Matargashti Ending Explained And Series Recap: What Reunites Dhara And Prakash?

Directed by Siddhant Chavan, “Matargashti” is a comedy that tells the story of a single father, Prakash and his daughter, Dhara. Starring Rajesh Kumar and Adrija Sinha in the lead, the Netflix TV series elaborates an inevitable clash between a father who mistakes domination for protectiveness and a daughter who thinks arbitrariness is the real independence. Prakash lives with Dhara but the two of them barely talk. He expects Dhara to keep scoring top marks in all her examinations, but he fails to realize her emotions. Dhara has grown up and she craves intimacy; she cannot look for a boy peacefully because Prakash keeps a close watch. Her only friend in college is Charu, who is similarly inexperienced in love and intimacy. Unable to find suitable men around, Dhara and Charu decide to befriend Garima, a friend in college who is a bit experienced in these matters. They also decide to go to Garima’s house for a sleepover and Prakash only allows them after his friend, Sunil, plans to drink some alcohol in the absence of the girls. 

Spoilers Ahead

Why Does Dhara Feel Left Out At The Sleepover?

After Dhara and Charu arrive at Garima’s house for the sleepover, they feel like having a good time until the wave of questions hits. Garima, Disha and Swati all reveal that they have been touched by men once or twice in their lives. Some of them even have boyfriends, so they know what it feels like engaging in intimacy. While Dhara feels left out, she gets shocked to see how Charu lies about being held by a man once. Dhara knows that Charu is similarly devoid of any relationships; despite both of them being inexperienced, Charu is deliberately lying to Garima, Disha and Swati to look cool. Dhara feels bad about herself after everyone makes fun of her and Charu does not even say anything to their faces. Being Dhara’s friend, Charu should have defended her from the demeaning remarks by Garima & Co., but she chooses to stay silent the whole time. After being embarrassed, Dhara decides to be intimate with any guy she can find.

What Is Wrong With Prakash?

Prakash is the typical overprotective father in an Indian household who wants to keep his daughter under constant surveillance. Ever since he has lost his wife, Geeta, Prakash does not seem okay with the idea of letting Dhara live freely. Prakash could not stay with Dhara after Geeta’s death as he was too busy grieving and sent his daughter to her grandmother’s house for four years. Now that Prakash is living with Dhara, he does not know how to hold a normal conversation with her. He finds Dhara’s eyes similar to Geeta’s and thinks that if he talks with her, he may end up crying. But Prakash does not realize that this is just harming the father-daughter bond even more. He cannot understand what Dhara wants and hence, he fails to look at things from her point of view. 

Why Does Sunil Leave Dhara Dad Alone?

Prakash and Sunil have been friends for long and their relationship has never been under tension. When Prakash asks Sunil for help, he agrees to accompany him in sabotaging Dhara and Charu’s plans. Prakash begins a silly streak of dialing up all those boys who are interested in Dhara and ends up manipulating them into leaving his daughter. This does not fare well for Sunil because he knows that Prakash is committing a terrible mistake. Nobody likes a manipulative parent in their life, especially the ones who force their children to follow ‘rules’ and Sunil realizes it very well. Since he cannot talk Prakash out of it, he threatens to leave his side. Sunil just wants Prakash to have a normal conversation with Dhara instead of controlling her life. 

What Is Shiv’s Problem?

Shiv is Dhara’s neighbour and the two of them used to play together when they were kids. Ever since the tragedy happened, Dhara has completely ignored Shiv and acted as if he is a stranger. She thinks that Shiv is this alpha masculine guy who probably goes on a lot of dates with women. However, Shiv is upset about the fact that Dhara is attracted to an unknown guy, Dhurv. Dhara does not even know how Dhruv is – yet, she is ready to roam around with him and this is more upsetting for Shiv. He does not express it but he has major feelings for Dhara and seeing her with someone else actually hurts him. Shiv gets heartbroken once sees Dhara all decked up and ready to have the time of her life with Dhruv. Although he seems okay with her going out on that date, Shiv is not alright.

Why Does Dhara Confront Prakash?

While Dhara decides to leave with Dhruv, Prakash stops them with his melodramatic move of jumping in front of the car like crazy. Dhara had planned to get intimate with Dhruv and that’s why she was spotted at the pharmacy store by her neighbour, Sangeeta. Although it is Sangeeta who helps Prakash track Dhara down, it is actually not her fault. Dhara’s anger is valid because Prakash has no right to control what she wants to do with her life; she is no longer a minor who will need someone’s approval to go for the things she wants. She confronts Prakash for repeatedly stalking her and sabotaging her dates with all the boys. It’s not too hard to realize how frustrated Dhara is with Prakash and his habit of overstepping every time. Most of Dhara’s anger is actually her grudge; when Prakash left her, he did not take into consideration her grief of losing her mother. To some extent, Dhara thinks that Prakash is not the father she deserves in her life and the latter is the one to be blamed here.

Why Does Dhara Betray Shiv And Go To Dhruv’s?

Dhara is angry that Prakash stalked her and sabotaged her date with Dhruv. Things get complicated when Dhara gets grounded by Prakash and learns that Dhruv has leaked the whole incident to everyone. Since Dhara is angry, she decides to take revenge on Prakash by sneaking away. Shiv already has feelings for her and agrees to take her away to the countryside, unbeknownst to the fact that Dhara is manipulating her because Prakash trusts him. By the time she executes her plan, Dhara has already realized that she has developed strong feelings for Shiv and most likely, the feeling is mutual. She felt something for the first time when Shiv was wiping something off her lips the day before. Despite all this, Dhara still goes to Dhruv’s house just to satisfy her anger. At the end of the day, the outcome is terrible as Dhruv turns out to be an underage guy and his family thinks that it was all Dhara’s fault. 

What Makes Dhara Make It Up With Charu?

It’s true that Charu was not the friend that Dhara needed to have her back but it was just one instance. After getting terribly humiliated by Dhruv’s family, Dhara realizes the value of Charu in her life. Although she is the one who discouraged Dhara several times, she was right when she said that something felt wrong with Dhruv. In Charu’s words, everything was too good to be true and in the end, she turned out to be absolutely correct. Dhara feels bad for labelling Charu as a jealous girl who couldn’t see her friend happy with a guy but it turns out that she was just trying to keep her safe. Dhara’s reunion with Charu  ends up triggering Garima & Co., who bully the duo for being inexperienced. However, Dhara takes a stand against them and proves that when it comes to having a partner or being intimate, nobody should hurry as it’s not a race. Unlike what Garima & Co. thinks, life doesn’t get anyone brownie points if they have had more intimate relationships.

What Pushes Prakash To Apologize To Sangeeta?

Prakash knows that his unmarried neighbour, Sangeeta, is attracted to him. She is always trying to spend some more time with him and is even drawn towards him at the most unexpected moments. Sangeeta always buys her dresses from Prakash’s textile shop and she takes his opinion while choosing outfits for herself. However, even after knowing all this, Prakash insulted her unmarried condition while Sangeeta was trying to stop him from being harsh towards Dhara. Prakash’s heartfelt apology is a result of a realization where he understands that Sangeeta has nothing to do with the fact that she is unmarried. The society ridicules women who are middle aged and have chosen not to marry anyone; Prakash just stops being a cog in this faulty machine. This incident repairs the bond between Sangeeta and Prakash; it also teaches him to be kind towards Dhara.

Why Does Prakash Stop Dhara From Going To Her Grandmother’s House?

After the incident at Dhruv’s house, Prakash becomes very fond of the idea to send Dhara away to her grandmother’s house. This decision gets heavily criticized by Sunil, who knows that the real problem is with Prakash, a father who remains in denial about his own flaws. Prakash wants to send Dhara away to curb her freedom and deprive her of a life that she can live happily. If Dhara moves away from Lucknow, she will never be able to meet Shiv and Charu; it is somewhat of a death sentence to a girl who is just trying to have a life. After Prakash’s brother-in-law drives away with Dhara, he finally realizes his mistake. When Geeta died, Prakash pushed Dhara away, without understanding that she would struggle to fit in an unfamiliar atmosphere. This time also, Prakash was committing the same mistake; he was not thinking about what’s best for Dhara. That’s why Prakash finally stops Dhara’s car and brings her back home.

What Reunites Dhara And Prakash?

Once Dhara comes back home, Prakash gives up on his old ways of disciplining her. He starts to treat Dhara like his daughter instead of someone who needs to be standardized according to society’s norms or his own preferences. This is exactly what Dhara needed all along; she missed Geeta all these years because as long as she was alive, she was ready to hear her out and realize her feelings. As Prakash stops judging Dhara in every situation, he slowly accepts her as a friend in his life. That’s why he does not mind to confirm with a smile that he is dating Sangeeta. Meanwhile, Dhara now considers the house her safe space and she has no issues in letting Prakash know that she is dating Shiv. In the end, just one decision led to the end of all the hurdles that were keeping a father away from his daughter. “Matargashti” proves that generational gaps can be sorted easily if you keep an open mind and stop treating your children like outcasts. 

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