Friends, first of all, thanks for bearing with my playing truant yesterday. I fell down a flight of slippery steps, and one step edge caught my lower back. No fractures thank God, just a big fat violet-coloured bruise and some internal injury. Now I have to wear an ugly looking belt to sit up and type, but nothing will stop me from doing this post. Yesterday when I couldn't get to my lappy I discovered what a huge addict I am to this serial.
Accha, coming to the episode, it was again a formula episode. These days the formula seems to be like this: one half of the episode show the rumblings of the Agra politics and take the story forward., and the second half of the episode show some lollypop scenes of Jodha and Jalal coochey-coo to keep the forum happy! We got exactly this yesterday. And to add to this masala formula, we also had the Creatives revert back to the old montage shot of Jodha Akbar which was introduced in the Sikri trip days - of Jodha and Jalal sitting happily together near the bonfire. That has replaced the in-between montage of Jodha and Jalal turned away from each other in separation. So the sanket now is that Jodha and Jalal are no longer fighting, they are all smiling and with each other in peace, and we also can breathe that the oncoming episodes will not see any more misunderstandings. Phew!
As regards the Agra politics, there are two strands of the story happening so far that need immediate resolution. One is the surang secret of Chand Begum. The other is this pregnancy faking of Ruq. These are the two immediate and urgent loop closures we need according to me. So it's my ferwent hope that they both get closed during the mega epi itself. The surang issue for sure may get closer to resolution, but if the Ruq issue also doesn't come to a fast closure I will have palpitations till it does. From my personal point of view the Ruq issue irritates me more than the surang issue so I want the irritant to be closed fast!
Let me deal with the surang issue first and what we know of it so far, so that we are ready for the mega epi today.
At the very start of the episode yesterday, Maham was seen going into the surang and asking her sipahis "Has the person eaten any food yet?" The answer apparently was a "no" for the plate of food lying there in the dark seemed intact. Maham pushed it towards the captive, and then in the hazy light of the surang we were able to vaguely now make out that it was a woman and her baby. Maham fished out a piece of paper (or parchment or whatever) that was awfully crumpled but had a good deal of something marked on it which looked like drawings. It was obviously some kind of map. Maham shoved in into the face of the captive and said "Tell me what is this "naksha". Tell me what I should know about this ... I know it has the route to my desired destination" Tell me .. or else I will finish both you and your baby off!"
But despite the dire threats and warnings and much hair pulling (I think!) by Maham, the lady just screamed and squawked and held onto her baby tightly and did not say a word. Maham grew increasingly frustrated and then decided to leave after one more set of dire dhamkis. After Maham left, the lady's hand was seen slowly reaching for the plate of food, presumably to eat it.
Now this first scene has to be seen in context with the last scene (the precap) of the episode. Jodha, Moti and Zakira seem to be on a visit to the city market, when Zakira presumably sees a paigam in Jodha's palki and takes it out and reads it. It says "Shahenshah please help me. I am in deep trouble. Chand Begum."
"Who is this Chand Begum and why was this paigam left in the palki?" Jodha is seen wondering. We also have seen promos of the mega episode where Jodha takes this paigam to Jalal and then together they decide to hunt in the surang that Humayun used to frequent when hiding from his enemies.
Now folks, since this whole surang issue is a separate strand in this story, I want to make my comments on it separately.
My comments on this surang issue:
I got a very informative PM from Abhay on who this Chand Begum could be. Apparently Humayun had a wife called Chand Begum, whom he lost in the Battle of Chausa. (Incidentally he also lost another begum called Shad Begum and a daughter called Aqiqah - in the same battle presumably?)
If this is the case, then it could very well be this missing wife of Humayun in the surang as a captive of Maham who may have somehow found her. The baby that this woman has with her, if it is a son, would be very interesting because it must be one of Jalal's brothers with possibly some entitlement to the Delhi takht. I don't know if Humayun may have left some farman entitling this child, if found to the Delhi takht, since his Begum went missing when pregnant.
But hold on, there's a bit of confusion here ... If Chand begum was already pregnant 7 months at the time of going missing during the battle of Chausar, then how come she has such a small newborn infant in her hands. Could this baby be the only one she gave birth to (and is therefore a son of Humayun)?
I am beginning to think whether this paigam is indeed from the captive in the surang, or whether the Chand Begum who wrote the paigam is not the one in the surang and is someone outside the surang. Could it not be possible that Chand begum gave birth to a girl, who is the captive in the surang, and is thus the sister of Jalal and Shenaaz if indeed Shehnaaz is one of Jalal's sisters? That makes more sense since her baby is so small.
Of course there are a lot of other questions too ... Iis this lady not the real Chand Begum or her daughter but just an impostor? Or if she is Chand Begum, did this lady later remarry or have another man by which she has a newborn baby now? If it is Chand begum, then is there a possibility that she herself is after the Delhi takht for that son of hers? If its Changd begum's daughter, then the baby is irrelevant and the captive herself may be entitled to the Delhi takht.
And how did Maham capture her ? Is Maham's interest just in the baby as a potential title holder? Or is Maham's interest not in the baby (which cannot be Humayun's) and is Maham's interest just in Chand Begum or her daughter as a person who can read some map and lead Maham to some secret place in the surang where the Humayun farman is kept?
And another question: why did Chand Begum (or this captive) start eating the food finally? Was it because she had hit upon an escape plan and needed to stay alive for it? Had she also seen Jalal and Jodha in that surang listening to the noise she made?
Or was the Gwalior hakim who later cared for her wounds her accomplice in any way? Did he put the paigam in the palki?
Folks at this stage, I am also beginning to feel very suspicious of Zakira, even though she has ostensibly passed all the tests that Jodha gave her to check if she is still anti-Agra and Jalal or is a loyalist. I cannot take this Zakira's innocence for granted. Especially now that she has actually asked to be employed in the harem and is with Jodha of all people.
Yesterday in the precap, I wonder who discovered the paugam in the palki. Was it Jodha or Moti who saw the paigam in the palki and took it and gave it to Zakira to read? Why would they give it to Zakira to read after they have taken out the paigam from the palki. Both Jodha and Moti can read, can't they? So then Zakira must have been the one to spot the paigam in the palki and take it out to read it. What are the odds then that Zakira could not herself have planted the paigam in the palki and then taken it out as if she had found it and started reading it?
The paigam was obviously from Chand Begum saying she needs Jalal's help as she is in trouble. But surely Chand Begum did not herself put the paigam in the palki if she's "in trouble" i.e. either in hiding or captive to Maham? That suggests another accomplice. Who could be that accomplice of Chand Begum? Zakira so far has been in the jail adjoining the surang, so has some sipahi done the courier work between cative and Zakira, making Zakira aware of Chand Begum's or her daughter's plight, and has Zakira then managed to get a timely rihaai from Jalal so that she can help this Chand Begum?
Most important of all, is Zakira black, or white or grey? Is she a potential helper of Jodha-Jalal or is she herself to be deeply suspected as a go-between dabbling in the Agra politics waiting to get vengeance on Jalal and Jodha for the ill-treatment of Benazir?
And also: what of Shehnaaz in all this? If she is indeed the lost daughter Aqiqah of Humayun, does she know of Chand Begum's existence at all? Have she and Chand Begum and Shad Begum all been lost together and thus lived together? Or is Shehnaaz totally separate from Chand Begum and thus a third title-seeker to the Delhi takht, independent of Maham and Chand Begum?
I come back to my old theory about Shehnaaz being Jalal's potential sister, despite the doubts whether she could be the lost daughter of Humayun and despite the facts that the dates don't fit. The reason is that Ekta is doing so much "naatakiya roopanthar" with dates, that she may very well have decided to exploit the mystery of the missing Chand Begum, Shad begum and Aqiqah and made them all appear now as characters interested in the Delhi takht - alone or together - and especially at the same time as Maham herself is interested in the Delhi takht for Adham.
Okay so let;'s put it all together ... what all do we know so far? So far we have established that Shehnaaz is searching for some document in the rooms of Maham, Gulbadan and Adhanm and having hatred of Jalal for usurping what she thinks of as her takht. At the same time Maham has some nakshaa in hand and has been murmuring about some farman and searching Hamida's room and Maham is likely hiding some Chand Begum or her daughter in the surang and threatening her and her baby. And on one of the jail visits, Jalal showed Jodha a secret passageway to a surang guarded by a door with the same circular symbol as that on his own khandani bracelet. The surang, Jalal told Jodha was often used by Humayun to flee captors and was known only to Humayun and Bairam Khan (not even to Maham).And yesterday, there is a paigam ostensibly found by Zakira in Jodha's palki saying "Shahenshsh help me, I am in trouble, Chand Begum.". My mind is full of questions here because while the facts seem to be somewhat on the lines of known history, the dates and ages of the people concerned seem wonky.
There's also on other small angle to consider. We saw a spoiler just yesterday that Ekta is auditioning for the role of Hakim Mirza's mother Hamchachuk Begum and has shortlisted three actresses and shooting is to begin in one week. That means within two weeks we should be able to see the chaals of Humchachuk Begum at play in the politics of Agra.
Strictly speaking it is not necessary that one villain (Maham) should be out of the serial while the new one (Humchachuk) enters. So then, comes the question of whether the facilitator for Humchachuk is Zakira (who may be still loyal to the Kabul family of Humchachuk, Hakim Mirza, Abul mali etc ). Now that Zakira is free in Agra to represent Humchachuk's interests we have to consider whether Zakira is also one of the potential assassins of Jalal sent by Humchachuk who may exploit this side distraction of Chand Begum and Maham and Shehnaaz and all that to strike at Jalal?
Either all these players are acting independently and so we have a whole zoo of takht aspirants and Jalal-killers ... or else any one or two or more of these players could be in cahoots and working at a more deep and sinister networked level against Jalal.
I am now even asking how much I can trust Hakim Mirza, since his mother is to come into the picture. We haven't seen a lot of Hakim of late, but we have been seeing a lot of Mansingh's face in recent times, so I am wondering if that is a sanket ... for Mansingh was a known enemy later of Hakim. It's a bit difficult to match all these events with exact history because of the dates-irrelevance being maintained by Ekta!
Coming now to the lovey-dovey scenes of Jodha and Jalal, here's what happened ...
Ruq was seen coming with a whole retinue to have a bath. Jodha was the major domo supervising Ruq's bath and the preparation and application of her uptan (wholly unnecessary for Jodha to do all this, according to me!). Anyway, while Jodha was thus engaged in ministering to Ruq's bath, Ruq deliberately told Jodha she wanted to have Jalal near her - since pregnant ladies have sudden wishes for their husbands to be near them and this must always be heeded. Jodha therefore despatched a baandhi to go and fetch Jalal.
When Jalal came to the hamam, he naturally thought Jodha had invited him and started asking her (and ignoring Ruq) saying "Why have you called me Jodha Begum?". But Ruq answered sharply instead that it was she who called Jalal, and she asked Jalal to come and sit next to her. Even as he did that, there seemed to be discomfort on Jodha's face and discomfort on Jalal's face too. But here comes the fun now.
As we all know, Ruq was facing forward while Jalal was slightly behind her, so to speak, while Jodha was busy at the farthest corner at the back of the room making her lep and uptans. Jalal sat next to Ruq all right, but he never took his eyes off Jodha, which Ruq didn't seem to know!
A bit of to and fro banter was happening between Jodha and Jalal, which Ruq did not quite like. So she quickly developed a neck pain that required a massage from Jalal! Instead of offering his massage however, Jalal started having fun at Ruq's expense. He asked Jodha if a tulsi-chandan lep was not better for a neck pain, since he had learnt during the war about such leps! Jodha chuckled to herself at his naughtiness in trying to act like a lep specialist just to engage her in talk, and she also replied him in the same vein that she had heard that a haldi-laung-ghee lep was better! It was so obvious that both were suppressing smiles and having this mischievous exchange without Ruq having the least clue about what they were in argument!
Then Ruq naturally asked Jalal to stop talking and start massaging and he did just that but utterly mindlessly - for his whole attention was on Jodha at whom he was making cow's eyes! Then Ruq praised his hands for the excellent massage. Jalal said "It's not my hands, it your own feelings and whom you are sitting close to" almost in exact echo of what Jodha had told him when she was massaging his own head once! The dialogues were all thus double edged, and Jodha and Jalal were staring into each other's eyes ... and it was greatly funny to watch, simply to see the utter bewakoofi of Ruq who had not the faintest idea that the other two were carrying on some private banter and silent language behind her head!
Later Jodha went into the garden with Moti, Shehnaaz and Zakira to get some more herbs, when Jalal came upon them. The others silently went away leaving the two lovebirds in private. "What are you doing here in the garden?" he asked her. "I am collecting herbs for Ruq as you may have guessed, for in front of Ruq you told me you too know a lot about herbs" she replied. "Oh, yes ..." he stammered, "But there's one medicine I don't know about Jodha Begum." "Which one" she asked although she had guessed what he would say. "I don't know about "dil ki dawa" he said to her with love in his voice. "Do you know of a good medicine, because these days my heart is paining too much Jodha Begum?" he said.
"Wow, she replied, "You have only just found your dil, but has it started acting up so fast?" "Yes Jodha Begum", he said, "where there is love there is also pain". "Did you get this pain also from the yuddh-kshetra?" she mocked, but he said "No, it was you who changed me from a sipahi to a man. You are the one that showed me I have a dil in my chest. Whoever has given me my dil also has to give me its dawai, or it wouldn't be insaaf".
He started holding her waist with both his hands pulling her closer to him. "Shahenshah, sipahis are about and may look at us, and I have come to collect herbs here", she said and moved away from him. "True, he said, "let's go where there's no one to look at us for we have private things to say and I too need medicine for my dil" and with that he caught her hand and led her directly into his horja.
"Why have you brought me here, Shahenshsh?" Jodha asked him, as he pulled her to sit beside him on his bed. He replied solemnly "That night that we spent together, I remember every minute of it. But what wrong have I done that after that night you haven't been able to find any time for me? I know you have a lot to do and Ruq to care for, but my small wish is that if you can, please find some time for me also?" "I am trying Shahenshah" she replied, feeling all the heavy feelings that she sensed he had. "If you only try, anything is possible" he said. "I just want to spend time with you in private because every time we get interrupted by somebody or the other!". There was a light bashfulness in his voice and I got the feeling he was almost feeling like a schoolboy asking for a date from his classroom sweetheart!
Jodha had no further reply to his words and she kept looking into his eyes. The mood changed ever so slightly to one where words were superfluous. He slowly began to bring his face closer to hers, and he closed his eyes to give over to intense feelings. She sensed he was about to kiss her and turned her face away ever so slightly from his in shyness. He saw that and smiled and with a finger beneath her chin, he turned her to face him again. Once more he tried to bring his face closer for a kiss, and this time she closed her eyes in anticipation, but as he neared her, he caught the same shyness virus and withheld his move.
He then whispered close to her mouth "I have some gift to give you as a gift of love, but keep your eyes closed till I bring it before you". She did as he said, and he brought a little jewel box with him and then asked her to open her eyes and see it. It was a box filled with Radha-Krishna engraved coins. She was in raptures with this gift and told him she loved it. He then gave her a real bear hug!
And then Jodha did something for him that she knew he was aching for. She said "I too have a gift for you, but you must close your eyes". He was impatient and said "Can I open my eyes now?" but she said "No, not yet ..." as she went closer and closer to him. She then leaned forward and gave him a kiss on his cheek (on that side of his face which was away from our view, alas, so we didn't quite see the kiss but had to imagine it! Baaah!)
But anyway when she did that and moved away, his eyes flew open in total surprise, as he rubbed his cheek tenderly and smiled. "You got your gift Shahenshah, now I am going back to Ruqaiya Begum" she said with mischief as she ran away, and he was left calling her name and then rubbing his cheek and smiling to himself over and over again, unable to believe what she had done.
My comments on the Jodha-Jalal scenes:
What can I say ... I know that these lollypop love scenes are just to keep us all quiet and happy, but I am shamelessly devouring them. I absolutely loved the Ruq-bath scene (even though as maddy SMSed me, they are "puke-worthy!) because Jodha and Jalal were having a super merry time talking in innuendos while the thick-headed Ruq didn't have the faintest clue what was going on and was in her private imaginings taking Jalal away from Jodha! What an idiot!
I also loved the garden-leading-to- bedroom scene, where I thought it was so sweet that twice he tried to kiss her and he was as shy as she was. Finally after he gave her the Radha-Krishna coins, she knew he was aching for a kiss and she decided to give it to him to his greatest surprise.
My biggest crib here is that it was the best "non-kiss" kiss on television where we have to imagine that the whole thing happened - by the way she went to his other side that we couldn't see and he was later rubbing his check from the so-called kiss.
I feel like telling the Creatives "I have not signed up for a serial where I have to do all the imagining and you just show supposed kisses etc on the side of his face that is not facing me! How mean can you CVs get? Would it have hurt you to make her kiss his other cheek which was towards camer?. Even if she had kissed the air close to his cheek on this side, we'd have been happier. But to hide the so-called kiss from view when we all know that Paridhi did not really give any kiss, and to leave us to imagine it all ... W*F?"
Still at least since the CVs are showing him as eager for a kiss, and showing her as eager to give him one, we have to give the CVs at least one and half measly brownie points!
I won't say too much about the lollypop scene ... it was a good lollypop, a cute lollypop, and he was terrific and she was keeping pace with him. We got a nice bear hug and some terrific smiles and eyelocks and hand-holdings. And when Jodha told him to close his eyes and await her gift, she did some heavy breathing which would have pleased Riyya no end.
All in all, at the end of day's play, Jodha-Jalal are still batting strongly in a sound partnership, while Maham, Chand Begum and Shehnazz are trying to bowl googlies. We have a good match on our hands, so take your seats at 7 pm sharp tonight, and stock up with something to eat while you watch the one hour epic of the serial called "Surang Mein Chand".
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