My Heart Bleeds for Shantanu

This poor boy has yearned for nothing but love his whole life. His entire character arc has been set up that way from his very first introductory shot. Even though he had his mother right beside him, he still yearned for someone who would be his companion for life. Someone whom he could love and would love him unconditionally. Someone whom he could protect and claim some rights to.

He was truly blessed to get Puchki for five years but as we all know he wasn't fated to have her for all that long. He was ripped from one home and tossed into another where he would be given a basic amount of respect and consideration only if he met their select criterion. In this way, Sonagachi's society was better as they didn't question Shantanu's legitimacy or required him to behave in a certain way in order to be considered as part of their unit. He was automatically a part of their family by birth. But the Majumdars - they had a whole list of expectations that Shantanu has to meet every single day. He is constantly reminded of the fact that he is not theirs. That he's an outsider and everything that they have bestowed upon him - money, a legitimate name, decent education, food, shelter, reputation - it's all something that he should be grateful for.

Regardless of all this, Shantanu doesn't mind. All he wants is love, acceptance and a family. For this he'll do anything. Take on any punishment, sacrifice whatever's needed - he'll do it all as long as it'll make his loved ones happy.

For a ten year old boy to have this mentality is not good for the long run. It'll inevitably damage him as an adult. It's the adults in his life who have made wrong choices, and held prejudices against each other. It's completely unfair for him to be punished so heavily for it especially when he is not at fault.

It's not his fault that his dad betrayed Nivedita and went to Sonagachi. It's not his fault that his dad refused to accept Chanda when she got pregnant. It's not his fault that when Nivedita couldn't get pregnant, his dad went to collect him. None of this is his fault. He didn't choose to be born in Sonagachi or to a mother who's a sex worker by profession. He also didn't choose to be an illegitimate child to a father belonging to a highly influential family.

Now the poor boy has gone off and started hallucinating Puchki and having conversations with her to cope with the emotional conflicts he has. He can't go to Sonagachi and talk to anyone there and he for sure can't talk about Sonagachi at the Majumdar house. It's no wonder he began to hallucinate.

I truly hope I'm proven wrong, but I really don't see him growing up as an emotionally healthy adult.

Thats actually true....I think a lot of the problems Shaan and Asmita faced in the beginning were because of Shaan's issues with his family. I mean he is still blind to Nevi's faults. He is also very unlucky in love when it comes to Asmita.

This content was originally posted by: prd2bascorpio

Thats actually true....I think a lot of the problems Shaan and Asmita faced in the beginning were because of Shaan's issues with his family. I mean he is still blind to Nevi's faults. He is also very unlucky in love when it comes to Asmita.

I'm currently on Ep. 56 so I'm not entirely sure as to what kind of problems crop up between Shantanu & Puchki when they're adults. However, you are absolutely correct about Shantanu being blind to Nivedita's faults.

While living in Sonagachi, his understanding of the world was limited to whatever was taught to him. Despite her profession, he absolutely cherished and loved Chanda. Whatever she said, he believed because why would she lie? What would she gain from lying to him about how the world works?

Heck, when it came to time to go, it was Chanda who convinced him that Nivedita and the Majumdar's are good people. That they will take good care of him and they are the type of people whom Shantanu should aspire to become. Whilst living there, for seven months Shantanu experienced it. He had a mother who gave him so much love and helped him make all his dreams and aspirations come true. This mother cared for his every need. This mother protected him against all forces of evil. This mother, whilst living under Ravindra's strict rule, dared to speak against his authority and managed to keep Shantanu with her. She fought for him.

But Chanda? Despite being his biological mother, she sent him away. Yes, it was for his well-being in the long run, but in the short term he was happy. He didn't face any immediate danger and was never forced to do something that he didn't want to. The only times when he would really act out were to either save Puchki or because he didn't want to leave Sonagachi.

Instead of having things explained to him rationally, he was emotionally manipulated and Shantanu is well aware of this. He knows that in exchange for saving Puchki's life, he had to go. He's also fully aware of the promise in which he was asked to break all ties with Sonagachi and the people living in there. And this promise was requested by Chanda first before he had even met the Majumdars.

For all intents and purposes, Shantanu was groomed for his new life. So when Nivedita began to rebuke him, he was made to believe it was because of his connections with Sonagachi. That place, and the people living there are the reasons why he's not a proper fit. While his heart may reject the idea that the people living there are bad, his mind can't deny what has happened. First his mom almost killed Hridoy just so that Shantanu can get all the rights to being a Majumdar, then Beauty had him kidnapped and buried alive so that she can be wedded into the Majumdar family. In both cases, wrong tactics were used for monetary reasons. Due to these instances, the belief that the people from Sonagachi are greedy individuals who can and will do anything to get what they want can be heavily reinforced.

This way, when Nivedita poisons Shaan against Sonagachi, she doesn't even have to try that hard. It's all right there before his eyes. She just needs to sow in some hateful seeds at the right times and he'll make his own conclusions.

I think this why he's so desperate to have Nivedita be right. Cuz if she ends up being wrong, then the ideology that he had adopted for twenty years will be broken. The image he had created of her and the Majumdars, all the thoughts he had regarding Sonagachi and the people living there, the identity he has created for himself - it will all be shattered.

Shantanu has never been an emotionally strong person. For him to lose the very foundation of who he is, and his worldview, he will completely fall apart.

I guess the TL;DR of this is that Shantanu was a ten year old boy when he had been adopted. Father, grandfather, aunt and uncle - these are all new relationships. But the only one that he was well acquainted with is that of a mother-son. Hence, he will undoubtedly be craving for a mother's love when he goes to his new home and he seeks for it continuously in Nivedita. I'm not a psychologist or anything but I find it natural for a boy his age to want a mother. If he's forbidden to go to Chanda, then he has to make do with what he has - Nivedita.