Originally posted by: sashashyam
Meghana,
I always like your posts, and this one is no exception, even if my own views on the onscreen happenings are different.
I too was enthused by the entry of the smooth faced and far too sweet Mirza Hakim - that paanv padha was enough to give anyone diabetes - but not for the reasons you have mentioned. It is rather because he is a new, and very promising, negative addition to the dramatis personae.
Don't get carried away by his baby faced looks. Mirza Hakim, who ruled Kabul, notionally under Akbar but largely, and as much as he could get away with, for himself, was Akbar's adversary all his adult life, which ended in 1585, when he died at 32, undoubtedly to Akbar's relief.
He was born on 29 April 1553, and was thus 11 years younger than Akbar. In 1562/63, which is when Jodha Akbar is situated, he must have been 10 or less!đ Not that it matters to the CVs.
You would remember that it was Mirza Hakim who was mentioned at one point, in a conversation between Jalal and Atgah Khan, as getting too big for his boots in Kabul. Jalal had to send Munim Khan there to curb him and it was done . Munim Khan, who later defeated and captured Sharifuddin as well, was rewarded by being given charge of the whole Mughal army.
It stands to reason that Mirza Hakim's imperial ambitions would not be like Jalal's oaths of revenge against Jodha, they would surely be tenacious.
In fact, historically, it was Mirza Hakim who was used by those opposing Akbar to gain legitimacy. Utilizing the Muslim orthodoxy's resentment over Akbar's liberal views, this clique organized their last resistance in 1580. The rebels proclaimed Mirz akm, then still the ruler of Kabul, their leader, and he moved into the Punjab as their king. Akbar crushed the opposition ruthlessly, but he must then have been characteristically lenient with his half brother, and pardoned him.
So, Jalal's secret smile when Mirza Hakim touches Jodha's feet was not because, as someone noted, he was so touched at his half-brother showing such respect to the object of his affections. He must have been thinking to himself:Nautanki saala! Kya dikhawa kar raha hai! Aur woh buddhu Jodha Begum sab ko sach maan legi!
So, as Mirza Hakim has now arrived in Agra, and has been preceded by the other Kabul-import, Benazir, something a bit more interesting than harem squabbles and petticoat plotting might be in the offing. One lives on hope!đ
As for the Jalal-Jodha scenes, while I do not want to rain on anyone's parade, I must say that they reminded me - the lep, the sahara dena, and the aushadi ones - irresistibly of the Shammi Kapoor-Asha Parekh-Helen troika at work in a 1960s film (except that those cornfests had gorgeous music).
Would anyone applaud such scenes in a new film? Not on your life! But in a TV serial, even one as hyped as this one, they are manna from Heaven, apparently. So why would the CVs even bother with looking for a better script and subtle, more intelligent scenes, when there are enough ready to applaud and go into ecstasies over such pedestrian stuff?
By the way, is the Mughal empire on autopilot?
Shyamala