But just before this DEK scene, we saw Jodha yesterday in a scene that was very interesting to me. This scene just preceded the Shivani capture at Agra so it had special significance. At Amer all the family had assembled and were discussing the recent exploits of Sujamal - that he had again arrayed himself against Amer and the Mughals. Bharmal was very disappointed in Sujamal, and while he was counting the family's black sheep, he added for good measure the name of Shivani also. Bharmal could not forgive both Sujamal and Shivani for heaping disrepute on the Amer clan. But Jodha stood up and said "BapuSa, Shivani did nothing wrong. She was in love with Tejwant and that is not a wrong. But she was majboor to conduct herself in the way she did to save her love and forsake her family. Love is such a thing that it does not value caste, creed, religion, wealth, status or rank. Shivani from her side took the side of love against all this, but she was not wrong in doing so. Her intention was pure even if her actions seemed to look wrong. In the case of Sujamal also, I can vouch for the fact that he stayed back in Agra to see my health was okay and to give me his word never to kill my husband and to always protect my suhaag. It is when he heard of the likely attack on Jalal's life that he took on the disguise of a khwaja sera. Both these people erred in their subsequent actions, but their intentions were pure. And in fact, BapuSa, if you did not love these two people so dearly, you wouldn't be so pained now by what they did that was so horrible?" Bharmal had to see the truth in Jodha's statement.
What struck me most about these two scenes, one after another, was the exact similarity between how Jodha and Jalal described "love" as being the one thing that cares not for any of society's divisions of people by rank, privilege, caste, creed, religion, wealth, possessions and family. Jodha said it was no wrong for a girl to hold love above all these things. Minutes later at the DEK, Jalal used almost the exact same description of love to tell his assembled people that Shivani and Tejwant are not apraadhis if they placed love above all these very same things that Jodha had enumerated! How wonderful it was to see such similarity of thought in both Jodha and Jalal, so many miles away from each other, but still of one mind in describing the over-arching beauty and power of love to transcend all of society's limitations?
As regards the DEK scene between Jalal and Shivani-Tejwant, the Creatives obviously wanted to show us first that everyone was afraid of Jalal's anger, which has peaked in recent days due to the loss of Jodha and the misdeeds of Maham. The Creatives wanted to give us the impression that Jalal would go for a severe punishment to Shivani-Tejwant for humiliating and embarassing him when they eloped. But thanks to the many spoilers we got weeks in advance, we audiences knew and were expecting a grand pardon. So when both Hamida and Salima showed that they believed Jalal would fall on the side of true love, we all agreed heartily.
Most of us were glad also that this pardon had happened because of other spoilers that said Jodha would be so happy with Jalal's actions that she would decide to return to Agra out love and pride for Jalal. Jalal eventually not only pardoned Shivani and Tejwant, but also gave Tejwant a job with a title ... and so all is well on its way to Jodha returning post-haste to Agra, and helping with the arrangement of the big fat Rajvanshi shaadi under the aegis of Jalal.
Accha, apart from this I must mention the importance of the scene between Maham and Ruq where Ruq started calling Maham a "badtameez" and said she had no shame ("chee!") in trying to make Sujamal and Jodha's meetings sound like a sleazy affair. Maham kindly reminded Ruq that she was as much party to the whole sordid tale and its truth being kept away from Jalal's ears. We saw a scene where the pot was calling the kettle black and the kettle was saying "You look blacker".
But in the end Maham seemed to get the better of Ruq and Ruq walked off in a huff after seeing that some aces were still in Maham's hands. What is the significance of this scene? Well, in the last few phone calls to Zee by various members, the Zee Response desk man seems to have said that when Maham goes under as a result of her misdeeds, she is going to pull Ruq also down with her, as a sort of vengeance on Jalal. Thus not only is Maham's downfall now certain, but Ruq's downfall is also going to happen almost simultaneously with Maham doing her best to implicate and expose Ruq before Jalal. Maybe Maham will do this to shame Jalal that one of his prize Begums has always abetted herself (maham) but the net result is going to be that as Jodha returns and grows closer to Jalal, this Ruq is going to be punished by Jalal for all the crimes she has committed (including the one where she knew Adham had entered the harem in case after Moti Bai). All this has come straight from Zee's mouth so I am fairly certain that the downfall of Ruq is also imminent and I saw the Maham-Ruq scene yesterday as a start of the Mutual Downfall Club!
For those who want a quick recap of what all happened yesterday here it is. Since I want to highlight Jodha's and Jalal's speeches on love, I have detailed that part a little more elaborately. This is followed by my comments on the episode. But right at the end of the comments, I have given a prediction on the surang mystery that I want everybody's views on. It is my own prediction, and I know it is a very long shot, but still, read it and tell me what you think!
What all happened in the episode:
Maham was seen going into the surang and she first warned the guards there "Too many people have got to know of this place and I don't want you guys answering anybody's questions or letting them in at random, is that clear?" The guards nodded. Maham then went in, lifted the baby swathed in cloths like a bundle, and then with her hand held aloft swung the baby upside down menacingly, almost as if ready to drop it to the floor! OMG! She then told the person in the surang "I am fast running out of time and patience. I've already lost Jalal's favour. Now if you still refuse to talk and tell me all, death awaits you!" The person inside was heard giving groans of pain and rough screams but we never could see who it was.
In the very next scene, we were all at Amer where a small gathering of the family was happening. Jodha's brothers were telling Bharmal that Sujamal had yet again arrayed himself against the Amer family and the Mughals by joining hands with the restive Rajvanshi clans. Bharmal started rueing the deeds of Sujamal , for he had sundered Jodha and Jalal and caused their misunderstanding by the disgrace of having taken the vesh of a khwaja sera, of all things. And as for Shivani she too had made everyone at Amer hang their heads in shame with her elopement with a man so poor in status.
At this point there was a beautiful piece of dialogue by Jodha to her father which bears detailing. "BapuSa, try at least once to see the situation from Shivani's eyes. She gave up her own family, the rank and name of being a Rajvanshi, and the rishta from the Shahenshah's family and chose Tejwant who was so poor indeed. Doesn't that show the great shakti of the prem she must have had for Tejwant? Perhaps in front of that prem, all value for other things such as wealth, money, fame, status, rank and prestige ... nothing mattered to her."
Bharmal asked Jodha "Prem is a fleeting feeling, a dream, while life is reality,. How can a person lay waste to a whole life just for a few moments of prem?" Jodha wore a look of great depth and thought as she answered her father "You are right from your point of view, father. But couldn't it be that Shivani is also right from her point of view? Maybe she knew no one would see things her way and hence she had to take such a hard decision to elope? And for that matter Sujamal too could be right from his side. He is fighting Amer because he feels he is in the right. Bapusa, it often happens that people's intentions are right, but their actions turn out contrary. I know Sujamal came to Agra to do his duty by me. He had given me his vachan that he would always protect my suhaag. Then when he suddenly came to know that the Shahenshah's own close ones were plotting to take his life, he found it necessary to break into the harem at any cost. But by then he was already declared an enemy of the Shahenshah so he had to come in disguise. And that's the reason there was so much subsequent bad blood between me and the Shahenshah. But judging Sujamal and Shivani by their actions would not be right. We have to see their intentions. And Bapusa, I know that however stern you look from the outside, you love these two people on the inside, otherwise their actions would not pain you so much!" Bharmal had to agree silently.
In between we had a scene between Ruq and Maham where they called each other names for being the perpetrators of crimes against Jodha and Jalal. Maham insisted that Ruq was no less than a willing accomplice in many of her saazishes, while Ruq said Maham was worse than herself for she had done the lions share of the dirty work. In the end Ruq used some harsh words such as "badtameez" and "chee" at Maham, but Maham had the last word and Ruq was plainly told that she better realise that she too had lost Jalal, just as Maham had, and Jodha was the winner! Ruq scoffed off, and Maham smiled evilly. No doubt Maham's idea is to take Ruq down with her if she has to go under for all her misdeeds.
The scene then shifted to the Agra palace where Shivani and Tejwant in chains were being led in some sipahis who had captured them. Moti was told not to talk to these apraadhis being marched to the angry Jalal directly, when Moti expressed concern that Jalal was in a lousy mood these days and may give these two some dire punishment.
At the DEK the whole court was assembled in anticipation of the punishment of Shivani and Tejwant. Ruq told Hamida she was afraid Jalal would be too harsh on these two given his latest mental state, but Hamida and Salima vouched for the fact that Jalal would understand and pardon the sentiment of "love " as he was himself in love these days. At the court Jalal was announced in and then Atga was asked to recount the apraadh of the two mujrims, Shivani and Tewant. I will not go into the detail of what all Atga said, except to say he made a thorough job of including every last detail on the engagement of Shivani first with Hakim Mirza and the subsequent elopement, causing great embarrassment to Jalal and the Sultanate.
After Atga recounted the full extent of the apraadh, Jalal silenced the maulvis who tried to pipe up and asked Tejwant if he had anything to say in his defence. Tejwant with a great deal of dignity and some fine body language of righteousness said to Jalal "I cannot accept Shahenshah that we committed apraadh ... for to fall in love is no apraadh. Shivani and I were in love well before she came to Agra or even set eyes on Hakim Mirza. We had agreed to spend this life and all future lives together. I would reckon that we saved three lives from being ruined by doing what we did."
Jalal listened with great silence and respect. There was not a trace of anger in him "If there was love between you, then why run away" he asked Tejwant. Still looking serious, Tejwant replied, "What else could we do for we both were not as strong as you and Bharmal Ji who were arrayed against us. Would you all have agreed to our marriage even if we had come to you? If you think prem is an apraadh, then please punish me as you think fit."
Jalal then asked Shivani if she had something to say in her defence. "Yes Shahenshah" said Shivani. She too was so crystal clear in her words and spoke with so much conviction and no trace of fear or hesitation. "I first want to say sorry for embarrassing you and my father. But I feel our apraadh is just that we listened to our hearts. In fact, if in this condition I had married Hakim Ji, that would have been an apraadh. Because I cannot love anyone else as I love Tejwant. To be married to someone without loving him, and to be loving somebody other than one's husband is the biggest apraadh, which I did not want to commit. That's why I had to run away".
What followed then was a piece of dialogue from Jalal that was sensational. It was an absolute echo of what Jodha had told her father at Amer about Shivani, but Jalal took the argument even further for he had to explain why he deemed a pardon for these two as better than a punishment. Jalal had to take extra pains to explain himself well enough.
He turned to Atga and said "You say they committed an apraadh, they say they fell in love. So where is the gunaah here?" Atga was nonplussed and said "But Shahenshah you yourself had considered them to have done an apraadh and issued a diktat that they be caught?" Jalal replied "Sure I did, for at that time I too saw it as an apraadh against my brother Hakim Mirza. But then Hakim Mirza himself told me his point of view that he forgave them for being in love, and Hakim taught me what was real love. It was to see that no pain came to those one loves. He said his pain is nothing compared to the pain he would have had lifelong if he had married Shivani without her loving him back. After hearing Hakim, I too realised how "paak" this concept of "mohabbat" is. We become unable to see the pain of those we truly love. So how can a person whose love is paak" also be a "guneghaar"? And if it is a gunaah to love where does one begin and end punishing people for this gunah? Mirza loved Shivani, my mother loved her husband, everyone here is a guneghaar for everyone loves some one or other deeply? Atga Saab, mohabbat doesn't care for caste, religion, clan, status or rank. Mohabbat has only one fold and that is mohabbat again! And the real guneghhar is the one who stands in the way of mohabbat! Sitting on throne of insaaf I cannot do injustice to these two people."
The whole court was aghast at hearing the praise and description of "mohabbat" from Jalal, but Jalal himself was so into the topic that his sincerity was there to be seen in the sheer clarity of his eyes and his softness of speech. He continued "These two people have demonstrated courage of conviction. As I said love knows no societal boundaries like wealth or social stigmas, or rank or status or clan. Look at Shivani. Her father gave her a good upbringing with respect for her society and yet she gave it all up for the sake of mohabbat which she felt for a man of lower rank and status than her, a workman. Think how pure and paak must be her mohabbat to be weighed thus against everything society holds dear? How can this mohabbat be a gunaah? That's why I, Jalaluddin Mohammed, today do not consider them guneghaars and will not punish them. Free them both".
Shivani fell to Jalal's feet saying "Your heart is so big Shahenshah!" Jalal just said the one word that had come to mean so much to him now. He said "Dil" with a pleasure in the sound of the word. "Get up, if you fall at my feet you insult my Begum Jodha", he said. Shivani said "Thanks Shahenshah for understanding mohabbatand its shakti." Jalal looked utterly pleased to get this certificate from Shivani. But as he sat on his throne again he said to himself "If only I had understood this prem so well much earlier, I wouldn't have lost her!"
Then collecting himself again Jalal told Tejwant "I hear you are a very artistic mason. I have work for you and Atga Saab, please give him the audha of a Shahi Mason." Shivani was so overcome that she told Jalal "I have no words to praise you and thank you. May God grant all your dearest wishes. Let all the happiness in the world come to you." Again Jalal looked very pleased to hear these words, but in his heart he said to himself with sadness "My happiness is so far away from me at this moment, Shivani! She's my Jodha Begum!"
In the precap there are two lovely intercuts. On one side Jalal is seen telling Salima a bit bashfully about his love for Jodha. He says "Thanks to Jodha Begum's companionship I managed through everything. Through thick and thin she kept smiling. I learnt a lot from her, you know!" On the other side Jodha (looking extremely pretty, I must say) is listening to DadiSa talk about Jalal. Jodha's eyes are filled with love for him. Dadisa says "You are really missing him - our JamaiSa - aren't you?"
My comments on this episode:
I have three comments to make after this episode ... two are comments and the third is a prediction!
a. What a wonderful echo of each other this Jalal and Jodha were. I was amazed by the way they both were in sync on their description of love as the biggest religion above all religions, the biggest ranks above all ranks and the biggest wealth above all wealth.
Both of them said people in true love see all else in life - all of society's demarcations of lowness and highness - as nothing compared to their love. Love knows no boundaries. Jodha said it to her father in defence of Shivani's case. Jalal said it to his court in defence of Shivani's pardon.
The strain of their own separation tinged the eyes of both as they said this about Shivani, but how much they liked hearing the words "prem" and "mohabbat" again and again on their own lips came through beautifully. Both were just savouring the word as if it meant everything to them.
I was so glad that these scenes of Jodha speaking first and then Jalal speaking next on the same subject came one after another. It was terrific to see how even though they were miles apart, their thoughts and opinions were on such a common wavelength about what mattered most in life. "Why is life so harsh that it keeps such people, so much in love, apart", was my sad question when I saw these scenes. I felt like just dragging Jodha and Jalal together into a hug with my own hands on my TV set!
But then I bucked up thinking "Okay, so Shivani has been caught and pardoned. Now it's time for Jodha to come back to Agra at last. The waiting is almost over. The times immediately ahead of us are interesting. Why should I mope for them? They are soon to be reunited and I am so eager to see how that will happen, what they will say to each other, what will be their first reaction, their second reaction, their explanations for why they went astray. Let me sit back and enjoy the unfolding of things in their own way".
Folks, my sadness is going away rapidly as I sense the good times in the episodes immediately ahead!
b. Look at the equations of Maham and Ruq as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the whole episode. One is snarling at the other, and the other is biting back ... like two thieves trying to out-blame each other for the fiasco in their lives.
Here both the thieves have lost the booty i.e. Jalal. What is left for both of them except to scratch each other's eyes out? They are merely able to say to each other "You were worse than me" but how does that help, for if one goes under now, the other is sure to be dragged down too. I don't think Maham will go quietly from Agra if Jalal banishes her. I think she will try to hurt Jalal by telling him exactly how Ruq also played an active abetment role in all her saazishes against Jodha.
I think the biggest fear assailing both Ruq and Maham in the longterm is the loss of Jalal's trust (which has already happened in the case of Maham and is imminent in the case of Ruq). But even that longterm loss is not as scary for both of them as the short term fear of punishment from Jalal. What form will that punishment take? Jalal being the master strategist seems to prefer handling his errant near ones not with active punishment but mostly by sidelining them, making them live as cast-offs in the Palace and never having anything to do with them again.
If Jalal does to Ruq what he did to Maham - i.e. sidelining - wouldn't that be a worse fate than even active banishment? Ruq would have to live in this Palace, seeing every day the growing love between Jodha and Jalal and living out her envy all by her lonesome self.
I have heard one bit of history that suggests that Jalal got so miffed with Ruq after he caught her red-handed in a botched up saazish against Jodha that he never spoke to her for a long time or had anything to do with her. She remained like an unwanted piece of furniture in the Palace, seeing the thriving love of Jodha and Jalal and yet feeling like a worthless piece of nothing all by herself with her audha and her harem duties.
If this bit of history is true we may see that soon Maham may have an active downfall ... but Ruq may have a silent sidelining that is worse than the active banishment of Maham. Let's wait and see what unfolds.
c. My prediction (long, long shot!) on the Maham-surang mystery:
See history shows that Jalal had one sister called Aqiqah who was 8 years old when she went gaayab - during the time Humayun was fighting some Bengal War it is believed his enemies kidnapped his daughter but she was never found. So even Humayun is supposed to have been so broken and shattered that he said "I wish I had killed her with my own hands rather than face this torture of not knowing what happened to my child".
In actual history this child was never again found. But I have a feeling Ekta may use this "gaayab sister of Jalal" in some form of "naatakiya roopanthar" ... ie. Ekta may show that Maham believed that Jalal's sister may be alive and she may be claimant to the Delhi takht.
Maybe maham knows that this Humayun has left some farman that if his lost daughter Aqiqah is ever found, then she (ie. her husband) should get the Delhi takht. In those days the girls didn't directly inherit, their husbands got the power to rule the inherited territory.
Normally Humayun may never have left any takht for his daughters (eg. Bakshi or the wife of Abul Mali). But it could be likely that Humayun, as a special case, left some farman handing over the Delhi takht as a reward for his lost daughter since she lost her childhood with her family. Maybe he had hopes she would be found some day!
Now maybe Maham has known all about this farman for the lost child to inherit the Delhi takht, and thought in her mind "I know that Humayun has left such a farman. Let me search for that farman in Hamida's room, and also find this lost daughter ... and if she has married let me try to catch and kill her husband so that farman then applies to Adham if he can marry this lost daughter."
So Maham may have searched and found this Shehnaaz and abducted her husband (and baby). Shehnaaz may have escaped to the ashram. This may account for why it was said in the ashram that Shehnaaz prayed as both a Hindu and a Muslim, why she was "waiting for someone" and why she had become a bit mentally quirky as a result of some sadma (like losing her baby).
When Maham found no farman in Hamida's room, she may, in her twisted mind, have thought this Shehnaa's husband may know where the farman is if he is the likely benefactor of the farman. Maybe that is why Maham afters searching in vain for that farman in Hamida's room, is now threatening the husband of Shehnaaz in the surang (giving dhamkis of killing the baby and him) if he does not give her more information on where the farman is.
If my prediction is right, then maybe the story will show that Hamida manages to rescue the man and baby in the surang faster than Maham can harm them and Maham again gets caught by Jalal for this saazish and Delhi takht plot. But just in time with this recovery of Hamida's, Shehnaaz may arrive with Jodha and get re-united with her husband and baby.
In those days there were no DNA tests so Jalal and his family may choose to believe Maham's story that Shehnaaz is his lost sister. It is said in articles that this Shehnaaz role is long-running, so maybe for a long time, Jalal and his family do believe Shehnaaz is really the lost sister and they may allow her and her husband and kids to stay on in the Palace. But later it may come out somehow that Shehnaaz was wrongly identified by Maham as the lost daughter. Thus the Shehnaaz cameo may end.
It has to end this way because history shows that the lost child was never found. So I think that Ekta will do this naatakiya rupanthar with Shehnaaz, but eventually end it saying that this was never the real sister of jala after all! That way Ekta would be on the right side of history.Or on the other hand Ekta could also decide to show that the lost sister was found and Shehnaaz ki raaz may thus be included as "the lost girl found"! It's all up to Ekta!
See I have some feeling that if Shehnaaz is really the sister of Jalal, when she comes to Agra with Jodha, she may vaguely remember her childhood in this palace, and she may very well be able to recognise various places in the Agra Palalce from her own memory. Let's see if Shehnaaz shows any signs of "remembering" her childhood in this Agra Palace. She may also remember or show fear of Maham. Then I will know if my hunch - and this far-out prediction is roughly on the right lines.
I know I've done a very long-shot prediction, but I was eager to know what everyone thinks about whether this can happen or not?
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