Real Faces and Brain vs Heart

I can't help but admire the maturity with which Shravan has handled his first love and break-up, contrasted with how the perfectly raised Suman crumbled.

When the show started he was the cliché popular/charming/flirtacious dude who easily got frustrated and fought back. While Suman was the well-mannered 'mature' lady who agreed to be cordial with Shravan and help him out despite not liking his careless attitude. He always seemed to be the underdog, with Suman guiding him through army school, through his relationship with Devika, through morals and all. Even though Shravan did teach her how to enjoy and follow the heart, Suman always had the superior grip on life, being able to balance fun with her army goals.

But oh how the real faces came out once Shravan fell in love with her. He seemed to mature almost instantly - acknowledged his emotions, changed his carefree behaviour and ways, started working on improving their relationship, etc. I would not have expected that of the Shravan I saw in episode 1. But he outdid himself. That love for Suman and passion to win her brought out his potential to be highly capable, both emotionally and professionally (top-cadet). He mellowed down drastically and used his strong heart to fire his brain into action.

And Suman, once realizing her potential feelings for Shravan, became a mess. Fever, confusion, anger, what not. All her maturity, preachings, stability washed away with the mere thought of being in love. Of course once she confessed and they were together she got her sanity back, but she was never really the same again. Not that her academics or army dedication suffered, but she lost the self-discipline and thoughtfulness that defined her. Her missing that class in the last week, her assuring Shravan that it's okay to run away. That was not the Suman in episode 1 at all. Like someone mentioned in the forum, her army upbringing had restricted her ability to deal with emotions. And it seems, once her heart began beating she couldn't get it to listen to her brain again.

I think that set-up pre leap well explains the way our captains are coping with the breakup now. Shravan thinks fondly of the time they spent together, as seen while talking to his friends and in the precap "Cheezein khatam hojaati hai par acchi yaadein hamesha rehti hai". Clearly he accepts that what they shared was amazing not a mistake, he enjoys those memories. And he looks at her with the same intense love. I don't find him bitter actually. The way he tells Bunty he doesn't want to talk about her, the way he walks away from his friends, the way he slyly taunts Suman, the way he tells her that he wants to leave asap - it shows that although he is disappointed in her and how she broke them up, he wants to be practical and move on because there's nothing left to fix. It was a thing of the childhood and it ought to stay that way. Him calling it 'their paagalpan' is quite mature honestly, because I think he realizes that their love didn't really have the strength to overcome hurdles. And by including himself in that phrase, he implicitly acknowledges his own failure to hold on to the relationship as well. He has trained his brain and heart to reach a compromise and balance. (I think his risk-taking behaviour is not to do with Suman really, but perfectly aligned with his personality from episode 1, like Bassi said about his 'sankiness'. That's what he always loved. Even though he spoke of going to America to chill, we knew he loved listening to his heart and being carefree).

Suman now, completely baffles me. Probably because she is so baffled with herself. Her brain hasn't completely taken over and her heart hasn't stopped beating for Shravan. She doesn't forget his memories but she doesn't enjoy them either. She has succeeded in the army yet she hasn't regained her self-discipline or thoughtfullness from before. She's the same mess she was when she didn't know her feelings for Shravan. She actually comes off as bitter, trying to get one up on Shravan who tries to shrug it off and move past.

As for the reasons why - regarding their family upbringing, relative losses and support systems - I think that's been nicely addressed in the forum many times in the past few days. I just wanted to talk about how love changed them, and not the incident itself.

Sorry if I made anyone roll their eyes with another analysis post.

Excellent post! Very refreshing analysis!

Thank you:) I enjoyed reading it very much, read it twice infact.

Originally posted by: Anee2

I can't help but admire the maturity with which Shravan has handled his first love and break-up, contrasted with how the perfectly raised Suman crumbled. +1. Time teaches the biggest lesson. Beneath perfection, there were flaws that the audience could see and Shravan came, Suman started to accept and acknowledge things that are there vs stereotypes.

When the show started he was the cliché popular/charming/flirtacious dude who easily got frustrated and fought back. While Suman was the well-mannered 'mature' lady who agreed to be cordial with Shravan and help him out despite not liking his careless attitude. He always seemed to be the underdog, with Suman guiding him through army school, through his relationship with Devika, through morals and all. Even though Shravan did teach her how to enjoy and follow the heart, Suman always had the superior grip on life, being able to balance fun with her army goals. Yeah, he need a catalyst to change him to where he is now. Being bindaas only was a thing for him but how to balance carefree attitude with maturity was taught to him by Suman primarily. Learning to take advices and trying out things he usually despised such as working hard (whether it was to impress Suman before she became his gf or through group study physical activities or tashan challenges/clashes).

I think that set-up pre leap well explains the way our captains are coping with the breakup now. Shravan thinks fondly of the time they spent together, as seen while talking to his friends and in the precap "Cheezein khatam hojaati hai par acchi yaadein hamesha rehti hai". Clearly he accepts that what they shared was amazing not a mistake, he enjoys those memories. And he looks at her with the same intense love. I don't find him bitter actually. The way he tells Bunty he doesn't want to talk about her, the way he walks away from his friends, the way he slyly taunts Suman, the way he tells her that he wants to leave asap - it shows that although he is disappointed in her and how she broke them up, he wants to be practical and move on because there's nothing left to fix. It was a thing of the childhood and it ought to stay that way. Him calling it 'their paagalpan' is quite mature honestly, because I think he realizes that their love didn't really have the strength to overcome hurdles. And by including himself in that phrase, he implicitly acknowledges his own failure to hold on to the relationship as well. He has trained his brain and heart to reach a compromise and balance. (I think his risk-taking behaviour is not to do with Suman really, but perfectly aligned with his personality from episode 1, like Bassi said about his 'sankiness'. That's what he always loved. Even though he spoke of going to America to chill, we knew he loved listening to his heart and being carefree).

Suman now, completely baffles me. Probably because she is so baffled with herself. Her brain hasn't completely taken over and her heart hasn't stopped beating for Shravan. She doesn't forget his memories but she doesn't enjoy them either. She has succeeded in the army yet she hasn't regained her self-discipline or thoughtfullness from before. She's the same mess she was when she didn't know her feelings for Shravan. She actually comes off as bitter, trying to get one up on Shravan who tries to shrug it off and move past.+1. The guy who is carefree but won't easily open up except for his near and dear ones and the one who openly accepted what he learned from life and doesn't mind sharing his experiences and advices to Basi and Saurabh shows that life is the biggest teacher in providing lessons. Yeah, initially he doesn't want to talk about it by trying to avoid before he talks it out whether through anger or just casually talking about his experience. It was a mistake, learn from it, shed tears from it, grip up and move on. Chapter closed (even though he still longs for her😆)Today, she termed shravan as "DHOKA" which baffled me. I understand that she learned to not expect so much from her if she gets back in a relationship but today the whole dhoka & all was confusing me. Yes, she's become a strong independent doctor in the army & we love women in science & military but the whole dhokha she thinks he gave. I'm lost.😆 Shravan was right that she's quick to form her own opinion & that's a huge turn off for someone who'll get into a relationship.

As for the reasons why - regarding their family upbringing, relative losses and support systems - I think that's been nicely addressed in the forum many times in the past few days. I just wanted to talk about how love changed them, and not the incident itself.

Sorry if I made anyone roll their eyes with another analysis post.

Thank you so much!! I read it twice too haha, to make sure it made sense.

Im enjoying the ride but I hope they don’t over do the I hurt you - you hurt me back and forth for too long!

1 week is plenty and it gets stale if it keeps going on... so I’m looking got Progress now :)

Thank you for your interesting analysis. I agree with a lot of it. I have always felt that Suman was more repressed and somewhat affected by her childhood of always moving around and never being able to maintain her friendships. Shravan has had the advantage of Bunty as a stabilizing factor.

I would also say the difference is that Shravan was actively looking for love whereas Suman kept herself away in fear that it would distract herself from her goals (could also be related to always moving around). But emotionally Shravan was more prepared for love than she was. He pursued her. He went through the phases of knowing it was a liking, a crush then understanding it was love. Whereas for Suman it was bit surprise because it was not on her radar.

But I would say the biggest difference is at the end of the day loving Shravan came at a cost for Suman that Shravan didn't have to pay. They both lost the relationship but Suman lost the ability to make amends with her father because of the relationship. So it plays a role in how they cope. She is dealing with a bit more on her plate.

Personally, I don't see that Shravan is any less bitter. Mentioning he was Captain Shravan Malhotra was kind of needless since he was wearing the uniform. So he was trying to get a reaction out of her. Same with their meeting in the colonel's office. It was him trying to get a reaction out of her and then her responding harshly trying to shut him down. Then even on the phone when Veer says even Didu doesn't want us to meet.. Shravan immediately says no forget your Didu, even though he knows the situation is complicated. So he is trying to one up her just as much if not more so from my view.

I am not sure about his risk taking in the field. Because it wasn't presented to me in a way that suggested it was an admirable thing. So even though this was an earlier Shravan trait it is not a balanced thing. Then you have Suman commenting that its as if he was in a race to make himself a martyr. So I think what we are seeing is a bit of self sabotage from both characters.

@malikakas

I totally agree about the differences. Suman could lecture about love for hours but she was totally not ready to feel the emotion herself. Or any strong emotion for that matter. She was never impulsive nor one to strongly hate or love. That's why I feel like once she opened herself up to the feeling of love, she lost alot of her other self/personality. And of course why not, it's the first time she has really let herself free. Using my brain/heart analogy, it's like her heart flooded in and drowned her brain.

And I think that's still the case even after her father's death. She was never able to lock her heart/emotions up again.

Like you said (as did Em in her post), Suman's loss is much much greater. She only let herself loose from her personality, discipline and values once, the only time she dared to go against her father, it was for Shravan, and her father died. Of course she'll blame it on love and on getting distracted from the her dad's vision for her. Of course she'll blame Shravan for being the trigger. She would go into a shell, only think with logic not emotion, and become the composed obedient army officer her dad wanted.

But she doesn't, and that's the part which stood out for me and I wanted to really highlight. She didn't go back to her old self, to that cadet who restricted her emotions and only focused on discipline and righteousness. Her outbursts on patients and disobeying army rules are proof that she's letting her heart still hurt her and out of pain she's lashing out on the world. She still lets her heart painfully hold on to Shravan and their memories together, she mentioned him as a friend to Veer. Subconsciously she still wants him. Instead of blaming him for her father, she seems to resent him for leaving her afterwards. Like her saying that he's "all about show-off". She lets her heart writes its emotions all over her face.

As for Shravan, relative to Suman, I just couldn't find the same bitterness (not that it should be the same considering the different losses they've been through). Throughout all their verbal clashes I saw Shravan's words as taunts rather than genuine anger or hurt pouring out. In the colonel's office, only when Suman reiterates the question about joining army does Shravan twist his words to annoy her. Even after when alone, he replies quite gracefully to her insults by saying she judges early. I thought that was a great observation and matured reply. On the other hand I find Suman's comebacks are irrelevant and uncalled for, like the 'khokhla' statement, repeating she only cares as a doctor for patient, trying to get him (and her feelings) to just shut up. Also, on that call with Veer I took his 'forget about her' as he really isn't bothered by her decision. But I definitely see he repeatedly brings up the case and its verdict without relevance, so I think he may have bitterness about that specifically.

The risk-taking yea I guess there may be some self-sabotaging there too. I just didn't trust Suman's analysis considering how much of a mental mess she seems to be in after seeing Shravan.

We'll have to wait and watch on everything, the makers have done a good job in revealing little by little.

Originally posted by: malikakas

Hmmm you got me thinking again. Like you said, I love that the writers create subtleties and allow us to analyze and discuss like this. It's wonderful. Can't wait to see the story ahead and be proved completely wrong with my theories.

Man I love how mature and deep the discussions on this forums are. Most of all how respectful everyone is towarda different opinions. It's so rare thes days. I There are so many amazing, thoughtful and perceptive people here and reading these opinions gives me hope for our society where people who have the ability to understand others and look beyond the surface exist! ❤️
You all rock 👊🏼✊🏼🤟🏼

Originally posted by: malikakas