Rishbala have had many magical moments, of poignant depth, devastating hurt and playful teasing mischief.
All these facets were visible with perhaps the lightest and yet sure touch in ep 31st January 2013 (Thursday), with some superb dialogues for RK and Madhu, and two phrases in particular - 'TRP (Togetherness Rating Points)' and 'PP (Pyaare Pati) Network'.😳
The Rishbala staircase scene (31st Jan.) was beautiful in the subtle way it highlighted the couple's individual characters and the relationship complexity.😳
Madhu's lack of cynical past somewhat hampers her ability to anticipate the crises that unfold in one or the other (or both simultaneously) of her families.😕
RK has proven times without number that while his actions may not carry to extremes, his emotions assuredly do.
Even when it comes to remorse, he either feels not even a whit sorry, or is convinced that everything that could potentially have been his fault is indeed his fault.
So there was RK going overboard on the guilt in the fond delusion that his past antagonism with Madhu probably qualified him as monstrous enough to match his deceased father-in-law (Balraj - if truly dead - is surely fuming in the afterlife at such an insult to the barest minimum level necessary in despicable villainy).😕
Noteworthy that calling his own past behaviour monstrous is still easier for RK than opting for the easier, more straightforward (and usually employed) 'sorry'.😕
And while he spoke, Madhu was getting progressively more upset at this reaction to her generally aimed diatribe, and clearly distressed that her husband - the ultimate paradoxical combination of insecurity and arrogance - didn't understand that *he* never qualifies in any general category for her.😳
Finally she reacted - emotionally generous and tactically exquisite - not only permitting no apology but actually getting him to feel good about himself and their relationship, even gently coaching him into returning to his arrogant attitude.😳😊
This girl has an instinctive shrewdness that emerges very effectively in dealing with the man she loves on the emotional plane, and she ensures with staggering effectiveness that the even keel of her conjugal relationship is not rocked by any forces, from within *or* without.😳
Dipali and Trishna have tried, and had it rubbed in their faces that they couldn't even make a dent in the relationship's trust-core with Madhu fiercely guarding the very heart of it.😳😃
Another development was the Shamsher-Padmini wedding finally being accomplished without ostentation via registered marriage in the very living-room of their chawl home.😊
And almost as importantly, the point was made that RK knows very well that legality trumps ritual.😃
His parents-in-law have now been securely legally married with far less ritual than RK and Madhu.😳😊
So presumably this was the CVs trying to get two birds with one stone.😊
Shamsher and Padmini are now married.😳
And it has been made clear that RK and Madhu would be just as absolutely and completely married by Indian law even had it been with no phere at all.😊
Their need - rather *RK's* need - to complete the rituals is more to balance out the negativity when they got married.
The Rishbala suitcase scene in the 31st Jan. ep was fabulous (and perhaps even never before seen), with some exquisitely tender dialogues couched in a playful vein.⭐️
Absolutely perfectly interweaving the threads of the gorgeous depth of love and the subtly joyous mischief that this couple weaves into such a magnificently mesmerizing tapestry.😳
RK removing the packed clothes from the suitcase, packing his wife into it and telling her she was all he needed instead was an outrageously romantic gesture in his very out-of-the-common-way style.
A completely unique take on "You're all I need" redefined via suitcase.😳
And notable was that with her parents now married, Madhu - without even speaking to her husband - very enthusiastically set to packing to go off into the unknown with him.😕😳
Which is a conflict just waiting to happen with the possessive wife wanting her husband all to herself for at least some time until he's willing at some uncertain future point to return😳, and the possessive mother wanting her son with her regardless of what he wants, his happiness and peace of mind of worth only if she is part of it.
Also, dare we hope that one attempt to launch Trishna + forgiving her for almost getting them killed and then trying to frame RK + her standing to gain 10 crores after Rishbala disappear = adequate effort expended on sorting things out for Trishna?
Madhu's packing certainly seems to indicate that she has no inclination to have RK expend further influence and effort on helping her sister's career.😊
Two scenes in the 31st Jan. ep illustrated two facets of Madhu's love for her husband.😳
The first was when she skilfully talked him out of his guilt-trip.😊
To permit not even a 'sorry' by the judicious stratagem of saying that she had fought every misdeed of his at the time itself, completely glossing over the fact that every one of her combative attempts had rebounded on her, was a brilliant tactical move possible only by Madhu's unbounded emotional generosity.😳😊
She simply set aside any negativity in their past, and instead assured him that he had healed it all with his love for her.😳
The sheer depth of love *and* the confidence of being loved that it takes to not even permit the other person to acknowledge being at fault is exceptional.😳😃
And it is *that* which makes Madhu the one that antagonists - especially certain 'relatives' - invariably find themselves effortlessly and utterly routed by.😃
RK is the clearly *apparent* and formidable threat to be dealt with😃, but can be circumvented by those threats closest to him.
But Madhu - ostensibly acquiescent in all other matters - is the unexpected force that is uncompromisingly and ruthlessly willing to face down any and all individuals and situations that might seek to undermine the two parts of her life that have come to mean the most to her - the man she loves, and her marriage.😳
And to preserve these two aspects and the happiness in them, she may spare neither near nor dear ones.
The storyline has so far never shown Madhu as the usual cliched Hindi heroine who needs to be placated and validated and is easily swayed.😕😛
Rather the opposite.😳 Having once understood the core of her husband's character, her faith in him and his love for her (despite his spectacular insecurity-induced blunders) has repeatedly awed him and floored antagonists like Dipali.😃
By not even permitting an apology from her husband, Madhu invariably shakes up the villains' plans and places herself at a formidably indomitable level.😳😃
This is the kind of attitude ("I love you just the way you are, and I won't have you apologize.") that has previously always been showcased only by the powerful male leads in Hindi serials.😃
Madhu is probably the absolutely first time that a Hindi serial heroine hasn't been assigned the persona of the 'weaker gender' - the ablaa-naari - who must be built up, and that the man must bend to and lower himself for.😊
Madhu doesn't consider herself less *or* weak, and has a damn good understanding that the man she loves has infuriatingly exasperating flaws balanced by exceptional virtues that he himself does not appreciate.😳😃
Misunderstandings happen, last for varying durations, and are sorted swiftly.😊
And for a misunderstanding to last for some time, it had to happen from RK's side and Madhu had to be unaware of what is going on in his mind.
The moment she finds out, everything gets tackled and the villains don't get even a moment to gloat in continuing estrangement between the couple.😃
The second scene (in the 31st Jan. ep) illustrating a crucial facet of the Rishbala relationship was in the car when RK asked Madhu to say that she was his fan, and she finally did so and then added "I love you" to that of her own volition.😳
It is in these two scenes that is juxtaposed Madhu's complete willingness to tell RK at the drop of a hat that she loves him, versus her inability to understand that she needs to explain to him at length - in words, and not only actions - just how little any of his past misdeeds matter to her.😳😊
He still will accept any hint and any reason to believe that she does not truly love him, as if her loving him is a wondrous dream and he's expecting to be jolted out of it at any moment.😳
He still does not truly understand the depth of her love, as was clear from his drinking in the fear that Madhu would leave him for unknowingly having brought the life-threatening peril named Balraj into their lives.😳
And it is this core belief that anyone he loves will surely leave him for some reason or other that is the most complex problem that has been left unaddressed, possibly so that it may remain as a persisting flaw that can't actually damage the solid core of the relationship which has almost no other major flaws.😳😊
In a myriad ways, Madhu's feeling for RK has been made clear to everyone else *except* the man who has utter lack of self-esteem when it comes to his being worthy of being loved.😳
The depth of Madhu's feelings we have seen in her unconscious decisions and prioritizing of RK above everyone else.😳
But RK himself has never been privy to any of that.
It is the one point that maintains a flaw in their relationship, not a breaking flaw but one that certain 'relatives' can strike at.
RK did not know - and still does not - how completely Madhu deprioritized Shamsher for him.
He told Bittuji then that Madhu had kept quiet on seeing Shamsher's locket to protect her father.
In the aftermath of that situation, Shamsher had understood most clearly, Padmini a little less so, and Trishna not at all that *nothing* RK had ever done counted with Madhu in the balance against any harm *to* him.😳
Likewise, Madhu's superb response to Dipali after the love-test debacle showcased her absolute loyalty and unwavering confidence in her relationship, but it was in RK's absence.😳
She completely staggered Dipali by her proud confident and absolutely awe-inspiring ability to have trust and faith in the man she loves, and the resolve to let nothing adversely affect the relationship she holds most dear.😳
And when Trishna tried to incite Madhu against RK for surely having with deliberate malice brought Balraj into their lives, Trishna saw the absolute failure of that ploy to dent Madhu's faith in her husband in the absolute ease with which RK and Madhu interacted together when they arrived at court for Padmini's case.😳😊
The problem is that Madhu is fiercely devoted to her husband's interests and protective of him in all things, and unmistakeably expressive about her feelings, but never except when provoked and never *to* RK.😳
To him, she is either momentarily angry or almost always playful and gentle.😳😊😳
Madhu's love encompassing RK is rather like an ocean, that so long as it is mainly serene, its depth, dimensions and power are understood but not fully comprehended.😕😳
And RK may have the outward arrogance, but if he truly understood and believed just how much he means to his wife and his mother, he would never be so easily driven to believe that either of them could accept a life without him.
Madhu is strong and Radha is weak, but both can get desperate in very different ways at the thought of losing him.😕
One of the strangest and yet most exceptional aspects of the Rishbala equation is the usual spectrums of teasing and adoration being subverted in the most outstanding way.😳
The one reason Madhu laughing at him does not affect RK is not simply that they love each other, but also that she turns being associated with him even in a matter she found humorous into a privilege.😳
With her, he is learning that teasing the way she does it gives him happiness - for her teasing might appear mocking, and yet when he brings her into the scope of that embarrassing 'mockery', she is not awkward or displeased but rather glows with a happiness beyond laughter.😳😃
In the ep 1st Feb. 2013 (Friday), the girl who was laughing at his messy appearance with black smeared on his face from trying to fix the car went straight to looking like he had made a romantic declaration when he smeared some of the black onto her cheek.😳
In between bouts of pointing out that she and some others like her were not fans of his, she also with love and her pride in him unconcealed told him of her happiness that he had so many admirers and was willing to leave it all and go with her.😊😳
Leaving the star life was RK's idea, but somewhere along the line Madhu made it so completely her dream that she can make it sound as if it was her idea.😕😳
If RK wants and needs something, and if Madhu believes it will be good for him, she simply turns it into the singular goal to aim for, attaching her own considerable resolve to seeing that end achieved.😳
She will tease and laugh at him so long as she does not perceive any actual malicious intent against him.😊
But in any matter of import, she makes even his weaknesses and failures look like strengths by the simple stratagem of focussing on his love for her and his intent to do his best for her.😳
He has had over a decade of a 'family' that has denigrated him even when he was not at fault and shamelessly taken for granted his generosity as his 'duty to his own family'.🤢
Even now, his popularity and success are a double-edged sword, ironically both salve and poisonous boost to his insecurity.
After the calibre of people he loved and was let down by, he does not yet truly believe that as a person, he has ever been worthy of love or of having anyone fight *for* him.
His fans are for his cultivated image and his success.😊
But at least he knows that so long as he maintains those two factors, he will have at least that form of appreciation.
It is in this situation that Madhu had a choice to make, and she chose wisely.😳
She has made no effort to cultivate the sort of interest in his work that might cross the line from wifely to even remotely fan-like.😊
He can always be sure that her love for him is unrelated to his stardom, and he is immensely content with and proud of this.😳
But he still tries occasionally to have fan-love as well from her for it is the 'love' that he has for years always found more reliable.😳
And when he found in the rustic old couple the rare individuals that apparently had no knowledge of his stardom (the only thing which might have bothered him on a deeper level😊), Madhu averted his insecurity from getting corrosive by clubbing them into her category.😊
And the couple's bizarre partial rudeness in making disparaging comments about RK but speaking of Madhu's heroine-quality felt like an inexplicable Dipali-in-reverse, with her "Hero" way of addressing RK, and her disparaging comments about Madhu's looks and worth, making the snide comments of as little merit from this couple as they ever were from Dipali. But Dipali had a spiteful rationale for her words, and this couple has a more innocent one.😊
Madhu laughs when RK is disparaged without deliberate malice by those whose opinion does not actually have the potential to hurt him, and she smiles smugly when she is complimented in contrast.😛😳
And yet that same Madhu can annihilate someone who actually knows her husband for disparaging him and/or their relationship.😡😳
And the compliment she values so greatly that every other approval and compliment becomes rendered insignificant is the knowledge that she is loved beyond all else by the one she loves most.😳😃
Madhu's ability to react effectively to affront is only flawed by her naivete in recognizing the situations that may be taken lightly and the ones when there *is* need to speak up in response.
It is a flaw that permits situations to escalate as she gives an outrageously long rope to people like Trishna and Dipali, reacting only when she sees that her husband and/or her relationship has been harmed.😳
Harm to herself and all her other dear ones apparently qualifies as forgivable.😕
So when Madhu finally stops taking things quietly or semi-quietly and actually reacts with intensity and forcefulness, it is - as Dipali might attest - a shock to those who expect as little aggressiveness from her in defence of that one Rubicon which matters to her as she had tolerated at every point until that.😳😃
Conversely, RK takes offence at the first slight and is cynical enough to assume the worst intent, which is a remarkably prudent defence characteristic considering the worthies in his 'family'.
RK and Madhu will always stand for each other where it truly matters, and when they are aware that the other might be actually in harm's way.😳
But where RK - otherwise so much more apparently calculating and self-possessed - strikes in her defence with hauteur and rage😳, Madhu - always the more emotional of the two in matters not detrimental to their relationship - strikes with cold pride and unshakeable conviction, and is perhaps the more effective because it is not expected of her.😳😊
And the truest definition of love is in that for Rishbala - RK and Madhu - all happiness owes its origin to each other's presence, and each may never fight with as much fraught tenacity as when it is for the other.😳
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