Friends, oops, oops, oops ... all my predictions and hopes of a great flashback scene, showing how Jodha, Jalal and Ruq planned the major counter-saazish against Adham and Maham, went for a six! Friends on the forum warned me not to expect all this, but I was still holding out hopes that Jalal may come through as the "Ace Saazisher of Agra"! But alas! It was not to be!
Maham seemed to have been hallucinating yesterday that the trio of Jodha, Jalal and Ruq had joined forces against her and Adham, and that the wily Jalal had engineered the systematic downfall and incarceration of Adham, cementing the rift between his two wives to use them as accomplices. It seems yesterday's hallucination was just a precursor to Maham's full-fledged "schizophrenia" on display today!
I always had the feeling that when the Creatives make someone say some piece of dialogue its never just a purposeless thing. It always has some value in the storyline. Therefore the hallucination of Maham yesterday I read as a sign that there may really be a saazish trio of Jodha-Jalal-Ruq in operation. Instead it was a sign, it appears, that Maham was slipping ... losing her marbles.
She was positively bordering on the mad today. With Adham behind bars, she was at once trying to act like the ruthless and torture-thirsty Wazir-e-Aliyah, punishing her own son mercilessly in prison - and at the same time suddenly also becoming a "desperately bleeding and weeping mother of a tortured son" wanting to kill and maim those who do Adham harm! At this rate Maham needs no one else to extinguish her arrogance, she's doing a good job of burning herself from both ends!
Also, today, the wrong impressions that Ruq had about Jodha being the "husband-and-audha-snatcher" were very easily solved by Jalal - by simply telling Ruq that it was Jodha's idea that saved the new law and the marriage of Jalal-Ruq. Jalal explained to Ruq (just after a woozy head massage from Jodha) how by following the Jodha Masterplan, they made Ruq appeal to the public's sense of justice, and they were thus able to carry the public along towards adopting the new law and going against Adham. With this revelation, Ruq then went to Jodha and apologized - and gifted her a huge diamond and got a reciprocal Kanha Ka Dhaga tied on her wrist by Jodha ... and now all's well between the "fond sisters"!
Unfortunately for me, this whole storyline today strips Jalal of a lot of the credit for the way the Adham case was solved and the way the new law was brought into the public domain. I had so wanted it all to be Jalal's handiwork, but then, I suppose, the Creatives want to show Jodha as the one standing behind Jalal and influencing his mind and actions for the good ... so I have to live with the idea that every now and again Jalal may be made to look less intelligent than I like, just so that Jodha can make him look more "Akbar" than he is!
In between all this we had an interesting glimpse of Sharif also playing a "double game" - privately he has been commissioning Jodha's portrait from unadulterated lust for her, and yet he then declares to Jalal in the Diwan-e-Khas that his reason for hating Jodha was because she was a Rajvanshi. The truth is that he wants Jodha for himself, but is trying to give different reasons for hating her being Jalal's wife!
Now we have an interesting situation inside the jail. After Adham got labelled a "gaddari" and got incarcerated yesterday, Sharif too has now lost the war against the Munim and is again incarcerated as another "gaddari". Are the two gaddari's cell-mates or neighbours? God forbid! And who is the Chief Warden of Prisons? Maham?
Was it wise of Jalal to thus allow all his enemies to get together back in the Palace (albeit in the prisons) with Maham in their vicinity? That's all we need! I am already imagining the horrors of a regular jailside conference between the warden and the two cell mates to plot against Jalal and Jodha! I wouldn't be surprised either if one or both of the gaddaris suddenly made a jailbreak with the help of Maham!
On a lighter note, the much-awaited "love letter" seems to be in the works! When I first heard of this "love letter track" spoiler I thought the letter would be so ambiguously worded by Jodha that Jalal may read too much meaning into it and thus start making "advances" towards her. But no! It appears Maham is the one who will be asked by Jalal to read out the letter to him. And Maham as we know is already hallucinating that Jodha, Jalal and Ruq are all getting too cozy with one another. So Maham is most likely to read out all kinds of romantic stuff from the letter that is not really there. She would hope, I suppose, to make Jalal run after Jodha believing the letter to have "lovey-dovey overtures" ... making Ruq lapse again into a screaming banshee.
All now rests with the Kanha Ka Dhaga on Ruq's wrist, tied by Jodha. If Kanha chooses, this bracelet of friendship could keep Ruq still sweet on Jodha despite the so-called romantic letter - and thus quash Maham's hopes of turning Ruq and Jodha against each other. To me its now a match between Maham and Kanha!
Now for the detailed analysis of my few chosen scenes ...
Maham becomes schizophrenic!
Maham, in continuation of her yesterday's imaginings of the Jodha-Jalal-Ruq nexus against herself and her son, was today a basket case, I thought! She seemed to have totally lost her marbles. She was either hallucinating - or she was "schizophrenic" and jumping between two sides of herself alternately.
In the first scene where she appreared today, she was seen telling the prison guards at Adham's prison to spare no effort to see that his life is made a living hell! Resham, aghast, asks Maham why she is thus torturing her own son. Maham then replies "I have good reason. I want everyone to see what a stern Wazir-e-Aliyah I am, and how loyal I can be to the Sultanate, and how unsparing I can be of criminals under my eye! And there's another reason ... I am going to do all this to try and break the arrogance of this trio of Jodha-Jalal-Ruq. Just watch me!" Within minutes of saying all this though, she changed colour instantly and seemed to be holding back tears of pain at the plight of her dear son being thus treated. It was all because of Jodha! Maham spewed enough venom at Jodha to make a King Cobra feel challenged.
In the next scene where Maham makes an appearance, she is at the Diwan-e-Khas where Sharif is being punished by Jalal. After that, Jalal then promotes and decorates the Kabul Munim for his war successes by making him the Wazir of the Sultanate's Armies, a position Maham had so wanted for Adham. Maham starts loudly clapping for the Munim, till we realise that she is again hallucinating that the recipient of the promotion is Adham! Then cold reality hits her when she sees that the person receiving the honours is not her son at all!
There is one more scene again of Maham in her room doing the Jekyll and Hyde act. She is asking Resham "Has the Sipahi done the worst to Adham? Has he tortured him beyond bearing?" Resham by now is almost as "gone" as Maham and replies that the Sipahi has indeed done his job! Then Maham suddenly breaks down weepily and starts lamenting that Adham is going through all this pain, and she orders Resham "Now go and kill that Sipahi, right now!" Again there is this split personality on display - first the merciless torturing Wazir-e-Aliyah followed by the vengeful weeping "mother of Adham" wanting the blood of those who hurt her son!
If you compare all this maniacal behaviour today to the precap, where Maham again makes an appearance, we can see that by tomorrow's episode she has managed to somehow control her mind and looks like her usual smooth self! She is seen being asked by Jalal to read the letter sent to him by Jodha, and Maham has the usual crafty look in her eyes as she plans to read out more than there really is in that letter - a way to get back at all three of her enemies, Jalal, Jodha and Ruq.
In all this does it not make you wonder that Maham herself is creating this mythical enemy trio where one may not really exist? In her mind she is seeing Jalal, Jodha and Ruq as a team and trying to split them, whereas they may not be seeing themselves as such at all. Maybe she is giving them too much weightage by imagining them to be a group, and she may be thus be creating a bigger bogey for herself.
Jalal-Jodha-Ruq get closer!
The scene which opens the episode showed Jodha (as usual) praying to Kanha, with Hamida also watching on, unknown to Jodha. Jodha hands her some prasad, as Hamida then goes on to praise Jodha's role in the introduction of this new law and in saving the marriage of Jalal and Ruq. Jodha demurs that she did nothing but give an idea. She credits Jalal entirely for having carried through with the plan and for properly handling all the issues - of the new law, Adham's case, the divorce issue, and the handling of the irate public. In fact Jodha is so full of praise for Jalal that Hamida suggests Jodha should herself convey her fulllsome sentiments to Jalal (thus laying the foundations for the "love letter").
Jodha however does not seem to have the letter idea as yet in her head, and instead she goes to meet Jalal in his rooms, where a much more at-peace Jalal is itching for a head massage. Sensing someone in the room whom he mistakes for Ruqaiaya, he asks for the head massage, and when Jodha starts running her hands over his head he senses that the touch is different and comments about her hands being suddenly too soft for the usual massage. This is when both of them realise that he's been thinking she was Ruqaiya!
Anyway, Jodha then tells him that she's no muff at head massages either since she's had a lot of practice with Sukanya's head at Amer. And so the Shahenshah hands his head to her and sits back to enjoy the process. This is the scene that greets Ruqaiaya when she enters the room - and naturally she is so green with envy that she sees red! We must remember that she still carries great venom against Jodha for the twin sins of husband-grabbing and title-coveting. So naturally Ruq launches into a tirade against Jodha and makes Jodha leave in a hurry.
But Jalal is quick to jump to Jodha's rescue. He tells Ruq that their marriage had been saved by Jodha's idea to get Ruq speak to the public. He in fact tells Ruq all about the Jodha plan and how successfully it worked and why Ruq must be obligated to Jodha. A contrite Ruq then expresses regret at the way she treated Jodha and she asks Jalal what she must do to make amends. Jalal rightly asks her to go and talk to Jodha - nicely!
The scene where Ruq enters Jodha's room and then apologises to her and says a lot of nice things to her in thanks for saving her marriage is a sweet one. I particularly found it interesting that the gifts exchanged by the two of them spoke so much about their personalities. Ruq gave Jodha a gift of a really mammoth diamond, while Jodha returned the courtesy with a simple but divinely-blessed Kanha ka Dhaga which she tied on Ruq's wrist as a "friendship bracelet". Jodha also said she hoped this dhaga would give Ruq a happy life where all her wishes would come true.
How truly reflective these gifts were of their givers! One was so mercenary, while the other was so spiritual. Yet they found a way to level with each other and they almost looked like Kumbh-mela separated sisters! If this relationship between Ruq and Jodha continues, I am sure we'll have loads of mutual gestures to marvel at in future episodes. Especially if they work as a combination, the smartness of one can boost the intelligence of the other. But how long will this bonhomie last, is the question? Will it at least last till next week? Or will the "love letter" tomorrow abruptly end this new mutual admiration society? Who knows!
The role played by Jalal was interesting though. He had the job today of bringing these two ladies together. Maybe even going forward we may see this pattern. Maham will do everything to drive them apart as rivals, while Jalal may do everything to bring them together as friends. If not for any other reason, just for his own peace of mind! It can't be easy being a man of many wives!
Sharif and Adham as jailmates!
I felt disgusted by the scene where Sharif, in his hideout, had commissioned the painting of Jodha, seeing which his eyes wore a naked look of unbridled lust. Yech, blech! But the worst moment then came when he praised the painting no end and asked the painter to extend his hand. The poor painter must have expected some bakshish instead of which his fingers were mercilessly severed using a sharp knife! What kind of animal is this Sharif? I know that in history there have been many instances cited where kings and courtiers used to maim artists after they completed their paintings, just so that they could never again produce a similar masterpiece. But even if I've heard of it before, it was awful to watch!
Sharif then did a bit of self-talk, baring all his teeth, that he would join forces with Abul Mali (the other brother-in-law of Jalal) who also hated the Shahenshah. And between them both they could get sweet revenge on Jalal. Sharif wanted revenge for everything Jalal had done to him, but most importantly for taking Jodha away from him!
We were then told by a voiceover that a war ensued between Jalal and his brothers-in-law, where Jalal deputed the Kabul Munim to head his own forces. The war was apparently very bloody and lots of lives were lost. The net result, though, was that Sharif, who was late in trying to flee, was captured by the Munim and his men, and taken to Jalal as a prisoner in chains.
In Agra, at the Diwan-e-Khas, Jalal's eyes were seen blazing away at an entrapped Sharif, asking him: "What in hell do you have against me and Jodha? What made you do all that pregnancy hungama?". To which Sharif replied via a partial lie. He said "I hate Rajvanshis, and I didn't want one of them to become a Mughal Sultanate Begum". It sounded like a plausible explanation for his behaviour so Jalal had to buy that without suspecting that there could be another reason underneath it all. Anyway, Jalal then said "Already I have stripped you of your subehdari, now I also name you a gaddari and send you to jail." And so Sharif went to the same jail presumably where Adham and other gaddaris are kept.
I don't know if Jalal will rue the day he saw fit to keep both these men in the same jail within the precincts of the Agra Palace, and under the eye of a Wazir-e-Aliyah of dubious allegiance! Will this co-jailing of Adham and Sharif come to bite Jalal soon? We'll have to wait and watch this one!
Meanwhile, in a later scene Jodha is seen visiting Bakshi Bano despite everything that has happened between them. I thought it was a very gracious gesture from Jodha because she knew that Bakshi loved her crooked husband, all said and done, and must be going through a difficult time on her own coming to terms with his capture and jailing. He was now a prisoner at the mercy of a very angry Jalal, and anything could happen to him. It was sad to watch Bakshi asking Jodha how Sharif was, and Jodha in turn giving her a consoling hug. Nice scene, very moving!
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
