How are you doing? I haven't been around much lately but everytime I catch up on stugf on Tumblr you are having some amazing discussions. You are simply awesome 🤩🤩👌👌♥️
Hope you are having a great and healthy year and wishing you a Happy Valentine's a day in advance because you bring so much love, light and happiness to my life.
I have been meaning to ask this for a long time. Have you seen "Asshiqana" its a series by Gul Khan on Hotstar. Its very soap operatic and is a love story set in backdrop of crime and conspiracy. Though it has many problematic tropes and sometimes too many twists and turns which require healthy suspension of disbelief the treatment of certain sequences is beautiful. The lead pair are beautiful and have great chemistry which makes it good to watch but the way the FL breaks stereotypes and calls out patriarchy is something I haven't seen in a long time. It does get preachy at times but overall its something that was needed. Could have been handled better but its start and I love it. The FL and the brother of the ML are two awesome characters. He worships his elder brother but what is beautiful is that he shows him the mirror each time and higliights his 1940 ki thinking brilliantly. Also while the ML is chauvinistic he knows it and slowly is coming to terms with falling for a girl who is against everything he believes in. So thats refreshing.
Anyhow, I just wanted to know what you think about it.
I'm doing better love <3 How're you? Haha thanks for the love. Thank you and happy belated Valentine's to you too <3 You're honestly super sweet.
I'm aware of Aashiquana. I am glad you are enjoying the show. One thing that I often dislike about 4Lions shows nowadays is that they talk about feminism while showing patriarchy. The female leads will have big "dialogues" but I determine liberalism by seeing what happens with the female lead herself. Is she subjected to sexism and patriarchy by the elders? Misogyny and misguided rage by the hero? Is her character always assassinated, do her career dreams ever come true?
Thus her shows end up being preachy and cringey instead of revolutionary.
I've captured little bits of it and it seems interesting. As you've mentioned above the heroine and the hero's brother look delightful. But the whole concept of a chauvinistic man becoming better because of the woman he loves is dated and far from reality.
If a chauvinistic man is 'better' to the woman he loves or that he needs a woman in his concern to be affected by patriarchy to understand how terrible chauvinism is, then that is not changing. And that is not improvement.
So I'm turned off Aashiquana for the male lead and his terrible Amma/grandmaa/bua (I have no idea who that woman is but she lives in 1930s).
Like I don't think I could've liked IPK if Dadi (Subhadra) was a character from the beginning. And Arnav wasn't ever a "women shouldn't do this". His issues with Khushi wasn't ever gender based. He was more like "let me live, let everyone live, and for fuck's sake stop obsessing with marriage cause it's no use ruining two lives"
Which he was right about...
And honestly I am tired of women playing roles where they've to 'correct' the men. It exhausted me in Shaurya Aur Anokhi Ki Kahaani (non 4 Lions show) and every other telly show.
Also wtf is the female leads names? What happened to Zoya, Anika, Gauri, Meera and all?
But I do like Aashiqana's heroines dialogues. Probably that's it. However, don't let my rant ruin your viewing experience - if you're enjoying it, please keep enjoying it!
