You guessed it right... This is sarcasm ...
I will talk about two subjects today.
One, the treatment of the important female characters in the show.
Two, Bakshi Bano's screen character: She is a shrewd player not a victim.
Character assassination is defined as a deliberate and sustained process that aims to destroy the credibility and reputation of a person, institution, social, group or nation. The CV's seem to excel at this art. But ... they should be appreciated for being fair. They are not sparing anyone. I'll just talk briefly about how viewers differ in their response in interpreting the characters based on their presentation in the show.
I am writing this not to take out my frustration on the CVs. That wouldn't be fair. I have to take responsibility as a viewer...I'd like to but can't claim to be an intellectual viewer who watches just the shows based on truth and facts. A part of me is addicted to juicy dramas. I watch these historical fictions and add to TRP's thus encouraging the makers of the show to continue with what they are doing. Anyway, I am not even going to try and de-addict myself now. Life is too short to let go of your guilty pleasures.
I'll start with my assessment of Bakshi Bano's character based on the show. However, I'd like to mention that from what I have read so far... The real one was different.
I refuse to call her a victim. I have worked with battered women and certainly she does not qualify as one. It is sad and true, but there are women who choose to present themselves as victims for various reasons... I am not calling her that either ...Most real victims are not as shrewd as she is shown to be. I do feel bad for the real Bakshi Bano. The character in the show is closer to Mahamanga than Rukkiya and company... as far as degree of selfishness and evilness is concerned. I'll explain why...
Her claim to Jalal that she loves Sharifuddin is false. Remember in Amer, she emotionally blackmailed Jodha to stop her accusations (and investigation) about SD's role in the Ratanpur fort debacle. I gave her benefit of the doubt then...probably this poor woman is doing this out of fear...though my common sense grey mater' disagreed big time...She is the emperor's sister for god sake... A brother who dotes on her...SD is clearly scared of Jalal. If she is really a tortured woman, she can end her torture in a minute by letting Jalal handle SD. Yes, there is a risk that Jalal may kill SD (although I can't believe that she doesn't know that Jalal's decision can be influenced by her tears)...But again, I'll give her benefit of the doubt that knowing Jalal's temper, she doesn't want to take a chance on SD's life by disclosing anything to Jalal...but then, I do question her love and loyalty for Jalal... Her husband is actively conspiring and she chooses to hide it from her brother...Is she doing it because she loves SD? that is how I was trying to explain her actions in my mind till now ( although I am a wife as well a sister and can't understand how one can take sides here...Emotions and basic human behavior doesn't change over centuries) ...After watching today's episode...I am sure that her behavior cannot be explained by her love for her husband... I'll try to explain this again.
Look at her behavior from today's episode. The moment she felt that she was cornered by Jalal, She didn't take much time to put the blame on her husband for forcing her to do it. She could have easily taken the responsibility and saved SD (using Jalal's Hindu begum argument as a reason to hate Jodha). She did not...instead she clearly suggested SD as a mastermind and presented herself as a victim.
She was born in a royal family and just like Jalal, must have seen conspiracies while growing up. How could she not know that the poor Hakim lady will be killed by SD as a result of what she she told him.
Also, she put Jodha's life in danger. She is aware of Jodha's sacrifice in Amer where she supported Bakshi over Sukanya. Just tells us how thankless BB is. The punishment for infidelity in those days was death. The only thing that saved Jodha was Jalal s trust in her character. That is probably why he asked Salima ( she is a sweatheart and I hope that she is not next on the Cv's character assassination list) for help in spite of feeling betrayed and angry initially.
I also noticed that she did not say a word about Jodha's sacrifice to Jalal. This is relevant because it would certainly lead Jalal to facts that would clearly explain SD's motive to hurt Jodha... Nor did she tell Jalal that she lied when when Jodha called her as a witness against SD...Any person with a normal IQ would understand that that all these these things are interrelated...and I am sure that she understands all this as well.
Some people may argue that she did beg for SD'd life... does it prove that she loves him?...according to me, not really... People take blame when they are in love...Like Jalal did for Jodha last week...Then why is she begging for SD's life after suggesting to Jalal that he is the mastermind ( who also tortures her and made her do his dirty work)...we all know that she exposed him to save her own skin... Lets go back to 16th century and try to imagine the difference in lifestyles of married women vs widow's. I'll be honest... I don't know enough about this aspect in Mughals but if it was anything even close to the Hindus in those days... Widows had a lot of restrictions...Dressing up, buying fancy clothes and jewelry, participating in certain events etc was not permitted...I am not saying that the only reason for BB to beg for SD's life is to avoid her own dismal future but based on what has been shown so far...That is all I can come up with .
Now going back to our frustration on the poor (but juicy) portrayal of these characters like BB who were probably not as evil in reality is something we experience after every few episodes. I have argued this before, if the show makers are using the names of real people to add to the popularity of the show (at least initially...although, I have to give them the credit for making a very entertaining show)...they should portray these characters in a responsible manner. The people in the forum are a little different from the masses. Clearly the people in forum want to know more than what is being shown...they watch and enjoy the show but they also take time to discuss, analyze and sometimes disagree with the portrayal of these characters. The masses are different...They believe and accept what is being served to them... as truth...To me, this not is fair to the characters whose names are being used to popularize the show...The only hindi shows that I watch are JA and Mahabharata( this is unrelated... please read palace of illusions' if you have time...very well written...Mahabharata from Draupadi's prospective). JA would have had one less viewer if this show was named Raja rani ki Kahani' or something worse.
I feel the need to analyze and sometimes defend the lesser known female characters more than the well-known ones like Akbar or Maharana Pratap.
We grew up reading a lot about Akbar. Most of us have a positive image of Akbar in our minds. Even if there is a scene where he is shown in bad light (CV's are fair when it comes to character assassination...they don't spare anyone)...the next positive scene is enough to not tarnish his image in our minds. However, for the lesser known characters ( Jodha, Rukkiya, Hamida , Bakshi etc) there isn't a lot a historical data available. Most people accept what is being shown as an accurate account (trust me, not all people are as analytical as most of you are)...Then there is another class of viewers who know that this is mostly fiction and believe that most of it is not true... however somehow, it still gets registered in their brain...if they have to recollect after 5yrs...they will probably recollect what they see on the show...especially if they don't have interest in reading from other sources and the line between fiction and reality will be hazy by that time... BB will be registered as a vamp...Sad, right..another class of viewers are the eccentric ones like me (some other forum members as well) who critically analyze everything and reject the information that is not backed by historical data but we are in minority. I don't consider myself a feminist...nor do I totally disagree with juicy portrayals of characters in historical shows in order to make them more popular. But I do object when the show makers completely massacre the character to the point where it becomes unsalvageable. To me what they have done to BB is unsalvageable...I'd love to, but I can't justify her actions at all after what has been portrayed. A lot of people will defend Jodha and Rukkiya... most don't care about BB...so this poor woman gets labeled as a vamp... These women are not alive today... Their life was very difficult in those days ... I certainly don't lose my sleep over this, but as a history lover...it does bother me sometimes...I wish I could do something to change this negativity which is added just to make things spicy. Your suggestions are welcome.
Take care and have fun!
I want clarify that my analysis of BB today is based on the character as shown in the show.
Cricket
