Friends, the maha episode yesterday must have been a bit of a let down for many people ... because many of us expected that some "mahayudh" was going to start and the election of the new head of the harem would be shown to us. We then expected that the series of episodes next week would show us the five days of challenge that Jodha would undertake when Ruq would set up all kinds of problems for her to surmount.
Alas, the maha episode was not of the kind we expected. In fact there were no "high points" in the episode at all and the whole one hour was dedicated to setting up the stage for three separate tracks which may become important next week. One of these tracks will of course be of the main storyline - the challenge election to select the new harem head. The second of these tracks that was opened up yesterday was the case of Sujamal. The third of these tracks started off yesterday was about Sharif deepening his Jodha fixation.
It is a bit confusing trying to analyse a full one-hour programme, so I am going to break it into these three tracks I have mentioned above and start detailing each of these tracks. The first track is a bit long as there is a lot of ground to cover, but the other two tracks are smallish. Here interestingly, I want to tell you not only about what happened in these tracks but also add my own prediction at the end of each track. A lot of ideas are now zipping through my mind since the storyline is not going exactly as we expected, and many of these tracks have now taken unexpected contours.
So let's start with the track-wise analysis ...
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TRACK ONE: How Jodha is convinced to take on the head of harem role - and especially how Jalal helps her with this decision
a. Jodha sees what slavery is like at close quarters - and how it is also at the harem!
Since the previous episode when Jalal gave Jodha that determination that she too could handle the head of the harem role with capability, Jodha seemed to have entered a state of some deep mental conflict in the maha episode. Her mind was still not quite made up although she was ready in some small way to take on the challenge. She was not afraid of her ability to handle the job, but the lingering hesitation seemed to be that she didn't want to tread on Ruq's toes or butt into her "territory" and thus cause upheaval in the previously smooth workings of the Palace and its harem.
It was with this kind of uljhan in mind that Jodha went out to the city mandir with Moti and they found themselves on one oaf the busy city streets. As destiny would have it however, they saw something that completely shook them. A horde of chained and bent slaves were being herded through the town streets like animals, hungry and thirsty for not having eaten anything for nearly three days. It was a motley group of tattered and ragged people, looking no better than a pack of street animals, attracting attention by their groans and pleas for help and water. The very old and the very young were all in this group of disgracefully clothed and starved group. Sipahis patrolling their progress showed not an inch of sensitivity to their plight. Jodha was shocked beyond words when she was told that they would all be individually sold, separated from their children, their families, their loved ones. Rich homes that bought them would be treating them worse than animals and giving them stale food and squalid living quarters.
The soft-hearted Jodha was aghast and she and Moti pulled rank as the Begum of the Shahenshah to stop this group and to give them water. Ad then when the group thanked them with thanks that sounded like laments, Jodha was even more shocked to find a little stowaway - a boy of barely 7 years - hiding from the sipahis inside her doli. The child was eating the mandir prasad that Jodha had kept inside. Quietly, not attracting the attention of the sipahis around, Jodha got into her doli to go home, with the little boy still inside with her. His story that he told her en route was another pathetic tale. He had been separated from his mother, his father was a dead soldier, and his mother had been sold to a Seth who didn't want the boy, and so he was orphaned, but uncared for, unfed and in deep distress to be reunited with his mother. Jodha and Moti smuggled him into Jodha's hojra where he was given food and water and clean clothes. They didn't know what else they could do with him but to let him stay here unknown to anybody till they could find his mother and restore him to her.
It was at this juncture that one of the haremites, Ruksa Begum entered Jodha's room and saw the little boy and heard his story from Jodha and added her sympathy after seeing his plight. But Ruksa was no stranger to slavery. She told Jodha "If you want to know why we are all rooting for you to become the harem head, you have to get to know the ugliest secrets of this harem. Come with me and I'll show you the underbelly of this place that Ruqaiya is supposed to be running very wonderfully!"
Jodha and Ruksa went through corridors and back rooms into what looked like the bandhi quarters. Hordes of bandhis were squashed into these rooms, the conditions of living were filthy, and there was distress and disease all around and no sign of medical help or succour for these women. Ruksa explained to Jodha that these bandhis were either captured as slaves after wars or even bought, and then they were ill-fed, overworked, medically uncared for and even flogged for misdemeanours. Many of them have had to leave behind infants when they were bought and harnessed to their work her. If Jodah was aghast with her first sight of slavery on the streets she was even more disturbed to see it thriving right at the heart of the harem, where the superficial style and beauty of the richer women covered the cruelty that festered in the back rooms. Most poignant was the moment Ruksa said to Jodha "If you cannot do something for all these beleagured people by taking charge of the harem, then please do not insult them by offering them lip sympathy!"
I thought this scene was a good touch by the Creatives to highlight this whole slavery issue. They showed it well in three stages. It was good that they also showed slavery not only on the streets but also inside the harem.
b. Jodha goes to the tarazu in uljhan - and meets who else but her husband there!
It was not surprising that Jodha soon found herself in her very conflicted mental state near the tarazu where many a time she has seen Jalal there trying to weigh his tough situations to try and look for the just solution. Jodha's eyes were moist from the heart-rending scenes she had seen of the rampant slavery in the city and the harem, but her brows were furrowed with confusion on what she should do with her own life as she stood at these crossroads. She told herself "What kind of conflict is this? I am clueless about what to do. On one side are alll these people who are so looking up to me to do something for them, and on the other side is Ruqaiya whose enmity I don't want. What can I do?"
Just then her imagination starts playing tricks with her. She sees Ruq sitting on one of the plates of the tarazu, laughing venomously saying "You can do nothing. I amd the Mallika e-Begum. The harem was always mine, stays so now and will be mine forever too." Suddenly then with another evil laugh Ruq disappears as the two tarazu plates now hold a battered old woman on one side and the young orphan boy on the other side. The old lady is thirsting for water and the little boy cries for his mother. The old lady says "You are our only hope Jodha Begum!" Again suddenly all the characters leave the tarazu empty and Jodha says "Ambe Ma, what is happening to me here?"
As she stands in confusion, Jalal come s to her side silently, as she herself has come to his side many a time while he stood in confusion before the tarazu. "I do the same thing" he says, "whenever my mind is shaken by confusion, I too come here". "This decision is very difficult for me" Jodha says in a shaky voice. Jalal puts a hand on her shoulder (and she's finding that something new too between them!). "That's true" Jalal says, "But most often people know what is the right choice to make and yet choose the wrong thing because its much easier. The right route always feels hard. But our positions are such that no matter what people think, we have to choose the right path. That's the message of this insaaf ka tarazu."
"But Shahenshah", says Jodha, "I am not competent enough to run the harem, and neither do I understand the culture and rules of this place well." Jalal says "No, that's a lie. From the day you married me, you belong to Agra. Agra is as much yours as it is mine, or Ruq's or Ammijaan's or anybody's. As for your competency, I have no doubts, nor does my mother,or any other lady of the harem. You are the person who gave me the most beautiful gift of my life by uniting me with the hearts of my people, getting me their good wishes, and even fighting death for me. But yes, its true that you never know your own competency till your surmount some obstacles. But you now have that chance to surmount tough situations and show your strength. There is that strength in you that can make you take the right decisions."
"But it's not that easy" Jodha says again with tears almost welling out of her eyes. "Certainly it won't be easy" agrees Jalal, "It is actually easier to become one of the aam people, but not as easy to become one of the khas begums. It is easy to become weak and lose, but tough to become strong against pressures. You are carrying the izzat, tehzeeb and strength of two families on your shoulders, and that's not an easy task. But I know you can do it becuase you are not "aam". You are firm in determination, firm in decisions, sincere in your feelings. I have not seen another woman so fearless and strong as you. Even before this you have fought and won for insaaf. That's why I am sure you will this time too takethe right decision."
She is so moved that she can barely speak but she folds her hands in thanks and walks away and Jalal tells himself, "I told her so much yet all I got was her silence. Looks like the calm before some impending storm".
I think scene was BEAUTIFUL. It was exquisite. It was sensational because it was reversal of the scene where she has helped him several times in this very spot. Today he was there for her. How do these two souls know when the other is in uljhan and how do they both gravitate towards the tarazu where they know they'll find each other? And how awesome were Jalal's words? How powerful were his feelings that he tried to put into her to get her past her confusion? How much faith did he show he had in her and how sincere was his praise of her qualities of strength and righteousness. Every woman needs a husband like this to feel special. It was not about his touch on her shoulders, it was about the touch of his heart embracing hers and saying "I know no one like you. And you can do it!"
c. Jodha stands tall at the harem sabha - and accepts the challenge to be Head of Harem
Seeing Jodha roaming around the Palace like a lost and terrified soul, Resham and Maham are having a good laugh. But there is wisdom also in Maham's words. She says "Here Ruqaiya is sleeping early to be fresh tomorrow, but Jodha is roaming the corridors in confusion. But believe me, the one that sleeps will lose all, while the one that is awake will marshall her resources".
True enough the next morning all were assembled at the sabha at the harem waiting for Jalal, when Maham needed to bolser Ruq by saying ""You will win, especially against Jodha!". "Doubtless" replies Ruq "no one has the guts to challenge me". Jalal then appears and immediately gets down to the issue at hand. "I gave everybody one day's time to consider who would be willing to run the harem. So apart from Ruq are there any other contenders?" Jalal is met with silence from all sides, as no begum ventures to add her name.
Jodha meanwhile is reliving all the flashacks of those slaves she saw on the streets, of the little orphan boy slave who has lost his mother, and the countless wretched bandhis living in squalor and ill-treatment at the harem. She stands up suddenly, very determined. "I am ready to take on the responsibillity Shahenshah" she says. He looks at her steadfastly, but emotionlessly ... as all the women wearr happy smiles around the room, save for Maham and Ruq.
"I thought till today" Jodha continues "that Ruq was doing a fine job with the harem and I needn't concern myself. But of late I am seeing something entirely different. Call it God's will or the call of the time, I now realise I too live in this harem, I too am a wife of the Shahenshah and to clean up the mess in the house is my job too." (A smile spreads on Jalal's face as she stresses that she too is his wife!). "So I've decided" she adds, "to give Ruq a challenge for her position of ruler of the harem! This harem is neither hers nor mine but belongs to eveybody in it and all need to live in dignity here."
"Okay then" Jalal says " looking cursorily in Ruq's direction. "In four days time we will hold an election and choose the leader of the harem". He then walks off but as he passes Jodha he gives a nod of encouragement and approval.
The scene was routine till it came to that last "nod". It then acquired a unique significance because only at that moment did Jall reveal that he wanted Jodha to stand up and be counted and he also wanted to show her that he was proud of her for having taken his advice!
d. Jodha goes to Hamida - and gets the extra touch of motherliness to help her!
"I am in difficulty" Jodha says to Hamida whom she goes to after hearing Jalal at the tarazu. "I always used to go to my mother in distressing times, and now you are that mother for me". Hamida has been praying before the picture of her husband, Humayun, as she turns to Jodha and offers the same sentiments as Jalal did. She tells Jodha that the decision to be strong and face the responsibility of the harem must be taken for the sake of the people who want her there. Hamida says "When my husband Humayun was defeated by Sher Shah Suri, we wives had the option to stay somewhere safe, while our husbands fled their captors and were shelterless. But I diid not take the easy option. I chose to rough it out with my husband. You have to be ready to take the tough options. We women are all with you ... even Jalal." Jodha thanks her for this wisdom. "I promise to keep the dignity of the Mughal Sultanate" she says.
I was at first wondering why we needed this Hamida scene when Jalal had already spoken so much to reassure Jodha. Why did she go crying to Hamida also? It then struck me that Jodha may be looking for a role model in a situation like this. Jalal could tell her what to do, but Hamada could share her practical experience of having been in a tight situation of tough choices to make. Having another woman as a role model must have been meaningful to Jodha in her condition.
e. Jalal visits Jodha to bolster her courage again - and to tell her she's almost there!
Jalal visits Jodha in her rooms again when she hurriedly tries to hide the orphan slave boy she had been keeping there and feeding and clothing till his mother is found. Jalal says "Again you have done the opposite of what you said. You demurred against facing Ruq in a challenge and now you have taken it up!!" Jodha sounding more confident now says back to him "I am not craving power. I am just doing what the tarazu told me to do. I fact I am doing what the Shahenshah told me to do." Jalal replies "Oh so you are turning it on me? But anyway I came here to give you some added advice. Please remembber that you are not challenging some ordinary person, it is Ruq who you're competing with. And I can speak from my experience, you have to try and understand her mind and her grip on political affairs."
Jodha repliies with a smile "Shahenshah some things have to be thought through not with the mind but with the heart!" "Subhanallah" he says "so you decided even this with your heart? I know you are always successful when you decide with your heart." Just then a summons comes from Atga and Jalal has to go. Jalal shows how confident he is of Jodha's victory by saying "Okay I'll go now to my political work and you go back to your harem work, and if there's free time, make sure you come and visit me!" (Awww ...!)
The big value in this scene came for me when Jalal made a trip to Jodha's room just to give her a few tips on handling Ruq! That was very significant, wasn't it? And then he also seemed to talk as if she'd already got the job, saying "See if you have some spare time for me"! He's so into Jodha winning that he seems to be leaving no stone unturned in caoching her and boosting her morale!
HERE'S MY PREDICTION FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN:
Based on the precap it looks like Ruq will do everything possible to put Jodha off-track in the next four days leading up to the election. Already in the precap, Ruq looks like she is trying to play the "religion" card. By placing Kanha moorthies in the rooms of all Hindu bandhis (against harem rulles) and accusing Jodha of doing this , I think Ruq is trying to fan the Muslim vs Hindu divide in the harem. I expect Jodha will eventually overcome this issue ingeniously, and also find many more such petty but bothersome saazishes from Maham/Ruq in the coming week, which she will have to solve one by one.
Meanwhile there's one point that I want to emphasize here. Yesterday there was a scene where Ruq slaps Hoshiyaar so hard for saying something in favour of Jodha, that Hoshiyaar then resigns from Ruq's service and runs to Jodha to give him a job out of pity. Till that point I thought maybe Hoshiyaar was really distraught and really wanting to lose the Ruq job and was begging for some work from Jodha. But then Hoshiyaar suddenly mentioned that if he did not get a job from Jodha he would commit suicide. At that point my antennae started zinging! Why the undue blackmail to get Jodha to somehow employ him? It struck me then that there's a 50-50 chance of Hoshiyaar really being distraught and desperate - or maybe this is all a saazish of Ruq's. What if she had told Hoshiyaar "I'll slap you twice in public, and you then go and give this suicide dhamki and make Jodha employ you. Then you can give me the inside info on everything Jodha is plannning and doing so that I can beat her at this election!" My feelings are now swinging in the direction of this Hoshiyaar employment beinga total saazish!
Anyway, the new promo shows that Jalal may be supporting Jodha each step of the way - not by telling her what to do, but by using reverse psychology to spur her to take her own decisions. So eventually Jodha will win the election, is what I feel.
Jodha's big act after victory will be to get Jalal to abolish slavery. Once she does that she will then maybe make a speech to the haremites to please again accept Ruq as their head, and a suitably chastened Ruq may be more than willing to get back her audha. I did have a doubt whether Ruq may not like to take Jodha's discarded audha, but I now feel that Ruq is so audha -fixated that she won't mind getting her power back by hook or by crook.
I also think that Jalal will give Jodha some other bigger responsibilites after she has thus proved herself in the harem affair. What that audha and role will be we have to see. I am keen to see if it makes Ruq then feel that being the Begum-e-Khas is smaller than Jodha's shiny new audha and responsibilities. But it is clear Jalal is grooming Jodha to become the MUZ and he is sparing no effort to encourage her determination, support her talents, warn her against Ruq's strengths and generally show her that's hes very confident of her! He s a really nice guy, this Jalal!
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TRACK TWO: The Sujamal issue becomes ugly as Jalal receives the bodies of his brothers unethically killed in war
Jalal is called by Atga to the gates of the Palace where the bodies of his two brothers has arrived after they were killed in the Mewat war by Sujamal. It looks like they have been backstabbed unethically by "peet ke peeche se war", something that Rajvanshis pride themselves on never doing, and always blame as ruthless and indecent Mughal war culture.
The big surprise for me came when Atga and Jalal both knew who Sujamal was. They knew of his name (although they may never have seen him in person) and they knew that he was Jodha's brother but a traiitor to his own family who had engaged his own family in war in cahoots with Sharifuddin.
Jalal was fuming about this massacre of his brothers by Sujamal, and he later summoned Jodha to the armaments room where it looked like he was considering now entering the war himself to recapture Mewat from Sujamal. Jalal says to Jodha "Looks like war is imminent. Mewat has been captured and the blood of countless Mughals has been spilled. Two of my distant brothers have been killed too. Only revenge will satisfy me now." He proceeds to run his fingers down a sword blade and as his fingers bleed and Jodha shows deep concern he says "This is nothing to the blood my soldiers and wafaadaars have given."
Jodha says "Don't lose courage here. You are a yodha yourself and these things happen in war. People who die attain veer gati." But Jalal says "That's among you Rajvanshis, we Mughals don't see it that way."
Jalal then asks Jodha if Rajvanshis ever do "peet ke peeche se war" and she swears they never do, it is against their culture and pricnples and people who do that need to severely punished. He is happy to hear that - for he then tells her that the man who did such a thing to his brothers was none other than Sujamal, the traitor son of the Amer family! Jalal says he not only went against Amer for the takht earlier, but now from land-greed he has captured Mewat.
Jodha is shocked beyond words and in a choked voice says "If he has done this he needs to be ruthlessly punished". But her eyes are welling with tears for we all know how close she and Sujamal were and how much he has helped shape her talents at swordfighting and other forms of warfare. He was her favourite brother but what could she do if he turned out to be such a black sheep? Jodha leaves the room hiding her tears, as Jalal thanks her for this conversation that has given him sukoon!
This is another conflict that Jodha now has to face between getting Sujamal punished and quelling her love for her dearest brother. I see another tarazu scene coming!
MY PREDICTION ON THE SUJAMAL ISSUE:
All of us were imagining the movie story to happen, that Jalal may mistake Sujamal as Jodha's lover and banish Jodha after a big MU etc. But my prediction now is very different after I saw yesterday that Jalal and Atga knew that Sujamal was Jodha's brother and a traitor of the Amer clan. But Jalal and Atga etc have not physically seen Sujamal. So my guess is that Sujamal will now try to come to Agra in disguise to meet Jodha (to see if she is well after the snake poison issue). At first the Creativves will give us a lot of suspense and we will wonder if Jodha will try to save Sujamal or hide him from Jalal.
BUT ... here is where I think Jodha will remember what Jalal said at the tarazu - that since her marriage she is now an Agra-ite, and her home is here and her husband arnd family and loyalties are here. Jodha will remember this ...and when Sujamal shows up, I have a feeling that she herself will give him up to Jalal as a traitor and a backstabber of war and ask that he should get the harshest punishment. But even as Jodha hands Sujamal over to Jalal, her astute husband Jalal may see the tears in her eyes and realise how hurt she is deep within that she has to hand over her dearest brother to be punished or even executed by Jalal. Jalal will not be able to see Jodha in so much pain, and he may ask her what Sujamal means to her ... and she may share her childhood with Jalal and talk of how Sujamal was so close to her.
Then I think, in a gesture of love to Jodha, Jalal may himself surreptitiously release Sujamal from prison, and act as if he has himself escaped. Jalal will do this to save Jodha from further pain but he will also not want his people to think he has let off Sujamal easily. Sujamal may now actually get a new respect for Jalal after seeing Jalal's gesture of love for Jodha. And that is why much later when Sharif plots to kill Jalal, Sujamal may snoop and come to Jalal and lose his own life in saving Jalal (as in the movie ending).
Regarding Mewat, while Sujamal is in Agra, Bharmal and sons may go there and recapture Mewat and give it back to Jalal - and the Amer and Agra families may reconcile! This is my prediction .
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TRACK THREE: Sharif gets the same lady painter to paint Jodha's portrait - and may get exposed by that painter!
A small scene yesterday showd Sharif commissionning a portrait of Jodha from the same lady painter that Jalal uses. (What a dumb thing to do!) He was giving lecherous descriptions of Jodha to the painter and when the final painting showed Jodha's face, the painter herself was shocked. Of course Sharif then saw Bakshi coming there and started scolding the painter for doing such a shoddy job since he was describing his wife Bakshi whose portrait he wanted and not Jodha's . This lie has not washed down well with the painter.
MY PREDICTION ON THIS SHARIF ISSUE:
The lady painter is surely going to sneak to Jalal about this Sharif leching after Jodha. Now that may be interesting ... not because Sharif will get caught - he may or may not - but because we could see a jealous Jalal getting more aggressively in love with Jodha! Anything can happen when a man already in love suspects another fellow to be lusting after his beloved! I am expecting some additional chemistry sparks to start flying! Also since Mewat may be recaptured by Bharmal and Sons, I expect Sharif to be despatched to his Mewat subehdari immediately!
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Current Affairs
