Ijaazat-My thoughts

STORY and CHARACTERS

Maya:
An individual governed by heart than by brain. She has seen a bitter marriage between her parents and therefore doesn't believe in concept of marriage. She is in Love with Mahen madly and deeply. Mahen is the only person she has found true happiness with . But, she believes that love is not all about getting married.

Mahen:
A guy dominated by family values. He loves Maya, and wants to get married to her. But he understands Mayas fears and that Maya does not believe in marriage. At the same time he understands how his Indian values and family would not allow him to stay single all his life. They have even found Sudha as his potential wife. (That's how it is in India-Parents finding the bride and the groom). He discloses this to Maya and Maya never raised a concern regarding this.

Why MAYA doesn't raise a concern?
Maya is away from reality-she is in love with Mahen and that's all she knows and cares for. Mahen has been avoiding marriage for five years because of Maya and she has total belief deep within her that Mahen will keep doing that till eternity.

What happens?
Mahen being the practical guy, when forced by his grandfather, thinks on the lines of marriage. He is of the faith that someday he has to get married-he cannot stay single all life. He wants to discuss with Maya-but she is unavailable and there is no information on where she is. He is time pressed by his grandfather-and also knows that anyways Maya does not believe in marriage and also knows about Mahens engagement with Sudha. So he takes the plunge and gets married to Sudha.

Sudha: Typical Indian girl from a less educated and less wealthy family background. Her mother / granny wants to see her settled ASAP. They have chosen Mahen for her. Although Mahen tells her about Maya, she is also of the notion that post marriage - - - - - the past of each individual doesn't matter and shouldn't matter. So, considering her families comfort with Mahens family and her liking for Mahen she gets married to Mahen.


POST-MARRIAGE

Maya: It is certainly disbelief for Maya that Mahen married Sudha. She is unable to come to terms with this. But as they say 1st stage of a break up is Disbelief! So being a person thinking from heart, she thinks that love is not about getting married-but being there for each other at time of need. So even if she stays in touch with Mahen-that should not be a problem for Sudha or Mahen. And therefore being the non practical girl she is, she calls Sudha, talks to her, says good things about her to MAHEN and calls Sudha her didi (sister). But slowly she realizes that she has lost the kind of hold she had on Mahens life and that now she has to share Mahen with Sudha-And her being present in Mahens life is causing trouble in Mahen and Sudhas relationship. After this she gets into depression and attempts suicide as she is unable to accept the fact that her only true love is not hers now.
After her suicide attempt, Mahen is shooked-as ofcorce Maya is his love. He tries to take care of her, as he knows there is no one else who can take care of Maya so well-also he knows that Maya did this act in depression and to get her out of depression he has to be with her.
Looking at all this, in the beginning Sudha dislikes Maya getting back to Mahen-but when she sees Mayas letters, and listens about her acts-she develops sympathy for the love that Maya and Mahen shared. She feels like she has unknowingly come between two ardent lovers. She quietly decides to leave Mahen-so that Mahen and Maya could live happily after.

My feelings:

I cannot call Maya wrong-as she is a non practical person-she sees world from her eyes-she loves Mahen and that is the world for her. She doesn't care what is happening around both of them. She is so much in Love that a thought of Mahen getting married to someone else and then her getting away from Mahen dint even cross her heart even ones. Yes-some of you might call her a psycho-but she is governed by her heart. And from her view point she is not asking Mahen to sleep with her Post his marriage-she only wants to talk to him, as he is the only person in her life.

I do not call Sudha wrong because she does the right thing. She gets married because she believes Mahen will move on from his past relationship. When she finds out that Mahen cannot move on and Maya actually loves him way too much, she decides to quit for finding her own life.

I will not call Mahen wrong, but I only hope he could have been stronger. He really loved Maya-so granted that he was pressurized by his grandfather-but he could have at least told him once. Yes, MAYA did not want to get married and may be she was very non practical-but at the same time she was so much in love with Mahen that if he had persuaded she would have listened to him.

So he married Sudha thinking that he will be able to handle his responsibilities as a hubby well. And he actually is doing that-but his Love for Maya-gets in the way. He had 2 options when Maya returns:

1. Reject Maya and stay with Sudha
Pros: Normal MARRIED Life
Cons: A piece of heart lost to Maya forever, and living with a guilt that he did something wrong to a girl who had all her hopes for him and knew nothing in the world except her love for him

2. Divorce Sudha and get married to Maya
Pros: It will be wrong for Sudha, bad for Sudhas future and unhappy family members
Cons: Maya will be happy and he will not have to live with guilt of breaking someone's heart.

Which one does he choose?
Like I said, he was not strong enough to pick one of the ways. And stuck between his heart (Maya) and Mind (Sudha), he cannot take a call. So Sudha actually helped him, by picking up way # 2 for him .

And my feeling is - not everyone in this world is STRONG-so if Mahen was not, it is not a big blunder. Yes, it caused a lot of pain to 3 people, but if he is not strong it is not his fault. It is fate that takes Maya away, otherwise, all three of them could have lived happily ever after.



MAYA-Selfish - NO
She is truly an introvert, just living in a world comprising of her and Mahen. She can do anything for Mahen, but doesn't know there is practical life outside her little world. She doesn't know how to deal with life without Mahen .

Sudha-Martyr - NO
She marries with a notion that Mahen and Maya will not continue their relationship. She quits the relationship with Mahen when she realizes that Mahen and Maya are in love and should not be separated. Yes-she could have been called a Martyr if she had not married someone else.

Mahen-Selfish - NO
He loves MAYA ardently. But circumstances make him marry Sudha. He marrys Sudha, thinking he will not be in touch with Maya anymore. He even takes good care of Sudha, but Maya comes back to his life. Then when Maya attempts suicide, who on this earth wouldn't help their loved ones in distress. And since he understands his responsibilities towards Sudha, he does not divorce her. But Sudha leaves him-this gives him a heart attack-because he realizes the pain he has unknowingly put Sudha into. And then when later Maya is dead, he doesn't go looking out for Sudha-proving he is not selfish.

What could have been a normal situation for MAHEN?

1. Mahen informing his grandfather about Maya in the beginning and making sure he doesn't marry Sudha
2. Once married to Sudha, and Maya returns, file divorce and get Maya back in life-BUT making SUDHA miserable and proving his selfishness
3. Once married to Sudha, and Maya returns, ASK Maya to leave them alone-and stay in a happy married life-with a guilt of breaking an innocent girls heart.
4. Do nothing and stay with Sudha as hubby and keep Maya as his friend forever.
Option 1) Would have definitely been the best, but since that did not happen and Mahen married Sudha and Maya came back to his life-What would you think would be best? - 2), 3), 4)


What could have been a normal situation for SUDHA?

1) Once married to Mahen, and Maya returns, file divorce and get out of their life-but yes be miserable with uncertain future
2) Once married to Mahen, and Maya returns, ASK Maya to leave them alone-and stay in a happy married life-with a guilt of breaking an innocent girls heart, and probably not a hubby loving u 100%
3) Do nothing and stay with Mahen as his wife and keep Maya as his friend forever-causing a lot of trouble and pain for life

What could have been a normal situation for MAYA?

1) Once Mahen was married to Sudha, leave both of them alone and find a new life for herself
2) Once Mahen was married to Sudha, return and apologize for the mistake and request them to get divorced and accept Mahen
3) Do nothing and stay friends with MAHEN with Sudha and Mahen as hubby and wife

What do you think ????