Friends, yesterday's episode was such a radical departure from the slow pace of the previous episode that suddenly it feels as if we are on the edge of a very high action week in the next seven days! Yesterday we saw a brew of some tender romance, some ugly leching, some serious talks and some fun polo games ... and a sudden reactionary attack by Jalal on a potential assassin that ended up with Atga stabbed and on the ground!
So much has happened suddenly to give some shape to the many disparate events of the last few days, such that a complex web of assumptions, confusions and high drama now seems slated to unfold before relationships can be resolved again peacefully and culprits can be nailed down satisfactorily.
What we saw during the jashn (the attempted attack on Jalal's life) was just the wick of a long 1000-wala string-phataka being lit. Now the cracker roll has started its bursting ... and God knows where we'll all be by the time the entire lot of 1000 phatakas on the string-roll exhaust themselves! We are in a for a phase of non-stop burst of high drama.
To know where we are now, and where we are likely to be going in the story, let me just briefly first recap what happened in yesterday's episode and then let's speculate on all that may happen next.
YESTERDAY'S EPISODE: SCENES AND HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Jalal and his catfight scene:
To open the proceedings yesterday we had a continuation of the catfight scene between Ruq and Jodha, both trying to decide what Jalal should do - should he go on an outing with Ruq as she kept insisting loudly and shrewishly ... or should he listen to Jodha saying it was too risky after the jashn attack, and so should he stay back? At first Jalal seemed to be saying "Yes" to both suggestions, but when the two wives became too hot to handle, and each was simmering with a surly look, Jalal did what any sane man would do ... he called urgently for his placid third wife Salima.
Salima came and as usual offered a sane and simple solution. She said "Let Jalal and Ruq play their outdoorsy polo game inside the Palace grounds itself - and thus neither would it be deemed as going out or as staying back!" It seemed to make sense to all, and Jalal especially pounced on the plan like a fish let off a fish hook! So that was the plan - the game (which turned out to be nothing other than a two man version of polo) was to be played inside the "quilla" and it also gave a chance for the whole gaggle of women and men in the palace to witness the game.
My comments on this scene:
It was supposed to be comical, but I didn't like Jalal's silly expressions, nor his throwing his hands up at the catfight and asking for Salima. It was a bit far-fetched and the comedy part of it was pathetic. One wouldn't expect a Shahenshah to call for this third wife to solve the dilemma of the first two, so let me just let this scene go as a bad trial at a funny scene that turned out not to so funny after all. Jalal's expressions of being flummoxed at first and then sighing with relief later were both overdone a bit. Don't you all agree? All that was achieved was a re-iteration that of all the four people in this four-cornered marriage, three had slightly less brains while the fourth was always needed to inject simple common sense into situations. I don't like seeing my leads in this kind of portrayal of silliness!
2. A forgettable Maham-Javeeda scene:
The less said about this totally unnecessary scene the better. Javeeda and Maham were having a discussion on the state of Javeeda's heart after a dream where she played polo with Adham. What was this crap scene about and why did we need it?
My comments on this scene:
Utterly forgettable scene ... and we can also try to forgive it if we can! The only thing this scene established to me was that for some reason Adham seems "gaayab" from the centre of events at the palace. That's why at the end of the episode, when there is this Jalal-Atga hungama, I kept wondering if a silent and stealthy Adham may have returned and been involved. Can't be sure thoug! I was thinking of Adham's whereabouts only because Javeeda mentioned Adham in her talks with Maham, as if he was not yet there in the Agra palace at the moment! Hasn't he yet returned from Malwa? Or has he returned stealthily to try and attack Atga? Not sure of anything!
3. Sharif leching at Jodha in the water:
OMG, do I have to describe this bloody ugly scene? Jodha and Rahim are at the water's edge (along with Moti and some baandhis) where Rahim is supposed to be having a bath in the talaab and learning to swim, perhaps. But the naughty Rahim gives Jodha a big dhakka that lands her squat in the water. She then begins to playfully chuck water at Rahim.
From an upper storey window of his bedroom a dirty-eyed Sharif is watching a wet-bodied Jodha in the water - and what follows is a very ugly scene of him having a private erotic fantasy ... he imagines that he and Jodha are alone in the water when he gets to say some really lechy things about her "husn". He even touches her (yikes!) and she in turn (in his fantasy) reciprocates his flirty speeches with coy "come-hither" dialogues of her own. This continues for a full 5 minutes!
Then suddenly Sharif's reverie comes to an end when he feels Bakshi's hand on his shoulder as he is standing by his bedroom window and enjoying his private fantasy. The dream is broken ... and he then covers up to Bakshi that he was watching Jodha at play with Rahim in the water and imagining Bakshi in Jodha's place playing with her own son (yet to be born after several months more!). Bakshi was smart enough, I thought, to not believe this trundled up tale. But her eyes were blazing with revenge and a mixture of scorn and fury. Was it at her husband or at Jodha?
My comments on this scene:
Overall Bakshi looked like she had seen enough to know that her husband was having sordid thoughts of Jodha ... and now what? They say "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and I am not sure if Bakshi was more furious about Sharif leching for Jodha or for his subsequent botched up cover up story. The look of latent anger and indignation in Bakshi's eyes, coupled with her deeply jealous feelings for Jodha, which were also patent, may lead Bakshi to do anything now to save her marriage, for she is pregnant! I suspect that Bakshi is going to play a huge hand now in the immediate course of events concerning Sujamal, the attack on Jalal and the role of Jodha in all this. Sharif looks so desperate for Jodha, day by day, that I feel he will not be able to hold himself back from trying to abduct Jodha. And what part Bakshi will play after this abduction or before it - either as an informer to Jalal or as one who hides the truth from all concerned, is to be watched. Bakshi may also end up trying to save Sharif by blaming Jodha as a seductress of her husband. Which way this Bakshi will go is anyone's guess!
4. The Jalal-Jodha waterfront convo:
This was a nice scene, I thought. Jodha was chucking water at Rahim, when suddenly she found that Rahim had vanished and the water was all falling on the Shahenshah passing by. He was mightily amused and wore a look of mock indignation as she looked guilty as hell. She immediately asked forgiveness for not knowing he was passing by - as Moti handed him a towel to wipe his face. "What are you punishing me for?" asked Jalal of Jodha, with a smile on his face. "It was just an accident" Jodha said in a contrite voice. Then suddenly seeing that her clothes in their wetness were probably revealing too much (and his amusement showed that they were!) Jodha came out of the water covered herself with a long dupatta.
Jalal decided then to rib Jodha about the incident and not spare her. "You've done this purposely, and see how you have made me all wet", he said. "No one like you to take advantage of a situation ..." she replied. By now he was standing so close to her that if he just went a bit more forward his lips would have touched her cheeks "Am I such a shaitaan, Jodha Begum?" he asked seductively. "No you are chatur and chaalaak" she replied archly, "and there's no limit to your chaalaaki". "Oh what did I do?" he asks again with a smile. "It was your chaturaayi to call Salima as a referee between me and Ruq" she said to him. "Oh that? That was Salima's smartness to free me from being "ground" between the two of you", he said sardonically. "Oh a Shahenshah feels so helpless?" she asked with sarcasm, and a smile. "No one escapes from his begums, neither a Shahenshah nor a pati" he said again with mock resignation.
"Let me take leave now" she then said making as if to go, but he said to her "But aren't you coming?" "Where?'" she asked. "I am due to play this polo game with Ruq and I want you to come and see me there." "But what will I gain from coming there?" she asked. "You will get to see yet another side of me" he said, and a delight lit up both their eyes. "Okay, I'll love to come" she said. "Oh in that case I have to take a lot of trouble to dress up properly" he said, and then took leave of her, leaving her face puzzled about this "dressing up" bit!
My comments on the scene:
It was a very sweet scene, and like most of their banter these days has a bit of mock-sarcasm that is not at all rude, and it also has a bit of coyness and shyness that is utterly cute. Both of them seem like a young boy and girl in the first throes of their first love, and the bashfulness on both faces is a delight to watch. Jalal especially is so suffused with delight to even just talk to her that his love is written all over his countenance. Jodha s eyes betray the fact that as a woman she is very aware of his feelings and her own. Women have a way to sense when a man is "more than deeply interested", especially if she reciprocates those feelings. Am I imagining it, or are they standing even closer to each other these days as they talk? Well if they are closing the distance, I cannot stop myself from dreaming about the remaining small gap also closing very soon! I wait, I wait, I wait ... for the day when there will be no gap physically between them. What a contrast this scene was to the Sharif fantasy scene. Did you all see how lovely love is between the right two people, and how ugly love is between the wrong two people?
5. At the games: Jodha and Jalal
Another very cute scene ensues at the grounds earmarked for the polo game between Jalal and Ruq. The seats are soon full of royals and other courtiers who have come to watch the proceedings with great interest because this game is apparently usually played far away from the palace, but this time it is being played inside the "quilla". The royals have separate enclosures to watch from, while other courtiers are all in the "stands" around the arena.
As Jodha and Salima are making their way to their seats, suddenly a Jalal, resplendently dressed in the appropriate gear for the game arrives, and Jodha stops walking on with Salima to stand and stare at her handsome husband. Is it a coincidence that he too stops to see if Jodha is looking at him? He is delighted to see the admiration of his attire in her eyes, and the two of them almost gravitate towards each other for a chat as if forces from above were magnetising them to each other. "Oh so this is the new side of yourself that you were telling me about?" she asks "It really looks splendid". "Of course we men can't compete with the way the begums dress up, but I wanted to take the effort to please you" he says with candour. "I really hope you like it?" "If that was your aim to please me," she says with a broad smile of happiness, "then I must say I like it very much. You look simply great!" "Thank you" says the King (who becomes a very young and happy boy in his moment of utter delight to hear her words). They both smile to cover their confusion after the compliment. "Then please keep your eyes on me" he says and then covers up that slip with "I mean keep your eyes on my game, because the next time I want to play this game with you. It will be good if you can get a hang of the rules of this game."
Ruq then enters the arena with an artificially sashaying walk intended to parade her own costume, and she gives Jalal a lalkaar as she goes to mount her horse. His own horse is waiting for him, and Jodha says in parting "God willing, I hope you really enjoy your game" and they part for the game to begin.
My comments on this scene:
Yum, yum! More of the ultra-closeness of their bodies, the smiles that betray that hearts are brimming with happiness on both sides, and the open compliments from Jodha adding a tinge of extreme satisfaction to Jalal - remember, he is also the Emperor who must be getting flattery and compliments by the bucketful every day, but not such a compliment as this that he is dying to hear! Her words meant a lot to him obviously and it seemed as if he took all that time and energy to dress up well to impress her. And he was looking handsome indeed. He didn't mind the candour to admit he had taken all this trouble to please her. The only thing that tweaked my own happiness is that whenever two people are shown this happy to be together and their hearts are singing in unison, some hint of trouble may also be lurking around the corner. I am scared of what might befall them soon, but for the duration of the episode, I thoroughly enjoyed this scene between them too as much as the waterfront scene.
6. At the games: Jodha and Salima
Some interesting conversations took place between Jodha and Salima as they sat beside each other watching the game. Jodha at first told Salima she liked her style of diplomacy in settling the "dispute" between herself and Ruq regarding Jalal's outing. Salima replied that she had learnt the art of "tactful solution-making" from her late husband Bairam Khan, who really had a knack for it.
A little later another conversation happened between the two ladies that seems to be of paramount importance. Seeing Ruq playing the game with aggressive need to win, Salima said to Jodha "I want to give you some advice. Now that you have got what you wanted - the changes in slavery law at the harem - it is time you should give up this post and hand it back to Ruq. You are not cut out for handling the petty politics and squabbles of the begums there, which is all that's left to be done in the harem administration. On the other hand, see Ruq, how conscious she is of power. She loves that kind of "lording" it over other women and she is just right to continue with the harem management and the daily reconciliations of warring begums". Jodha listened carefully to this advice and as she valued Salima a lot. I am sure she will follow this advice. But most importantly, I think this development of Jodha leaving the harem may be necessary for the subsequent events which may take place soon in the story. In my last section of this post where I make my prediction, you will see why I think this development is important!
My comments on this scene:
It was everything I expect from Salima - that art of making the difficult sound so possible and easy! And it was everything I expect from Jodha - the attentiveness of a younger sister to the advice of an older one. Both of them looked so cozy and at ease watching the game together and continuing their gupshup. Very sisterly scene, nice to watch, and I guess very important to the ensuing storyline!
7. At the games: Sharif leches more
Okay another very short scene, but disgusting. Bakshi catches Sharif watching Jodha in the audience instead of watching the game. More scornful fury hits Bakshi's eyes. If she had any doubts about her husband's true state-of-the-heart, all must have become crystal clear by now. The big idiot was lusting after Jodha, not merely leching ... I wonder what must be churning in Bakshi's mind now by way of a plan to bring this dolt she is married to back to the straight and narrow! I fear something sinister and twisted must be going on in Bakshi's mind to someohow save him while implicating Jodha, but I just hope and pray I am wrong. Last thing I want is that she swears vengeance on Jodha instead of blaming her husband for his straying eyes!
My comments on this scene:
(*Multi-coloured puke from me!*🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 ... you'll can feel free to imagine what it looks like ...)
8. Jalal suddenly kills someone! Atga????
Okay, this is the scene that seems to have confounded everybody. After Ruq scores a good point in the game, Jalal is silently acknowledging her good shot, when suddenly his eye catches something in the audience. He starts riding his horse furiously towards what he saw, like a bat out of hell. As he rides at breakneck pace, much to the consternation of all at the arena, his hands go to a dagger he has near his seat on the horse. He pulls out the dagger and holds it high above his head to take aim at whatever has caught his eye. I suspect he saw someone about to attack either himself or someone else in the crowd. But lo and behold, just as Jalal swiftly releases the dagger with a vicious throw at his "enemy", someone looking like Atga Khan falls to the ground with a dagger on his back.
OMG, was my first reaction. Did Jalal aim at Atga? Or was it Atga or an impostor? Or was Jalal aiming at someone who was aiming at Atga? Was it Adham who was aiming at Atga? Is Atga dead or has he just collapsed and can he be revived? OMG, OMG, OMG, what is this fracas now?!
It's going to be one of those things on which there will be as many opinions on what happened as there are members in this forum. We all have to wait out the weekend for Monday's episode to show us what exactly happened to whom and why! But for sheer drama this last scene took the cake. As I always expect, Friday episodes hang us upside down ... they always manage to do so even if we are all prepared for it!
My comments on this scene:
This is purely my personal opinion. I have a feeling that someone with an axe to grind with Atga has stabbed him. Jalal may have seen this attacker getting poised to hit Atga and Jalal must have thrown his dagger at that attacker, but the attacker may have been a bit too fast with his attack on Atga, before Jalal's dagger could hit him. Could it be Adham? I feel like discounting that suspicion. Could it be someone trying to get rid of Atga so that he doesn't tell Jalal about that paigam he got before the jashn from an unknown informer (i.e. Sujamal)? Very possible! It could be Sharif or Mali's henchman charged with killing Atga so that the warning paigam remains secret and Jalal never hears of it. But after this event happened, I now feel that little boy who carried the paigam between Sujamal and Atga may become very important to Jalal as an eye witness of the fact that it was Sujamal who gave the paigam intended for Atga! See my prediction at the end for more on this theory!
9. The precap: Maham in stealth mode
The precap scene sets the stage for the drama of next week. It shows Jodha meeting with Sujamal in the recess of a mandir, where Sujamal is in his "beggar garb and beard" while Jodha is in full regalia. Sujamal tells Jodha it is not safe to stand and talk there so they adjourn to the back of the mandir. They are so overcome with emotion as brother and sister who have not met for a long time, that they embrace. As can be expected, Maham with her 22 ears and 66 eyes is eavesdropping and watching from a place of cover. How does she pop up everywhere and smell trouble? She has Satanic Antennae, I am sure! Anyway Tatasky now gives a synopsis that Maham thinks Jodha is embracing some stranger and therefore she probably thinks "It's an affair" and plans to sneak to Jalal. It is clear that Maham has no idea of what Sujamal looks like, with or without disguise, and her bent mind can think of only one reason why people embrace - they must be in love secretly!
My comments on the precap scene:
Sooner or later it was only to be expected that Maham would get into the Sujamal issue and sure enough she is at it again overhearing things and making two plus two into two thousand and twenty two! So whats new? But the question in my mind is: did Sujamal send word to Jodha to come and meet him, or did Jodha send word to Sujamal to meet her? Or did they both meet by chance at the Ambe Ma mandir while Sujamal was sitting outside like a beggar? Or did Jodha deliberately decide to go to the temple hoping to find Sujamal there? It makes a difference who took the initiative for this meeting, doesn't it? It adds to the plot ...
Now comes the scope for major tamasha, so read on for the prediction of what may happen next week ...
WHAT NOW: Whither goeth the story?
Okay here is my prediction.
(Before I start I must give credit to Maddy, Diksha and Jyoti, my daily SMS friends, who gave me their valued opinions last night in great detail and thus enabled me to publish this prediction🤗🤗🤗):
The probable angle of progress of this story is this ... Maham may sneak to Jalal that Jodha was seen embracing an unknown man at the mandir. (Edit: Jalal in the new promo is shown trailing Jodha to see who she is meeting but I still doubt if it will become an MU! It's just a misleading promo!)
Jalal may be furious that Jodha met with Sujamal without his knowledge, especially as he had said to Jodha specifically some days earlier that she could come to him with anything and he would trust her and listen to her. He may then decide that if there was even a grain of truth in Sujamal's story, for Jodha's own safety (and to prevent further suspicions of Maham and others on Jodha's so=called "affair") he should put Jodha in a separate room outside the harem in "nazarband". We may get the impression that there is an MU between the two - Jodha and Jalal - but in effect Jalal may be doing this more for Jodha's own safety. (Of course Jalal doesn't know of Sharif lusting for Jodha which even Sujamal may not have been able to hint at, so Jalal may be putting Jodha under house arrest to prevent further meetings with Sujamal and to cool down this "affair story from spreading.)
It may also be fortuitous at this time that Jodha follows Salima's advice and gives harem duties back to Ruq, which may make it easier and more probable for Jalal to put her under "house arrest" to prevent her implicating herself in the plot of Sujamal/Sharif/Mali by needlessly meeting Sujamal on the sly. Thus we may have a mini-MU but not an unsolvable MU. It may be actually a good MU (if there is such a thing).
Now Sharif, who may have become desperate for Jodha after the talaab scene and the botched up jashn attack of Mali's man, may decide that since Jodha is separately housed it may easier to abduct her than it would have been if she was in the harem hojra of hers. So he may plan an abduction. But Sujamal, who may still have things to tell Jodha after some further "tehkikaat" of his own on Sharif, may decide to visit Jodha under house arrest, wearing the disguise of a eunuch or baandhi. Thus Sujamal may be just in time to see Sharif abducting Jodha, and he may run after Sharif and save Jodha. Perhaps as he runs he may send a paigam to Jalal via someone to immediately rush to the same spot where he suspects Sharif would be taking Jodha.
Jalal meanwhile must have got four vital bits of information.
1. The stabbing of Atga at the polo game must have led Jalal's sipahis to nab the attacker of Atga, and gain the information that there was a paigam sent to Atga by Sujamal to warn of the jashn attack and hence Mali/Sharif wanted to eliminate Atga so that he wouldn't tell anyone of the paigam he received. Jalal may then institute a hunt for the boy that carried the paigam and the boy may be caught and he may attest to the truth of Sujamal being the paigam sender and describe his beggar disguise. To draw Sujamal's portrait and show it to the boy to recognise, Jalal may commission the same lady painter.
2. The lady painter of the portrait may also be instrumental in telling Jalal about how Sharif commissioned her to paint Jodha's picture and then turned the blame on her for not painting Bakshi's picture. All lights may start burning in Jalal's head at last about Sharif lusting after Jodha!
3. Meanwhile Bakshi must also have toyed with the idea that Sharif was getting too enamoured of Jodha and maybe Bakshi also overheard Sharif discussing the abduction plot with his henchman. Bakshi may have thus decided to tell Jalal the partial truth. She may not say her husband was planning to abduct Jodha (and thus get her husband punished) but she may say that she overheard Sharif coming to know of an abduction plot on Jodha, and that Sharif has gone to Jodha's aid, and Jalal should also go and save Jodha. Thus she could ensure Jalal went after Jodha and yet she would not directly implicate her husband as the kidnapper!
4. Either Bharmal or Mansingh may decide to tell Jalal that Sujamal may be a bad egg for Amer, but he would never ever do "peet ke peeche se war". So if he has sent a paigam to Jalal saying Jodha is abducted by Sharif etc he must be telling the truth and it is not a ruse to attack Jalal's life (for Jalal may be afraid of Sujamal's paigam being a ruse!). This vote of confidence from Bharmal/Mansingh may be of great import for Jalal, because it may match the version of Sujamal that Jodha also believed and tried to convince him about. Jalal may decide to take mansingh with him in the search for Sharif and Jodha and Sujamal so that Mansingh could recognise Sujamal.
Perhaps Sujamal has managed to save Jodha ... and Sharif may have successfully fled the scene by then ... but Sharif may have stabbed Sujamal before running away. Jalal may thus come upon Jodha bitterly crying over her brother's stabbed body, just as Sujamal is breathing his last breath. Jalal may then hear Sujamal's dying declaration that he was not the culprit and exactly what Sharif/Mali were up to (including the sauda talks between them). Jalal will put two and two together and exonerate Sujamal and gun for Sharif, swearing revenge.
Anybody with a better alternative to this theory? Please feel free to add or subtract from this prediction and include your own angles. We have all weekend to toast our brains!
Hindi TV Shows
Ishaani
Tum Se Tum Tak
