I am sorry, I just punished you Ichchha.

I had punished Ichchha once in Episode 39 Scene 12, if my memory is not failing. That time she had stolen a video game of Tapasya to impress her friends in the municipal school.

It took me seven hours to write her punishment then. And some more time for revising it.
Today it took me just three hours. It seems I am seasoned now in punishing you Ichchha.

Whenever such a scene comes, my first reaction is to postpone writing the scene. But today I had no choice. The day of punishment is tomorrow.

I am sorry Grown up Ichchha. But let me tell you what happened when you were punished for the stolen video game.

Dates: February 20-22, 2009

Screenplay had assigned you one punishment.

“Damini turns towards Ichchha and now her face turns red in rage…
High treatment …
she rushes near Ichchha slaps her hard…”

Then there was feedback, “not sure if the child should be slapped so many times…”

And your punishment was shortened by using music and montage.

I am sorry. I did not allow it to be shortened.

Actually I did nothing then.

I just let Damini do what she wanted to do. And she did not slap her. She threw you out of the house. She slammed the door. Do you know that she collapsed after that? She really loved you then. Does she love you today? I am not so sure about it.

Will talk to you about it later.
Let me just complete narrating my experience to others. You can also listen to it.

It was a very long scene…11 pages.

What a performance by Vaishali Thakkar and Sparsh!!

They seemed to be borne to do these roles.

So Ichchha got the punishment and then Damini began molding her daughter.
She taught her to sacrifice.

We project sacrifice as the best amongst all the virtues. And damini loves sacrificing.

But today I felt something different.

What Damini does to Ichchha is not so different from what Nani does.
Is it shocking?

A sacrificing woman…
A mother who love her daughter Ichchha.

And the other a selfish woman.
An old woman who hates Ichchha.

But as far as the understanding of human nature goes, I see them on the same platform today.

Damini uses Ichchha to prove her loyalty to her master.
Nani also does the same.
Both of them use her as if she is a puppet in their hands.

Damini,

Do you know that you have failed as a mother? The loyalty to your master weighs more than the love for your child.

I do not discriminate you when I am writing because we writers have to give equal importance to all the characters.

But when I have done that and I am alone I compare you with people I see around me.

I had a maid, Kavita. She once took a loan of ten thousand and paid it back in ten months by not taking salary for ten months. I respect her. She was making difference to the lives of her children by sending them to an English Medium School without any support of Jogi Thakur.

And there is one more maid. She is a widow. 22-23 years of age. She has a daughter, 3 years old. She is also sending her daughter to an English Medium School without taking any loan from anybody.

This is sacrifice.

Do you really think you could not afford education in a municipal school for your child?

Do you really think you had a valid reason to stay in haveli to pay back your master?

Do you really think Thakurs have been treating you as equals?

Just look at the reality.

Yesterday you were taking care of Tapasya. Today your daughter is doing the same.

If Thakurs were just human beings then they would have stopped this practice. They would have told Ichchha, “You and Tapasya are my daughters. So if you do something for her, she should also do the same for your. Don’t treat yourself like a servant.”

No, they wont do so. It’s a convenient relationship for the grown ups and unfortunately their children are paying the price.

I remember a renowned playwright saying once.

Don’t trust the characters on the basis of what they say. Like all human beings, fictional characters also lie. The truth is visible only if you scratch the superficial layer of words.

I want to repeat one thing that I have understood while writing Utaran.

Story is the skeleton for a screenplay writer.
Screenplay is also a skeleton for a dialogue writer.
And the final script is again just a skeleton for the actors.

If actors can scratch the surface then they would definitely come out with unexpected responses that can surprise the viewers.

Sparsh, Vaishali and Ayub hav done it in Utaran.

It’s time for the new actors to do it.

I wish you courage and strength to you Ichchha. I know you are not guilty. But you also won’t listen to me when I say your mother is guilty. After all you are fictionalized to live a pre-destined life.

And I feel sorry for you.