Friends, Jyoti is going to join this Weekend Analysis Thread shortly, so I am opening this thread in her place. A lot happened this week ... or rather a lot DID NOT happen in the episodes this week, so there is a lot happening in the air this week! Speculation is rife. And most of the speculation is because we have had no promos, nothing on SBS/SBB, we have had some outdated tweets that are misleading ... and worst of all we have had some "inside info" that is totally misleading!
As Kashi wrote to me, to add to all this, we have all kinds of accusations by Jalal on Jodha and family and all sorts of dhamki dialogues and deadlines - but not one inch of real investigation against the culprit! What kind of mystery is this where there is no investigation at all for five episodes, but only surface-level dialogues of Jalal gnashing his teeth at Jodha and family and saying things like"I hate you (because you hate me)" ... "I suspect you (even though I am still groping for proof)"... "I will do whatever I like (but I actually don't do anything despite dhamkis!)" ... W*F?????
I myself have daily given all sorts of personal theories on whether Jalal's actions are justified, who may be the culprit, who may not be the culprit, whether Jodha and her family are responding aggressively enough, whether Maham-Adam-Sharif are worth watching closely, whether it is indeed Hoshiyaar, whether this war shooting is a signal that this miscarriage track is ending etc. etc. I have been going mad with my theories and with all the spinning possibilities. But since yesterday's episode, my position is this new one now:
My position as of Friday, Sep 6th 2013:
Here are the six big points I noticed in yesterday's episode that have now changed my own point of view:
1. Jalal did look like his hatred of Jodha and her family is genuine and he may not be faking it. Previously he was always shouting at Jodha and her father and brothers in the open sabha giving me the impression that he wanted to enact a drama in front of people as if he may be angry. But yesterday, for the first time, he went to Jodha's room to accost her and give more of his evil-silken dhamkis and his aggressive challenges and sarcasm. It does look like he may be harbouring genuine bad feelings against Jodha and family, suspecting them of betraying him by killing his child, especially when he had started to trust them. It is way over the top, but still we may just have to accept that as Ekta's extreme tendency revealing itself via Jalal, I suppose.
2. Ruqaiya is the only one who looks like she is doing some tehkikaat - some investigation - of the real killer. She has told all the harem ladies, including Mahamanga, that even though Jodha and her family are under suspicion, no one is spared as a suspect in this situation and everyone's belongings have to be checked. Mahamanga has volunteered her own services to do this search, which may or may not be a point to notice carefully.
3. Jodha is dreaming that Jalal has imprisoned her father in chains and is ill-treating him, which may show some over-reaction on Jodha's part also. If Jalal is horrible because of his active "aggressive-blaming" role, Jodha's behavour, to me, is horrible in its passivity and in its "silent-suffering" mode! Despite Jodha's apprehensions, however, Jalal himself has assured her (in cruel words, of course) that Raja Bharmal is not a baandhi, he is resting comfortably and being fed and cared for well, and he is being given due respect, but like any father in this situation he is surely suffering silent torture at the thought of his children in custody as potential culprits. Whether to give Jalal brownie points for his treatment of Bharmal is yet to be decided by all of us.
4. The sudden appearance of the poor farmer asking for insaf for his son (killed by the thug prince of Sujanpur, who is also Sukanya's fiance) should prove to be an interesting intevention in this story now. Jalal is moved by his loss of his own son to help this farmer, and at the same time this is giving Jalal a juicy opportunity to get sweet revenge on the Bharmal faily by going to war against Sukanya's prospective bridegroom, using the Amer boys themselves as his soldiers.
5. Hamida was strangely absent even though Bharmal has arrived, whereas I expected that she would at least acknowledge his arrival. Protocol be damned? I should expect that!
6. Sharifuddin, my object of previous suspicion has been gaayab for the last three episodes! I am noting the point but have no theories why he is missing from the scene of action.
Okay now having encapsulated the latest position, what I want to do is to open nine crucial debates below, raised by the week gone by. In each of these ninet debates I'd love to have everyone's views. I've started the debate with my own views.
Debate 1: Is Jalal's anger and behaviour justified?
My view: No, it is way over the top. If his anger is genuine, it is way over the top. If his anger is faked also, it is way over the top. As I wrote in my post yesterday: "Jalal was genuinely upset at first with the loss of the baby, but let's face it, Ruqaiaya has been known to have several miscarriages. I do not believe that at each miscarriage Jalal behaved so horribly. Evenn this time he must have been affected but not so drastically affected. And if this is the 15th or 16th time this is happening his anger each time must have lessened and he may be more sad than angry at his repeated thrashing at the hands of Fate. Agreed, this time, someone told him that it was not a natural miscarriage, it was induced by a poison. Even so, he could well have realised in one quick moment that even the previous miscarriages could have been induced rather than genuine? If Ruqaiya who was the mother of the lost baby could get this brainwave, why not Jalal himself?" Maybe Ekta wants to heighten all the anger just to make the downfalll of Jalal a huge crash when he realises his mistake in blaming Jodha and family for betrayal. But seriously, how will it help the love story of Jodha-Jalal to reach a new level, just by making Jalal rise to the heights of a miserable wretch and then fall a mighty distance down in self-disgust? More importantly, how can Jodha ever rely on a husband who has these kinds of alarming mood-swings, or who gets so rattled by events that he loses his marbles?
Debate 2: What is the implication of this sudden war?
My view: Till yesterday I thought the miscarriage track would end and then this new storyline would start with a war where some Amer soldiers will fight some other Hindu kings who are opposing the Sujanpur alliance with Amer (since Amer walas made an alliance with the hated Mughals). But now it looks like the war is part of the miscarriage track and is coming right in the middle of the ten days' time Jalal has given Jodha and family to prove innocence. What I now feel is that Bharmal and Jodha will decide that loyalty is the number one hallmark of their clan, and their family problems nothwithstanding (i.e. despite Sukanya's marriage going to the dogs) their first loyalty should be as promised to Jalal. Now if Jalal himself is going to enter the war and fight I see possibilities that Bharmal will openly tell his sons to protect their king (the Shahenshah!) at all costs even at danger to their own lives (even though the same king suspected them of utter disloyalty) ... and Jodha will do aarti and tilak for her war-venturing husband (even if he was a total boor!) ... and during the war itself the Amer boys, ably supported by Mansingh will see to it that they personally get the lashings but they will not let even "one kharroch" come to Jalal. Seeing such obvious loyalty to himself at the cost of their own lives and even after he treated them so badly, Jalal will deeply regret calling the Amer family betrayers, killers and traitors. And this will be the downfall of Jalal's anger and the beginning of his deep remorse. Just in time the real culprit will also be found, and hence all the worse for Jalal's lofty self-righteous position. The higher one climbs the greater the fall! Maybe by next Wednesday after the war will come the fall of Jalal's egoand accusations!
Debate 3: Who is the culprit?
My view: I thought it might be one of the big three first - that is, Maham-Adham-Sharifuddin - and my bet was on Sharifuddin. But after yesterday's epsiode showed some searching going on in the harem, I now feel the culprit will be someone small and inconsequential - maybe a harem inmate, a woman or a eunuch, maybe even this long-suffering Hoshiyaar! The only place where searching is going on seems to be the harem,, and that's the only place it looks like someone may be found. It is another question whether that caught person is a puppet in the hands of Maham or Adham or Sharif, but we may never know that for sure unless one of these three do some "self-revealing talks" but for the continuity of the story these three big guns will continue to run amok! I think just as Jalal and the Amer boys finish their war on Sujanpur, at that crucial moment Ruqiaya and gang will also reveal the culprit - some small fry - and therein will come the end of the miscarriage ka saga! I was even wondering if the Creatives will show no culprit at all and just end this track with the war, but Jyoti tells me that a culprit will be found for sure to give proper closure to this track and to exonerate Jodha without leaving traces of lingering doubt.
Debate 4: Is Jodha and family's behaviour justified?
My view: Really, I am aghast at this pack of mice! Even if they were baandhis and Jalal gave them no chance to speak up, could they not have ventured even one decent sentence in their defence? Could they not have questioned his lack of proof? Could Jodha not have spent the time she did lamenting her father's plight to remind Jalal that he was the one who forced her to feed Ruqaiaya the kesar that fateful evening? I think if Mainvati, Dadisa and Shakuni were the baandhis we would at least have got a "holler fest" from inside the cellars! What is this passivity? Why this "self-pity" and why not some more "spirit"? Even Mansingh has let me down with just an occasional pipe-up and nothing more. C'mon boys, either you learn to speak up more or else please put down your turbans and go do farming instead of soldiery! And as for Jodha, get to the point, girl. And please don't show this bully of a husband your tears for him to wipe with sarcasm! Where are your kasam-filled dialogues, your sharth-filled intellectual salvos and your famed feistiness? Or have you yourself found so much pity in your heart for the Jalal who lost his baby that you are silently forgiving him in your heart already even though the culprit is not yet found and the matter is not yet closed? I am getting the feeling that Jodha is already ambivalent about Jalal, she has some soft corner for him already that is making her less than what she usually is. Wonder if you all agree?
Debate 5: The role of Ruqaiya?
My view: Of all the characters at play now, hats off to Ruqaiya for two things. It was she who first brought forth the logic that since she has been having miscarriages even before Jodha came, some other person must be habitually harming her! And then again yesterday it was she who has started any reasonable form of investigation into the culprit. It is a good thing that she is Lord of the Harem, because the harem is one of the most likely places where such miscarriage culprits may abound. Every one of the inmates there is jealous of every one else, and my suspicion is that most of them attack each others wombs, since that is their point of angst that Jalal is not satisfying them all on that count (how can he satisfy all of them, pray?) ... and so let the search begin. What will happen to Ruqaiaya after the culprit is found, after the war is won and after Jalal apologises to Jodha and starts a new chapter of love with Jodha is to yet seen. Ruqaiya may well become the most jealous woman alive. But for now she is the one with the most brains in a palace with the least justice!
Debate 6: The Maham-Adham-Sharif factors?
My view: The Big Three are there in these episodes more for decoration. They will never get caught even if they are behind the culprits. They are there so that we can hear their mutual talks, and we can suspect them and thus entertain ourselves. They are supposed to be the clever distractions that lead us viewers astray while the real culprit may be an underling, least suspected! All that is proved is that for these Big Three, they all have enmity with Jalal/Waaris and also with Jodha/Amer. Where does that take us? Nowhere! Either they are alll in it together, or at some stage in the future when need arises they will surely form mutually beneficial alliances and collaborations. Meanwhile, for now, they are the to-ing and fro-ing "extras" as far as I can see. Jalal may win the war with just the help of the Amer boys. I am not sure if Adam or Sharif will be used in this war, because the spoiler pics don't show that!) - so again the role of these Big three is doubtful to me in the coming week.
Debate 7: The storyline by the Creatives?
My view: To Ekta & Co I have just one comment on this "wonderfully absorbing and tantalizing storyline" they think they have concocted: W*F????????? If you guys understand the greatness of what you have achieved, I am happy for you, although I am clueless as to the heights of creativity you have gone to. Butchering the character of Jalal (whom I love) is unforgiveable, and making Jodha a "whimpering fool" is again sommething I'd like to hang, draw and quarter you guys for! Go on, surprise us again this coming wek with more dandiya in the name of war! And while you are congratulating yourself on a promo-less suspenseful week of having taken the TRP-viewers all over town on a joy ride, do remembber that the Rajya Sabha members are also watching your fabulous portrayal of "one of the icons of Indian history". You could handle the local protests, you can handle a bunch of silly viewers like us but the Members of Parliament is another story that may become too big or messy even for you to manage. Keep within limits please - for the sake of credibility, for the sake of continuity of the serial, and for the sake of the memory of the real Jalal and Jodha! If they themselves are squirming in their makabras, I won't be surprised!
Debate 8: The spinning by the insider sources
My view: Oh for God's sake, ye friendly "insider information" suppliers! Stay with any one story please! First it was Hoshiyaar, then it was Amer war against other Hindu kings, then it was Amer war with Mughals, and now it is Bharmal breaking the Jalal-Jodha marriage and taking Jodha back to Amer. Someone has also posted that Jalal may now make a proposal to marry Sukanya also (not sure which insider said this!) and this daily pressure of reading the "insider info" is killing me. I am not saying "don't give us this news" for even if I said that no one is going to stop. All that I am saying is: Please give us just one news at a time and stick with that because this serial is making us older by twenty years with every episode and our heart-condition is close to massive heart-attacks anyway and we can't bear this daily news swings from one extreme to another!
Debate 9: Will Jodha return to Amer for the marriage, or will she return in a huff?
My view: There is now a question mark on the marriage of Sukanya itself, unless the remorseful Jalal perhaps helps by supplying an alternative bridegroom? Which he may and should do, if he is all that remorseful, I feel! Secondly, I think Jodha will not go in a huff to Amer, she will go with a happy Amer party thinking "All's well that ends well" and "What a good jawaisa we have!" etc. Jalal may follow a little later to the wedding to (if there is one!) landing there with fanfare and using every chance to hold Jodha's hand during ceremonies where the elder sister and the Jijaji have to perform rites together on the new couple. Life will return to the normal idiocies of the royal courts of Amer and Agra - and we viewers will be left wondering where those two awful weeks of our lives went! Amen!
Okay folks, you now have the floor. Go for it!
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