Arnav fell for her first when she stood there in a red saari, she looked eternal, innocent as ever, he was practically hypnotized with her beauty... though this new found attraction left him angry and frustrated, he was very aware of it from the start. The guest house incident took him in deeper and he hasn't been able to crawl out since, try as he may... On the other hand while Khushi always felt a connection with him also, her feelings for him always confused her, scared her, rightfully so, a girl like her getting feeling for a rakshas like him. Denial worked for some time, but now her own heart and soul are turning on her. Her heart is "dhak dhaking" like crazy and her soul sent a message via a lone tear. The fire has been burning on both sides for a while now, but the blazes have been bigger and hotter on Arnav's side, Khushi's fire has slightly picked up since she saw his tears the night he apologized to her but today is all about getting her fire (on many levels) on par with his.
Arnav showing concern for her bring her food box left her so anxious, she couldn't eat after all day of fasting!!! So she decided to avoid him as all cost, to not go near him...
in her quest to cure herself of this acidity or bimaari or "Jo khucch(whatever) she forgets that every time she tries to go away from him, she only ends up closer...the last time she tried to move to Lucknow, she ended up working in his home.
Arnav starts to get dizzy spells without his medicine, he igrnores it in the garden, but they worsen in his bedroom.
He makes his way to the kitchen, he sees Khushi standing there, "khushi" such and intimate call to her. Khushi had made it clear to him that she wanted to stay away from him when she arrived, so she asked him "you? why are you here?" he tries to ignore her (he knows she's a little coco by now) and get past her "Rukiye! I told you i want to stay away from me, go away from here" she yells at him.
No energy to fight her, "Khushi mujhe woh(Khushi i..)" he tries to explaign, but now willing to budge, she tell his she doesn't want to talk to him or see his face...something he would say, and she did sound less convincing.
She turns away, then slowly looks back, he's gone, she's happy but drops her napkin on the floor, she goes to pick it up. the moment she bends down, she knows something is wrong, she looks to her side, there sat mighty ASR collapsed.
In an instance she forgets all about staying away from him, panic sets in. She rushes to him "aap ne vrat rakha hai kya (did you keep a fast )?" Rightaway there is a comparison to when she fainted during teej. I feel this scene has a lot in common with those moments that drew Arnav closer to Khushi such as guest house, especially teej...
only this time the tables are turned on Khushi.
The urgency on her face is the same urgency on his face just before he leaps and runs to catch her in the nick of time.
She's clueless as to how to save him but she doesn't loose her focus, all she knows is somehow someway she's going to help him. She called Anjali and La but no luck, and the way she runs to him when he falls further " Arnav ji! Arnav ji! Arnav Ji!...Arnavji wake up" From shaking him, to rubbing his hand, she desperately tries everything
"Arnavji uttiye (wake up)" her voice on the verge of breaking down...suddenly she thinks to her self "Paani, Paani (Water)"...again water, source of all life comes into play. When he broke her fast, he unknowingly gave her a new life with that cup of water, today it seems she's accepting it. she splashes him with it, just like he did to her before breaking her fast.
He responds with a finch "Aap teek to hai?" her voice and hear racing for his him to respond and say he's teek while continuing to splash him non-stop till the his sweet sound of "Stop it!" he tries to get up, but collapses...she's got him, much the same way he had her at the guest house...the music mellow, and she is taken back by her overwhelming feelings of attraction towards him...
also it seems to hit her, how important he is to her, a sense of can't live with out.
She helps him sit up again pausing to take him in, hmmm what did she tell herself? "aur usse dekhenge to bilkul nahi (I won't look at his face one bit)" now can't keep her eyes off of him, can't blame her though!
He turns to her "kucch meeta (something sweet)", khushi is puzzled "meeta" he whispers again..."you're not allowed sweets right?"
"please" he responds
She runs back and gets a box of Jilebi (it has to be Jilebi), slowly she feeds him with the same care he gave her that glass of water. She helps him stand but she recognizes he's still a bit too weak so she becomes a barricade for him putting her hands on both sides one after the other.
He's her protector, today she proves she's no less. During the kidnap track, she's even more panicked and more clueless but even then all she knows is somehow, someway she will get him back...and she does. One line from a Celine Dion song comes to mind "i'm your lady and you are my man, whenever you reach for me, i'll do all that i can".. Khushi must be feeling like this at these moments. Even after his comes to, and his very ASR "Hato (move)" she remains in her protective mode, not wanting to let him go, he has to move her hand.
"a-aap teek to hai na (A-are you ok)?" Arnav turns and softly nods 'kya hua aapko (what happened?)?"
"my sugar level dropped, that's why i came to get sugar...dekho kisise kehna mat (don't tell anyone)" ...aaah the trust getting deeper...lets keep is between just us two. love it
"Par aap teek to hai na (but are you ok?)?" the same desperate need to find out if he's ok that he had after the guest house.
the guilt sets in pretty badly, all she could think of was to go and apologize to him..in batter-coverd hands.
He opens his bedroom door for her, "aap teek to hai na?" sheesh! she may be even more desperate than he was!
she can't hold it in anylonger, the guilt explodes, she marches inside his room in front of him and tells him what a "paglyat (crazy)" she is and he's all ears till she smears the pakoda batter on her cheek. He gets distracted and throughout her apology, he tries to guide her to get it off,
but engulfed in redeeming herself, she made it worse each time resulting in her entire face covered in cheakpea batter. "khushi tum" Arnav lets out a small chuck at first but as the moment progresses, he breaks into a bigger chuckle, eventually a full on uncontrolled laughter breaks out.
Khushi watches bewildered, as did I, her eyes glued to his laughing face that's looking right back into her eyes. How do i manage to survive this scene???
Anjali rushes in "Chotey? you're laughing!! I can't believe that you're laughing like this...its been so many years since i heard this laugh" an elated Anjali comments. Khushi's sadness at this bit is evident. His happiness has become important for her too.
Crucial moment when Anjali asks the reason for his laughter and he circles his finder around her face, symbolic gesture as she will become the reason for his happiness and make his laughter more of a regular thing.
The last time she went to apologize, she got a smirk out of him, a full fledged laugh this time, again it will return during Payash's wedding when Khushi performs the "Didi tera " parody, atlast during his own remarriage track Anjali makes a comment when he becomes Salman for Khushi "Itna khush Chotey ko hamne kabhi nahi dekha (I've never seen Chotey happier).
Only when Anjali starts laughing does Khushi realize what she did to her face, she goes to wash it and Arnav goes back in his shell behind the wall. Outside, Khushi takes a moment to look at the mental snapshot she took of him laughing
comments in her own innocent way "Haste hue aap bilkul bhi Laad gover nahi lagte (when laughing you don't look like LG at all)" a smile comes on her face. oh yah, the fire is burning higher now. she has been touched to the core by this moment and also the moments in the kitchen. Seeing two sides of him she never thought of existing in him. He has all of the sudden become very precious to her, just as she did the night of the guest house
I remember in Gul's interview Barun mentioned "Arnav's Khushi" was one of the names they were playing around with for the show. Khushi becoming Arnav's Khushi , one of the main points of the show, an important milestone in his journey. They sketched these characters out very carefully, opposite personalities that complete eachtoher. I love it when Arnav has a hard time controlling his smiles when Khushi does something funny like when her OTT filmy idea for Akaash and Payal works on the mountain top, or when she opens the door dressed as Mamiji, or later in the Kadva chaut episode, he is mad at her and she talks about making pakodas with out frying them...he can't keep a straight face. This concept of Khushi bringing khushi in Arnav's life was nicely consistent throughout.
DROOL CORNER!!!!!
❤️ this expression right before he bursts into laughter ❤️
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