Ishqbaaaz And Dil Boley Oberoi Analysis- Insight to the characters (Part-1)

Hiya! Since there hasn’t been one in the longest time, I am here with an analysis on Ishqbaaaz and DBO; which has three parts. ( because you definitely won’t appreciate a 15000 words analysis)
-Special shout out to my twin sister Rubina who helped me in this.

The reason I feel connected to this show is because 80-90 % of what happens in Ishqbaaaz has actually happened in my family. There’d be comments saying ‘nonsensical tracks’ and ‘this doesn’t even happen in real life’ and me and my sister would look at them going- if only you knew!

So Shivaay is this older protective brother who babies Rudra and respects Omkara as an equal.
Om respects Shivaay and while, you know, Rudra entertains them. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for Rudra. Rudra is equally devoted to his brothers.

Because they aren’t buying for power and position. And obviously they aren’t buying for the same girl which is usually the favorite point of conflict. When they’re together they’re very cute and there is nothing here which can divide them.

The thing which makes this show unique is the unit of these brothers who will do anything for each other and their conflict is outside their relationship.

On numerous occasions people are complaining as to why there aren’t happy moments. If we look back growing up as children, even the books that we read, happy comes last.

I read comments saying CVS don’t have a plan and the tracks are nonsensical. I do not agree! So I decided for this analysis, lets go do some research and find out if there any truth to this or not. And my research says otherwise. Believe me, I don’t stan/fangirl or defend something blindly: I’ve made sure I did my research.

I like the characterization of the brothers because its like, who they project themselves to be is actually the diametric opposite of who they really are.

Shivaay is all about naam, khoon, khandan, paisa, power; all of that: that’s him. But if he would really just boat into that philosophy, he would never have loved his brothers. He’d constantly be in competition with Om because essentially Om is his rival in the family. And he wouldn’t have cared about Rudy and Prinku. So he doesn’t buy into this philosophy nearly as much as he thinks he does. There are so many scenes when I am like, ‘When would you stop lying to yourself?’.

My favorite character to watch is actually Omkara; because he believes that he is the epitome of truth, though when you watch him, he is a lot more like Tej than he realizes. Whenever we see flaws in other person and harp over them, whenever we question why someone is the way they are, its usually because we possess those qualities ourselves. Om’s biggest problem with his father is the way that he has treated his mother.
Because the rage that Tej has, Om has it too. If you go back and look at the way Tej was with Jhanvi and the way Om was with Gauri: you see similarities.

Tej didn’t respect his marriage with Jhanvi. He didn’t respect Jhanvi in their marriage as a wife. I think he almost felt that the women he fell in love with, is different. And he is different too!
And when we look at Om and Gauri. Om didn’t respect Gauri all that much either. For me though, this was kinda expected. The way he responded to Riddhima when he found out that she lied, the way he responded to Ishana when he found out that she lied; he is judgemental and he also has just as much of patience as the other brothers do. His problem is that he has very high expectations and he is almost self righteous. He doesn’t even realize that he does what he hates. Sometimes I feel like he can be a hypocrite, like, for instance, Jhanvi’s marriage with Tej meant so much for her, she sacrificed so much to make this marriage work and that’s why we saw that just before the launch of DBO, Om said to Shivaay, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna be the victim. I’m going to be Shivaay.’
He did this to protect his mother. He even told Tej that you cannot leave my Mom and its interesting that he loves his mother so much but when we look at Gauri, we see shades of Jhanvi in her.
Gauri, like Jhanvi, values her marriage with Om, where as Om is unwilling to accept her as his wife just like Tej! They are doing the same thing.
The fact that he wants his mother to remain in this marriage with his father is problematic because he is doing it because he thinks this what Jhanvi wants but what Jhanvi actually needs are two different things. Its funny that he is forcing his father to remain in this marriage meanwhile he himself doesn’t accept his marriage. They mirror each other every time!
It was interesting to see in DBO that Omkara, a man who loves his mother so much, behaves questionably with Gauri. The aggression isn’t new in Om, that existed way before. That part of Omkara is always there, sort of simmering in the background.

And then there’s Rudra. Oh my Rudy! Such a cutiepie. On the surface he is superficial, he is…foolish. And he is irresponsible. Yet, when you see him in moments of crisis, it is almost that he is the one who is supposed to be saving the family. He’s got a perception that neither Om nor Shivaay have. When he notices that his brothers aren’t able to find a solution, he finds one without asking anyone. He turns to Om like ‘I know what I have to do’ and Om looks at him like ‘Don’t do anything foolish!’ I think that’s a permanent expression Om makes every time Rudy does anything.
Honestly though, Rudra’s anything but foolish!
When Om was refusing to get married, which is fine as you should have the freedom to say no, Rudra realizes the gravity of the situation and he’s like I’ll get married. Well, he was already married and he hates the concept of marriage…
The biggest one is how he handles his brothers. Those scenes when they are baking and have really different opinions, and then he walks in and defuses the situation with humour. So on the surface it looks like he is being foolish, but actually he knows exactly what he’s doing. And whats interesting is, he is the anchor that holds the two brothers together. So he is responsible and yet on the surface of it he moves away from any resembling responsibilities.
You know what, he resembles his grandmother. He defuses situations, he tries to find solutions. He is definitely very much like Kalyani.

Now lets move on to the leading ladies.
So I have noticed that the writers have been accused of butchering Annika’s character. And for figuring out if this was true, we’ll dissect her.
We all know that since the beginning, Shivaay has been the great wall of SSO who protects the family. Annika has been his shield and that’s why in the separation track we saw that as soon as Annika left; the wall broke down which means the family unit broke down. We almost saw a child Shivaay, like kalyani said ‘masoom Shivaay’ (Btw Kalyani is actually very good in judging characters. LOL. She knows her grandchildren well.) And lets be clear here, leaving Shivaay in the manner that she did, was not Annika’s majboori.
If she wanted to stay, she could have. She could have gone upto Shivaay and told him the truth. I feel like people think that she is this bechari abla nari and that’s why they are think that her character is being destroyed. But if she was that, and if that was really the case she would have told Pinky, ‘I’m so sorry; I’m gonna leave right now.’
Well, your tears don’t make you weak. Just because you are crying, that doesn’t make you a weak character. That’s the problem! The association that if someone is crying: you are a weak person.
The scenes of Pinky and Annika, I know many people think that it has gone into ‘Saas-Bahu’ territory but I really feel that when you watch them; its like a woman is talking to another woman. They may be dealing with a male character in the centre of it, its look like two women are fighting for a man who happens to be one women’s son and the other woman’s husband. Its not a mother-in-law fighting with her daughter-in-law!
Her whole plan, what she did, ensured that Shivaay was no longer in danger. She made a descision using her free will. You really need to go look at the Annika that we saw from the beginning and compare her to what she is right now. If we go back to when Shivaay was accused of murdering Gayathri, Annika knew that Shivaay was with her at the time, he couldn’t have murdered her. So despite everything he did to her, the way he treated her, she came out and said that he spent the night with her. Unfortunately, this in the society put her character in question, but she didn’t care!
Annika does what she thinks is right. There’s no one who can stop her. That has always been the case that this was the case in the separation track.

And then we have Gauri. I love the way Shrenu plays her! While I understand Annika, I think my problem with Gauri is that, if it was played by another actress I wouldn’t be able to tolerate her at all. So kudos to Shrenu for that!
But it doesn’t take away the narrative issue that I have with her. Because Gauri does need to exist outside Omkara. When she in the Oberoi Mansion she only exists within the context of Om. If we compare her to Saumya: although we saw her with Rudra, she had other elements to her. She is a student. She is Love_Angel . She is this know-it-all, this clever girl who knows every research that was ever made. She was in a relationship before Rudra. She also had a sibling. She has that element, so you know it made her and her relationship with Rudra, that much more compelling. *The reason I am not discussing Bhavya yet, is because I, quite honestly, am just not a big fan.

This is exactly where Gauri’s character alters for me.

Now we are going to move on to the parents. (or to the non parents actually 😉 )
Ishqbaaaz was never supposed to be only about the brothers. (otherwise it would have been called Bhaibaaaz! Just saying.)
Starting with Pinky and Shakti. Rubina(forgotten already?) and I have a point of difference here. I am probably more emphatic about Pinky than anyone else in the fandom right now! (Rubina going- Oh My Maata!) I am not saying that she is right. You know, what she did was terrible thing; no questions. I understand where it is coming from and I do also have a great deal of empathy for it.
This is a woman, who growing up, wanted to be a teacher. She is denied that. She is married in a family where everybody is educated, her husband is embarrassed with her and her brother-in-law is a huge jerk (LOL!!) . Her sister-in-law is educated too which made her even more insecure. She eventually has a son and this son grows up to love his siblings more than anybody else and what we see in Shivaay is somehow also a reminder of the lack of respect Shakti has for her. So when Tia comes along, she doesn’t have a problem with her, because apparently, Tia is treated with same indifference like her. That’s why she was so hell bent on making Tia Shivaay’s wife. (even though Tia is educated and sophisticated too)
And then there’s Annika. Annika, on a superficial level, isn’t classically sophisticated. And Shivaay’s world started revolving around Annika even before he fell in love with her. That makes Pinky realize, that there’s more to him than his brothers. Her obsession with Shivaay’s position and power, is down for 3 reasons-

1. Its what Shakti wanted.
2. This is what she needs to secure her position in the house.
3. She has no where else to stand.

So when she takes it out on Annika, its not about punishing Annika for being the epicentre of Shivaay’s world, its about punishing Shivaay for not loving her after what she did for him. (what really did she do though?)

Rubina agrees more with the viewers when it comes to Pinky. So, initially we were given a Pinky that was savage; she roasted Jhanvi like there was no tomorrow. Then we were shown a cute and bubbly Pinky. The pinky now is leaving the grey shade and heading towards darkness, and that’s the issue! Her characterization. Its one thing you are a great person, its another thing when you have this person who is basically punishing her child and not the actual person who deserves this. Her anger is with Shakti but she is punishing her child who has done nothing to deserve this. I am sorry, you loved Shivaay, but it wasn’t unconditional love. There was always a condition behind it: her position.
Problem arises because Annika doesn’t know that shit. He isn’t SSO, he is billu ji for her.
Basically she had a problem with Shivaay paying more attention to Annika, OmRu and Dadi. Really, the parents in the Oberoi Mansion, are anything like parents! (see:non parents!!)
They don’t do their job properly. It’s a mess! And Shivaay is the one who is basically raising the family.

And Shakti! Where should I begin? I only really feel that this character is a loose canon(not a loose canon, actually he is an unaccounted variable.) I have this feeling: he is completely insidious. I really knew this from the get-go! We’ve been shown this quite, devoted, religious man who believes in family values. He barely spoke! (expect if you count- “Bhaisahab, please” )
Its almost like he is repenting for his mistakes. If we look back at the conflicts with Tej; its always Pinky who is speaking up on the behalf of the empire; on the behalf of Shivaay. Shakti just stands like a wall for hours in the back and doesn’t open his mouth. But the funny thing is, he did care about his position in the empire, he was in the waaris race! Tej does what he does upfront, but Shakti’s whole affair with Kamini, deal with it, he hides everything and pretends to be someone he’s not. Yet, no one holds back in accusing Tej for his affairs, especially Pinky. Although she is obsessed with Shivaay’s position, Pinky is what she is because of Shakti.

Truly though, Pinky is not really the enemy in Shivaay and Annika’s relationship, kill me but yeah. But she’s definitly got a real problem buddy.

And now I guess its time to move on to Tej and Jhanvi. Tej and Jhanvi are basically the anti- Pinky and Shakti. Pinky didn’t self destruct but went into destroying everybody else. Jhanvi went to self-destruct mode. The problem is that Jhanvi and Tej got married because they loved each other. The woman that Tej fell in love with, was probably a firebrand. Because we know that Jhanvi was someone with ambitions and wanted a career, that part of her was systematically crushed. She gave up on the career to look after Om, and then Rudra, and then Prinku. Tej was like this isn’t the woman that I married. (dude, you seriously needa take a chill-pill -_- ) And what I find really irritating is that you are culpable! Whatever Jhanvi went through is because you forgot that she deserves to have a career as well.
And he blames it all on Jhanvi. Even Om. The way Om is, its apparently because of Jhanvi. It can’t possibly be that Tej is forced to be an incompetent and useless father. (Is he? LMAO) I don’t think he is incapable of love. I think his love is just self-serving. He is so practical that it makes him seem completely cold. He is the Shivaay without the childlike innocence. Maybe that’s why we see Tej and Shivaay get on, in business. Oh Tej!!!

But Tej and Pinky; onscreen; when they fight and are like savage to each other: I can watch the show like that!! Those are popcorn moments *waiting for the next Tej and Pinky fight* ( love! love! love! )

But (there is always a ‘but’ ) its not that I don’t have any problems with the serial. I have the same issues that the boss majority of the audience have.

For example- Ishana’s characterization. (and this is before the offscreen issues could take place)
I actually like Ishana as a character overall. I like that she was a con woman, I like the fact that she had her complications through the fact that her father is an alcoholic, etc. my problem was that she was trying to trick Om into a relationship for money , pretending to be somebody else. They should’ve rather gone with her trying to take money from Jhanvi’s NGO which is mentioned in the very first episode. This way she wouldn’t be tricking someone in a relationship. Because, you know, in India, marriage is a very sacred act and disrespecting it in this way is unacceptable to many an audience.
It wasn’t even the marriage aspect, but for me it was like, Riddhima’s character, it had its flaws but Riddhima wasn’t evil. Those were issues that Om and Riddhima could’ve dealt with themselves. Then it even had Ishana coming in, and you know, it becomes uncomfortable.

And for the Priyanka-Ranveer track, when we were introduced to Ranveer I knew he was an anti-hero; he did have good qualities. Suddenly he became a proper villain and then gets back to the romantic partner side. There has been no development. I have to work very hard with my head to make this believable. Its like- where did he fall in love? Like when was that moment because I don’t remember seeing it.

With any show it is, that you can’t keep anyone happy. People are like- Oh! I like this but…
What about the other thing that I didn’t mention previously? (and then when we get to the other thing) Oh but wait! I actually wanted everything…

Its also about the character differences between Ishqbaaaz and DBO. There was a clear disconnect. Its like a parallel show but it is also a parallel universe. It’s the twilight zone.
Rubina literally rewrote the actual episodes, and the thing is that I can’t! During the Mahasangham week I was like but what about what’s happening in DBO?

There are many reasons for these diffrences. So firstly, Ishqbaaaz and DBO have different writers. Secondly, in DBO we never got to see any character individually, as mentioned with Gauri. The only thing we know about Gauri is that she is adopted, loves her mother deeply and is a devoted wife. We don’t know anything about her struggles but only in the context of Om, and that’s where it becomes very difficult to relate with the love story. We don’t get proper development of the story this way (its not a problem with me, its all being developed in my head really good)

And the juiciest topic: complains about screen space. Before there were complains that Shivika were taking over Ishqbaaaz and the other characters were being neglected. This was exactly why Dil Boley Oberoi was launched right? Yeah right.
But the makers could cleverly make use of the fact that Om is an artist and get a girl in there who had some family issues as well.

After the separation there were complains as to why there aren’t any Shivika scenes. (Seriously gals and guys: what is happening in the story? Pay attention!)
Annika and Shivaay can’t come face-to-face at that time, because they just had a heartblreak!
I was okay though of the way Shivaay behaved. He was brutal! What we always forget is, if it was Shivaay who had done it to Annika for the greater good: he’d have been the villain. There’d have been no question at all, the role would’ve been reversed. But because it was Shivaay they were like why is he behaving this way?
Dude, he was asking her to marry him, he was freaking in love with this gurl, and on that very day she destroyed every damn thing.
Its like how Bua Ma says in DBO- she basically did his choor-choor and totte-totte. LMAO (for his own good)
Everyone who has gone through a heartbreak will know that you love someone SO much and at the same time you hate them +you hate the fact that you’re in love with them…

On a serious note guys; IT IS THE STORY THAT MATTERS.

I actually have a 90% success rate when it comes to predicting what’s gonna happen in Ishqbaaaz. Its because I don’t bother knowing spoilers and watching upcoming segments. What really is the point of watching the show if you want to know everything that happens, before?
Only pay attention to what is happening in the show. But my favorite aspect about spoilers is that everybody goes up and down like headless chicken and there’s no media out there who is guilty of it. I did read a spoiler about Rudra proposing Bhavya and Shivaay divorcing Annika. Did any of it happen?
Just wanna tell everyone that there is no point having nuclear-meltdowns when you are reading such spoilers. Just look at the article and think- does this look accurate? Half of these people don’t even watch the show. But if you really mind these spoilers you might as well listen and cry over your neighbor’s chacha’s cat’s chaiwala’s spoiler -_- *in fact they’ll have better authorities.

So that’s it for the first part of this analysis. Please do like and comment your questions and opinions and let my hard work pay off. There will be further discussion about the couples and villains in the next 2 parts.
No promises about how soon the next part will be because this analysis stuff screams a LOT of time and mind; both of which I am currently low on. Will still try to post soon, do comment so that I remember to post the earliest.
Have a great day, night, time, whatever you are having and see you soon! 🙂
Dile Boley Ishqbaaaz!