolves around them and the female becomes helpless, if she falls for him. But it is sad that today, the same is happening in this show too. You know this gives a message to the female audience, that one should experience everything but love, because this takes away the power, she had before and their self respect, wisdom, the poise and even the basic instinct of survival is snatched away, and then on she is just used as a puppet. You know, its high time that people realise that those days of being a helpless women depending on a savior to live, has become a thing of the past. Women today have a mind of their own and they do not subdcribe to shabby treatment , be it her partner, family, collegues and the world in general. If you are good to her, she ll be better and if bad, she can become a devil in carnate. In the show, the female definitely had a mind of her own, changing it, as she percieved the happenings, quick to realise when she was being used and wrecking havock in the lives of those, who duped her. It was such a refreshing change. But lately she has been given a role that becomes a totally dumb charachter, who does not recognize her husband, even with so many clues and she is mentally tortured, even after sacrificing so much for both the males. And even then she keeps on taking abuse from everybody and puts her life at stake. It is high time she gets her brains and guts back and stop being abused by anyone. No female in reality today can or will take so much torture and humiliation, even from a partner. Stop being so sadistic towards the females and endow them with the power to command respect for once and not beg for it. Look around and see. An educated women will not tolerate anything from anyone today, the balance of power having slowly shifted with time. Wake up.