So, a lot of you might be gobsmacked or flummoxed upon reading the title of the review. Me? Reviewing Imlie? Despite the fact that Imlie has been a largely popular show ever since it went on air, I never bothered watching it after reading the initial synopsis when it came out in 2020. Two wives under one roof?! I seriously mean no offense to the original fans of the show, but this kind of a dated conflict is just not for me. Even when KZK had Komolika and Prerna fight over Anurag in the same house, I quit the show in spite of being an avid Parth Samthaan fan. And once I'd watched Jammy's review (one of my most favourite Indian movie reviewers on Youtube- Tried & Refused Productions- video in the mediabox) of the show, where he'd still taken quite a nuanced approach to reviewing the show (whereas most people had just roasted it in the name of a review) yet brought out its problematic nature, I'd definitely decided to refrain from watching it.

So, what compelled me to throw all words of caution to the wind and finally give Imlie a chance? It was, of course, the swashbuckling entry of a completely new character- Aryan Singh Rathore, who according to me and many others, seems to have given the show a lease of new life. I was just checking my random recommendations on Youtube when I came across a rather weird promo for Imlie where the titular character throws a random car out of a window (shown with horrible VFX) and clashes with a character (presumably romantically in an eventuality, as connoted by the background music) I'd heretofore never seen in any clip of the show. As I read the comments to figure out who the new character on the show was, I was pretty surprised to see that 99%(this could be hyperbolic, but you know what I mean) of the comments were rooting for this seemingly brooding and attractive new male character (of course, Aryan Singh Rathore) and Imlie to get together, despite the fact that the show's male lead Aditya was still very much a part of the show and relevant in its current story line. Once my curiosity was piqued, I did some more digging and found a lot of positive social media reception towards Aryan's character and hence finally decided to give it a go once I found a drive link containing purely the #Arylie scenes (a portmanteau of Aryan and Imlie, of course) with the additional Tripathi family scenes edited out, which to be frank, occupy less and less space as the episodes progress.

Either way, let's get started shall we? Before watching the show from episode 310 onward, I had a quick refresher about Imlie's 'Ab tak ki kahaani' from Wikipedia. So to keep things short, Imlie was married to a MUCH older man Aditya against both their wills due to a regressive custom enforced on them by the inhabitants of Imlie's village. Imlie comes into the city with Aditya and poses as a maid in his family while he continues his relationship with his fiancee, Malini (who in a twist of fate, is also revealed to be Imlie's half sister). From what I understood, initially Malini was a positive character who was turned into a vindictive villain just so that the #Adilie ship could sail successfully. After all, how do you forgive someone like Malini who drugs you and sleeps with you deceptively? The short answer is, you don't. But apparently it isn't so since Malini conveniently gets herself impregnated by Aditya and is still hanging around at the Tripathi house and poisoning Aditya's mind against Imlie, so much so that Imlie can't take the distrust and toxicity anymore and decides to leave the house.

And that's when Aryan is introduced in the show's plot. His entry scene and first meet with Imlie was definitely pretty unique for me despite it following a very standard 'Gul Khan Template'. There's always a car involved (think Qubool Hai, Ishqbaaz, Ishq par zor nahin, etcetera) in some way and it almost always ends with the female lead resenting the male lead and thinking he's arrogant. This is pretty much what happens in Imlie. Aryan's fancy ass car (which is very obviously a Mercedes in this episode, despite the obfuscated logo. Like why do they do this?) skids slightly over a rock almost knocking Imlie down in the process. Instead of helping Imlie up, or inquiring if she's alright (it's clearly visible that she is), he decides instead to walk past her and kick the rock out of the main road. Although Imlie thinks that he's extremely arrogant and impertinent for ignoring her (and decides to christen him as 'Nakchada Akkadbhagga'. I tried to analyse the morphology of Akkadbhagga and remembered that 'lakadbhagga' is the Hindi word for hyena. Was and is she making a pun on this? I still don't know), she misses something that I (and maybe some others, probably) notice immediately. Aryan didn't apologise to Imlie because it wasn't his mistake that his car skid. He didn't reprimand her since it wasn't her mistake either. In fact, the root of the whole problem was the rock. And that's exactly what he decided to fix instead of wasting time talking to Imlie. He decided to address the cause of the problem rather than an unfortunate symptom or consequence of it. And all the swagger and attitude aside, this is what impressed me about him almost immediately.

We then meet Aryan in a fight club, which he's come to vacate since he's bought the space. Although I enjoyed his fight with that huge, feral dude in the beginning, I was instantly put off when I realised that they wanted to show Aryan as someone with anticipatory reflexes like Sherlock Holmes. In fact, as Aryan visualises the potential fight in his head, it's clear that the writers of Imlie thought it a great idea to straight up plagiarise the fight in the 'Sherlock Holmes' film starring Robert Downey Jr. Honestly, at this point, I was pissed off to the point where I nearly stopped watching. But Aryan's cryptic confrontation with Aditya somehow brought me back. It was clear that Aryan was connected to Aditya in some way and had some sort of mysterious agenda. This is also the first time we hear Aryan's trademark dialogue of 'Teesri baat udhaar rahi' which serves as a very effective tool to hide what he actually wants to say, therefore obscuring his real emotions from the people he's interacting with.

Slowly, but surely as I watched the rest of the episodes, I realised that Aryan Singh Rathore reinvents within the standard 'Gul Khan Hero' trope, and that's what makes him a human palimpsest of sorts. The 4 Lions heroes are always arrogant, impulsive, angry, rich businessmen with serious attitude problems. They also showcase severely controlling and toxic behaviour many a time and are emotionally stunted due to some mysterious childhood trauma. Although I loved Shivaay Singh Oberoi, I couldn't deny that he was highly problematic at several moments, most notably when he threatened Anika to marry him. Similarly, in 'Humsafars', Sahir Azeem Chaudhary is easily a villain for a lot of the story. Even in relatively realistic shows like Ishq Par Zor Nahin, Ahaan practically destroys Ishqi's life over a lame misunderstanding. Aryan Singh Rathore in comparison to all these characters, has barely any red flags. Sure he's arrogant, rich and a businessman. But he isn't the least bit impulsive or hot-headed. He's cool, calm and calculating and makes a move only after judging the situation carefully. We've seen this time and again with him during confrontations, be it with strangers or the negative characters in the show.

We get the standard 'hero' saving the 'heroine' (although Imlie isn't a traditional damsel in distress, but more on that later) from the gundas scene. But Aryan doesn't bother fighting them. Instead a verbal duel suffices to scare them off. Similarly, whenever Aditya or any member of the Chaturvedi family taunts either him or Imlie, he doesn't appear perturbed. Instead he makes savage comebacks about his adversary, without a single frown line on his forehead. Have a look at his one liners-

Aryan is also the first 4 Lions hero who's a feminist. He's pro-choice and agency when it comes to women dealing with their own lives and especially wishes for them to have flourishing careers. In fact, the best thing about Aryan and Imlie's relationship is how he mentors her and inspires her to excel in her professional life, despite the several obstacles in her personal life. Remember when I said that he didn't help Imlie up, the first time they met? That's merely because he was making an assessment as to whether she deserves his support or not. And once he makes up his mind to support Imlie, his faith in her is absolutely unshakeable, even though he may be harsh with her at face value. In fact, the only reason Imlie is able to withstand the pain her divorce to Aditya brings her is due to Aryan's help and companionship.

That isn't to say that he isn't controlling in any way. He tries his best to prod Imlie to make the right choice for herself and is quite adamant that her decisions are directed towards what she 'deserves/needs'' and not what she 'wants'. However, when he sees his efforts to influence her decision fail, he almost always lets Imlie make the final choice. This is seen time and again, when Imlie finally decides to go ahead and stop Malini and Aditya's wedding sacrificing her own self respect, the time she goes to her village to save Aditya thereby endangering her own life, or even giving her the option to reconcile with Aditya once Malini's truth has finally been revealed to everyone. The #Arylie wedding track however, does seem to play with this aspect of his character, but more on this later...

Nevertheless, the only probable flaw (could also be perceived as a strength) in his personality is of course, the fact that he bottles up his emotions and sees expressing them as a sign of weakness. He wasn't always like this of course, and that's where the whole back story and genesis of Aryan Singh Rathore as a character comes in. Aryan's trauma stems from the fact that his brother-in-law, Arvind, died a brutal death right in front of his eyes four years ago, as he and his sister watched on, helpless. It's mainly survivor's guilt that eats away at him- the fact that he was supposed to be in Arvind's place during the time of his demise. In the same vein, he's also felt utterly inadequate and helpless for a long period of time because he could never assuage the pain that his sister or mother felt for several months. Aryan refused to deal with all his grief and pain and chose instead to dial his sentiments towards one emotion only- hatred. Hatred in particular for Aditya Kumar Tripathi and his irresponsible journalism which Aryan believes to be the main cause of Arvind's death. So much so, that he spends four years of his life plotting to exact his revenge on Aditya for ruining the happiness of his family.

Aryan definitely believes that revenge is a dish best served cold, and he takes his own sweet time to slowly dismantle Aditya's professional life. Despite the fact that he could've easily attacked Aditya on a personal front and used Imlie as a weapon to hurt Aditya, he consciously refrains from doing so. In fact, time and again it becomes clear that he backs Imlie not to further strain her relationship with Aditya, but because he believes that Imlie and him have been wronged by the same man. To be honest, Aditya does such a good job of wrecking his own relationships with his insecurities, that Aryan really doesn't have to lift a finger for them to implode.

Eventually as the episodes progress, it becomes clear that interacting with Imlie changes his opinion about free emotional expression. He is astounded at the fact that Imlie after having gone through so much, still views life with such an optimistic lens. He appreciates her ability to shed tears freely without considering it as a sign of her weakness- something he's never been able to achieve. He even comes to appreciate how selfless she is, because everyone else seems to put themselves first while making choices but Imlie does the exact opposite. And this is of course, when Aryan starts developing feelings for Imlie, even though he always brushes it off as mere 'protective instincts'.

The reason why Aryan Singh Rathore is successful in winning the hearts of the viewers, is of course, largely due to Fahmaan's effective and controlled performance. He does the stoic businessman facet of his role just as brilliantly as the vengeful trauma victim with an agenda. I haven't seen his work before, but I think it's safe to say that he's been catapulted to the big leagues of TV stardom with this role. I'd like to say, he's my new poor baby and I want to hug him, but you know what? I don't need to. It's because, for some reason, I feel like he's strong enough to do without a hug. And that's actually a pretty big compliment.

Now, let's come to the more controversial topic of 'Imlie's Male Lead'. From what I understand, even before Fahmaan's entry, the #Adilie relationship was inching towards an end. I don't know if they brought Fahmaan in because they knew that Gashmeer was going to quit, but it seemed like Aryan's entry was to at least spice up the story which had reached a slump of sorts. Or perhaps, the makers had wished to make Aryan a one-sided lover in the beginning, and later switched up the plotline depending on either positive audience reception or Gashmeer's plans to move on from the show. It's clear that the writers, after a point, do start favouring Aryan's character over Aditya's (as Jammy brings out in his review about the capricious writing on the show) as Aditya becomes increasingly bitter and toxic to a point where he can't be redeemed. Eventually, by the point of Gashmeer's exit, it becomes such that nearly no one is rooting for Aditya and Imlie to get back together anymore, because even though some want her to get together with Aryan, possibly a bigger portion of the audience doesn't want her to sacrifice her self-respect and give Aditya another chance. This is possibly the reason why Manasvi failed to impress viewers as Aditya, because the writing had already butchered his character all together, and #Arylie had already become too popular despite Aryan's questionable actions during the wedding track.

Anyway, though I do not wish to compare #Arylie and #Adilie's chemistry, there were two scenes for me that would've cemented #Arylie as the main couple of the show to first time viewers or converted #Adilie shippers to #Arylie ones. The scene where the dialogue really sparkles for the first time is when Aryan and Imlie have a confrontation in the rain regarding Imlie's sorrow which is making her borderline non-functional. The way Aryan makes Imlie swallow a bitter pill about her life by sharing his own pain with her not only motivates her to compartmentalize her feelings but also marks the point where Imlie truly starts respecting Aryan for what he has been able to achieve despite his trauma. For me, it was a really important scene for #Arylie since it lays the foundation of their eventual 50-50 partnership and echoes the fact that Aryan Singh Rathore is exactly what Imlie needs in a partner, whether professional or personal. It also shows the potential chemistry between the two as they confront each other, since the real test of synergy and chemistry is, according to me, not the ability to perform mushy scenes satisfactorily, but instead the skill to remain in tandem while arguing. One look at the fights in 'Marriage Story' and 'Blue Valentine' and you'll know what I'm talking about and Aryan and Imlie display this to a large degree. The cinematography and the way the scene was shot is also quite remarkable, and hence it will always be a memorable one for me.

The second scene in which Fahmaan and Sumbul knock it out of the park with their on screen chemistry is the 'Shiddat' dance during Aryan's New Year party. The entire sequence was brilliantly shot and executed, especially with the superimposition of the dream sequence dance with the real-life one. The dream sequence, of course, is an expression of the intensity of emotion that both Aryan and Imlie (more so, Aryan) are feeling at the moment, but are unable to show freely. And boy, is their pair scorching! I was especially extremely impressed with the choreography as well as Fahmaan and Sumbul's skills as dancers. Sumbul is just so amazingly expressive, and Fahmaan displays a fluidity and grace in his movements which are atypical of the average male dancer. I think it's quite probable that they've both had training of some sort when it comes to dance. Just seriously, look at these two drags-

And then, this lift where Sumbul curves her foot-

In fact, this is quite possibly the best executed dance sequence I've ever seen on TV. And I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to 'Shiddat' without being reminded of them. When I watched the third season of The Vampire Diaries a decade ago, it was Damon and Elena's 'motel kiss' that truly made me believe, that no matter what the writers had planned, #Delena was inevitable. There was just too much chemistry to be left untapped and I honestly thought #Stelena didn't have a chance anymore. I had a similar emotion, while watching the #Arylie dance. If any fans were conflicted in their mind regarding which couple to root for, the dance would have easily solidified their position in the love triangle.

Credit for the fabulous chemistry #Arylie share can't go to Fahmaan alone, of course. Sumbul is equally good in their scenes together and she's definitely a natural when it comes to acting, especially in the intense emotional moments. Your heart breaks for Imlie nearly every time she's hurt just because Sumbul displays the character's pain with such conviction, which in the hands of a lesser actress could've just made the character plain annoying to viewers. Her command over the dialect that the people of Pagdandiya are supposed to speak is also extremely commendable (Like seriously, I read some news that claimed Niti Taylor was in the running to play Imlie. She WOULD NOT have been able to pull this off LOL). Another amazing thing about Sumbul's performance is her comic timing which is absolutely excellent. Whether it's her singing random made-up songs to suit whatever current chore she's performing, or her arguments with Aryan, the onus of making the comedy scenes land is mainly on her and she does a great job of it. Sumbul was also especially amazing in the scene where Imlie finally signs the divorce papers handed to her by Aditya. Her monologue where she apologizes to herself is extremely heart-touching and also serves to recapitulate the extent to which Imlie has been persecuted in the last year or so, and how she believes that standing up for herself sooner might've yielded different results.

When it comes to Imlie as a character on her own, I'm not the biggest fan for obvious reasons. Her writing as Jammy described is inconsistent. She gives lectures to everyone, but very rarely practices what she preaches. She becomes unconscious due to some chemical that Malini put in her room, but fights cronies at a brothel like Salman Khan (which is what makes her an unusual damsel in distress, like I'd said earlier). Well, I guess the Salman Khan- esque nature can't be attributed to Imlie alone, since the pitch of the show is obviously quite loud. But yes, it's weird that somebody as petite as Imlie is able to beat the shit out of so many huge men. Nevertheless, these action sequences do serve to entertain the masses, so perhaps they should just keep them in there. One thing I have to give Imlie credit for is that she's probably one of the few TV bahus who have successfully left their first husband.

Apart from Imlie and Aryan, of course, Mayuri and Gashmeer are also pretty good as Malini and Aditya, though I haven't watched a lot of their scenes. My favourite supporting character of the show is probably Imlie's mother, Meethi, however. She's a very strong woman and I love that she keeps Aditya at arm's length after the mistakes he's committed and stands up for her daughter whenever necessary.

When it comes to the selection of Bollywood tracks used on the show (for some reason, I'm really critical of this), the 'Shiddat' dance is a definite standout. However, there are two more sequences which I really loved. The first is when Aryan, Imlie and Aditya return from Pagdandiya after several days of facing innumerable perils. Imlie is happy that both Aditya and Aryan have been successfully reunited with their family, but she also feels rather left out since for the moment, both the families are purely focused on their children. Nevertheless, as Imlie attempts to leave, Aryan stops her from doing so by clasping her hand, thereby hinting that she's as much a part of his family as his mother and sister. As Imlie looks at him in awe, all the moments where Aryan's supported her plays on her mind. She realises that Aryan gave her a sense of belonging she'd always expected from Aditya and it's the first time it seems like she allows herself to feel something more than friendship or respect for Aryan. The song 'Tu bin bataaye' chosen as the background music is extremely effective since it's a female voice and echoes Imlie's sentiments very well.

The second song selection I really liked is when Aditya and the Tripathis finally find out about Malini's scheming ways when Aryan and Imlie expose her together. Once this happens, Imlie sits outside looking rather lost, partly being unable to believe that what she's been trying to achieve for months has finally happened and partly because she realises that despite exposing Malini, she has still lost everything because of Malini's charade and Aditya's lack of faith in her. Aditya, of course, realises his mistake this time around and comes to apologise to Imlie. In the same moment, Aryan also appears with the intention of asking Imlie to go back with him. However, upon noticing Aditya, he realises that Imlie and Aditya need some space to have an honest conversation with each other and decides to take a step back. He gives Imlie the option of speaking to Aditya privately or even FORGIVING him, if she really wants to. As Aryan walks away, it becomes clear that Imlie is more concerned with Aryan's departure than with Aditya's presence, even though she's been trying to win back his trust for months. She is surprised that Aryan would let her speak to Aditya alone especially when she knows that he hates Aditya (not why, though) and thinks that he doesn't deserve a second chance. This serves to show that on some level, he trusts her to make the right choice for herself. At the same time, Imlie also looks on in wonder that even after helping her out, he basically takes no credit and asks for absolutely nothing in return from her. Aryan moves ponderously- a part of him hoping that Imlie would ask him to stay and the other part afraid that she might choose to go back to Aditya. You can see the beginnings of tears begin to prick his eyes as he puts on shades to mask his forlorn expression at the thought of losing her, yet he walks away with his head held high. And ironically, as 'Yeh Dooriyan' plays in the background, a scene which was supposed to be about Aditya and Imlie becomes about Aryan and Imlie.

Now, to address one of the most divisive plot points in the show- that of the #Arylie wedding. Ever since Aditya is banned as a journalist due to Aryan's false accusations, Imlie has only one mission. And that's to save Aditya and his (and also hers, of course) family from Aryan's wrath which has been simmering for four years. As much as Imlie wants to do this to save the Tripathi family from further troubles, she also wants Aryan to let go of his pursuit of vengeance for his own peace of mind. But instead, Aryan construes this as a possibility that Imlie still has feelings for Aditya and might just forgive him and blow up her whole life all over again. Thus, more in order to save Imlie from herself than actually attack Aditya in any way, he proposes that Imlie and him strike a deal (actually, deep down he just doesn't want to lose her, because he loves her, but he hasn't admitted this to himself yet). She gets married to him, and Aditya is reinstated as an honest journalist. However, Imlie misunderstands him and believes that he is orchestrating the marriage just to get back at Aditya and she's nothing more than a pawn to Aryan in his contest against Aditya. Nevertheless, the fake marriage Imlie agrees to eventually turns into an actual one that she actively tries to stop. And there's no two ways about it. Despite Aryan's intentions, he's definitely WRONG in forcing Imlie for the marriage, especially since he knows how traumatised Imlie is from her first marriage which also happened by force.

There are obviously more grey areas with this track but Imlie failing to see how much Aryan cares for her starts to get annoying, as does Aryan's incessant need to stay quiet whenever Imlie questions him. She wants to believe that he would never force her, but Aryan here seems to have embraced altruism for a moment and never bothers to clear the misunderstanding between them. That is, until the wedding day when he finally has an attack of conscience and decides to first- talk to Imlie about her wishes before the wedding, (which unfortunately is when the BD-Imlie ghoonghat swap nonsense has already happened and Imlie just ignores his words) and second- let Imlie abandon the wedding (he almost insists that she does, in a 'Dil Hai ki Maanta nahi', 'bhaag ja' style) when he realises that what he's doing to Imlie is utterly unfair and hypocritical since he's always been a staunch supporter of Imlie making her own life choices. In doing so, Aryan does redeem himself to a large extent, and is thus in better standing than a number of other Gul Khan heroes.

Of course, Meethi emotionally blackmails Imlie to marry Aryan (which was again, wrong on her part), because I truly believe that even if the wedding did not happen, Imlie would've found her way back to Aryan and gotten married to him willingly (I mean by the time the wedding is happening, it's clear Imlie has feelings for Aryan even if she's unconscious of them. She just doesn't like the coercion). The kidnapping and wife swapping shenanigans aside (like seriously, how stupid does Neela have to be to kidnap Imlie and then put her on top of the mandap?!), I do have to say that the cinematography was definitely on point in the mandap falling scene, and despite the cheesiness of the 'khoon bhari maang' scenario, you actually buy into it. Anyhow, since the marriage is fulfilled (I wish I could say without any glitches), Imlie and Aryan decide to put on a facade so as to maintain the appearance of a regular married couple in front of their family. Like who are they fooling? It's so obvious that these two are smitten with each other.

Imlie's first mission post marriage is of course, to find the truth behind Arvind's death, because of course, not even for once can she choose to chill as a 19 year old and instead decides to make everyone's problems her own. The speed at which Imlie is able to uncover the so-called 'real truth' behind Arvind's death is rather laughable, but I understand that it had to be fast-tracked because Manasvi had already decided to quit the show and they needed to close this plot thread. It makes sense however, that despite Aryan having infinite resources, he never bothered to look into Arvind's death from a different angle, because his objective and calculative mind seems to stop functioning when family members are concerned. This was clearly seen when Arpita was stuck in the car during the storm and Aryan all but froze when it was his turn to help her. Despite the poor build up to the truth, the final confrontation between #Arylie and Seth's goons was fun to watch, especially the scene where Aryan finally overcomes his trauma and manages to save Imlie. The hug that the two share is definitely magical, and you can clearly see that by this point both of them have fallen for each other pretty deep.

One thing I absolutely loved is how Aryan immediately admits his mistake and apologises to Aditya and the Tripathi family for creating trouble for them due to his erroneous beliefs. He also has a deeper realization regarding his misguided actions during his wedding with Imlie and this time, is so guilt-ridden that he gives Imlie the choice to walk away from their marriage. Imlie is obviously confused because at this point, she doesn't wish to walk away any more. Aditya's last scene with Imlie sees him advising Imlie to stay with Aryan because he is an ideal partner for her, and by doing so, Aditya's character still makes an exit with some amount of dignity (I guess much to the satisfaction of the #Adilie fans, that Aditya wasn't turned into a villain).

Imlie decides to come back of course, much to Aryan's muted excitement, but the makers want to quickly move to the next plot instead of develop their relationship! Suddenly, out of the blue, it's decided that Arpita must get married, without even first consulting her. Then Neela brings her cartoon Uday as a suitor for Arpita. Imlie is trying to make #Surpita (Sundar & Arpita) happen despite the fact that Arpita initially doesn't admit her feelings for him and Sundar seems to be very happy with his current status as a housekeeper and is doing nothing to elevate himself. Meanwhile Aryan is so against #Surpita (this I actually relate to, money is very, very important for me to be happy) that he's just ready to marry off his sister to any Tom, Dick or Harry without allowing a proper courtship period first, to judge the prospective groom's character? Like what is happening...facepalm x 100. Throughout the 150 episodes I've watched, this has to be the worst track of all because it seems utterly rushed and not the least bit organic. Aryan acts out of character, Imlie as usual thinks she knows best for other's relationships but couldn't be bothered to fix her own, Arpita attempts suicide while Sundar saves her and wins approval from the Rathore family. Like seriously this is my reaction to the whole of last week's episodes-

I like the fact that Uday's character has brought up the subplot of Imlie resenting her mother for forcing her to get married to Aryan, but according to me it was too soon to open this can of worms. It would have been brilliant fodder for drama if Aryan and Imlie were just about to confess their feelings to each other, and Aryan came to know the truth about why Imlie came back to him during the wedding. Still, I'll admit that the scene where Imlie confides in Aryan about the same just shows how she trusts him over anyone else and looks to him first for comfort. Aryan obviously goes on a guilt trip again and blames himself, but Imlie is unable to hear him debase himself before her. Of course Aryan's mini proposal of sorts to Imlie is interrupted by the entry of an ex? I don't know really, but that's the word on the news. I feel like it's too soon to bring in an ex at this stage but I guess the makers of Imlie are going with a tried and tested formula during the IPL. But one thing they don't realise is that the demographic of the folks watching Imlie has undergone a slight transition. There are far more millenials and Gen-Z kids watching the show post Aryan's entry, so will this plot rake in TRPS? We'll just have to wait and watch.

Last but not least, I have to speak about the show's title track 'Jaaniya' which I think has a wonderful tune and captures Aryan and Imlie's relationship really well. What's really good about it, is that we hear the first version of Jaaniya very early on sung by a male voice, just about the time when Aryan starts developing feelings for Imlie. If it were a duet, it would seem out of place because when the song is introduced, Imlie is still pretty hung up over her previous relationship and is still in love with Aditya. It takes nearly 50-60 more episodes until we finally get to hear the female version of 'Jaaniya' indicating that this is probably the point where Aryan's feelings for Imlie begin to be reciprocated. If I had to compare this song with the previous title track 'Piya Tose Milne' (which is also very beautiful), I'd say that 'Jaaniya' has a much more urban and contemporary feel to it unlike 'Piya Tose Milne' which banks on nostalgia and old-world charm. 'Piya tose milne's lyrics and music are very successful in propagating the emotion of a first love where one is ready to sacrifice everything in its name, and thus represent #Adilie well. Similarly, the lyrics and music of Jaaniya suit the flavour of #Arylie very well because its angstier, more intense, mature and even a tad sexier-

I swear the day a 'Jaaniya' duet plays is when the whole #Arylie fandom will lose their shit!

Now, to address the question I'd posed in the title-has the show redeemed itself with Aryan's entry? The answer according to me is non-binary and not very straightforward. I would say that it has to an extent. It definitely has a strong couple at its center whose relationship has the potential to be equal parts beautiful and iconic. But the team needs to focus on better and more consistent writing to further the show's plot instead of having Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situations with respect to the characters on the show. They also need to go back to the workplace drama aspect of the show, since it was the most grounded during these instances rather than focusing on kitchen politics at home with Neela and BD. I will still keep watching for now, because the show has not lost it's entertainment value, but not sure how much more of Neela's schemes I can handle. A big shout out to the makers who heard the audience's opinion and decided to retain Aryan as the lead and #Arylie as the main couple. Only time will tell if the makers utilise these two juggernauts to their full potential.

****

Now for my favourite edits-

See you again soon!