Friends, it looked like another episode more focused on Maham and her antics vis a vis Shivani, rather than anything about the love story of Jodha and Jalal. (I am a bit pushed for time this morning so I want to cover the main points while keeping my post short. Or rather I'll try to keep it short!😉)
There were just one and a half main themes on the screen today. One theme was about how Maham managed to blackmail Shivani not to tell her feelings to everyone today - but to reserve it for later so that there will be maximum damage to the Sultanate, Jalal and especially Jodha. If she should do an elopement at the 11th hour of the marriage instead of immediately telling everybody where her heart is, Maham figures Jalal will be most miffed with Jodha and will send her packing to Amer for having sugggested such a dheela rishta!
How Maham managed this brainwashing stunt with Shivani was a piece of her usual debauchery, and as always, again, her son was the last to know ... and his questions to his mother revealed to us exactly how Maham accomplished what she did!
Aside from the Maham cornering of Shivani, the only other half-a-theme yesterday was that Jalal proved yet gain how he was the master of the back-handed compliment. We were shown how Jalal used the nikaah issue to get back at Jodha - playfully at times, but also with some hidden hurt in his words. Especially when Bharmal praised Jodha in the Diwan-e-Khas for bringing together Shivani and Hakim, Jalal went into such fullsome praise of Jodha, that it looked on the surface like real warm compliments. But only he knew the hurt behind the words for he was describing everything Jodha was not yet being or doing for him! Jodha too was sensitive to his meanings but having to pretend she was happy to hear his compliments!
Likewise when he described his potential Rajvanshi wife to Hakim (and warned him against Rajvanshi wives in general and these sisters in particular) he said they would lose no chance to quarrel or oppose shikar or feel jealous of kaneezes. He was ostensibly talking of Shivani but really describing Jodha!
Aside from this what else is there to write about? Nothing! I am scratching my head trying to see if anything else happened yesterday, but nothing seems to come to mind! I feel as if I ve wasted time watching a main show called "Maham Ka Nanga Naach" with a small trailer called "Jalal Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai".
Right at the very end, Begum Ruq made a reappearance in the precap to ask Jalal for explanations on why another Rajvanshi should become a bride in the Mughal family! But these days Ruq is being used more as the punctuation mark than the sentence in the story, so how much importance can I give her small appearance?
Now here's a bit of detailed analysis ...
Maham blackmail and brainwash of Shivani!
The episode started with Maham showing all her 64 teeth and singing a loud and besura song. Her son enters the room wondering why his mom is in such good spirits. Mom then shows son all the Shivani paigams looted from Shivani's room and says they have a goldmine on their hands. All these shall be strategically shown to Jalal, whereupon he will get pissed with Jodha, for bringing a rishta of her sister and Hakim knowing the sister is in love with someone else. For a brief moment the dunderhead son does not get the drift of his mother's plan, but when the tubelight suddenly switches on in his head, he too guffaws merrily.
(At about the same time, in another corner of the jail, Sharif is wondering how Abul Mali may act against Jalal and who his agent would be. This scene is presumably to give us an idea that Sharif is in the dark about Abul Mali and the Ben plans.)
Meanwhile, there's another intercut shot where it appears as if Maham is making a long speech directly to Jalal showing him all the Shivani paigams, and saying "It is the disgrace of the Sultanate that Hakim is thusbeing tauheen-ed by Shivani and her lowly beau Tejwant." But I did get the feeling that Maham was not actually talking to Jalal right at the beginning of this scene itself, since they did not show a hint of Rajat! (I thought Maham may be rehearsing her speech to Jalal!)
Later in the Diwan-e-Khas, however, Jjalal calls up Shivani (after getting her father's consent) to ask her what her own wish was regarding marrying Hakim. Shivani hesitantly agrees to marry Hakim even praising his qualities. Her hesitation makes Jalal smile as he thought she would be as feisty as Jodha! He even jokes that he thought Shivani would say Hakim was as fabulous as his brother! But then he takes her shaky words as shy consent, and proceeds to give instructions for the wedding!
Meanwhile, of course Dumb Adham is desperately asking his mother for footnotes. How did this happpen if she had shown the paigams to Jalal?
Maham says (with the aid of flashbacks) that she had instead shown the paigams to Shivani, cornered her, blackmailed her and brainwashed her to accept the marriage to Hakim ... as otherwise the Jodha-Jalal marriage would break! (Notice here folks, how Maham does a bit of loose talking, saying she chased Rahim into Shivani's room and accidentally found the paigams. Will this white lie cost her later if Rahim says no such thing happened?)
I have no doubt that Maham would love Shivani to elope with Tejwant at the 11th hour of a huge shaadi and jashn for maximum negative impact on Jalal and Jodha! In the last scene of the episode Jalal is seen telling all his men that they should leave no stone unturned for the nikaah to go off smoothly and safely, and thus lays the foundation for Maham to believe that he will be totally out of control for Jodha to handle, should something happen to mar the marriage at its most advanced stage!
My prediction guys: I think Jodha and Jalal will somehow be together on this matter of Shivani wanting to marry Tejwant. They will both discover this at the penultimate stage of the nikaah and stop the nikaah and give their nods to Shivani getting married to Tejwant instead.
I also feel this will give ample scope for a scene between Jalal and Jodha where both are arguing two different angles of why love in a marriage is so important, and they both may discover they are supporting the same idea after all! Mark my words, folks, this time I think there will NOT BE a misunderstanding although we are being led to anticipate that!
Hakim may thus get angry with both Jalal and Jodha. I suspect Shivani will first confess to Jodha and Jodha will then carry this info to Jalal, and together the two will prevent an elopement and instead confirm the Shivani-Tejwant marriage - and Jalal may give Tejwant a job and title to elevate his station in life to facilitate this marriage. That should make Hakim boiling mad against both Jalal and Jodha, but more so against Jalal for elevating and making Tejwant worthy of marrying a princess. He may thus turn to Abul Mali for help against Jalal.
Jalal's back-handed compliments to Jodha
At the same Diwan-e-Khas, Bharmal says he hopes Shivani will be as wonderful a wife to Hakim as Jodha has been to Jalal. This induces Jalal to go into a long and fullsome praise of Jodha's qualiities as a wife ... how much she cares for him, cares for his needs, worries for his life and is always at his side in every issue. He is staring at Jodha through all his with a look in his eyes that says "sarcasm" while Jodha is forced to smile through all this as if she's been heaped with wonderful compliments from a doting husband. But I think there was also a bit of hurt in Jalal's eyes, - maybe a sorrow that these are the things he wished from Jodha but did not quite get from her?
A little later Hakim annd Jodha are in the garden exchanging notes about the wedding and about Shivani's qualiities and likes and dislikes, when, if you all noticed, Jodha mentioned that she loves buildings and architecture and decorative masonry! Anyway, then Jalal chances upon the scene. He says "Let me tell you about Shivani's likes and dislikes. She probably would love taana maroing ... will get angry at the drop of a hat and you never know when she may burst out ... she hates shikar and will take bullets out of your gun just as wild animals are about to pounce ... and what's more, she will be terribly jealous of your kaneezes ...". Even Hakim gets the drift here that Jalal is decribing Jodha in the guise of describing Shivani!
Jodha looks mock angry, as Hakim leaves saying "You both are a really sweet pair. Have fun taana maroing each other!" After Hakim leaves, Jodha accosts Jalal on his speech, but he says he has little to add and other important things to do - and departs leaving a fuming Jodha.
And with that the episode ended without much satisfaction for any of us, I guess. Much ado about nothing!
What I am expecting for Friday episode ...
Its' a Friday, so how much more can we expect before being hung up to dry for the weekend? Whatever action is to happen will be only next week.
As even the precap shows, Friday may go in less consequential interactions ... such as Ruq fighting with Jalal as too why he needs to allow Hakim to be married to the sister of the same Jodha who hated himself so much! We may also get a few more shots of Ben and her baandhi, some lalkar dialoges from Abul Mali somewhere in the city market, and some more of Sharif sqaushing his face between two prison bars.
We may see Shivani weeping in distress, as Tejwant goes into Devdas mode and stops shaving, and Hakim almost skips in delight in the garden, looking like he has put ten rossogollas in his mouth but not chewed them (so they are filling out his cheeks even more).
Beyond that I expect nothing ... unless someone else has some motivating ideas? I am usually a demotivated soul on Fridays, and especially this Friday!
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