Friends, what was that utter crapfest we saw yesterday in the name of an episode? It looked like I was watching some C-grade movie with a name like "Sarpon Ki Rani aur Sipahi ki Mauth".
Over the weekend I had predicted that story could go two ways:
The simple way would be that Hakim Mirza was really innocent and saving Jalal from Ben and Mali, and getting very friendly with Jodha with whom he had great vibes. The sipahi would be just an ordinary man with no special connection to Jalal, and Ben may be working independent of Hakim. Mansingh was just in the picture taking a spectator-view of things. Jodha would save the clueless Jalal and love will blossom.
The intriguing way would be that Jalal fully knew that Mali-Hakim-Ben were an assassination nexus, hence his washing of hands after Ben touched him. While he was ostensibly using Ben to make Jodha jealous, he knew what the evil Kabul gang was up to. Meanwhile the sipahi, probably a henchman-cum-code-breaker-cum-fall-guy of Jalal may have baited Ben to the night assignation, to prevent her from meeting Hakim at the jashn ... and he may also have heroicallly taken the first bite from Ben and died in the cause, to help expose Ben's hand early to Jalal, otherwise Jalal may have got that first bite and it would have been too late! Baby-faced Hakim may have arrived at Agra to see to it that Ben plays her game correctly but she has overplayed her hand too early by biting and killing the sipahi and thus exposing herself ... and now Jodha too knew Ben was vomiting green, and would soon catch on too that Javeeda was also poison affected. And the snake was somewhere around too, seen by Jodha. Hakim would now have to deftly manage the botch up by Benazir and in this process may be trapped by Mansingh, historically known to be Hakim's nemesis! Meanwhile Jodha, finding out that Ben was a vishkanya (a little faster than dear slower Jalal) may well rush to save Jalal and probably get bitten herself, leading to much coochey-coo from Jalal and concern over her life ... and meanwhile Rahim would figure out the Jodha paigam and tell all to Salima who will tell all to Jalal. Maham may become a silent suspect but not blamed outright by Jalal. And it will all be leading to that elusive Jo-Ja "love"?
That second alternative - the intriguing way - would be a nicer, truer story, right? That's why I have been favouring the intriguing version all of last week, or the whole saga may become insipid! In the light of the fact that I was thus hoping for some real engrossing story (albeit an incredible one!), what I did not bargain for was this:
Jalal would be made to look so clueless yesterday, he looked positively dumb! Then we got just 2 minutes of him in yesterday's episode while Hakim got full 25 minutes as the quasi-hero. We got these third-rate pyrotechnics in the name of a snake bite in a kissing scene! (We always asked for a kissing scene, and look what we got!) Folks, I think the whole damn thing is getting to be a creatively out-of-control khichdi ... of assassination plot intermingled with "nagin" type psychedelic melodrama, with an assortment of unbelievables such as vishkanyas, code-breaking sipahis, baby-faced assassin's like Hakim, bits of Peeping Tom Mansingh, quintessential lep-making Jodha (with attached Moti), and the double-expressioned Jalal ... phew!
In all this what happened to the Jodha paigam to Jalal which Rahim was supposed to do like a jigsaw puzzle? And where is Maham missing? All this is in a merry mess. It's like a storyline gone awry with all kinds of loose ends, no loop closures and everything up in the air. How I will survive this week is anyone's guess!
Anyway I have two topics chosen for some detailed analysis below:
The dubious role of Hakim Mirza!
Folks, Hakim Mirza continues, despite his baby face and soft charming personality, to strike me as possibly a deadly villian in disguise. I think I have history on my side on this one. I found seven things he did yesterday extremely dubious:
My question: Why did he chose Salima to talk to on this issue first? And then why did he say the time was not opportune? If he did choose to talk to Salima, was it to hide facts from Jalal - or was it actually to give Jalal a bit of sideways information and dhamki via Salima, thinking Salima will surely try to sneak the info to Jalal? Was this therefore a ploy to get the information to Jalal indirectly rather than directly?
2. We next saw Hakim Mirza just when the dead body of the sipahi was found as the vaid was inspecting him. A crowd had gathered there. Hakim was practicing his swordfighting nearby (to give us the idea that he too was a good swordsman) but the crowd there attracted him to go across and see. He saw the dead soldier and the vaid declaring he was bitten by a snake. By which time Jalal the Clueless had also joined the proceedings, wondering how the hell a snake was in this protected space of the palace. The vaid then, vainly searching of bite marks all over the sipahi's body, found two teeth marks on the dead man's lips! Even then most people thought it was a snake bite but no one thought to ask how the snake bit a man's lower lip so perfectly! However two people did seem to be wearing slight question marks on their faces. Hakim Mirza is one of them, Jalal was the other.
My questions here: Hakim Mirza seemed to be looking calculative. His expression could be read both ways. On the one hand it could have been "Oh oh, my suspicions are confirmed, there is a vishkanya somewhere here that I must save Jalal from!". Or on the other hand that look could also have been "Oh, oh, this stupid vishkannya Benazir has already shown her hand. I have to now watch that Jalal does not get smart about the possibility of this Vishkanya being here or my plans are going to go phut!" Which of these was Hakim's real thoughts? Aside from him, I thought Jalal also was wearing a bit of a strange look on his face. But his face was more guarded. If he had a doubt, it was in his eyes, but his face showed no disturbance ... yet!
3. Hakim then, at that very spot starts telling Jalal that he has to be careful as he has a huge enemy in Abul Mali. He says he overheard Abul Mali plotting against Jalal's life. He even starts by saying he is here for some personal connection with Jalal's life! But when Jalal deeply quizzes Hakim "Did you actually see who Abul Mali was talking to?" Hakim says he couldn't exactly see that, but he did overhear. Jalal wears a sharply questioning look in his eyes through this interchange, while, if you notice carefully, Hakim did show a a trace of discomfort.
So again I have questions: How much did Jalal already know about this Hakim-Mali potential nexus? Did he suspect it or did he trust Hakim or did he take Hakim's word on reserve? And what was Hakim's game in telling Jalal at this stage about Mali rather than earlier when he talked to Salima? Did the dead sipahi's condition make it now necessary for Hakim to start talking to Jalal in some haste, because Ben had started her moves? Was Ben supposed not to show her fangs till she could act on Jalal directly? Did Ben expose herself by showing her fangs on the sipahi too early thus exposing her game? Was the siphai Jalal's fall guy, taking the bite before Jalal could get bitten so that it could warn Jalal about Ben? Was Hakim forced to discuss the matter with Jalal because of ben's botch up, which he would have preferred to delay even more?
4. I hope in all this interchange, you all saw Mansingh peering away at the dead sipahi's body and overhearing the vaid and Jalal and Hakim? Historically it appears Mansingh was dead against Hakim, so I was wondering if the Creatives were laying the foundation for some serious jasoosgiri now from Mansingh which may trap the baby-faced Hakim and the treacherous Ben and call open the accusations they were making against Abul Mali? In fact in the precap things are a bit confusing. It looks like Jodha is telling Jalal to take seriously the words of some man at the sabha, who was giving some vital alternate theory about the snake bites on the sipahi. It looked like Jodha was talking about some vaid, but I could not properly catch her words.
Here's a question again: I just have a doubt if it was Mansingh Jodha is perhaps referring to in the precap? Did she mean Mansingh is saying he will bear the brunt of the whole Mughal Army if necessary but he was holding his word on what may have happened? And Jodha is perhaps therefore saying Mansingh shoud be carefully listened to by Jalal? It could also be the vaid or someone she was referring to, but my mind is suspecting that the man in the sabha suppposedly propounding his alternate theory may be Mansingh, simply because Jodha added that bit about this guy saying he was "willing to take on the mighty army of the Mughals" if needed but he was sure of his theory ... so he sounds like a non-Mughal!
5. The fourth time we saw Hakim was with Jodha when he was actually buttering her up deliberately in the garden. At first it looked like an inncocent sweet banter between bhabhi and devar, but then the discussion went into deeper waters. When Jodha asks "Where are all the kaboootars?" he produces one magically from his pagri to amuse her but then says he has got rid of the birds for their own safety against an errant snake in the garden! Talking of birds and their protection brings Jodha round to discussing shikar and about Jalal being merciless in shikar, when his brother defends Jalal. Jodha seems to secretly like this! The topic then moves to how Hakim has learnt of Jodha's cookery prowess, and how he wants to switch from his bhaijaan's side to his bhabhi's side to taste her food. And then finally the sentence with a double meaning: "You and bhaijaan are ultimately the same to me after all, for you are a close couple, aren't you?"
Here's my question: I thought Hakim looked like he fully knew of the Jalal-Jodha rift and was scratching the wounds to see Jodha's reactions. I suppose if he is a really bad egg he would have thought he could use this rift to divide the two, but he doesn't know Jodha well - that even if she has a rift with Jalal, she will always loyally side with Jalal. So if Hakim is miscalulating Jodha's loyalty to Jala, let it be at his own peril! Has Hakim thus underestimated Jodha?
6. I want to add an extra bit here ... that I think the Creatives have chosen the character of Hakim well. The actor does look so innocent, so charming, so baby-faced that it would be hard for us to imagine him as a negative character. However history does tell us clearly and unambiguously that we was a bad egg and was at constant loggerheads with Mansingh. So I will keep watching Hakim with a very suspicious eye and I keep watching Mansingh with a very keen eye! I am not happy at all with Hakim Mirza - and I thought his arrival here was very suspiciously timed.
In fact I have a feeling from the beginning that he is here to ensure Ben finishes her assigned job properly, and now that he has seen that Ben may have botched up her job by needlessly biting the sipahi and showing her hand too early, this Hakim is now going to soon show us his negative side as he tries to rectify Ben's error. Hakim has already found out that Jodha has seen Ben and the snake and may soon put two and two together. Hence his need to see if Jodha is still at loggerheads with Jalal or whether she is still close to Jalal and will tell Jalal all that happened last night. And in the unraveling process, the shrewd Mansingh may catch Hakim out while Jodha may stymie Ben from biting Jalal. Thus Sangeetha's theory that Jalal's own Mughal family will be so full of treachery that he will slowly start feeling the Amer family as his own true loyal family may soon start coming to pass.
7. Finally I can't resist adding this: Jyoti has always told me to watch if any male character wears kaajal inside the rims of his eyes, he is slated to become a negative character! By this yardstick dear pappu-faced Hakim is negative for sure. Even Jalal wears surma but outside the rims of his eys (under his lower eyelid, but not inside it).
Hakim on the other hand is wearing kohl inside the lower rims of his eyes. He is thus surely a villain! I can swear by Jyoti's detective work on this front. She is fit to get a PhD in Villains with Kajal Rimmed Eyes, for in nearly ten years she has never been wrong on this one!
The snakey behaviour of Benazir!
Folks, I knew I had to expect some "vishkanya" scenes from Benazir but when they came they were so tacky that it looked like some third grade Hindi cinema shot on a bit-sized budget with third-grade actors and pathetic direction. Here are my "most disgusting scenes" from this disgustingly unbelievable saga!
2. Then the way Ben caught the snake running after Jodha and attached it to her own tongue to ingest its poison. Blechest of bleches! Did we have to be shown that? And after that did you all see how suddenly perked up this writihing Ben of a few minutes ago was? She started sashaying down the corridors feeling very uppity again! So we are to assume that she is an addict and has these extreme mood swings! Again a piece of creative imagination flying in the high skies?
3. The bandhi, poor thing, having to get the snake out of its box, and then holding it behind her when Jodha was in the room, and then letting go it from surprise and shock at seeing Jodha, and then the snake running after Jodha, and then Benazir acting like she saved Jodha from the snake just as Jodha had tred to help her with aushadh ... oooh, how believable ... or not!!!???? Hehehehe ... straight out of some mayajaal movie mixed with some nagin movie? What was all this crap?
4. That rubber snake and its forking tongue I seem to have seen before. Its our own Mohini, no doubt, from the tent scene on the way to Ajmer? It loves Jodha for sure! I almost thought Jalal would pounce out from behind the bushes and save Jodha from the snake, but then I remembered that Rajat's leg was genuinely hurt and so someone else would have to hold back the snake, and it was Ben.
By the way, did you all notice the obvious way Rajat's body double was used in the scene with Hakim, when a curly black-haired body-double was made to look like Jalal? How tacky not even to try and match the actor's hair? Would the creative not have a Continuity Team to take care of such blatant discrepancies? Eventually though we at least saw Jalal's face as he said his dialogues ... and he puts so much expression into his eyes, that we can forgive the mismatched body double! But overall, pathetic direction!
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Important: Folks there have been so many PMs (nearly 49) to History_Geek (Abhay) all of the last few days asking for historical footnotes on Hakim Mirza, Mansingh, Vishkanyas etc. Plus there were also numerous requests on my posts' threads. So Abhay has kindly done extensive research over many days to put together for us a really strong perspective. I enjoyed reading it, so I hope you all will follow this link and see for yourself what the real history was. It confirms the fact that the baby-faced Hakim was a pretty bad egg!
Here's Abhay's link:
Enjoy! The real history was a darn sight more interesting than the crap we are watching in the name of history!
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Arjun
