Friends, after seeing yesterday's episode there are three questions on my mind leading me to anticipate three types of developments. I don't know how many of you will agree with these predictions, but here goes ...
Question 1: What will Jodha now do? Go to Amer?
After seeing both yesterday's episode and also the SBS and SBB segments, it seems clear to me that the Amer trip of Jodha is certain now. At least her intention to go to Amer is certain. Firstly, in Monday's episode we had Jalal give her the choice to go back to Amer if she wishes. What he did not anticipate was that (in yesterday's episode) this Jodha would pre-empt what he had come to her room to tell her ... and instead Jodha would assume he had come to say he had taken the decision to send her to Amer! Where did she get that impression from, that after giving her the choice to go back, he would then make that decision for her and send her back?
Friends, this is where I am beginning to feel that Jodha herself is very reluctant to leave Agra and Jalal and go back to Amer, no matter how much she seems to be saying that she would love to go back! If that fear of returning to Amer were not working on her mind, why did she suddenly get the feeling he was sending her back when he had actually left the choice to her? Is Jodha actually hoping that she would hear from him that he doesn't want her to go to Amer? Is that why she is pushing the point so hard and monotonously at him, that there are many valid reasons she is deperate to go back, despite her family getting the hard end of the stick?
At one level, many of my friends on the Forum tell me that Jodha is very silly, and while Jalal is actually seeming a bit sad at giving Jodha the choice to return and secretly maybe wishes she would not take this route, this Jodha on the contrary is misunderstanding Jalal and she mistakenly thinks he wants to see the last of her. But after seeing yesterday's episode, I get the distinct feeling that Jodha is extremely reluctant to go back although the words are not coming to her to say so and she is emphasizing the opposite.
She keeps interjecting her lines with "Even though my family would suffer ... aur unpe pahaad tute ga ... still they will welcome me back, and I would rather die once there instead of a thousand times here in Agra". But is there a hint of dismay in her words? Has she pre-empted Jalal because she would rather hear the harsh words about "separation" from her own self than from him? Sometimes when we don't want to hear the hurtful words from others that they are rejecting us, we often pre-empt them by trying to break the relationship ourselves, to spare ourselves the hurt of rejection by others. Is that the case with Jodha? I am not sure, but I have a feeling ... maybe others on the Forum can tell me if they also feel this is what she is doing?
Meanwhile, of course, Jalal was standing with clenched fists, because he was hearing the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear. He had come to say something else, but then after her tirade in favour of the Amer trip and her wish to to die as an old maid, rejected by her husband, in Amer than in Agra, he lost the words and the stomach to say what he came to say. But he did say one very revealing thing that encapsulated his utter dismay at her words: "What is there to complain about to a person who is just a guest for two more days?" Where did he get this two more days deadline? Maybe what he came to tell her was that her brothers had decided to go back to Amer in two days' time? Or maybe he was just arbitrarily saying "a couple of days" without meaning exactly "two days" I don't know ...
What I know at the end of all this is that he has begun to feel dismay at her choosing to go, and she too has probably (?) begun to feel dismay at having to go. Both are seeing it as the other one's decision! Wish I could just bang their heads together and say to them: "See the writing on the wall guys, you belong together!"
Question 2: What will be the reception at Amer? Can she stay there?
Okay this brings me to the second question regarding what SBB said. In their segment they said Jalal was mighty angry at something and was slashing his sword at a soldier in a bid to work out the angst. And the reason for his anger was this: the brothers of Jodha had left for Amer without telling him, and what's worse, even without telling Jodha.
On face value this looks like a simple slight to Jalal's hospitality, but on the other hand my mind is beginning to tick loudly! Why would the brothers of Jodha slink away like this? Did they get the scent of this arrangement between Jodha and Jalal to divorce and did they get wind of the fact that Jodha was planning to go back with them to Amer, or that Jalal was planning to send Jodha back with them?
In that case, could it be an indication of the kind of welcome Jodha would receive at Amer? Is it that the brothers did not want Jodha to return with them - not only because she should give her marriage another chance, but because it would be a "kalank" on the Amer family if she were to return? Sukanya and the other sisters need to be still married - and so would the return of Jodha, after a failed "Mughal marriage" mean all kinds of negative things: failed alliance poltically with the Mughals, shame on the family, bhoj on the family, negative impact on the likelihood of the marriages of the sisters within their clan etc. etc?
Further, if the brothers themselves decamped without a word to avoid Jodha accompanying them, would the same reception await Jodha from Bharmal, Mainavati etc. also? What is the guarantee that the family may be thrilled to see her back?
Friends, the very fact that Jodha stressed this one point to Jalal yesterday - that "even though it would be a demerit for my family, I know they will welcome me back" - makes me wonder if it was a key sentence that was giving a "sanket" of exactly the opposite happening! I felt that I needed to watch this sentence of Jodha closely, because it may have the most repercussions of the opposite kind. The sentence popped out at me yesterday!
And now comes the other bit that is most interesting to me: if Jodha has not been able to return with her brothers, will Jalal then undertake to drop her back at Amer himself? That would be extremely interesting if both Jodha and Jalal go back to Amer thinking this was Jodha's return trip ... and instead Bharmal and Co. gave Jodha a less than cordial reception, and started advising Jalal and Jodha to patch it up saying that her place was with him forever and ever (in other words, "Jodha has no more place at Amer")! Bharmal and Mainavati may well use the "Hindu dharm mein talaaq nahin mana jata hei" argument at them. What would Jodha's state of mind be to hear this, if it happens? And what would Jalal's state of mind to hear that Jodha has no more place in Amer? Will this scenario happen? What do you all think?
Question 3: What will happen to the Jodha-Jalal love story?
And now for the question of the Amer trip itself and its value to the Jodha-Jalal relationship. If it happens that Jalal has to himself ferry Jodha back to Amer, that could be the most wonderful thing that happened to them. Here's why ...
a. They would be alone, the two of them, away from Maham, the Agra palace and all the attendant problem-makers (may be accompanied by some guards who can be told "Takhliya" and they will disappear into the surrounding forests!). Their being in private together through the longish trip may help Jodha and Jalal get closer in a way that being at Agra or Amer would never allow.
b. Mohan Pyaare, our favourite and long awaited tiger, may be on the prowl, hoping to tear and scratch Jalal in various interesting body parts that Jodha can then help tend to! Delicious thought, long promised by the Tatasky synopsis, but yet not seen! Mohan, where are you? Hope you are ready with your lines of dialogue and you are ready to spring to action at the Director's call. I am counting on you to shred Jalal's kurta and run away with Jodha's dupatta. Surely you can do this much for the sake of history?
c. Since Jodha and Jalal are going westwards towards the desert country, Hamida may inject her idea that they should together visit Ajmer dargah en route, and this could provide much opportunity to the Creatives to make it all look like a call from Heaven that Jodha and Jalal are meant to be together and not apart. A strategically placed Pirbaba and a timely prophecy would help!
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