#Akash and Payal too but at least the excuse can be they are supporting characters so they got neglected. Khushi is the FEMALE LEAD

[chutkiandchotte]

Is it too spicy if I say this is IPK themed 👀

No but for real this is a great flaw of so many Indian tv shows and unfortunately, IPK is no exception. A "perfect" female lead is NOT EQUAL TO a well written female lead and Khushi falls into this trope.

I get that it might seem like, if any thing, the show makers are biased towards Khushi. The narrative portrays Khushi as morally righteous even when she isn't (her lecturing about marriage and religion to Arnav and La; her bringing Shyam back against Arnav's wishes; her leaving Arnav for Aarav etc etc) and posits her as a totally innocent victim in many scenarios without giving any acknowledgement of her critical errors in judgement that led to specific situations - such as keeping Shyam's secret. But the truth is, these biases are only the result of the absolute lack of care they put towards writing and developing Khushi's character arc. And of course in general, she's better written than majority of Indian tv heroines because in general, IPKKND is a better written show. But within this same show, you have the example of a brilliantly written anti-hero with complex and satisfying character development; so it hurts to see how they have simply not bothered giving the same level of in-depth and CONSISTENT characterization for Khushi.

No matter how off the rails the show was, or whatever their constraints were with regards to commercial or channel expectations, they rarely compromised on Arnav's characterization which was always crystal clear and razor sharp. In the midst of the silly Swami track, the nonsense Sheetal track, heck in the laughably ridiculous Miss India track, Arnav was not made to do or act in un-Arnav like ways, for the most part. There are a few exceptions, but they're not very noteworthy and don't impact the plot much. They had a clear idea of who he is and what he would do and not do, and they stuck to it.

Not so with Khushi. In a weird parallel to in-universe dynamics, the meta narrative too picks Khushi as the most convenient sacrificial lamb whose characterization is sacrificed to meet channel demands, tv show format demands, and so on. Need to shoe-horn a comedy track where it makes no sense? Why not reduce her IQ several points and have her do totally illogical things with no rhyme or reason for some laughs? Need a low-effort way to justify Khushi spending time with Arnav? Why not make the "mature for her age" Khushi into a childish caricature who plays at being Gopi Bahu to annoy Arnav! Need a sick Arnav for Khushi to take care of? Why not have a selfless and responsible Khushi suddenly transform into someone so selfish and irresponsible, she plots to deliberately make her diabetic husband starve.

On the one hand, they erase all of her positive qualities to give her a host of flaws (stupidity, immaturity, irresponsibility) that are never explored as flaws, but just tools for comedy, picked up and abandoned at whim. On the other hand, her actual flaws and mistakes that could have used an in-depth arc are just...left alone. In fact what even are her flaws? As per the show, she has practically none - they are only lovable quirks.

Arnav's extreme reactions often eclipse Khushi's mistakes; we nor her get the time to sit with and reflect on her errors, instead the focus immediately shifts to him. Her mistakes are so disproportionally punished, it leaves no room for her character development. Character development is best prompted by moments of reflection, regret, and redemption. We get very, very few of these with Khushi - there's simply no space for it in the narrative of the show.

Its a very subtle distinction that is hard to pinpoint at times. For example, we see Khushi's pain showcased front and center time and again - its the classic suffering heroine trope! But is her trauma from Shyam, from Arnav, heck even from her own family, EVER explored in any real meaningful and satisfying way? No - because Khushi's interiority, just like her brain power, maturity, and sense of responsibility, disappears and reappears as per the convenience of the narrative.

You might say its unfair to compare her to Arnav, who is undoubtedly the protagonist of the show. Unusually for romcoms, Arnav is our main character and Khushi is the "love interest". So perhaps we can't expect her character to be explored with the same range and nuance his is. Okay. But consistency, surely, is something we can expect from Khushi? Why is Khushi EVEN MORE inconsistently written than the villain, Shyam, and supporting characters like Anjali?

There's a lot I do love about the way Khushi is written but I HAVE to sift through the material to find the good stuff which is often in contradiction to the bad stuff. Post the elopement, we see really very little consistent characterization with Khushi and the show's overall writing quality heavily suffers as a direct result of this.

And this IS a sexist trope. It falls into the madonna-whore dichotomy where you can only write 2 types of lead female characters: a perfect angel, who is always morally right and usually suffering without much else going on internally; or the vamp, who has her flaws and her complexities with which she entertains us until she is suitably humiliated and punished by the narrative.

A woman with flaws, allowed to learn and grow from them into a more mature and evolved human being??? Who ever heard of such a thing??? Certainly not ITV writers, circa 2011 (or now).