#HummaHummaHumma|KuKu|KaVik AT 3 - Page 103

Sorry Sam!! I got a little distracted because I started watching their interviews and I went down the rabbit hole. I'll get back to replying now but till the time I type, enjoy this:

https://youtu.be/TkgbMDszBCc

@aqua: No pressure! I was also busy going and looking for an image to fuel my/our imagination. Here she is!

Originally posted by: Samanalyse

@bold: OMG, I am obsessed with this idea! It's just given me a whole surge of inspiration. Can we make a whole character out of this lawyer please? A slightly older woman (maybe in her mid-late 30s) who's come from a similar background and faced a lot of opposition from her family in pursuing the career she wants? And we can infuse her with all of us, and the things we wish we could tell Kuhu ❤️

Kuhu is definitely capable of taking the decisions herself, but I think she would have needed a support system to execute what she managed to do during those two months. Someone to help her with the nitty gritties of distancing herself emotionally and standing on her own two feet. So I can see Kuhu thinking in more general terms, like I have to stop feeling this urge to help Kunal, but having someone to help her break that seemingly impossible task into smaller accessible steps. She learned how to love unconditionally from Varsha, but the only marriages she has to go by are ones where the woman is respected but has accepted a subordinate role. I think she would have needed someone to lend a guiding hand when it comes to forging a path that nobody in her family had tread before.

@bold 2: Yup, but at that time, she didn't know she'd have to live with him for three more months. I think that is what she would have needed help with. How to break patterns while having to co-habit. Who better to advise her than a lawyer who's seen lots of women through phases like this?

I am also going to do another little tie-in and say that the friend from KC gave her the lawyers's number. I am going to go ahead and name her -- Sheetal Sheth. He says, I'm glad Kunal came around and you managed to avoid a scene at KC, but when you do need to proceed with the divorce, here's my friend Sheetal's card. She specialises in cases like yours.

@Bold: I see your point. That makes a lot of sense. Post leap, she also seemed as if she had found gotten over the betrayal part. Like she had come to accept it but she had become much stronger because she had stopped looking for validation from Kunal's end.

Oh yes!! Absolutely!! I love the idea of developing a character from scratch. Sheetal Sheth, divorce lawyer😎. I really like the tie-in!! The friend fits in perfectly. He already knew about her situation. Maybe, he was concerned and wanted know how Kuhu was faring so he reminds her about the lawyer after she tells him that she has decided to share the news with her family members after the MA get married.

This idea of the lawyer helping out Kuhu reminded me of the movie 'Thappad'. I don't know if you've seen it or not so, I'll try my best to not spoil it because it's such a good movie. They've told the stories 6-7 female characters who play a role in the leads' life. So, basically she has a divorce lawyer and they both inadvertently and many a times, unknowingly, help each other by building confidence and sharing their own struggles in a professional capacity. It's so beautifully done.

So, with the movie as inspiration, I'm gonna try building her character. Maybe Sheetal came out of a marriage where the spark had died and the husband had become a workaholic which in turn drove her to take up more work too (Considering women usually try to juggle between career and home and now, since there was no one in the house to take care of, her sole focus became her career, which she had worked and fought for). Even though, both were very successful in their separate fields, they came to stop respecting each other as people. So, mutual divorce?? That doesn't seem to fit in though. It should be initiated from her side but what would be the reason??🙇🏻‍♀️ I'll keep thinking. If anyone has any thoughts, do contribute.

Originally posted by: Samanalyse

@aqua: No pressure! I was also busy going and looking for an image to fuel my/our imagination. Here she is!

Nice!!

What I'm gonna type next might seem really rude because I don't know her real age. So, I apologise beforehand. Based on this look, let's assume our fictional lawyer to be mid to late 30s. Taking inspiration from my relatives in the late 30s bracket, I would say women were allowed to work but from home where they could manage the house and maybe teach something or have a business from home.

So, we can say that she must have had to really struggle to break that mould and law being such a demanding profession.

Who do you think would have been her guiding light?? The person that made her realise that she needs to get out of the marriage??

I am watching the Ganesh Puja episode where KuKu, MishBir and Jasmeet go to Mumbai. I found the conversation very intriguing. Kunal is still being an ass and Kuhu is teetering between consoling him and showing him the consequences of his actions.

Kunal accuses Abir of choosing Mishti over him. Kunal was brutally honest in that episode and I am glad Kuhu heard it. He tells Abir that if it were Kunal in his place, he would choose Abir over his pyaar any day. Abir tells him that he loves him enough to not ask him to make such a choice, which I loved. Abir has been steadfast about standing up to his family for Mishti except over the truth of Kunal's parentage. When Kunal says that, they cut to Kuhu's face and she is obviously discomfited by this. Props to RItvik because he killed it in this scene. He portrayed the insecurity and possessiveness Kunal feels for Abir so well.

Then, Kunal storms out and Kuhu and him have a confrontation where Kunal asks her why Abir chose Mishti over him. He says, "Maine toh tumhe dhokha diya unke liye". In these moments, I think Meenu ka Munna Kunal is being honest. He is laid bare: his motivations and his insecurities. Despite him being a total jerk, Kuhu is reasonably patient with him and tells him that maybe he is the one fighting with everyone. Earlier on, they also have a conversation where Kuhu tries to explain to him that he should rethink his MishBir Todo Mission and he says that she doesn't love him because 'pyaar ka matlab yeh hota hai ki poor duniya na bhi saath ho lekin woh insaan aapke saath hota hai'. So, his notions about love clearly involved Kuhu 'understanding' him even when no one else could. It's not like our ladak chhokro lacks understanding/expectations when it comes to love. I REALLY wish he could apply this principle to Kuhu and her issues with Mishti too. He expects that a person who loves him should stand by him when the whole world believes he is wrong.

Re-watching these episodes makes me understand just HOW patient Kuhu was with him. Honestly, she was patient to the point that I question her self-esteem and self-respect. I could not have been with a person like Kunal. I would have felt like a doormat.

I expect and want similar depth in feelings from Kunal when it comes to Kuhu.

Originally posted by: aquaHP

This idea of the lawyer helping out Kuhu reminded me of the movie 'Thappad'. I don't know if you've seen it or not so, I'll try my best to not spoil it because it's such a good movie. They've told the stories 6-7 female characters who play a role in the leads' life. So, basically she has a divorce lawyer and they both inadvertently and many a times, unknowingly, help each other by building confidence and sharing their own struggles in a professional capacity. It's so beautifully done.

So, with the movie as inspiration, I'm gonna try building her character. Maybe Sheetal came out of a marriage where the spark had died and the husband had become a workaholic which in turn drove her to take up more work too (Considering women usually try to juggle between career and home and now, since there was no one in the house to take care of, her sole focus became her career, which she had worked and fought for). Even though, both were very successful in their separate fields, they came to stop respecting each other as people. So, mutual divorce?? That doesn't seem to fit in though. It should be initiated from her side but what would be the reason??🙇🏻‍♀️ I'll keep thinking. If anyone has any thoughts, do contribute.

The dynamic you have described from Thappad is exactly what I would want for Kuhu and Sheetal. I haven't seen the movie yet, though I really want to (I have to work up the guts to watch more intense films #justanxietythings 😛).

I like the direction of the backstory you've introduced, but how about she and her husband don't lose respect for one another but just realise they want very different things in life? They got married very young from an arranged rishta situation; Sheetal came from a family very much like the Maheshwaris, where this was the norm. She had just finished her BLLB, so she asks if he's okay with her continuing her work and studies and he agrees. She thinks she'll be happy as a bahu and wife as long as she can continue working but as time goes by, she realises that this work/life balance isn't quite what she wants.

Her husband wants to start a family, but she keeps pushing it off because she never feels ready to put her career on hold. Eventually, they talk it out and she realises that she never really wants to have children and he really does. So they part on mutually respectful terms. He goes on to marry a woman who wants the same things he does (who also works but is more flexible about it), and Sheetal throws herself into her career full-time. She faces a lot of backlash for ending a happy marriage when her sasural "let" her pursue her career, and for not wanting what is "natural" but she learns to live with her decisions. A lot of her lawyer friends encourage her to move away from Rajkot to a bigger city to avoid the stigma, but she stays back to help young women stuck in situations like hers -- khandaani girls who have been brainwashed to believe that shaadi is going to be their whole life's mission.

When Kuhu first comes to her, she encourages her to expose Kunal's fraud and file based on that -- she is entitled to alimony and damages (I don't know too much about law, so please forgive any technical inaccuracies), but she also understands when Kuhu says she just wants to go with irreconcilable differences, so as to not hurt the RV family. She warns her, though, that that means the process is going to be much longer -- the judge won't accept their claim so easily and there will probably be a grace period. Kuhu says she is willing to take it on to spare the families. Sheetal sighs and says, okay, but you have to promise me you'll take certain measures to protect your feelings and your self esteem during this process. That's when they start talking about the emotional distancing.

You guys have some lovely ideas and I really like this idea of Kuhu having a female friend who can advise her and steer her in the right direction.

I sort of imagine this person being known to Kuhu in a personal capacity. A cousin didi maybe? Varsha's niece or someone like that. What say?

Originally posted by: clarity

You guys have some lovely ideas and I really like this idea of Kuhu having a female friend who can advise her and steer her in the right direction.

I sort of imagine this person being known to Kuhu in a personal capacity. A cousin didi maybe? Varsha's niece or someone like that. What say?

I think Kuhu would try to avoid talking someone who knew her family about the divorce for confidentiality reasons. But maybe Sheetal knows the family vaguely because her husband is friends with Ananya's husband?

EDIT: Oh wait, did you mean someone other than the lawyer? If yes, definitely! I am all for Kuhu having more female friends. 😃

I think it would be very satisfying to see Kuhu have a heart to heart with a female friend of hers, or even for that matter, Ketki, and Kunal overhearing that conversation. I don't know why, but I've had that HC in my head for a while. I've always wanted the writers to build on the Kuhu and Ketu relationship, because they were best friends before Kuhu and Kunal's shaadi.

Also I'm very guilty of stalking this AT and not saying anything because I'm waiting for someone else to say something 💀

Originally posted by: Samanalyse

The dynamic you have described from Thappad is exactly what I would want for Kuhu and Sheetal. I haven't seen the movie yet, though I really want to (I have to work up the guts to watch more intense films #justanxietythings 😛).

I like the direction of the backstory you've introduced, but how about she and her husband don't lose respect for one another but just realise they want very different things in life? They got married very young from an arranged rishta situation; Sheetal came from a family very much like the Maheshwaris, where this was the norm. She had just finished her BLLB, so she asks if he's okay with her continuing her work and studies and he agrees. She thinks she'll be happy as a bahu and wife as long as she can continue working but as time goes by, she realises that this work/life balance isn't quite what she wants.

Her husband wants to start a family, but she keeps pushing it off because she never feels ready to put her career on hold. Eventually, they talk it out and she realises that she never really wants to have children and he really does. So they part on mutually respectful terms. He goes on to marry a woman who wants the same things he does (who also works but is more flexible about it), and Sheetal throws herself into her career full-time. She faces a lot of backlash for ending a happy marriage when her sasural "let" her pursue her career, and for not wanting what is "natural" but she learns to live with her decisions. A lot of her lawyer friends encourage her to move away from Rajkot to a bigger city to avoid the stigma, but she stays back to help young women stuck in situations like hers -- khandaani girls who have been brainwashed to believe that shaadi is going to be their whole life's mission.

When Kuhu first comes to her, she encourages her to expose Kunal's fraud and file based on that -- she is entitled to alimony and damages (I don't know too much about law, so please forgive any technical inaccuracies), but she also understands when Kuhu says she just wants to go with irreconcilable differences, so as to not hurt the RV family. She warns her, though, that that means the process is going to be much longer -- the judge won't accept their claim so easily and there will probably be a grace period. Kuhu says she is willing to take it on to spare the families. Sheetal sighs and says, okay, but you have to promise me you'll take certain measures to protect your feelings and your self esteem during this process. That's when they start talking about the emotional distancing.

It's a great movie! I would 100% recommend but I totally get the intensity thing. I have been wanting to watch a movie starring Awkwafina. It's called 'The Farewell' and even though, I really really want to watch it, I know I will be in tears throughout the movie and once, I start crying these days, I can't seem to stop until I can't cry no more. So, I'll watch it once I start to feel like I'm in control of my emotions. Also, I would suggest that you do watch the trailer for Farewell. It's really beautiful!!

I like the backstory you've built but I am unable to completely fit it in my imagination so let's mix it up a little to accommodate both ideas.

@Bold: Let's keep that intact.

I really want to add the husband being workaholic angle which makes them grow apart and they both start to prioritise their work a bit more over each other. The families start to notice the dooriyaan and they start pressuring them into having a kid to rekindle the spark and it's probably been some 4-5 years since they got married. The husband starts to agree with the family saying that we should start to plan a family now but Sheetal seems apprehensive because even though, the husband hasn't really noticed but she has definitely realised that a kid wouldn't be the solution to getting their marriage back on track. Also, it would affect the progress she has made on the career front and she doesn't have faith that she would have help from the Husband as he has been working super hard at work to secure promotions and bigger projects. She has also realised that she doesn't want a kid as of now and may never want one in the future either.

They keep going back and forth on this topic, many a times fighting and other times, trying to convince each other but at the end, they realise that they will never be on the same page with how they want things to proceed. They decide to mutually separate and then the backlash and stigma part you mentioned comes in.

Are you okay with this amalgamation??

Now, coming to Kuhu, the grace period thing doesn't go with the law because they would have to stay together for the 1st 6months of the marriage even if they don't want to so as to give the marriage a fair chance. Mujhe itna hi law pata hai.

Fraud and alimony suggestion is a nice touch. Kuhu rejecting the suggestion to protect the family also 👍🏼. Sheetal asks her how she wants to proceed with this now. Does she just want this to get over with?? Kuhu absent-mindedly mentions how she never thought her fairytale lovestory would turn out like this and even after all this, she can't seem to stop loving Kunal. Sheetal asks, "You still love him?". Kuhu replies by saying that I know I am a pathetic loser but she knew Kunal. She understood him and she understood why he did all those horrible things. Sheetal gets curious and asks her to explain the whole story rather than giving the short version she had given before. She explains how much Kunal loves his mother and brother. She discusses about all the event and the Visarjan argument between Abir and Kunal as Clarity mentioned.

Sheetal sees that Kuhu still has a soft spot for Kunal and that her heart would break over and over again if the situation remains the same. She asks Kuhu if she is sure she wants to proceed with the divorce because it can be countered but Kuhu refuses saying that there is no hope left as Kunal would never love her. She recounts the advice MA gave her about starting to respect herself and give her career a chance. The lawyer agrees that it's good advice but she also tells her that if you're sure that there's no hope, then she needs to start distancing herself so as to keep her hopes from rising and then crashing again. Kuhu ponders over her advice and decides to follow through.