Kanhaaji and his tests on Mishbir

RHESHA - THE POWERHOUSE OF TALENT

India probably lost a good lawyer but it also gifted us a great actor – Karmic Balance achieved so to speak. Thank you, God for Shaheer Sheikh!

Confessing, that I've never been an avid TV buff especially in the daily soap category, until a few years back, I'll move on to say I accidentally stumbled upon a family member watching "Ini Ellam Vasantham" which is a dubbed version of Kuch Rang Pyar ke in Tamil. As I was a novice Tamil learner then, I looked up the Hindi equivalent Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aisey bhi to understand it well and voila, I was totally hooked. There started my star-struck journey of love, respect and admiration for Shaheer Sheikh.

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with Dev and Sona and the extended family. Since the show was already onto its Episode 84, I stayed up nights after work and caught up with the old episodes of the show and every night the magic got bigger and bigger. It is still a treasure house and every night when I wrapped up watching the show, I brought the characters home with me.

Shaheer's role as a Khadoos business savvy executive, the loving brother, the affectionate and loyal son, the caring trusting nephew and then the boyfriend was a wonderful journey and a great experience.

Since then, my journey with Shaheer has been a consistent, steadfast, loyal one. I watched amazed, yet again in Salim-Anarkali and now his phenomenal performance in Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyar Ke as Abir Rajvansh has entranced us and left us literally open mouthed. Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances and boy does he do it remarkably well!

The subtle nuances that he brings to the role with his eyes, his smirk, his body language, above all his intonation and voice modulation makes a viewer forget that he is acting. We marvel at his gestures because it's difficult to differentiate where Shaheer ends and Abir begins, and where Rhea ends and Mishti begins. With goofy grins or cold hearts depending on the scenes that get played out in front of us, we watch Shaheer bring the colorful Abirilicious magic and Rhea, the sweet Mishtilicious charm and grace our Television screens every night.

Shaheer said in his Interview that acting is reacting to the person in front of him. Agreed, but doing it perfectly well with every co star of his goes to show what an extraordinary actor he is, be it a TV show or even a music video. His co-stars have been exceptional too so I believe it's a two-way process for both to be comfortable with one another.

That brings me to Rhea. This is my first TV show of hers that I've watched. I for one was totally in awe of her and had no doubts that she will fit into the role of the straightforward, daring, geeky Mishti very well. I did watch Rhea in the Dhoni biopic and though her part was a small one she was a charmer there.

I had my doubts though as to how well she would gel with Abir and I was astonished. With her simple looks but stunning captivating eyes she gelled into the role of Mishti with ease and grace. Look into her eyes and you can see Mishti's soul, feel her sorrow, her angst.

When she smiles though, it's a day in wonderland because its as if the sun has broken through dark clouds and you are blessed with sparkling sunshine once again – a breath of fresh air.

Her growth as BP and BM's Mishti and then Abir's friend, Kunal's fiancé and then to the Rajvansh daughter-in-law and her relationship with the extended family has left one and all stunned and watching her react and act with Shaheer in the early days of their courtship, then fighting for Kuhu and Kunal, the hurt and lost girl as taunts were hurled at her, her break up with Abir and then her onslaught when she came back to fight for him, her tired demeanor when she drops her fight for his love, and then coming back together with her beloved once again was a beautiful song played out with the perfect rhythm, the tone, modulation and sung like a masterpiece by Rhea Sharma. What an enthralling performance every step of the way!

Even if we do move onto other shows, the duo has left in our hearts an indelible mark of respect and admiration not just in terms of the acting but because of the caring and soft humble manner in which they talk in their interviews, and their down to earth honest retorts to the questions that they are posed and their social media interaction with the fandom.

"Acting has got to do with putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting," to quote Christian Bale.

Hats off to Rhea & Shaheer for having executed that process awe inspiringly well.

"Simplicity is the key to brilliance and Simplicity is the glory of expression."

NB: Lots of negativity on Twitter every now and then with the YRHPK Fandom, so wrote this to post there to create some appreciation and positivity.

Those of you not on twitter please do give it a read.