Aunty,
Earlier the episodes were tiresome and your posts such a relief. Now the episodes themselves are very good (unbelievably for two weeks in a row) and your posts are an icing on the cake and make us relive the beautiful moments in them again and in finer detail. I am sure that atleast some of the 'quit 90 movement' are back. The quality has certainly improved.
The Shaikh then turns to Jodha Begum, and announces, the level tone of his words belying the momentous import of his vision: You will show a new path to the Mughal sultanate. Jalal looks pleased but somewhat confused. "What new path? ", he seems to be asking himself, and not getting an answer.
Then comes the second line : By becoming the Mariam-uz-Zamani.
(Wasn't it good that Ruqaiya didn't arrive at this point. Chishti ji ka kya haal hota?)
I was profoundly relieved to see that Jodha's eyes are still and tranquil, almost as if she was in a trance. There was not the slightest hint of the hidden distaste, the instinctive withdrawal, that one saw there when the same prediction, that she would bear the heir to the Mughal throne, was made by the saint soon after their marriage.
She seems now to be receiving the prediction not as an imposition, but as a benediction. A benediction that was but an affirmation of her new realization of her own destiny.
Jalal's face, by contrast, is a study in rapidly changing emotions.
First, an expectant stillness, as he waits for the answer to the question in his zehen, Kaunsa raasta, aur kaise? Next, as he hears the words, his eyes light up, fleetingly, with a surge of incredulous joy - as if a lamp had been lit inside him. But he immediately lowers his eyes and looks down, as if to contain his heartbeats and his joy alike.Kahin kisi ki nazar na lag jaye.
He does not look across as Jodha, as he does so often these days, for confirmation and empathy. No, his delight at this sudden gift from the Almighty is, at this moment, his and his alone. For it is the fulfillment of his two most fervent desires. The one, the yearning for an heir, and the other, the craving to be willingly accepted and loved by the woman to whom he has now given his long lost heart. He is limp with relief and gratitude, but he cannot, as yet, share this with anyone else. Not even with her who will, he hopes now, fulfil both these desires .
(Man mein do-do laddoo ek saath phoote🤣. No wonder he looked so unbelievably radiant with joy). This boy wonder is a master of every subtlety in expressions. There is no need for dialogues to convey what he thinks at all.
Then again, there is perhaps the old hesitation, the doubt as to how Jodha will receive this prediction. For Jalal would not want even his long awaited heir to be from Jodha if the child was not as much a source of joy for her as it would be for him. I wish he had turned at once to look at her face. He would have got all his answers.
Sangini in the making: Jodha has also developed a degree of understanding for Jalal's feelings even when they might be not hers, or at odds with hers. And a degree of wifely concern for what troubles and angers him.
Thus, when, on seeing Sher Shah Suri's portrait in Todar Mal's residence, and hearing him say that it was he who had defeated the Emperor Humayun, he clenches his right fist in suppressed fury, the immediate concern on Jodha's face is striking.
Later, when she is tending to his wound, she unhesitatingly asks him about it , adding a typically wifely, inquisitorial query Aap hamse kya chupa rahe hain? His rage and his frustration at having had to accept the hospitality of an enemy of his father's boil over as he talks to her of what his Khan Baba had told him about Todar Mal. She listens silently, for she does not know much about this slice of recent history. But she does ask him, a little later, why then he had saved Todar Mal's life.
How different is the tone and warmth in her voice and attitude when she questions him and attempts to understand him now, when compared to her 1,2,3 questioning after the Ratanpur Qila hand-over when she felt next to nothing for him.
Jalal's aswer, that as the Shahenshah, it was his duty to come to the aid of everyone anywhere in his realm who was oppressed, touches a chord in her. She registers silent approval, both then, and again as he speaks of having to pay off the debt of gratitude to Todar Mal for having sheltered them for the night.
But what struck me was that when he announces, fiercely, that he will come back here as the Shahenshah to punish Todar Mal for the harm he had visited on Jalal's family, Jodha is visibly apprehensive and does not approve of this at all. The old Jodha would have immediately launched into a bhashan about the need for forgiveness and about the quality of mercy that is not strained (apologies to Shakespeare). This new Jodha stays discreetly silent, for she understands where he is coming from and his rage, even if she does not share it.
Yes aunty, lack of empathy for Jalal even when he is good and her bhaashanbaazi were her two main faults. Now with both rectified, she looks like an angel. Where is the girl who said MH aapse ache hain just some 20/25 episodes back. How much she has to thank Shivaani and Benazir for making her so lovely!
She is complementing him rather than being overbearing as she used to be earlier and this makes the pair so lovely to look at. We were, as Loveamine said, worried that Jalal had progressed in character development so much that he was walking alone and his apparent soulmate was nowhere near. Now the soulmate has almost caught up. Just a few steps remain to match and march together.
Again, when Todar Mal offers them a palki for Jodha, she might well, footsore and tired as she must have been from all the unaccustomed hardships of the day before, have longed for that bit of comfort. But she knows that Jalal would not want to be beholden to Todar Mal for anything more, and so she turns the offer down gracefully.
It is equally touching that Jalal too does not jump the gun and refuse the offer on his own; he gives her the choice in the matter, whatever his own reservations might be. I was delighted with both of them!
She continues to be fiercely protective of her husband, When Jalal is threatened with the lash in the jail, Jodha, who has been temporarily silenced by Jalal's kasam and has been shunted off the podium ( the flare up rage on Jalal's face as the guard drags Jodha off roughly is instinctive; he cannot bear it if anyone mistreats Jodha), comes alive in a surge of fury. The sudden strength with which she seizes the whip and throws it aside is powered by this protectiveness.
Strange people these two. Jalal stopped taunting her after her suicide attempt and fell for her after she put his life in danger and then saved him. Jodha stopped taunting him after Shivaani elopement and falls for him after he put her life in danger and went to great lengths to save her! Since they have both reached the brinks of death to realise their love for each other, the bond will be very strong!
She is a wonderful companion in hard times. Unfazed by any troubles, big or small. Ever cheerful and uncomplaining. In short, to borrow a modern term, a very good sport.
The Shove vs The Handhold:
What followed was at once sidesplitting and very revealing. Jalal, ever on the ball, and having decided to abandon his dhakka mantra, got back at her for all her earlier stree ke liye lalasa taunts, though with gentle mischief. He now realized, he asserted, why she had thrown away his sticks. It was not that she was concerned about his exertions. Not at all. It was really because:
Aapko bahana chahiye tha humaare paas aane ka, humein choone ka, hamare haath to pakadne ka. Aap ne sochaa, raat kaa andhera hai, aas-paas koi nahin hai, mauk hai, mahaul hai, dastoor hai, to kyun na in sab baton ka faydaa uthaya jai! Shahenshah saamne hain, aur aapne bina jataye yeh sab kuchh kar diya! Waah !
It was almost an skll accusation in reverse...shahenshah ke liye laalsa. Mouke ka faayda was her standard mantra. It was amusing to hear it from him. Jalal's wickedness is changing from poking taunts to gentle teases now.
The Teddy Bear & his Sethani: While we are on this topic, whatever anyone else here feels about it, I love this Seth-Sethani gig, every single bit of it.
We all do aunty, probably as much as they do themselves. Far from the madding crowd in Agra the duo needed this trip badly. Jalal is for the first time experiencing being cared for himself!
Jalal: I am sure that like Sandhya - jiski aankhen Jalal ki shamsheer ko jung mein dekhne ke liye taras gayee theen - the rest of the forum too is in the seventh heaven after Jalal's unexpected and savage display of shamsheerbaazi (even if the shamsheer was borrowed one!). Rajat was as agile and ferocious as ever, and I loved it too, though the shaky takes robbed it of the clear cut, raw physicality of the similar display when Jalal was escaping from Amer with Abdul.
Oh! shaky or not! Something was better than nothing. I jumped with joy when I saw him dive with his shamsheer in 'aage dekhiye' and didn't switch channels during the adds, lest I miss out something for there is no telling how long action sequences last in JA. Thank God it extended for 2-3 minutes.
For the rest, two of Jalal's scenes stand out.
The one, in the jail, after Jodha pays the jaziya with her jewellery and prevents Jalal from being whipped. Jalal says to her Apni hi mukarrar ki gayi sazaa ko kaatna bahut kam shahenshaon ke naseeb mein hota hai, Jodha Begum. Aapne hum se yeh mauka cheen liya.
The bitter sense of shame he feels at the injustice being done to his subjects under his rule, his desire to assuage his sense of guilt by taking the very punishment decreed for them in his name under harsh and unjust laws, plus the unstated determination to set things right at the earliest - they are all there in Jalal's eyes and face as he looks at a troubled , unsure Jodha. The deep regret and the (temporary) helpless frustration are dissolved in the final Khair.. as he leads her away.
It was an unbelievable display of deep, complex emotions conveyed with a single look.
Akbar!
The other is when he is bidding farewell to Todar Mal and his wife. Never was the duality of Badal and Jalal more evident than here. Preeti.r has pointed this out with remarkable perceptiveness on my last thread of yesterday (please don't ask me where in those 53 pages!).
Preeti's observation was brilliant as was the performance. It was an internal struggle in him ever since he learnt that he has accepted the hospitality of the man he thought had a hand in his tattered childhood. The Jalal in him and the badal in him were alternatingly taking over.
As he bid farewell he learnt a new thing from TM, quite different from the seekh that his Khan Baba had given him .
Todar Mal: He is calm, dignified, perceptive, astute, and has a flair for doing exactly the right thing at the right time. He turns Jalal's hostility towards him into acceptance and appreciation by gifting him the shahi mohar of the Emperor Humayun. With that one stroke, he achieves three things.
One, he shows his profound gratitude to (the supposed) Badal for saving his life.Two, he defuses Jalal's enmity towards him by telling him how he got the shahi mohar.Three, he makes it clear, thru the very special nature of the gift, that he recognizes who Badal really is. At the same time, by preserving the Shahenshah's incognito, he displays his impeccable discretion.
No wonder that Jalal dockets him away in his mental card index as a very valuable find, whom he will summon to Agra at the soonest. The Navaratnas are slowly taking shape.
This was classy aunty. The mohur presentation and explanation. So was Todar Mall. Radiating goodness and strength, politeness and cleverness without ado. How much Jalal needs the likes of him. How different is he from Mr.Akdoo Pandey. I thought that the character and the actor held his own against Jalal/Rajat. Hope he is not abandoned like Abdul. Not likely though as he is going to be a part of the Navratna...Waiting for Birbal.
Precap: I feel sorry for Ruqaiya from time to time, especially now, seeing that she is pathetically ill-equipped to cope with what is going to hit her very soon.
As for today's episode, I really felt a little bad for Ruqs today. She came such a cropper compared to the mature and good hearted two. She looked so moved when Jo explained to her that it is the concern that matters, and when Jalal praised her burnt roti.
The spoilt child doesn't have a mother to advice her.😭 Though HB tries, it is never the same aunty. No-one can replace a mother and the deficiency is so apparent in Ruqaiya's character.
But my sympathies flew away when she asked Jo to sleep outside.😡( anyway that is what the cvs aim -alienating jalal and the viewers from the character)
Ruqs cannot be cute or good for more than 2 episodes or 2 minutes (they are still having her as a cat on a wall)
High time Jalal speaks out to her plain and proper. He is the only one who can guide her.
The trio scene was somewhat appealing.
Jalal was so sweet praising the jali hui roti and appreciating the effort. Ruqs was cute trying to make the roti looking at Jo albeit huffing and puffing.
Jo was cute it telling her that Jalal will see the earnestness and not the final effect just like an elder sister. How nice it would be if they become friends! If only Jalal manages the magic!
Wonder why they made a javeda out of ruqaiya today.
Ruqaiya says wahan bichaane ke liye kuch nahin hai when she has a khema with her!
Jalal actually travels bankrupt... no 200 sikkas for his group, no paisa for roti! Only jodha devi's jewelleries free him and feed him. 🤣
Yesterday was one decent episode without jodha devi ki jai ( but where she actually shone). But the cvs can't resist it perhaps.
Another bit that I appreciated was that jalal reacted ro ruqs burning her hand too though not like the whiplash he felt when jodha burnt hers. Rishta nibhaana to koi jalal se seekhe.
Actually, the mannat scene was very cute. But I was only comparing the chiselled featured handsome Jalal in the previous trip and the Teddy Bear now! 🤣
Between his thin begums he looked like a tightly-stuffed cuddly fat teddy bear.🤣
Edited by Sandhya.A - 11 years ago
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