Greetings PS, I just checked the hyper attunement gifset and that was absolutely wonderful - it was one of my personal favorite things in the show because of how beautifully it was done - so thanks for giffing it! Toh, one sawaal if you'd like to answer, do you have any favorites from there? Or just feel free to give any two cents about it - whatever you want. Hope you've been doing well :) Take care. AJ.
Thank you very much! It’s one of my favourites too (okay look, I know I say that about everything but a girl can have loads of favourites!). I’m very proud of it. And I too love this aspect of the serial :) :)
My gif sets are usually my favourite instances of a certain aspect or trope of the serial, rather than attempts at showing every single instance, so in a way this is already a curated list. But let’s go through them one by one:
The original subtitle of this gifset was “It began with sneezing and ended with telepathy” (you can still see it in the URL because Tumblr likes to keep track of all our crimes). So the first gif was always going to be this: sneezing together after their car park adventure. I just find this moment adorable.
This, I could write essays on: the first instance of The Awareness. And for me, the most powerful thing is that Arnav knows Khushi is there. He doesn’t question the feeling -- this man who no longer believes in religion, who doesn’t believe love is for him -- he just stands up and mouths her name and goes looking for her.
When I watch these episodes, I always wonder just how close Arnav was to getting on a helicopter and flying to Lucknow (... and hence Tere Bin). And that moment of disbelieving hope when he feels her is amazing -- Sobti was excellent! -- before he shrugs it off and continues with the preparations.
I firmly believe Arnav is feeling Khushi’s distress in this scene. The way her agony is spliced with his, the way he paces and stares at the cut on his hand, such angst, many wow. It’s like he has all this pain and he doesn’t know where it’s coming from, he just knows it’s connected to Khushi.
Arnav and Khushi know about their connection. They don’t like admitting it at this stage but they know. This is the first time they’re forced to acknowledge it and it’s brilliant, from the way he looks at her to her admission that she just knew and her pun about gale pad gaye. Why are they allowed to be this cute?
This is probably the most powerful, and most contentious, example. Khushi was caught completely off guard by Arnav’s trip to London. He didn’t deign to inform her, and his family assumed she knew about it (until it was clear that she didn’t). She goes into a bit of a loop where she keeps repeating that he shouldn’t have left, why didn’t he listen, why didn’t he stay, etc etc. There’s a restlessness in her. Normally one would expect Khushi to just wait for him to come back but she seems to realise that she’s lost her chance. In my opinion, she’s telepathically feeling his panic and resignation. He’s been kidnapped, and though she cannot explain why she’s this restless and panicky, she seems to be able to feel his distress as if it’s her own in the same way he felt her emotions when she was getting engaged to Shyam.
There’s not much I can say that would improve upon this post :)
We talk so much about whether Arnav’s redemption was enough, whether his apology was good enough, and yet in my opinion this sequence is perfect. It can’t be reduced to Arnav giving her gifts. He gives her things she loves, things that once upon a time were indicators of her lower class, the channa and jalebi and Salman Khan poster that he used to look down on. Actions come so much easier to Arnav than words, and this is where he says “I love you the way you are, Khushi” (something he will verbalise on their date during remarriage but this is where it happens). And the necklace, something he instinctively (telepathically!) knew she wanted and needed, a reinstatement of the innocence he tore off her on the night they met and again on the night they eloped. This is the request for forgiveness, the apology, the acknowledgement that he hurt her a thousand times and that he’s sorry he’s sorry he’s sorry. And I will forever be bitter that the creative team didn’t allow the audience to absorb the impact of what he’d done.
This is just adorable, Khushi in Laxmi Nagar ordering a scowly photo of him to smile and Arnav smiling as he looks up at the moon. The moon has always connected them so it’s no surprise that he obeyed!
This one always makes me laugh. Khushi falls in the Shantivan kitchen and Arnav instantly calls. I think the way she looks at her phone, sighs in exasperation when she sees his name and practically barks “Kya hai?” [What?!] is peak comedy.
And a scene I didn’t include except for the subtitle (ping @maansiloves) -- the way NK asks Arnav how he knew Khushi-ji had arrived, and she replies “Bas pata chal jata hai” without hesitation. They’re no longer afraid of the connection and what it means, they’ve given into it entirely, and I think this moment is the sweetest.
This was a lot of fun, thank you so much for asking such an amazing question!! I super appreciate the opportunity for free-form answers and babble :D
