The mess that is Ishq Mein Marjwan

Who doesn't like a good suspense thriller, right? Top it with a strong, spunky antagonist and we have the recipe for a sure shot hit. If you have any doubt, look no beyond than Sony TV's Beyhadh and the popular character Maya.

Colors show Ishq Mein Marjawan started as a suspense thriller with a murder in its very first episode. The serial pulled in viewers from inception with the mystery of a serial killer, an honest police inspector investigating the crimes, a cunning man with his own agenda and an innocent girl having the exact face of the murderer. With the excellent casting of Alisha Panwar in the double role of Arohi and Tara, and Arjun Bijlani as Deep who wanted to trap Arohi but fell in love with her in the process, the show promised an exciting ride.

With interesting twists and turns at every corner and every character having secrets of their own, the viewers were often at the edges of their seats, worried how Arohi would protect herself. But when did the twists become a little too much? When did the show changed from being exciting to confusing?

Story till now

Tara is a serial killer, her anger bursting when she sees people cheating each other. The only solution she has for betrayal is murder and from each of her victim she takes a memento, the victim's ring. Lakshya is an inspector who starts investigating the crimes through his unique ways, fully determined to catch the serial killer in Shimla. Seemingly separate from this all, Deep Raichand, a big businessman, enters Shimla one day, sees Arohi Kashyap, an innocent girl who shares Tara's face, and is immediately attracted to her. Deep sends his mother to Arohi's house with a marriage proposal. Arohi at first refuses because she wants to marry her boyfriend, but when she thinks her boyfriend has cheated her, she ends up marrying Deep.

On the marriage day, it is revealed that Deep is actually Tara's husband and has trapped Arohi in a fake marriage so that he can put the blame of all of Tara's crimes on Arohi. To force Arohi into marriage, Tara had even murdered Arohi's boyfriend. Soon it is revealed that the entire Raichand family is a bunch of actors hired by Deep to fool Arohi. Arohi slowly falls in love with Deep, not realizing that behind her back Deep is planting false evidences in front of Lakshya. While Lakshya begins doubting Arohi, Arohi herself senses that everything is not as it seems in the Raichand house. By the time the she learns the secret, it is too late. Tara kills Arohi's brother and Arohi lands up in jail for all of Tara's crimes. 

Arohi's sister-in-law vows to get her released and inspector Lakshya also realizes that justice hasn't been served. But days pass and nothing happens. In jail, Arohi faces torture, changes from a weak, scared woman to a fearless one and, three years later, fakes her own death and escapes to exact her revenge.

She locates Deep, Tara and their family, now living in Mumbai. Through cunning and the help of a poor child Chawanni, she manages to kidnap Tara and herself enters Raichand Mansion as Tara. Lakshya is revealed to be Virat Lakshya Raichand, Tara's brother, and slowly Arohi realizes the full extent of the conspiracy to trap her. One plan follows another, as a race starts between Arohi and the entire Raichand family. Arohi looses her sister-in-law and nephew in the process, while many of the Raichands too die. 

With time, it seems Deep isn't the real mastermind and might be a victim himself. Deep and Arohi reconcile, trying to find out Deep's past and the reality of his parents. When it appears that Arohi might finally be getting her revenge and that there is a chance for a happy life between Deep and Arohi, another betrayal happens. On the night of their third marriage, Deep cheats Arohi again. He first sets fire to their room, then takes Arohi to a doctor, gets her face changed and plans to send her across border while he himself starts a new life with Tara. 

Why did Deep do this? Does his loyalty really lie with Tara? Whose face did Deep give Arohi? Are Arohi's parents, who were thought to be dead, alive and held captive? These are some of the new mysteries that have now cropped up in the show. But the viewers have started to lose interest. The reasons for this are many, but the foremost is...

Inconsistencies in Deep's characterization

Who is Deep? What does he want? Does he love Arohi? Does he love Tara? Has he been Arohi's supporter all along? Is he a mastermind or just a loyal follower of Roma's (Tara's mother) orders? These are some of the questions that had often intrigued viewers. But after repeated 180 degree turns in Deep's behavior, the questions have now become frustrating.

The first sign of Deep falling for Arohi happened before Arohi went to jail. It seemed he was really drawn to Arohi's innocence and purity of heart. But suddenly one day, he declares to Tara that he is still trapping Arohi and in that moment all of Deep's previous realization of love vanishes. He sends Arohi to jail and even visits her there, taunting her and slapping her. When Arohi escapes from jail, she finds Deep living comfortably with Tara and handling Raichand business (Deep real name turns out to be Deep Raj Singh). When Arohi (in Tara's guise) stays at Raichand Mansion, we find Deep loyal to Roma following all her orders. He even tries his best to find out Arohi's truth and repeatedly leaves her to be tortured by Roma. He even shoots Tara once, thinking her to be Arohi, on Roma's command. 

Still, after Arohi shoots Deep in London, it is revealed that Deep had a good heart all along and always loved Arohi. He even saved Arohi's nephew, Nikku. It was the Raichand's who had brainwashed Deep into his crimes. At this point, Deep returns from London and his character does another 180 degree turn. Till then he had been Roma's loyal follower, worshiping her as a goddess and following all her orders without question. But now he grows up a spine and refuses to follow Roma anymore. This happens without any provocation from Roma, but since Deep now appears to be at Arohi's side, the viewers accept it.

Deep and Arohi, now together, reveal the Raichand's true face to the world and it seems we finally know who Deep is. But again, Deep does an 180 degree turn. After proclaiming love for Arohi repeatedly, he changes her face and seems to be with Tara again. And he also has developed a violent streak, manhandling both Tara and Arohi.

This repeated change in Deep's motivations and characters has now turned irritating. The viewers still can't be sure what Deep will do next. The last betrayal seems not only to Arohi but to the viewers themselves. His character now appears fickle, loyal neither to Arohi nor Tara, but a selfish, cruel person. Certainly not someone we enjoy watching anymore.

Too many deaths

Vishaal, Aniket, Nikku, Ridhi, Prithvi, Roma, Kalyani, Vedika, Maya, Dr. Bhandari, Maharaj, Sudha, Sushant, Sanaya, Danny, Nisha... These are the many characters who have died in this show. Many of them were killed by Tara, but Virat and Roma also had their share of murders. Arohi's enemies, interestingly, only die by accident and not at Arohi's hands. Many of the characters in Arohi's support and those Arohi vows to protect, always end up dead. Characters like Kalyani and Vedika were introduced with exciting backstories but were killed abruptly, the secrets attached to them never revisited. Random characters like Sudha and Nisha are introduced and then killed within weeks or days. Viewers want some positivity and also persons who remain alive and support Arohi. But when that doesn't happen and when Arohi always ends up lonely and helpless, it is disheartening.

Too many twists

There are just too many twists in this show! Every single character is hiding some secret or making some plan of their own. Anyone can betray anyone without any foreshadowing. Dilip, who was shown wheelchair bound since the beginning and supporting Arohi, suddenly turns out to be healthy and a villain without any logic whatsoever. Lakshya, the honest police officer who tried to capture Tara, was later shown to be Tara's brother Virat. Sometimes, hints are given about a secret but the reveal is dragged for days. With shocking twists happening in almost every episode, it seems more like a cheap gimmick than a coherent story.

Plots left incomplete

There are so many things happening in the show at the same time, that it seems even the writers forget what plot they had started. For quite sometime, it was shown that there might be someone in Raichand Mansion who knew Arohi was staying as Tara and even sent kidnappers to capture her from temple. But who that person was, was never revealed. There was also someone who was helping Tara, informing her about Nikku and Arohi's steps, but that person was also not revealed.

When Kalayani entered, it was shown that there was some secret related to property that only Roma and Prithvi knew that even Tara and Virat were not aware of. But when Kalyani died, that secret was not talked of ever again.

Vedika's death was not shown onscreen and hints were given that Vedika might still be alive. That maybe Deep had saved her from Roma. But that was also not given a proper closure.

Dilip, who for a long time was shown as having a soft corner for Deep and trying to help Deep, was suddenly turned into a villain without any logic or proper explanation.

Even Deep's past, which a month back seemed at the point of being revealed, has been completely sidetracked for now.

Inconsistency in story

Quite early in the show it was established that Tara's murder tendencies arose because her father betrayed her mother and left them for another woman. Tara's first victim was that other woman. Later, when it was revealed that Dilip was Tara's father, it was never cleared whether Dilip was their biological father and if it was so, how he came to stay with them again.

At first, it was mentioned that Deep was picked from the road by Roma and given a comfortable life. That was the reason why Deep always stayed loyal to Roma's command. Then suddenly, it was revealed one day that Deep had in fact come to the Raichand Mansion as an adult with amnesia and has no memories of his childhood.

For long it was shown that only Roma knew about Deep's past. Then it was told that only Dilip knew. It was clearly portrayed that Tara had no idea about it and when Arohi (as Tara) asked Roma about it, Roma didn't find 'Tara's' ignorance strange. Then suddenly one day, Virat and Tara were shown to know everything about Deep's past and were actively preventing Deep from knowing about it. 

Arohi's parents, who were often mentioned to have died in Arohi's childhood, are now suddenly revealed to have died in an accident only 6 months ago. In fact, they were not even dead but kidnapped by someone for six years!

All these back-tracking of established backstories in the name of new secrets becomes frustrating.

Misuse of Double Role

The switch between Arohi and Tara was used too many times. Often, to create suspense, Tara and Arohi were given the exact same dress and make up. Scenes were cut to confuse the viewers. Of course, it could be interesting if done correctly. But the writers took it too far ahead. And then, as if that was not enough, Arohi was given a new face leading to another double role!

 

Protagonist always losing

Arohi, the main protagonist of the show, has lost almost everything in her life and still keeps losing. Her brother was killed quite early. The show was at its best when Arohi escaped from prison and through sheer intelligence and cunning was able to fool the Raichands and break their unity. She was able to get Virat arrested, develop a strife between Virat and Tara, make Roma lose her chance at a political career and generally create chaos in her enemies' life. But soon that changed and Arohi lost all her well-wishers and close ones. For months she tried to save her nephew and sister-in-law but they ended up dead nonetheless. She brought in characters like Vedika for her own revenge and indirectly caused their death. Even Nikku, her nephew, could have been alive if she had left him alone. The Raichands kept escaping from prison and though police were looking for them everywhere, Roma still managed to kill Danny right in front of Deep and Arohi.

But the worst offender was Arohi losing her face, literally. The fact that after everything, when it seemed the story was moving towards a happy ending, Arohi would be again betrayed and lose her identity became too much for the viewers. Nia Sharma's entry as the new Arohi was widely criticized and people are still begging for the old Arohi to be brought back. After everything the character has gone through, she need some closure before being thrown into another drama.

In fact, for a show created on such a premise, the serial should have been finite one with a tight story. It could have prevented many of the problems that show is currently facing. Let us know in the comments section what you think!