Posted:
My problem with this serial is threefold:
1.
First is Lovely's out-of-this-world villainy. She is more a domestic
aatankvaadi (terrorist) than a simple villain. At first I enjoyed the
portrayal of Lovely --she was bad alright, but in a fallible complex in a
"soft" way. Over the course of the serial, we see Lovely more and more
emboldened. The more she "got away" with her crimes, the greater was
her confidence to go further and further in her nefarious acts. Hence we
had Nimrat's killing unaccounted for, followed by fudging Kulfi's diary
to send Kulfi to Tevar, followed by attempted murder of Gunjan and a
whole host of other crimes and gunda-giri, culminating in Lovely
becoming a hardcore child-killer, that too her own biological daughter. I
find this transformation unnecessary. It is overkill. I feel that we
the audience get the point without needing to beaten on the head with
the truth that Lovely will go to the utmost extent to protect her
marriage and her child. Making Lovely an irredeemable villain is not in
the long-term interest of the serial unless the CVs are planning to end
her role after the current track.
Assuming
that is not the case, it adds to viewer frustration to see Lovely
repeatedly be "bailed out" of her villainous deeds by spineless Sikka
and by conducive circumstances. Take for instance the current scenario.
For once Sikka developed a spine and locked Lovely in a (rather nice)
spare bedroom with limited access to Amyra. Now that there is a death
scare for Amyra, Sikka feels he is left with no option but to set her
free so she can be with Amyra. So will Lovely be locked up for a total of a few hours only to be set free?
2. Where is good
old Kanoon in all this? When the doctor knows that the child is being
poisoned, and then when the poison is discovered to be this Dark Ruby,
then will this not automatically become a criminal case? Is the doctor
not obligated by law to report it to the police? Why is the doctor not
doing this? He could have conveyed the news that this is now a criminal
case and the household is under investigation. And what about Sikander?
When he found the partially empty Dark Ruby bottle should he not have
saved it for evidence and sent it off for fingerprints etc? Where are
his brains and who appointed him to take the law into his own hands,
become a jasoos and mete out punishment to Lovely? This is where the
serial is irksome. We see a similar scenario in Ammaji's remand home.
Here too, the power-hungry Amma makes her own rules and can be bribed to
recruit juveniles without government mediation or referral.
3.
Finally why should Kulfi be shown to be repeatedly caught in and
fighting horrid and nightmarish situations all by herself? She faces
bad treament by her Maami in Chrauli, horrid ill-treatment by Lovely,
the abduction by David, trauma due to an accident and finally
remand-home incarceration? Not only that, Kulfi is shown to be dealing
with difficult situations on her own, and coming out of them and often
helping others in the process. All this is too much for a child of her
age and it is unimaginable that it will not leave emotional scars in the
long term.
I understand that the CVs want
us to see how brave and courageous Kulfi is, but to make this point she
need not always be put in dangerous situations where she is constantly
abused. Especially when we contrast her life with pampered Amyra, who
even while battling death is well supported by her father and extended
family, whereas Kulfi has to fight numerous life-and-death situations on
her own. This causes a big disconnect and contributes to making the
situation illogical: one child has everything and the other nothing. If
Kulfi is all powerful jaganmata, and able to survive and overcome every
danger unscathed through her own power, and when she is practically
raising herself, why on earth does she need a father? Does the reunion
with Sikander even matter when he has been unable to protect her thus
far?
Comments, replies, and observations welcome.
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