Jodha Akbar 104: The tilting of the scales - Page 6

Absolutely loved your post, Shyamala...

Thank you so much for liking my non-spicy post, with no breathless predictions based on the latest spoilers, promos and precaps. I generally prefer to wait till the precap becomes a recap.

As for the tulabhaaram angle, I would like to think that one of the CVs thought it up, for the ring here is closer to the tulsi leaf than the sword in the film, which would have weighed a lot. So it has to mean something special. In any case, I enjoyed this opportunity to share this lovely story with those who are not familiar with it. I also loved your interpretation of the ring as an endless loop of love.

As for Jodha, I have made a Deepavali resolution not to tear strips off her every time, which is what I was being forced to do. I plan to keep it as long as I can, so I will only note that I agree with your take on her 111%, which you would know already from my earlier posts! How is that for breaking a resolution by the back door?😉

Only, for your "their typical female protagonists of modern times", I would add "typical Balaji female protagonists". Jodha reminds me of Archana and Purvi of Pavitra Rishta, anointed by one and all as She-who-can-do-no-wrong. They are self-righteous, given to lecturing all and sundry on sanskaars while never practising them themselves, invariably destroy the men foolish enough to fall for them.

The best is that these men, even as they are going down the tubes, continue to sing the praises of these devis. This always reminded me of the old Bolsheviks in the early Stalinist period in the Soviet Union who, when they were imprisoned and later executed on Stalin's orders, never believed he was responsible for their fate. They used to write Long Live Stalin on their prison walls in their own blood.

Jalal migh escape the full Balaji treatment as he is a historical figure, but in the last 2 episodes, he reminded me of a puppy hanging around a disdainful mistress and begging for a biscuit. So I was pleased that he was serious and aloof at the tulabhaaram.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Originally posted by: lghosh

A beautiful write up!

I did notice the Tulaabharam rasam and I knew about Lord Krishna's story and the scale tipped with a single Tulsi leaf but frankly, and I apologize if I sound harsh, I don't give credit to this CV's to go into such depth and symbolism over a Tulaabharam scene. You really think they would have thought about Krishna and Rukmini?

Their research is Jodha Akbar movie made by Ashutosh Gowarikar and they just reversed the role here. Over there Akbar was on the scale and Jodha put his sword to tip the scale and here they made it on Jodha and Akbar tipped it with his ring.

If they really went to MB and did a parallel about the Tulaabharam I will be pleasantly surprised.

Well Jodha doesn't surprise and shock me anymore nowadays. Even if Jalal brings her the moon she will not be happy and grateful, that will be her attitude. She will simply shrug it off with one of her curt remark. Amer people I will say lack majorly in expressing their gratitude or has forgotten to teach it to their oldest Princess.

Again I blame the CV's, they don't know how to portray a dignified Princess with honor, pride and a tremendous personality. They think like their typical female protagonists of modern times, if Jodha constantly puts Jalal down and snubs him in every instance they are showing a powerful lady who never bows down to an Emperor even if he is her husband. They don't know the difference between being rude and harsh from being righteous and fearless.

What I liked in that scene of Tulaabharam was Jalal gave a ring and not his necklace or any other ornaments. The ring symbolizes the circle of love, there is no beginning no end, it is eternal love. Well I prefer to think it that way. 😃

Anyway a truly meaningful wonderful post!

My dear Anu,

Thank you so much for liking this off the beaten track effort.

Surely you have seen a man calming down a seething lady love jealous of another girlfriend of his? Jalal is telling Ruqaiya the literal truth of what he told Jodha, and he meant it when he said that. He thought Jodha was saying that he was giving her, Jodha, the importance due to Ruqaiya and demanding that he stop doing it. He was clearly irritated with Jodha then.

Now if Ruqaiya interprets what he said as meaning that Jodha was trying to do so, well, he does not have to clarify that, and it serves his purpose of keeping her happy. I am a professional diplomat and I would go with Jalal on this.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: prejudiced

Absolutely loved your post, Shyamala...

I could catch it before being clouded by the next episode.

Only after u mentioned did I even recollect the Krishna-Rukmimi-Satyabama story and the tulsi leaf Loved how u have laid down the significance.

Another thing both u and Mansi have pointed out why you think he is hell bent on getting Ruqu to admit her jealousy. I like it , for now I will go with this. Makes Jalaal seem less complex.

Otherwise Jalaal's multiple shades were intriguing,One thing I certainly did not like was the way Jalaal told Ruqu about "Ive also made it clear to Jodha she can never take ur place".
It seemed that Jodha was trying to do so and he had to make it clear.

Hi Shyamala,
1st of all , thanks for reminding the Sree Krishna-Rukmini Tilabhaaram katha which I had almost forgotten 😛... I don't think the Cvs did so much of Brainstorming before concocting the scene, but even then it was the highest point of the epi(with all the incredulity 😆 )
Yes, the Friday attitude of Jalaal gave some respite from the unbearable saccharine sweetness that was being shown for the last 2 days...but that makes Jalaal look like a personality disorder case also even if his aloofness had been justified...becoz he withstood even worse treatment from Jodha earlier😕 (a bit of self-musing by Jalaal might have been of help here) . If Jalaal was intelligent enough, he should have noticed how his Nakchadi Gussail Begum walked up all the way to meet HIM on her Birthday as soon as she freshened up, with the stupid pretext of complain abt info Leak...😆

Now, the nazm that you mentioned , is simply awesome and so much befitting to the future Ja-Jo relation...(at least we hope it is like the nazm only , when it happens...)

Regards,
Kamal

My dear Ariel,

I am happy that this post came as a welcome relief to you, and apparently to many others as well. I am myself tired of all this endless parsing of minute details, which are thrown out of the window in the very next episode! At least we can all enjoy ourselves with this lovely puranic story, and the Jalal-Jodha enthusiasts should like the nazm I struggled in vain to put in order. Wasn't it beautiful?

As for your comments, if you look at the parts I have marked in blue, which I like the best, you will see that they also figure in this post or in one of my responses to comments here. For example, the utaran thing, I wrote about it on exactly the same lines to, I think,Poojie above.

I agree completely with you about the wanton deformation and distortion of the historical Ruqaiya, and even of Smiley's subtle, emotionally fragile, vulnerable version. It is such a great pity that she had to be reduced to a cardboard cutout harpy, and for what? To make the 24 carat halo that is invariably stuck on the head of a Balalji female lead look even brighter? The worst is that the historically ignorant tele audience will take this Ruqaiya to be the authentic one, and it will impossible for any number of sound analyses to soften or erase that impression;

As for the forum, don't fret about their Jodha-worship. I joked in one of my earlier posts that if Jalal's non-existent zubaan, which has now taken on a life of its own, like a Goebbelsian lie, ahd been given by Jalal to Ruqaiya or to Mahaam, no one here would have been so lavish in their praise of him for being ready to abandon his praja to keep it.😉 It is no use arguing with obsessions; they need no logical rationale. They simply exist!

I never found anything much to like in Jodha, and if Jalal were my son, I would give her a piece of my mind periodically and make sure she knew where she stood and what was expected of a Mughal Shahi Begum. Not stir up jealousy and resentment all round by drooling all over her nonstop. And here Jalal is as much at fault as Hamida.At this rate, Jodha will only become even more entrenched in her self-righteous stubborness and mahaanta complex, and will never improve. But then Balaji female leads are all "like that only"!😉

As for her being boring, she has zero sense of humour, so how can she help being boring? Plus she has every hunar under the sun except for being able to walk on water, and I am sure that too is round the corner!😉

My comments about your comments are in red.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Ariel

Thanks for the post Shyamala aunty. I was so happy to see this after wading through the bucket loads of hate jalal, hate ruqaiya posts. I do not see what is hateful about what Jalal did. I like Jalal's character only, Jodha is boring (somebody please teach this girl to have fun) and to some extent Ruqs will have my sympathy till she is reduced to a complete caricature by the CVs and they surely seem to be headed down that path which is so sad because they have enough number of villains in MA, AK, Shareef.

They could have let Ruqs be, exactly as she is in history while making Jodha the love of Jalals life. I just do not understand why they put her down to make Jodha look better. Can two wives not be friends? its really sad what they did to her and so unfair to the real Ruqs because most of the Indian audience will be clueless about history and believe Ruqs to be the villain. Such terrible character tainting.

As for Ruqs, I have written lengthy posts trying to explain why she deserves some sympathy while sara5471 (thank you so much) says it so well with line 'The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."

This is precisely why I l feel bad for her. I'm sure I'm one of the very very few who feel that way. Nobody deserves that self inflicted hell ever and its even more sad because they know that they are the only people who can help themselves but their emotions get the better of them every time. Ruqs will never be a better person than Jo simply because she never had the luxury of growing up in a loving family like Jo which is essential for children. Just like Jalal will be "healed" by Jo's love but to some extent always be haunted by his past and hence needing solace from Ruqs because she was there during his bad periods.

Anyway enough about Ruqs, CVs will never make her a grey character that can be fascinating. 😆

Loved your post and the subtle humor in it. I didnt know about Krishna Rukmini story, thank you for that. I wasnt impressed at all with that scene. But my reasons are different. I find it EXTREMELY unrealistic that they have a weighing in gold session for Jo this early in her life as the begum of Jalal. I do not know what she has done for HB to think she deserves it and I'm still wrapping my head around the stupidity of it.

What of the other begums who have been loyal to him always?Whence the Begums of Jalal Trade Union to demand equal treatment with Jodha Begum!😉 What of Ruqs who almost had a child with him? Is there no consideration for their feelings? Why this blatant display of affection which only fester ill will inside the harem? I would have been perfectly ok with her showering gifts and affection in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Surely the ministers and the nobles must be scratching their heads wondering what Jo begum has done to deserve this ?And about the possibility of such annual levies on their purses, don't forget that!😉And its espicially stupid considering most maulvis/ministers are very unhappy about a Hindu begum being given importance. Isnt HB worried about the political state of affairs?Is this why Jalal was looking preoccupied? Maybe he was worried about the impact of this expensive precedent on the finances of the empire!😉

But as I had written in the post,they did it to bring in the tulabhaaram symbolism, I feel, however OTT the rest of it looked.

I have found the last 5-6 episodes quite boring and the quality has been deteriorating since the return from Amer. the romance was nice but now its getting old. bring on some passion 😉

As for Jalal-Ruqs , I think it will be more than obvious by now that I would have no problems with such scenes. 😉 The comfort and love displayed by them in that scene is so natural considering that these were two friends who have been through emotional hardships together and the strong bond between them is a natural consequence of that. Dare I say this might have been the reason the real Akbar and Ruqs were so close, because they went through a rough childhood together. Its another reason why I cant stand what they have reduced Ruqs to. How can a girl who has helped her man through so much and been his solace be so blind as they are making her seem like now? So unrealistic. I'm hanging onto Smiley's Ruqs and hoping that they will return the current Ruqs to that state.

I should write my own Jalal-Ruqs story. I'm srsly watching the wrong show.😆

I too cannot respect a man who would dump a friend for the new interest in his life. to put it in perspective, how would be like it if the guy in my best friends wedding had dumped Julia roberts for her display of jealousy and nearly ruining his wedding? Its the same situation here, women always find it hard to let go. Its also part of why we give so much of ourselves to our families.

I think Jalal was perfect with Ruqs. He did exactly what Jo told him to but his reasons were different. And I do not see what she gave as uttaran. It was very common for Royals to give away what they wore. And no she didnt give away a necklace because she loves jewelry and is insensitive to the small pleasure of life. Ruqs by nature loves grandiose things and its natural that her gift would be that way too. If my uncle gave me a grand necklace I would not call him insensitive to small things in life. If my grandmom gave me her old necklace I wouldnt see it as uttaran. And this forum would not see it as uttaran if it was Jodha who gave away her necklace to Ruqs.Of course not, for Jodha is She-who-can-do-no-wrong by definition!😉

I did not see distaste on Jalals face either. II agree, but as I wrote above, this time, Ruqaiya was not thinking of making Jodha wear her hand me downs. She was happy and in high good humour,and it was a genuine gift of something she valued a lot - she says Shahi haar. And Jalal appreciates the gesture for that very reason, though he does not intend to give it to Jodha. His comment to Ruqaiya about her being an excellent Begum-e-Khaas is genuine.. It was just a peculiar expression because he wants to give her something else and not because he is looking down at Ruqs for her love of pretty things.

Should we hate all celebrities for their love of grand things? I dont get why Ruqs is bad for grand objects and Jodha is better for loving something smaller. Well, if Jodha looks down so much on expensive jewellery, why does she always look like a Christmas tree on Dec 25 eve? But then Balaji heroines never practice what they preach. The film Jodha was far more realistic and far less irritatingly preachy. Different tastes, different people. Nobody is better than the other. Its a just a perspective. I do not understand these posts at all.

But Jalal did seem preoccupied during the entire weighing session and I think its because he knows his comforting Ruqs will only have a temporary impact on her. Its going to come back and annoy him. And he will have to dig deep to find a solution to this.

Sorry about the length. I dont have any insight into these episodes like you do but I needed to vent :)

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Lashy my sweet, you are wishing the wrong person!

Shyamala Aunty

Jalal and ruqaiya conversation was fine and nothing out of normal except one point. Jalal made a blunder when he said "humne jodha begum ko bhi yeh baat samjha dii hai ki woh aapki jagah nai le sakti".This gives out only one and very clear message, jodha is vying for your position. Jodha should read a small prayer and thank god because ruqaiya is not as sharp as she claims, otherwise she would have deciphered what these words meant and jodha would have been staring at the wrong end of the barrel. Barring this line I don't see any issues with the scene (though the actress was very out of character)

Dear Kamal,

I am glad you liked this one. Yes, I liked the aloof, thoughtful Jalal much better than his tail-wagging puppy avatar of the last 2 episodes, making a cake of himself by kneeling to fasten her payal in full public view, or haunting her rooms on the most slender of pretexts and getting snubbed.

She went all the way to see him (she never announces herself or seeks permission to see him; she simply barges in even on official meetings without the least hesitation or manners) only because she was convinced that he was have her spied on. Not because of any soft feelings for him.

I am delighted that you loved the nazm as much as I do. It is far too delicate and sublime for any Jalal-Jodha relationship. It is for another couple, with a man who looks as anguished as a Serbian icon of Jesus Christ, and a girl stretched to breaking point and clinging to him as her sole lifeline.
It is sung half and half by the man and the woman, and the total surrender to the other is meant to be reciprocal.

I just put it in because it enchanted me and I wanted to share it with all of you. This Jodha is simply not capable of any such deewangee. Jalal is.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: KDR81

Hi Shyamala,
1st of all , thanks for reminding the Sree Krishna-Rukmini Tilabhaaram katha which I had almost forgotten 😛... I don't think the Cvs did so much of Brainstorming before concocting the scene, but even then it was the highest point of the epi(with all the incredulity 😆 )
Yes, the Friday attitude of Jalaal gave some respite from the unbearable saccharine sweetness that was being shown for the last 2 days...but that makes Jalaal look like a personality disorder case also even if his aloofness had been justified...becoz he withstood even worse treatment from Jodha earlier😕 (a bit of self-musing by Jalaal might have been of help here) . If Jalaal was intelligent enough, he should have noticed how his Nakchadi Gussail Begum walked up all the way to meet HIM on her Birthday as soon as she freshened up, with the stupid pretext of complain abt info Leak...😆

Now, the nazm that you mentioned , is simply awesome and so much befitting to the future Ja-Jo relation...(at least we hope it is like the nazm only , when it happens...)

Regards,
Kamal

Hi Shyamala,
just saw ur comment on the RB Gift suggestion ...hence just wanted to say that , obviously , None of us would have felt the digestion disorder😆 Had it been a treasured heirloom passed onto from someone who loves you unconditionally ...But NOT from a person who has been always shown to gift others with her own DISCARDED USED PRODUCTS ... with the sole intention of redeeming her Audaa time n again(And if u see Jalaal's own expression , it was not of Happiness at the choice, but was of skepticism and serious thought...😉)
I am sure , if it had been shown to be Hamida, Gulbadan, Bakshi or even Salima making the choiceof gifting their own possessions , none of the forum waasis would have thought bad abt it....😊
So , even if Ruqaiyya had good intention( I doubt though), The CVs portrayal of her character in earlier incidents have made it impossible for us to give credit to her .

Regards,
Kamal

I agree with you on @blue. I hope he stays the course and does not revert to the kind of stuff he was doing in the last 2 episodes. I like a man to be a man, not a poodle hanging around a disdainful mistress looking for biscuits.

Yes, the old Ruqaiya has been distorted beyond belief. And let us not even talk of the historical Ruqaiya, whose reality will, in the minds of the historically challenged teleaudience, be forever buried under this sad version, thanks to Ekta Kapoor.

The whole tulabhaaram stunt was OTT and hardly a good idea in terms of the all round resentment it would have stirred up in the court and the palace against this undue pampering of the Hindu begum. That too so soon after the fracas with the maulvis. What has Jodha done that calls for all this? Does Hamida do such things for the other, more senior begums? And if the courtiers are made to fork out gifts like this every year, they will soon jib at it, and not only Sharifuddin😉.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Jalal looked distant and I will call it a tactful retreat. He does need to detach himself to analyse,where he stands with her and how it will affect his other relationships, before diving headlong in this relationship. Jalal made it amply clear to Jodha " it's Hamida who wants to celebrate your birthday". This shifts the focus from him and gives Jodha and others an illusion that he is just doing it to honour Mallika-e-aazam's wish.