Mallika
asks Rahul if he still loves her. Rahul pauses to collect his thoughts and
prepare his reply. He tells Mallika that he does love her, but it's a different
kind. As thoughtful as that was, it doesn't go over well with Mallika. She
climbs to her feet and begins sounding pretty angry. She says that because of
Rashmi, now his love for her is weakened. She accuses him of wanting to kill his
love for her and go off to celebrate life with Rashmi. Rahul tries to calm her
down by saying it isn't like that, and she is still his best friend.
Well as a lot of us know, one of the last things you want to hear when you're
getting dumped is "let's stay friends." Mallika reacts in much the same way -
she says that she's not really his best friend. She's spent the last few years
basically living as his wife, with all of the, um, privileges that go along with
that. She tells him that she can leave everything else behind, but not him. She
frantically tells him that she needs him, and that she loves him. Rahul grabs
her wrists (and the sappy violin music that was wailing in the distance
suspiciously cuts off in the middle of a passage) and tells her not to think
about what is impossible.
There
is a moment of silence, then Mallika slaps him really hard in the face. She then
forcibly pushes him towards the door, and screams at him to get out of her
house. She shouts at his back that she will get along fine without him. Mallika
gasps for breath as she realizes what has just happened. She then shouts out for
Liza to bring her a drink, and staggers back into her bedroom. As she goes out
of focus in the distance from the hall, Jaidev strides into the shot as his
righteous indignation theme blares at us.
The next morning we find Rahul at home, crabbing at someone on the phone. We
can infer from his side of the conversation that the caller has something to ask
about the party, but Rahul tells him repeatedly to contact Manmo instead, since
he's handling all of the preparations. As this is going on, we see Mallika come
in from outside. She's dressed conservatively, and seems to be cleaned up and
sober.
Rahul
turns around and notices her in the room. He doesn't look all that happy to see
her, and turns away without speaking. Mallika touches his shoulder, and says
that she is sorry. She says she knows what she did last night was wrong, and
that she is also sorry that she slapped him. She offers a free slap in return if
he wants to take it. Whatever it takes, whatever he wants, she begs for him to
forgive her. She gives the explanation that she was drunk, but that doesn't seem
to make things any better.
Rahul turns to her and says that he knows she has a good soul. He adds that
despite her being a good person at heart, her drinking problem is going to be
the end of her. He says that she really needs to lay off the sauce before it
destroys her. With his public service announcement out of the way, he tells her
that he forgives her, and she should cheer up.
Mallika smiles and thanks him for his kindness. Rahul tries to brighten the
mood up a bit by telling her that the engagement party is the day after tomorrow
(the news of which causes a mild grimace and a wobble on the soundtrack), and
that she must be there. Mallika tells him that she wouldn't miss it.
We cut right to the party, where a close-up of some hands shows Rashmi and
Rahul placing the engagement rings on each other. An unseen MC tells the
crowd that the lovely and wonderful Ms. Mallika is there tonight, and will sing
a song to commemorate the occasion. Mallika reluctantly belts out our next song,
"Dil Ki Batein." This is mostly about how she doesn't understand why matters of
the heart tend to linger longer than they should.
The movie also thinks that this song is a little too much of a downer, so
they have Manmo cut a rug for a bit to lighten
the mood.
