Lovely stuff, Vicki. Delighted to find you too when I came back after a while. Earlier, I had missed you when you went off on a sabbatical.
Here is my take on some of the parts you have covered here. We are of a mind on more than is normal for the two of us!😉
I loved the way Ruqaiya's character was handled today. She is upfront with Jalal about her dislike of Jodha and her suspicion of Jodha's motives, but when Jalal tells her about what Jodha had actually done, she is equally direct in her self-condemnation. Her regret at having misunderstood Jodha is strong and candid, and she has no reservations about confessing her mistakes and her bad behaviour towards Jodha to Jalal.
It was interesting to see how
Jalal handled this. It was very cleverly done. He did NOT make any comment critical of Ruqaiya's earlier attitude towards Jodha, but merely noted diplomatically that
if she felt that what Jodha had done was right, she might like to visit her and talk to her and he was sure everything would work out fine. I applauded this finesse! He knows how to handle his Gatti!
The Jodha-Ruqaiya scene was beautifully done. That Jodha would accept Ruqaiya's obviously sincere apology without any reservations was a given, for Jodha is large-hearted and generous to a fault (with everyone but Jalal, but even that seems to be changing). What delighted me was the entirely plausible way in which it was all handled, with not a single false note.
It was characteristic of Ruqaiya's unconscious vanity that she wants Jodha to see what she has brought her and to admire her (predictably) showy choice of gift. But earlier, Ruqaiya would have resented Jodha's comment that a diamond and a flower would be equally welcome to her; now she accepts it smilingly.
The scene when Jodha ties the sacred thread on Ruqaiya's wrist was very moving, but also strongly symbolic. To my mind, that thread was a symbol of the link that will develop between these two women.It might be my wishful thinking, but I would love it if they could become friends. I hate it when intelligent women fight over a man, it is such a waste of capabilities and brains, and such a negation of feminine solidarity. I hope my wish comes true at least in part, for Ruqaiya's parting line
Jo hamare liye sochta hai, Ruqaiya hamesha uski banke rehti hai sounded very promising.
As for the head massage scene in the beginning, the obvious surface humour apart, what struck me was Jodha's slotting Jalal, by inference, with Sukanya. As family, but not as a beloved. It was very subtly done.
Mahaam is a Catherine de Medicis and Lucrezia Borgia rolled into one, and now she is clearly going off the deep end. So to take her ramblings about the trio plotting against her and Adham seriously was pointless, and that is what I had felt and said yesterday. It feels good to be right for a change!
😉
I wonder what Mahaam is going to do with that letter in the precap. Jalal asks her because he cannot ask Ruqaiya or Salima; but I cannot see her running the risk of getting caught out in a barefaced lie in case he
did ask someone else as well. Let us see.
Shyamala Di
Edited by sashashyam - 11 years ago
Arjun
