Director's Cut - July 20, 2012 - Page 8

Originally posted by: GirlOfFire

<h1><font size="5" color="#666666" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">The Grey Lady</font></h1>

<font color="#666666" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="2">(Since most of you will be drooling over the hug... I thought I'd give you a chill pill to sober up over the weekend! Next week is gonna be tough, ladies!!)</font>

<font color="#666666" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="2">
</font>

The introduction of the negative aspects of Anjali's
character has outraged a lot of people. There were outcries of how could people
call Anjali negative, how could the creators MAKE her sound so negative? And
WHY is Anjali so negative? Today, I'd like to take a walk in the mind of the
creators of Anjali Manohar Jha nee Singh Raizada.

Some time ago, I wrote a post on Anjali Jha: the Enigma. (https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/iss-pyaar-ko-kya-naam-doon/3083822/anjali-jha-the-enigma).
There, I tried to see beneath the surface of Anjali Manohar Jha, who to me was always
a mystery, and I tried to outline all the negative aspects of her character,
which we were given glimpses of, but were never focused on. The pointers were
all there, but just like Anjali, we didn't see it.

Right from the start of the story, we have seen how entwined
her brother's life is with hers. Over and over, the story emphasized their love
for each other, his dependency on her happiness, his willingness to go to any
lengths to protect her, guard her against anything that might hurt her and
later on, her baby. But what did Anjali's happiness depend on? Her husband and
her brother, we all know that.

The Anjali that we knew before is beautiful, sweet, sometimes
cloyingly so, religious, and never has a bad word to say about anybody. This
last is a pointer to her character. No one can go through life with
blindfolds on. Even mami's jibes at whoever happens to be the target of the day
only makes her roll her eyes.

Fast forward to the impending marriage of Akash and Payal,
mamiji is furious about Akash's choice. The whole house is in Uproar mode. As
an older sister, one expects her to stand up for her brother and show some
spunk, after all, she has those same genes that Naniji, Akash and Arnav have.
Even Mamaji stands up to Mamiji. Anjali just looks miserable. Then came the
havan debacle. Here we still see Anjali as only a bystander. Her participation
is reduced to her large eyes filling with tears and half-hearted attempts to
pacify mamiji. It is Naniji who brings a halt to mamiji's rants. Anjali is
non-confrontational by nature.

The Singh Raizada DNA is a tough one, but where is Anjali's
toughness? Did she not inherit any of those genes? I am afraid we will be
witnessing that soon, very soon.

Moving on to Arnav's marriage. Like the rest of the family
she is also upset. A day ago, she was plotting with Nani to get Arnav to
confess his feelings for Khushi. She was looking forward to him finally tying
the knot with a girl that they all loved. She was throwing Arnav into Khushi's
arms by sending Khushi to the poolside, knowing full well that he would follow
her. So why the anger when he married that very same girl? Why could she not
support her brother in this major step that he took? Because she did not
participate in his decision. It seems to me, that Anjali expected her
brother to marry Khushi, but not until she (and the family) thought it right
for them to marry. She needed to be the
one who made that decision for him.

Coming to the present day. Anjali is shattered. Her world
has fallen apart with a swiftness that is breathtaking. And her FB's (abortion
episode) give us insight into her emotions. Suddenly, the creative minds behind her
character unleash this view of Anjali Jha on us that they had only
hinted at. She tries to get an abortion. She walks in without knocking, into
her brother's room, knowing that both Khushi and Arnav are at home, and after
Arnav has made it publicly known that he will defend Khushi's honor, no matter
whom it came from. She walks into a private celebration between a man and his
wife. All of a sudden, she is unable to understand her own brother. She is
unable to comprehend that her brother would order flowers for his wife. That he
would be feeding his wife cake on her birthday.

Which begs the question: when she wanted Arnav to get
married, did she think that his wife (Lavanya or Khushi or whoever) would NOT
hold a high place in his life? That his priorities would NOT change? that he
would NOT have to give equal time, affection and care to his wife if not more
than to his (then married) sister? WHAT image did she hold in her head and heart for Arnav's
married life? With Khushi in Arnav's life, she sees her control on him slipping
away.

In her defense, she is at the lowest point of her life. Her
god-like husband has been thrown out of the house by her brother. He on the
other hand, is romancing his wife. When she pleads with him to bring her Shyam
back, she never once sees the torment in his eyes. At that point, she
basically has asked him to choose her happiness over his own. For the first
time, she is articulating the fact that she is selfish, truly selfish. Aside
from the first moment when Arnav walked in, she has never once asked him about
his 15-day kidnapping ordeal. She cries to Grandma: What is the truth? Why not
ask her brother who lived through the truth? She doesn't ask her him, because she
knows that if she does, she will hear uglier truths about Shyam that she
doesn't want to know.

She withdraws further into herself, clinging to her memories
of Shyam. But she still turns to Chotey when she needs to, only to find him still
lost in his Khushi. She feels abandoned by him. Let's take Shyam out of the
equation for a second here. If he were still in her life, this scene would have
played out differently. She would have been happy that her brother is thinking
of his wife, because she is happy in her life with Shyam. But now, that very scene
underlines something: she is not happy, therefore how can Chotey be happy with
someone else, especially when that someone is Khushi? How could he forget her unhappiness
so soon? How could Chotey be so selfish?

'Happiness is something you create within yourself' and by
extension 'unhappiness is also something you create within yourself'.

Anjali Jha is digging inward to find all the reasons to
be unhappy. She is still clinging to her memories of both Shyam and Arnav.

Today marks a new low for her. She was okay to let Arnav
leave her side to go to Agra: as long as he is not with Khushi. And she
is NOT okay with Arnav coming home to be with his wife. She accuses him of
lying! Again, if we take Shyam's exit out of the picture, this scene would have
had a different outcome. She would have teased him about it, and said some more
of her 'saanse rukh jayengi' lines. Although now that her Arnav has finally found
his 'saanse rukh jayengi' partner, she is NOT happy. Once again, she starts her
emotional blackmail with him. She goes to her room. She will not come out and
play. But Arnav is also capable of using the same weapon on her, asking her if
she wants him dead, and he makes her take her (bitter) pill.

Anjali has started projecting her own negative views on
Chotey.

Chotey's change, as she sees it, has come about since he
married. Just as Arnav finds it hard to pronounce Shyam's name, she finds it
hard to bring Khushi's name to her lips. It's all Khushi's fault, that he does
not answer her questions any more. Now, to her muddled, ill-informed mind, that
is when the betrayal started. Does she not know her brother? Did he not refuse
to answer questions about his broken relationship with Lavanya? He has always
been like this! But she is once again only seeing what she wants to see: her
own interpretation of the negative (keeping him away from his sister) influence
of Khushi in his life. Anjali is becoming a pathetic woman, who cannot bear to
see her child learn to walk on his own, to make decisions on his own. Her
brother is a business magnate; did she think he got there because of her
influence on him? He did it on his own. Her brother learnt to walk and learn
from life, all on his own.

Anjali deserves to be happy, truly happy and especially with
someone who values all the innate goodness in her. At some point, the CVs have
surely got a plan for her. I just don't know how the writers will take her to
her happiness.

So why was all this negativity in her character unleashed
all of a sudden?

Any good story needs a conflict between good and evil, dark
and light. It can be external and it can be internal. Arnav and Khushi dealt
with their own inner conflicts inside of their heads and hearts, and within
their own relationship.

Shyam provided the element of the conflict that is external
to them, and has a huge impact on them. He was the dark to Arnav's light. Arnav
shone because Shyam started out light and got darker and darker until when we
last see him, we see a black Shyam. Arnav started out dark and got lighter and
brighter, until we almost see a halo around him when he revives his wife with
his heart, and then wins her heart over!

With Shyam's physical presence no longer on the scene, how do
the writers provide a contrast to the good or light represented by
Arnav/Khushi? The contrast can come from within them, as it did within the
initial 'nafrat' phase, and also during the post-marriage phase. But now,
nafrat is slowly going away, and mohabbat phase has started. The conflict
between their hearts and minds has already been resolved.

There needed to be another external conflict and Anjali already
had those characteristics that would provide the foil to them. It is only right
that when Arnav and Khushi are reaching the brightest time in their lives
together, recognition and acknowledgement that the one you love is the one who
loves you; that there is a need for some darkness, some sorrow to highlight it.
Anjali's depression, her sense of abandonment, her antagonism towards Khushi is
providing that counterpoint. Poignancy is added to their budding love, with a
parallel one of heartbreak and despair.

This is what makes for a great story and excellent drama.

<font color="#ff0000">Afterthought</font><font color="#000099">: Anjali's hairstyle has changed. She now parts
it to the side and combs it forward, hiding her sindoor. Is she subconsciously
ashamed of Shyam who put the sindoor there? Or she does not want toremind her family
of Shyam and the trauma he brought on them?</font>

Khushi's walk/run through the dark to Arnav's arms, the
lights turning on, and the rose petal-strewn path, all say one thing. That no matter
how thorny life is, together they will walk in the light of their love, on a
path strewn with roses, whose thorns have been stripped away.

But first, Chotey will have to make his sister take another bitter
pill.

(That song, ugh! I would have preferred that scene to just have
been punctuated by 'dhak-dhak', their dhadkans would truly have become one! But
I guess the CVs are keeping that for another day).

<font color="#ff0000">One more afterthought</font> : Kahin woh missed call Lakshmiji to
nahin thi? (sorry, that one HAD to be said).

Originally posted by: Jameelah52

I finally saw that you updated the post.
You've answered all my questions and cleared a few which were mere thoughts in my mind.
You've pointed out a few excellent things about her character.
1) she needed to be the one that made that (marriage) decision for him. - she has practically raised Arnav. I wouldnt blame her if she wanted to make that decision.
2) if Shyam would have been in the picture she would have teased him instead- that really shows how lonely she is at the moment.
3)she is only seeing what she wants to- she is again making the same mistake. In one of her FB she recalls the scene where Arnav's 2nd slap and not the 1st one which was for her. She fails to remember Arnav coming up to her and saying 'Di I had to protect you and your child'.

I would love to see how it all plays out. Cant wait for monday to come! So that we can see Arnav's reaction to her accusations. Lastly great post!
👏

Originally posted by: iritz

Maine to yaar expectation hi chhod di hai... if it turns out to be yet another saas bahu drama... It'll be like Bye Bye time from my side !!!