Disclaimer:
I'm writing this on request from a few people but please excuse me if it's not up to the mark. I've been unable to write analyses after the bashing I received on the forum but trying to get back in form.
I'm in a time crunch today so I'm going to focus on Raghav in this post.
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Lion's den
Raghav consulted with his lawyer to understand how the mutual consent option for divorce would work. The lawyer clearly explained that even if both parties were to sign, the court would give them 6 months to change their decision. If Pallavi signed the divorce papers, the lawyer would be obliged to begin proceedings. Raghav did not want it to get to that stage in the first place. He wanted to cancel the entire thing and the lawyer's recommendation was to prevent Pallavi from signing the papers in the first place as that was the only way to prevent any divorce proceedings from being kicked off. Thank goodness, at least they showed the lawyer explicitly showing him he had a few options in this regard, because this drove home the point that indeed Raghav chose to discard them in favor of killing Mandaar. Now, whether he meant this literally or figuratively remains to be seen. By figureatively, did he mean he would raise questions on whether Mandaar really existed, that he was indeed the kabaristaan se utha hua lash? After all, he had been declared dead officially and as far as we know no legal work has been done to correct this in the record and show that he had never died. Or did Raghav mean he would actually kill him once and for all?
It would have been much easier to kidnap Mandaar and lock him away in some dungeon at least until they could figure a way out. Raghav doesn't seem to be investigating anything but perhaps this is where Ayi's phone recording will help.
Let's not bother going into loophole discussions on how they could burn the papers, hide them, etc. The CVs told us clearly that they weren't interested in such perfectly logical plans despite following them in the past. The point is that Mandaar would never stop trying to get them divorced so it's only a matter of time. Never mind that Raghav only a few days ago told Mandaar in this very den that he could make him disappear overnight and no one police would be able to find him. Whatever happened to this?
If the point is to extinguish evil by killing Mandaar once and for all, then say so, instead of considering it to be the only way to solve this problem.
I don't understand why Pallavi signing those divorce papers would mean Mandaar would never be punished. It doesn't suddently absolve him of murdering Devyani or almost murdering Ayi. It also doesn't mean that Pallavi has to necessarily marry Mandaar. I know they are doing this to speed up the track because of audience backlash but surely they had some arc in mind for Mandaar that would have made sense?
I am not buying this crazy obsessed lover Raghav who doesn't see sense. He just seemed to want to short-circuit the battle because it was getting uglier by the minute. He didn't want it to be long-drawn because it was no longer between Mandaar and him, or was it. There has also been a parallel thread running under the surface of Raghav just wanting to defeat Mandaar in a battle of egos and show of masculinity, because how dare Mandaar trick him into signing those papers. If Mandaar's appearance has been to take revenge from Raghav then I must say he has been quite successful so far. The mastermind behind this has observed Raghav closely enough to know how he thinks and operates and all the attacks on Pallavi and him so far have been set up to push him to the brink and send him to jail through his own actions, something his enemies must have wanted to do for a while but failed.
A lot of people have said that what Raghav is doing doesn't go with his character. Sure, we love the cold and calculating side of his, but when it comes to his loved ones he goes all out to protect them.
The CVs haven't fully addressed his past trauma regarding the deaths of his family members. There was brief mention of it during the accident track where he had said clearly that he couldn't take the burden of another life destroyed while he already carried the weight of his father's and brother's deaths. Back then he had referred to Keerti but this time it was about Pallavi. If anything happened to her, he would not be able to live with himself, so he would go all out. Right from episode 1 we saw him fight those goons on the street to protect Keerti, he defamed Pallavi to take revenge for the scandal Amma and Keerti were victim to, then went ahead and forced her to marry him just to get his mother and sister to live with him, he was ready to put aside his ride and wash Sanki's feet just to get forgiveness for Pallavi. None of these were cold-blooded moves. He did it from his heart.
Raghav is born smart, we know that, but in many situations, such as the current one, he is also ruled by his emotions to the point of no return. He is hostage to his all-encompassing explosive emotions, so what he plans to do to Mandaar is very much in character. I understand it but I don't agree with it. Not because of the fact that he wants to kill Mandaar, but because he seems to feel that is the only solution to the problem and because he's going to break the heart of the very person he's trying to save in all this.
The only problem is that he said explicitly that he wasn't being impulsive, that it was a decision he'd take 'bohot soch samajhke' and that he was doing this to stop Pallavi, not Mandaar. Either this is a mess up by the writers or they are showing us that Raghav doesn't want any more little games. He wants to go for the big move and save Pallavi at any costs.
She's my wife and I love her.
This one statement was enough to prevent Amma protesting further in the study and also for the audience, i.e. stop asking for logic, I am doing all this for her and this is the reason why.
Sai improvised this line and the effect showed - simple but powerful. It wasn't a sweeping declaration or a revelation, just a clear statement of facts. No debate. How many men on ITV can actually say that so matter-of-factly?
This was a perfect example of 'jab pyaar kiya to darna kya', consequences be damned. So what if seeing him in jail would destroy Pallavi and give her no moment of peace?
Ab mereko koi nahin rok sakta, he said.
He would not let Pallavi sign those divorce papers under any circumstances. Well, the background score told us that he would be stopped and by whom.
If the intent is to show a passionate love story where marna mitna is the height they can go to, then such a relationship doesn't need a legal stamp. Its fate cannot be determined by signatures on pieces of paper. They are supposed to be beyond that, or are they? Is their relationship that fragile that it is easier to take a life than to sign those documents? Have these two been so battered by fate that they would do anything not to lose such a precious relationship at any cost?
I do not buy the argument that Raghav's plan is to protect the sanctity of the marriage. If this were the case, then the focus should have been on their trust and emotions for each other, buying time until they figured out what to do in the 6-month period. Instead they themselves are tainting it by letting in doubts and insecurities related to Mandaar, and by failing to make the right moves to stop him.
Farhad didn't look surprised, probably because he must have seen his Anna get into such trouble in the past. This time, though Raghav seemed to have no intention to use his power to get out of jail even after being arrested for murder, which is something he would surely have done in the past. Then again, Pallavi would probably want him to serve jail time for committing a crime because that would be in line with her standing up for the truth. So there you go.
Descent into darkness
As Raghav descended the stairs, dressed in black, his facial expressions were that of a prisoner on death row going his sentence. The black of his outfit seemed to mirror the darkness in his heart, the background chants and the entire mood was one of foreboding. I don't know if this was intentional, but for a change he descended down the other staircase, and the focus was on him and his movements, up close, rather than a sweeping view of the staircases that we have seen in the past. This was about the man and the moment.
Amma made one last-ditched attempt to convince him to reconsider he decision.
She couldn't bear the thought of him being accused of murder. How ironic, since she'd spent 10 years wrongly accusing him of the deaths of his father and brother. She was now talking to Pallavi's husband, not her son.
If I can't save my Pallavi, I won't be able to look myself in the eye for the rest of my life.
This is not the time to think, he said. Oh yes, it is, Raghav. This is EXACTLY the time to think about what's going on, to step back and look at the big picture, because your enemies have trapped you in a way that clouded your judgement . It made me feel as if Mandaar has planned all this to distract Raghav and Pallavi from his real mission at hand.
Amma was the last hump on his way to his mission and he wanted to see the same resolve in her as he had in himself. He had only one goal, to save Pallavi, no matter what it took. While he knew it was breaking Amma's heart, he wanted her support and blessings before stepping out. Not just because he needed her love and protection but because he wanted her to be at peace with a decision that both of them truly agreed on.
He was going to throw away his life for his wife, but Amma was his jaan. Knowing that she'd be falling apart would never give him the strength to execute his plan. He needed to do this with a clear mind and conscience.
Uske liye kuch bhi galat kyun na karna pade, to woh karne ka himmat do Amma. Mereko kamzor mat karo.
I know, aap ke liye ye sab easy nahin hai. Aap ye mat sochna ke maine kisiko maara hai. Aap ye sochna ke iss pyar ka ladai mein saamne waala haar gaya hai.
It was important to defeat that evil, because if he didn't then it would humiliate his love, his marriage and his relations. He would never let that happen.
It was a big ask of his mother, who had always wanted him to follow the right path, to bless him in doing something wrong. She was the one who had blessed him a few days ago to come back victorious after saving Pallavi. Today he was reminding her of that, giving her the strength and courage to be his charioteer in this, showing her that sometimes you have to do the unthinkable because protecting your loved ones comes above all.
Please Amma, mera saath do.
His eyes showed his determination to complete his mission but also the heartbreak he was experiencing because he was going to be leaving behind his mother, whom he had longed to reunited with for ten long and lonely years. The woman he had forcefully married to have his mother in his life, was the one for whom he was about to part from his mother for good this time. He had fought so hard to have a family but that joy was short-lived. We know that he would do it all over again if he were put in the same situation again.
Amma understood her son, and mustered up the courage to bless him as he touched her feet. His stance was very different from the previous time he had touched her feet. Then, he had his back straight, leg at 90 degrees as he set out on his SNS mission but now his back was hunched as though he no longer had it in him to drag this fight on and just wanted it over and done with.
As most of you, I really loved this scene. Amma and Raghav always have special scenes but this one was full of desperation, with the sense of impending doom throughout, as if there was no going back from this point. Their lives were at stake and Amma was about to lose her son to crime all over again.
Over a decade ago, Raghav did some impulsive things for the wrong reasons that destroyed the family. Today he was doing the wrong thing for apparently the right reasons, that would break the family apart physically but emotionally bind them forever. He might be in jail but their hearts would be in sync eternally. As much as the mother in her was distraught with the knowledge of the kind of future Raghav would lead in jail, she couldn't help but feel proud of him for taking a stand for his wife. She had led a difficult life without her husband and she would unconditionally support Pallavi in her life without hers.
I can't praise Sai, Geeta ji, and even Himanshu enough for bringing the characters' emotions out so beautifully. Yes, we knew that they had thrown logic out the window in this plan, but just like the characters in those momments, I too parked logic and just felt their pain and heartbreak as the clock ticked.
Raghav may have courageously (or foolishly depending on how you see it) decided to sacrifice his life and time with family in order to protect his wife, but every passing moment made him realize what he was about to lose. First, his mother, then his brother Farhad, two people he trusted above all else.
He was going to do the duty of a husband but would not forget his duty of care as a brother and a son. He asked Jaya to promise to take Pallavi away from a life of cruetly at the hands of this society once he is arrested. This was as much for Pallavi as for leaving his mother with a companion he knew she cherished, so that she would not face loneliness once her son was in jail. In essence, he was leaving Pallavi and Amma in each other's cares because he trusted these two women to look after each other. It wasn't said in so many words, but if Pallavi could do so much for D-fam to fulfill her promise to the Mandaar she had been married to for barely a few hours, he could absolutely count on her to take care of Amma in his absence. Amma, for her part, had lived a life of loneliness and despair after losing her husband and child, facing cruel taunts from society too, and had had to move to another city to start fresh. Her experience would be the guiding force and backbone that would provide Pallavi with the necessary moral support.
As for Keerti, no matter what she had done, and despite the fact that Raghav was in this situation partly because of her, he chose not to focus on blaming or punishing her but left her in the care of Amma and Farhad. In a way, killing Mandaar would also ensure that he no longer used his sister against her brother. Raghav knew that if not Keerti, Mandaar would have found another pawn anyway so in this difficult moment, he chose not to hold it against her beyond a point. That's my read anyway.
I disapproved of him doing this without telling Pallavi and making Amma and Farhad promise not to tell her, but it was obvious that he couldn't fulfill his mission if she found out. She would never let him go through with it and he knew that very well.
I understand the CVs' attempts to elevate this 'love story' to a Veer Zara and to some extent the Gift of the Magi kind of tale. It might have even worked, had the premise of his plan not been so weak. Anyway, I let that go because the acting in this moment was spectacular enough to captivate me and make me believe in Raghav's emotions, see things from his perspective as he embarked on a suicide mission of sorts.
Main sab Pallavi ke liye kar raha hai, aur agar woh khush nahin rahega to yeh sab bematlab hai.
The irony in this line wasn't lost on Amma or the audience, for how could Pallavi ever be happy with the outcome. She was bound to find out eventually and she would not sit still or live in peace knowing that her freedom came at the cost of his life and future.
This man stormed into her life, gave her wings, and was about to set her free from her cage by locking himself into it from the inside and melting down the key. There couldn't be a bigger punishment for a beast who had previously ruled the kingdom without a care for the world or the consequences of his actions.
There was a subtle but beautiful throwback to the reconciliation scene where Amma had berated herself for not being there when he needed her the most. She didn't falter today as she hardened her heart and gave him the confidence and blessings she knew he very much needed before he could walk out that door. He truly was his mother's son and you could see where his magnanimity and steely resolve came from. A decade apart couldn't erase the foundations she had built in her son. The kokh ke rath mein music really cemented this and brought back memories of all their scenes since the beginning of the show: his longing to reunite with his mother, her constant rejections, his never-ending attempts to appease her and get close to her, her slowly melting and seeing him for who he was, his opening up to her and sharing his deepest fears and thoughts with her in his tough times as though the two had never been estranged, him expecting to understand his strengths and weaknesses and seeking her council in moments of confusion, to fully embracing her as his guide and his source of inspiration for how to keep a family together. Neither of them were perfect, but together they tried to better their lives as time went by. This scene was actually what I would call the real reconciliation between Amma and Raghav, because to me the previous one was more of calling a truce.
I don't need to say this but the fact that he gave Farhad the responsibility of looking after Amma and Keerti showed us how much he must trust him to leave the precious women in his life in Farhad's care. We've always known what Farhad has meant to Raghav, but at times like this those emotions are clearly visible. Farhad's look of helplessness was painful to watch. Like Amma, he didn't agree with what his Anna was doing, but would support him till his last breath. Such loyalty and respect is impossible to find these days and it tells you what kind of a man Raghav must be to have such a high place in Farhad's life and vice-versa.
As Amma clasped his hand to give him her promise, he took one last look at her, eyes full of pain as he tried to contain his emotions. He put his free hand over hers as if to seal the deal and bid her farewell. I felt as though he was trying to control himself from hugging her lest that weaken his resolve. He couldn't afford that right now.
Chalta hoon, der ho raha hai, he said with one last look at his mother as he marched out to end the war.
Divine intervention
As Farhad stood there despairing, Amma steeled herself further, and put her faith in the Lord to prevent any injustices from happening, advising Farhad to let things unfold. While many of us have been cringing at the thought of divine intervention, from the characters' point of view, it was clear that when they could see no way out they would put their faith in God to take care of everything.
As my title suggests, this is Raghav's attempt to essentially short-circuit the battle because Pallavi has had enough. She's at the end of her tether and has talked about harming herself, which Raghav will never allow. We have seen him as the mentor, guide, friend, lover, and possessive husband. Now he's in (over) protective husband mode so he will stop at nothing to achieve this goal of ensuring that.
He may not have said it in so many words but the promise he extracted from Amma to take Pallavi far away from all this was not just about saving her from the cruelty of society but also to remove her once and for all from the D's influence. Sure, he has accepted that they are part of her life but after he goes to jail there is no way he can expect the Ds to protect and support her. They are going to blame him (and by extension Pallavi) for the death of their son, even though by killing him Raghav would be saving them all from that monster.
In Jaya, we saw an MIL who found the strength to put aside her motherly protective instincts to support and bless her son for what he was about to do, so that they could bring Pallavi back home safely, for good. I say they, because it's not just Raghav but Amma and Farhad who are going to help Raghav achieve this and sustain it in the long-run.
Yes, it's a harebrained idea but we know that it won't be successful. I wish they hadn't given us spoilers on the divine intervention, because that would have upped the suspense (and stress) factor for most viewers. Anyway, let's see in what form this intervention happens and what that phone recording leads to.
It's all fine to pray for divine intervention, but as they say, God helps those who help themselves. It seems as if our characters have forgotten this important point. Yeh nahin ke exam ke liye padhai na karo aur upar waale se pray karo ke pass kara de.
You might ask why it's such a big deal that Pallavi can't just pick up and begin a life on her own somewhere else. It might be linked to her past, because something prevents her from detaching herself completely from the Ds.
On the drive to D-house, Raghav remembered some precious moments he spent with Pallavi as their relationship progressed, with bhula dena mujhe playing in the background. I'm on the fence about the choice of song but I get what they were trying to show. As per the flashback scenes, he went from being a caring husband to a loving one and now he was in the mode of a protective husband.
To quote Sai's instagram post:
He set the fire to the world around him but never let a flame touch her.
He would basically let the fire in him destroy everyone around but never let the heat come anywhere near Pallavi. These were his last moments of freedom before the beast would be caged forever.
As he put his gun out of Pallavi's sight, he met her outside D-house as two lovers would meet in secret, assuring her that he had found a solution, that he had taken care of everything so that she didn't need to worry anymore. He lied to her with a fake smile that didn't reach his eyes, just to keep the smile on her face, and as she told him a couple of times that she loved him, the smile faded.
He was going to do whatever it took and the lawyer would sort everything out before she even needed to sign the papers. Short of shooting Mandaar during the event, I am not sure what else he had in mind but this line was either him lying to her or being deliberately cryptic to viewers.
Mera har decision tumhara khushi ke liye hai Pallavi. The audience wouldn't buy it but she did, not knowing what disaster was going to unfold the next day. She was like the track runner eying the finish line. She only had to push a little further and she'd cross it into a new world where she could be free to finally enjoy her life of freedom with her husband, a life she had craved for a long time. She wanted to travel with him, take a month out of their lives for just the two of them and as she expressed her excitement, we as the audience felt that sense of dread.
This would be Raghav's last stand in the matter. He would spread the rose petals out for his love and be left holding the thorns.
(By the way, I don't know what happened to Sai's diction in this episode, especially in this scene but i'll let it slide.)
After Pallavi left, Raghav pulled out his gun and reiterated his threat to (an absent) Mandaar. Enough of hide and seek. Since Mandaar had dared to play a trick using the divorce papers, Raghav would ensure that the only signatures to be made would be on Mandaar's death certificate. I was hoping it would be the former, but from his talks of going to jail and the signature on the death certificate, I gather he meant it in a literal sense. If this is the CVs' way of showing us that he was in don mode, then it's a failed because the don would have tackled Mandaar far easier and never been riled up. I couldn't help but wonder if there was another legal angle he was pursuing that we didn't know. Would he literally kill Mandaar or figuratively, i.e. wipe out his existence on paper, in society and give him no room to breathe? Would he pretend to kill Mandaar but actually make him disappear over night? I also wondered again, was all this triggered by her mention of harming herself? Or was there more to it than met the eye? Let's see.
I know we have the BTS but let's ignore that, and imagine we didn't know about the upcoming divine intervention. For all intents and purposes this would be the end of the road, at least for Raghav but not for their story.
The train has been set in motion, so the only one to put a break on this would be upar waala. At least, that's the message I got in this episode.
The next morning BWA couldn't stop praising Raghav, which Pallavi found it amusing, I was still wondering why they had this angle, unless BWA is meant to help him somehow (beyond being an interpreter).
In the last scene where Raghav offers Mandaar some tea, I couldn't help but wonder if he'd already figured out that it was Raghav. I just find it hard to believe he wouldn't notice. His comment about keeping Raghav in check didn't seem to be just arrogance, but if it was then clearly a lot of Raghav's motivation for shutting Mandaar down is him not being able to stand Mandaar challenging him for so many weeks, stepping into his territory and messing up his life. There is definitely a part of Raghav's ego involved here.
If indeed Mandaar considered SNS as nothing more than a servant, than why that smug expression while rubbing it in about Pallavi and him reuniting?
I have to mention the final scene between Mandaar and Ayi, where he insulted her and berated her for not supporting him, mocking her state and even her relationship with Pallavi. Did he resent the place Pallavi had made in his mother's heart? How dare she go from being a daughter-in-law to daughter and even become more of a priority to Ayi than he was? Main tumhara saga beta hoon na? Kya dustbin se uthaya tha mujhe.
Chaho to ashirwaad de dena, he said arrogantly. Warna padi rehna aise hi, statue banke.
What a contrast to the earlier scene between Raghav and Amma! Raghav would do anything to protect his mother, and put her on a pedestal no matter what. He took her blessings before beginning a major thing in his life. I also remembered how he had urged Ayi in this very room to get well soon as he became emotional seeing her in this state and promised to protect her and the rest of the family.
There was also another contrast in this scene where Mandaar was willing to destroy everything around him to get Pallavi for his selfish reasons, whereas as Raghav was willing to destroy everything to protect Pallavi no matter what.
We saw Ayi being able to move her hands in prayer to the Lord and probably in preparation to help her children out in whatever way she could.
Precap:
Pallavi and Raghav spend some private moments together, locking their fingers together. Raghav hesitantly lifts his finger to his lips, using their code to signal his love for her, but unable to muster the same enthusiasm he would normally have. He knows he is being dishonest by giving her a false sense of security as he proceeds to become a sacrificial lamb in the bloodbath coming up. While Mandaar would be one to die, Raghav's existence has slowly begun to crumble.
While her eyes are full of stars and dreams for the future, his are almost soulless, as though the life force in him is slowly fading away as the moment of reckoning nears.
I have to commend Sai for the way he emoted this scene (at least the parts we see in the precap), tears forming in his eyes that he never let drop. The pain in his heart is so much that he can't even utter I love you, and gives her a half-smile that never reaches his eyes. There is heartbreak written across every line on his face. He knows the real value of these final moments with her and he is taking it all in to lock away in heart so that he can hold on to it as his soul is destroyed and he descends into a dark cage for life.
It felt so natural, I am quite sure he didn't need glycerin here.
I don't think I have the words to express how I feel about Sai's acting in this entire episode that would do it justice. Watch his tremendously moving work in every scene and see for yourselves.
PS Please ignore typos and other mistakes, I had to rush through this. Will correct it later.
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