Friends, today's episode was a very interesting one for me. The whole issue of Adham and Tasneem seems to have brought out several open and hidden agendas of a lot of the principal characters. It was interesting because we now have two teams clearly demarcated: on one team we seem to have Adham and Maham. On the other team we have Jodha and Jalal.
An interesting point to notice is that all of these four principal characters have two reasons each for taking up their respective stances:
Jodha: One motivation she has against Adham is for his role in the Tasneem injustice issue. Another agenda she has is to get even with him for the Moti Bai issue which still rankles.
Jalal: His first motivation is to act in support of Jodha because she's no longer in ghrna and is trusting him openly. His second motivation is that Adham has openly hurt Ruq today insinuating that Jalal too has married many times because of his first wife's inability to bear an heir!
Maham: She too has two agendas. One against Ruq for telling Jalal that Maham cannot be trusted as Wazir-e-Aliyah as she favours Adham more than Jalal (as overheard by Resham). The second axe to grind is against Jodha as she now has Jalal's ears and trust and is against Adham.
Adham: His first motive is to get Tasneem by hook or by crook. His second agenda is defiance against Jalal. He seems to have reached the end of his patience with kow-towing to Jalal and is too anxious to cock a snook at him.
Not only is the situation thus loaded by everyone have twin agendas, there were two other interesting issues that seemed to add to the layers of agendas today:
a. Jalal was only partially placating Maham when she tried to resign from her post. He said all the polite things to make her keep her position, but he did not try to defend his reasons for ignoring her in the Jodha, Bakshi and Subehdari issues, and even in that last tearful Maham hug, he was thoughtful but not moved! So what is Jalal up to, and is he testing Maham by making her adjudicate the Adham affair with fairness?
b. Maham seems less irate about Adham's running after the bandhi. She seems more upset that he has involved Jodha in the issue, and has put himself in the dock before the whole Diwan-e-Khas, which he should have ruled ... but all this at a time when Maham's own powers seem to be at a very low ebb. So who does she want to help first - herself or Adham?
One very interesting question I have in mind at the end of this episode is: Since Maham and Adham have now decided to play the strategy of hurting both Ruq and Jodha via their defences in the Diwan-E-Khas, will Jodha and Ruq and Jalal become a three-way team - whereby Jodha empathises with Jalal and Ruq on the subject of their "babylessness", while they both in turn empathise with Jodha's angst on the "belittlement of women by Adham"? Thus will Ruq and Jodha get to share the same side and grow closer?
Interesting state of affairs. Anyway let's get on with the detailed analysis ...
Maham resigns, clearly hoping to be dissuaded. But Jalal is not fully taken in!
It was a very interesting first scene today when Resham walked into Jalal's room with the paigam from Maham. The very arrival of a paigam from someone sitting in the very next room was sufficient to slightly throw Jalal! As it happened, it was a nicely worded "template" resignation letter. It said (in brief): "I have long enjoyed the privilege of being your Wazir-e-Aliyah. But now the time has come when you are seemingly ready to shoulder the responsibility yourself. I am aging and my contribution is no longer as necessary as it used to be. So with your permission I'd like to resign and proceed to Mecca Sharif where I may pray for your success" etc. etc. The remarkable thing was the expression on Jalal's face! It was questioning, but it certainly did not rattle him. In fact, I thought he was narrowing his eyes a bit trying to shrewdly take stock of the situation. Then he turned and marched with purpose to Maham's room.
There he said, with great cleverness: "I am here not as your Shahenshah but I've come to see my Badi Ammi. What was the need for a paigam between two adjoining rooms?". She then launched into a speech that was part-nostalgic and part-practical. She reminded him of the days when he was small and grew into various stages of discovering many firsts in his life, and this situation was also another first of its kind. She then said "Do not mistake me that I am upset you didn't give Adham the subehdaari. I am more concerned that you never consulted me on the Jodha, Bakshi and Subehdari issues. I used to be privy even to your very personal matters once, but now Salima is your first choice for the very personal issues, and even the Subehdari issue which was political was not brought to me."
Jalal did not try to offer any explanations of his reasons for bypassing her, except to give her a bland: "I did not want to trouble you."
He then added: " I know my crown is owed to your and Bairam Khan's efforts. But it also felt like time I tested my own strengths. But anyway in future I'll see that you are given your due". She gave him a tearful hug, but his face remained thoughtful and he did not get sentimental at all ! In fact, to me, he looked a little bit calculative. I think, at the back of his mind, the words of Ruq were ringing bells somewhere - that Maham would always hold Adham's interests above Jalal's when push comes to shove!
The very, very interesting thing then was that the next day, after he had summoned Adham to the Diwan-e-Khas, he recused himself from adjudicating since his own wife Jodha was the accuser. He instead seemed deliberately watchful as he asked Maham to give her verdict - with the reiteration of her own words to him of the previous day. She had said to Jalal: "Even if my own son Adham was to be ever adjudicated I will always be a fair and impartial Wazir-e-Aliyah". Now Jalal was asking her to put her money where her mouth was!
The Maham-Adham plans to hit both Ruq and Jodha with one stone!
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, the scene between Adham and Maham was very reavealing because the true nature of the mother and son duo became visible in all its ugliness! For starters, Maham was irate, as was to be expected. But for what reason? Not so much because Adham was lusting after a baandhi minor girl. Not so much because he would become the object of shame and ridicule of all Agra with his questionable decency in this matter. But because he had committed the unpardonable sin of crossing swords with Jodha, and making her unnecessarily involved in this whole issue.
Maham' greatest torture was that Jodha was now getting so close to Jalal that evidence of it was being as much felt by Ruqiaya (whom she had earlier warned) as by Adham (who now needed even more warning). And as for Ruqaiya, she too was getting too big for her boots if she thought she could poison Jalal against Maham and Adham!
All the while that Maham was ranting against Adham and his stupidity, he was in a defiance motif. He had had enough of "I'll tell Jalal" kind of dhamkis from all and sundry, notably Jodha. He had had enough of having to defer to Jalal on every decision, political and personal. And he couldn't see why when the harem was already full of women to be used, Jodha was worried about one more inmate! He was blinded by his need for Tasneem and was like a raging bull that his mother could not control. Seeing that she could not appeal to his common sense or even his sense of ethics, Maham realised that she had no option but to give the overgrown dolt what he wanted. But she needed to do it in a way that the dolt would not land in jail - or worse - under the sword.
Maham needed to get a plan in place fast. And she needed to also quell Ruq and neutralise Jodha, both with the same plan. She therefore needed to think ... and in her usual form, she took barely a moment to hatch a plan which she then spoke about in mute to Adham.
Some parts of this wonderful plan then became revealed to us viewers when flashbacks were shown as Adham spoke at the Diwan-e-Khas. His mother had tutored him to say that he wanted to marry Tasneem as he loved her, and it was no "gunah" to love someone. Also Tasneem was poor and not being well taken care of by her parents and he (Adham) wanted to care for her. He was ready to give any demanded sum as meher for the girl. He also so far had no children from Javeeda and wanted to father a child. Hamida, Salima and all the other ladies at the sabha were wrinkling their noses in disgust at this display of lust masquerading as love!
And then Adham remembered to add the last crucial sentence that Maham was waiting for: "Many others have done the same thing - married again and again - because their first wives were unable to bear children!"
This was a sideways swipe at Jalal and Ruq, and it worked. Ruq's eyes were welling up, Hamida was looking very uncomfortable, Jodha was fuming, while Jalal had his head bent in anger, his eyes looking by the minute more menacing. His whole demeanour of coolness and impartiality that he had been wearing till then seemed to change into deep anger.
I personally have no doubt that Maham's plan is now going to backfire, and not just because of Jodha's fight for justice. I think with that last remark, Adham and Maham pushed Jalal a bit too far. He now has a personal axe to grind as well, and he will spare nothing to see that Adham does not get his way!
Jalal and Jodha exchange new notes on ghrna and mutual trust!
Seeing Adham on the terrace trying to drag a screaming Tasneem with him to his rooms, Jodha intervened with authority. She said "This is the Begum of the Shahenshah ordering you to let go of the girl. I have previously been witness to your debauchery and here I am seeing more of it. What you are doing is nothing short of an "apraadh" that calles for a "dand". And I am going to let Jalal know about it! And that's a chetavani!"
Adham fired back at her: "Oh, stop your dhamkis about Jalal. What can Jalal do? I am within my rights to do as I please. This is just an ordinary baandhi who I can take at any time. And when her parents have no issues, what's it got to do with Jalal? You try what you want..."
Jodha tried saying that even a baandhi is after all a human being, but as an "animal" (as she called him) he was insensitive to both the thought and the taunt! A distraught Jodha, still heaving under the anger of her talks with Adham then walked into Jalal's rooms where he was deep in thought (presumably about Maham and her resignation?).
Seeing Jodha all angry again (a sight Jalal has seen all too often before) it was natural that he should think she was in a flap about one of his own misdemeanours. He said: "What have I done this time to make you so angry".
I was personally so scared she would just launch directly into her diatribe that Jalal would really think her ghrna was once more against him. Luckily she started her sentence by saying "I am not angry with you, but its about Adham. He is now doing his worst ...". When she said that, I gave out my own huge sigh of relief!
Jalal however interrupted her saying: "I know Adham's terrible but he's also the son of my Badi Ammi, and I often find I have to forgive his doings for her sake". But Jodha was hearing none of that. She said : "Then if you choose to forgive him, you will be complicit in his wrongdoings". Seeing that matter was getting serious, Jalal asked for footnotes and Jodha then told him all! It took him half a second to clap his hands for a guard to be summoned, to carry a diktat that the case of "Adham versus the State" would be heard at the Diwan-e-Khas the next morning itself!
Jodha then seemed to get all of Jalal's attention by her next sentence: "I had this deep belief that you would take this action Shahenshah!" It must have sounded like sweet music to his ears to hear that she trusted no less of him! He looked taken aback ... a bit!
To this convo we have to add the dialogues of the precap also to get a fuller picture of the Jodha-Jalal interaction.
From the precap it sounds to me like the case in court (tomorrow) may have had to be decided in Adham's favour because his arguments were irrefutable. Maybe Jodha and Jalal come away feeling a bit helpless because they were not able to stop Adham from doing what he wanted legally. Perhaps then this precap conversation between Jodha and Jalal may take place where Jalal asks if Jodha if she is angry with him for not being able to swing the case in favour of the justice she wanted. And maybe Jodha is answering that: "I am not angry with you. Not any more.I don't have that ghrna now. In fact you have shown you trust me. Now I too trust you to do the right thing completely". Jalal's face in the precap is a picture. There is a certain amusement, mixed with surprise and a little happiness. He looks like a man who can't believe his ears!
But anyway, if you put the earlier Jodha -Jalal convo together with the precap convo, a pattern becomes clear. It reminds me of that time at Amer when she saved his family's izzat and he decided to do the same for her in return. I feel here too since Jodha has said that she's not angry with him and she trusts him (once in each of the two convos), Jalal too is now going to repay her trust by giving her his support to stop the Adham marriage by some other means, if the legal options are not there. Which brings us to the spoiler we have seen all day today that Jalal may disguise himself as a chudiwala and try to unearth info that can prevent Adham from marrying Tasneem!
The precap that came last Friday did not appear today, so maybe that too will be part of the episode tomorrow. The Friday precap showed Jodha explaining to Jalal "No relationship without "prem" is acceptable between any man and woman". As I mentioned in my weekend take, I thought that was a loaded sentence. It sounded like Jodha was telling Jalal about Adham's marriage, but I also though Jalal was listening to her as if it meant something about his own marriage - that Jodha was probably not agreeing to a physical relationship because there was no "prem"! Jalal may soon realise that unless he is able to give Jodha that "prem" she wants, she is not going to give herself to him!
Bigg Boss 19
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