Friends, I wouldn't exactly call the Wednesday episode a filler. It did move the story forward. And it did bring back that lovely tarazu analogy again as Jalal toyed with the idea of insaaf for Bakshi Bano in her state of pregnancy. But perhaps the episode gave a bit of angst to viewers because there was expectation of some overt or physical romance at least, which did not happen.
There was romance however, at the tarazu, but only those who had eyes to see it could have seen it, it was so subtle. But it was beautiful. Read on ...
What we expected ... and what we got:
The Tuesday's episode precap did not figure in Wednesday's episode. In fact it again became the precap of the Wednesday episode ... and so a lot of us were left waiting for that very attractive scene of Jalal drying Jodha's hair while she let's slip snatches of interesting tidbits from her "dream state" during her snake bite coma!
What we got instead was an elaborate episode on how exactly Jalal was convinced to forgive Bakshi Bano from her gunah to Jodha during the fake pregnancy track. We did not even get as far as Sharif's release from prison. All we got was a pardon for Bakshi from her brother. But to get this pardon we had to go through many steps.
First of all the "ladies club" that had summoned Jalal to plead Bakshi's case with him was a failure. Jalal simply wouldn't relent ... though he, in turn, asked every one of the ladies for their opinions before deciding against. He knew his mother's and Jodha's pleas, so he asked Ruq her opinion, then Salima, Gulbadan and Maham. All of them had different perspectives on the subject but they seemed united on the need to forgive Bakshi - some said because she was a sister, some said because she was pregnant, some said because she was a woman before she was a sister, and some said because it would otherwise drive Bakshi to do "something drastic". But Jalal refused to budge. The ladies all seemed to drop their shoulders resignedly - and they walked off in a group saying they had done their best. Salima felt that as a brother he did show some chink in his armour, but Maham pooh-poohed that saying he would never see a brother's point of view since he had no "dil"!
But Jodha somehow was not satisfied. She asked Hamida for one more chance to convince Jalal. She said "We have appealed to the King in him, but not the brother in him." Ruq scoffed at the idea and predicted that Jodha would return only to lick her wounds after another excursion to an already angry Jalal. But seeing Jodha's persistence Hamida relented. "Who knows", she said, "the 100th blow of the axe could fell the tree, and maybe your last try could be that 100th blow of the axe". So Jodha went in search of Jalal.
Here's where the symbolism of the "insaaf ka tarazu" came back into our lives. By now Jodha - and we - knew that the tarazu had become Jalal's decision-companion during conflicts. He was clearly in conflict within his mind, about whether to be the harsh Shahenshah or the kind brother to Bakshi at this stage. He had flashbacks of scenes from the past both as a King and a brother in this case. Jalal gravitated towards the tarazu, as he always did when in deep uljhan - and Jodha knew precisely where she could find him.
Jodha makes her logical case ... but her pain wins!
Jodha said some beautiful things to Jalal to try and change his mind subtly and yet convincingly.
She said "I knew you would be near the tarazu and this very fact confirms that you yourself are in two minds. The brother in you is fighting the King in you. I have just the one reason why you have to forgive Bakshi at this stage. It is not because she's a sister or even because she's a pregnant lady in need of help. Your fair and just laws state that even if a hundred criminals go free, not even a single innocent should get punished. I agree that Sharif and Bakshi are criminals - and the law needs to come down on them heavily. But can you also punish the unborn child who is nothing but a pure innocent? Can you condemn that child to parents who are tainted - and to a lifelong misery of becoming tainted and spurned by association? What insaaf is that to one yet unborn? Is that child also not a citizen with equal rights to insaaf and law? Do you remember that you were so careful as to not punish me for Shivani's mistake during her elopement? Is that same fairness not needed here in the case of this child that is in Bakshi Bano?"
"Also its is Mughal law that the victim of a crime may forgive the criminal as did Ruq to Adham and Haikm to my father. When I have forgiven Bakshi, why do you carry the insaaf burden on yourself?"
"I know you love Bakshi very much, so I plead her case with you."
" And what's more you do me a great hurt if you stay so hard-hearted - because I am unable to stand and watch Bakshi's deep pain!"
Friends, it is a good point to debate which of these arguments had the most effect on Jalal. Here are my thoughts ...
I thought Jodha arranged her arguments beautifully in the right sequence. First she appealed to the King and said the unborn innocent citizen also has rights not to burdened with parental crimes. Then she appealed to the brother of Bakshi saying "I know you love your sister very much, so do see her plight". And finally she said the one thing that made him turn his head toowards her and look her deeply in the eyes. She said "You do me a great hurt, for my heart can''t bear Bakshi in pain!".
I do not know about all of you friends, but I thought it was so significant that Jalal had his face turned away from Jodha for all the rest of the arguments, but when she said that last sentence about her own pain, he felt compelled to turn and look at her and her pain was reflected in his eyes. I think the rest of the arguments gave him his rationalisations, but it was his love of Jodha that really won him over. He couldn't bear to see her in pain!This is my feeling!
(Incidentally, friends, I expected that Jodha would press the point about releasing Sharif, but she didn't. I suppose she thought that if she could get Jalal to forgive Bakshi, that would be enough. Jalal would then automatically assume that he would also have to free Sharif so that Sharif could support his wife through her pregnancy. Anyway, whatever prudence Jodha acted with, it did not let her plead Sharif's case separately so far, and that makes me glad! For I did not want even a hint of suspicion on Jodha that she had any partiality for Sharif.)
In the end Jodha said her pranams and left Jalal thinking at the tarazu ... she did not do anything more than just laying out her arguments for him to consider on his own. We then saw Jalal as if his mind was made up. The argument of the "innocent unborn child not deserving punishment" seemed to have the most impact on his logical mind judging from his expressions when Jodha was talking about it. But as I said, the emotive appeal coming from Jodha's own pain seemed to be the one that most "moved" him!
Like many times before, Jalal removed his ring and put in on one side of the tarazu to weigh down on that side - and that was the side he had thought of as Bakshi's side. The King won . The brother won. But the lover won most of all!
Later when Bakshi almost had a trip on a staircase, Jalal ran to her rescue and admonished her severely for negligence at a time like this. The forgiving, loving brother was in full force, showering his sister with TLC, and a grateful Jodha looked on, silently thanking Jalal with her eyes.
Everyone was no doubt happy with the outcome. Even Ruq seemed thrilled - but then she was kidding herself that Jalal had not listened to Jodha but had suddenly discovered the brotherly love inside of himself! The silly girl was being extremely short-sighted ...
Maham tried to find a way to get the truth down Ruq's throat. At a game of chess, the highly self-confident Ruq was marching her Queen across the board with aplomb, when Maham saw her King unattended, circled him and declared him checkmated by her own Queen. She then told Ruq obliquely "You were so preoccupied with the power of your Queen that you left your King unattended, and now my Queen has circled and checkmated him". A furious Ruq marched off from the board, not showing us whether she had understood Maham's analogy - and a new Maham showed us her face. She was a Maham reconciled to the fact that Ruq would never mend! She said to herself "Looks like the end game for Ruq when Jodha will trounce her - and very soon". (Was that "very soon" also a sanket for us viewers?)
I wonder what he needs so much money for? Is he not already in the lap of luxury, sitting forever in Agra and not in Malwa? Is he building a substantial fund to dethrone Jalal and get the Crown? Or could it be that he has other vices we have not yet heard of?
Okay for the detailed scenes today I have just the one ... the tarazu-side scene of Jodha and Jalal. I have picked this one because I saw more than arguments, I saw some love and romance of the type I love in this scene.
The Jodha-Jalal Tarazu scene ... which way should Jalal go?
Jalal is standing by the Insaaf Ka Tarazu weighing the pros and cons of the case, looking extremely perplexed and caught in two minds, when Jodha comes there, knowing that he would be there in moments of deep confusion. She starts tentatively "Shahenshah .." but he cuts her short saying "Jodha begum, I have already told you in front of everybody that I will not change my faisla."
But Jodha doesn't let go. She says "But then why are you so conflicted? You always come and stand by this tarazu here when you are conflicted. And I know exactly why you are conflicted. Because in the end Bakshi is after all your sister, isn't she? To save the innocent has also always been your principle, even while punishment of the criminal has been another of your tenets, no matter if the criminal is Adham Khan, Sharifuddin or Bakshi Bano."
Jalal's rattled mind shouts at her "And that is Mughal Law that no criminal should be let off".
Jodha however interjects "But that same Mughal law states that even if a hundred criminals go free, not one innocent should wrongly get punished. You did absolutely right by punishing Sharif and Bakshi, but what is the crime of that innocent unborn child? What are you punishing that child for? According to Mughal Law again the crimes of the parents are not burdened upon the child, but will this child not get separated from its parents, and lose the nurturing love of its parents? When the child grows up what will it think? Will it not ask why you punished it for someone else's crime? Without seeing that child, without even knowing it, you will fill its whole world with sorrow. Will that child not stand up and decry the great Mughal Law?"
"The ties of "sambandh" are very delicate, Shahenshah, and have to be very carefully protected. And I have learnt this from you, that only those who do crimes must get punished. The innocent should not be punished. When Shivani made her grave error against the Mughal Sultanate, you did not punish me! You knew I was innocent. To punish the criminals is your duty as a King. But as a brother and as a prospective uncle of this unborn child also you have some duties. I have only come to remind you of those duties."
" And there is also one more Mughal law that those affected by crimes have the right to pardon those who commit crimes against them. That's how Ruq pardoned Adham, and Hakim pardoned my father. So when I myself have forgiven Bakshi, why are you carrying this burden of insaaf on yourself?"
"I know you love Bakshi very much. For the sake of that love I beg you to please reconsider this whole matter."
"If you stay so hard-hearted you are also doing "injustice" to me. Because I am unable to stand and watch the pain Bakshi is going through!"
"I beg you with folded hands to please think again about this issue. The rest is up to your wish. Please give me leave to go now. Pranam!"
With that Jodha walks away, leaving Jalal looking at the empty space that she had occupied!
I see some posts that Jodha's speech was too long. But I didn't think so ... because it looks long only if you look at it as one big lump of diatribe. If you break it up into its constituent parts you willl see how well the speech is crafted ... every single angle of it is intended to appeal to a different facet of Jalal. One part appeals to his fairness, another to his love of his sister and yet another to his love of Jodha - nascent as it is, this love of Jodha and inability to see her in pain seems to be the argument that gets the most reaction from him than any other part of the speech.
Did you all notice that Jalal has his face turned away from Jodha throughout ... till she talked of her own pain at watching Bakshi, and his head turned as he looked at her with pain in his own eyes. Those who felt there was no romance in yesterday's episode should see this little bit of this speech again, when for a moment the two hearts felt the same pain together! This kind of silent transmission of pain and love is so much more powerful than holding hands or combing hair!
In the end Jalal removed his ring characteristically and weighed down one side of the tarazu with it as if to signal that he had decided in favour of forgiving Bakshi.
What I want to say at the end of this scene folks is that I got the message that "love" is the greatest force of all. A hundred pieces of irrefutable logic are as nothing compared to a wee bit of "love" to make short work of concepts like fairness, principle, law or righteousness! And it is not even that brotherly kind of love that works - it is an entirely different kind of primeval man-woman love of the kind that is growing between Jodha and Jalal.
I do not crib that yesterday's episode was drab or a filler. I think if you have the eyes for it you will see the beautiful pull of love that happened at the tarazu!
A final word about the precap:
If I see that precap yet again ... three times in a row ... I'll blow a fuse!
Book Talk
Anupamaa
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