Friends, the episode yesterday seemed to start off the high action phase in anticipation of the war scenes to now start hitting the screens. Most of the action yesterday was physical, but the gratifying thing is that Jalal was at the centre of it all and showed some real physical prowess -and so my heart was gladdened to be able to see some good classic "hero giri".
There were two instances of Jalal being in prime form.
The first was when Todarmal was all set to be blown up by the cannon shot as his punishment for his gunah-e-azeem. He was made to stand in the specially built podium of sort, right in front of the cannon, and poor Atga was given charge of signalling the moment when the execution was to take place. His reluctance was obvious from his downcast face. Meanwhile Jalal and Jodha had discovered that Nigar was the bad egg and not Todarmal, and so Jodha told Jalal to let someone else chase the fleeing Nigar and go himself to stop the execution of the innocent Todarmal.
Todarmal was by then chained to the walls of the podium and the cannon ball was rolled into the cannon and the fuse lit. It was but the very last moment, when suddenly Jalal came there in a sprint to rival Usain Bolt. He grabbed the cannon muzzle with both his hands and with brute force redirected the cannon to face another way than forward, and the shot went through but far away from Todarmal! Arre wah! What action!
Then came the other bit of spectacular fighting. Jalal rode into the forest in chase of Nigar, but as he reached a clearing in the forest he dismounted and started calling out for "Nigar Apa, Nigar Apa!" He had already started giving her the respect due to an elder sister. But she, unknown to him had set up a ring of armed men in all the trees surrounding the clearing. She came and stood before Jalal, but before he could address her as he intended to do she gave orders to her men "Maar dalo!".
The men lunged viciously at the lone Jalal who in this fight was unarmed. But Jalal did his finest moves, not only holding the men at bay but crushing their bones and muscles and rendering them dead before throwing them away from himself. Nigar watched in growing desperation as man after man was dealt with, and sometimes more than one was simultaneously despatched to heaven. Jalal was wounded in his mouth and chin but he didn't seem to even notice it.
As the last of the men lunged for him in a final bid on his life, Todarmal and Atga arrived with a posse of their own men who finished off the rest of the advance. But as Jalal looked up from the fight, he saw that Nigar had again fled the scene anticipating defeat. Jalal was upset that he had not had the chance to talk to her and try to iron out all her mistaken impressions of himself! But he did say to himself "Where is she getting all these men from? And why the hell does she hate me so much?" He was not to know that this small tukda of Mahchuchak's men had already reached Nigar - and the bulk of the army were following and had reached the Punjab, from where Delhi and then Agra were but a reasonably short distance away.
(One of the funniest parts of all this action of course was that the wound on Jalal's chin was changing places all the time, thanks to the poor "continuity management" by the make-up artists and the Director. By the time Jalal was talking to Jodha after all this action, the wound had shifted places on his face! Hehehe ... was it funny or what!)
Aside from the high action bits by Jalal, the rest of the episode kept its usual tempo with its many scenes all building up anticipation of the war ...
All that happened on the screen today ...
The episode opened with Nigar running with knife in hand in the gardens of the palace, with Jalal running behind her and exhorting his sipahis to join the chase. Nigar then spotted little Rahim sitting all by himself in the Angoori Bagh and gave herself a few moments of breathing time by grabbing Rahim, holding the knife to his neck and telling Jalal and his men to fall back. Jalal had no choice but to watch as Nigar, with Rahim and knife in hand, mounted a horse and started to ride off.
But as I had anticipated she did not need this liability of Rahim with her, and so near the palace gates, as she fled, she threw Rahim to the ground and bolted. Jodha ran to help Rahim, as Jalal ran behind the fleeing Nigar almost planning to take a horse himself to go after her. But Jodha reminded him sagely "No Shahehnshah, send the men after her, and you go fast and save Todarmal Ji!". Jalal saw the urgency in that and made a bolt for the Todarmal execution site.
Todarmal meanwhile had been brought to the site where a podium had been built where he was to stand chained to the walls. The cannon was placed right before him and poor reluctant Atga had to give orders for his execution. All was set as Todarmal signalled to his wife to be brave, and then looked skywards to pray to his favourite deity Krishna. "Krishna come and save me as you have saved so many innocent people before", he prayed ,"but most of all save the Shahenshah from making a very big mistake."
Meanwhile, the cannon ball was rolled into the cannon and the fuse was lit. In the nick of time however, in a bit of spectacular action, Jalal ran in towards the cannon about to go off - and with Herculean strength he held the muzzle of the cannon and turned it off into a different direction - so as the cannon went off the explosion was at a different angle entirely and Todarmal was saved!
A very contrite Jalal then ordered a very surprised Todarmal to be freed and said with his face looking down "We found out that Shehnaaz had lied. You are free but forgive me." Jodha had joined Todarmal and Jalal by then, and was just as relieved as Jalal and equally contrite. "I too am very sorry" she said, tears in her eyes. But the gracious Todarmal and his even more magnanimous wife said "No Jodha Begum, you are truly the Queen of this great Sultanate, for the way you defended the moral dignity of that girl was a lesson to all. It was sad that she was not deserving of your support, but that doesn't lessen the greatness of what you did for her, braving the wrath of the King and his Ministers. There is nothing to forgive. We in fact respect you!"
Todarmal and his wife hugged in a scene that was so moving, and then their attention went to question of tracking down Nigar. Jodha said to Jalal, "We have to try and talk to her to straighten her wrong views of you". Jalal agreed. Todarmal said he would go with Jalal and so Jalal told Jodha to stay back at the palace. As Todarmal then went to round up Atga and some soldiers, Jalal rode on ahead alone to try and catch up with Nigar.
In Kabul, meanwhile, Mahchuchak was looking at Humayun's picture and saying "I am sorry, I had to marry again. I had no other choice if I wanted to get the takht from Jalal." Mahchuchak then started getting flashbacks of the woman she most hated - Hamida Banu, the other luckier wife of Humayun who had borne the eldest son and thus become Marium Makkani! In the flashbacks Mahchuchak is seen spewing anger at Hamida saying "I didn't want to be one of the many queens of Humayun with no powers. Why could he not have given me a separate subehdaari or state to rule entirely by myself? If he could give a farman entitling the daughter of Chand Begum, Nigar, to rule the Delhi takht as an independent ruling Queen, why could he not give me that kind of power to be the greatest woman ruler of the Sultanate? I rue you who became Marium Makkani just because you bore your son Jalal who was older than my own son Hakim and thus inherited the Sultanate. But I will never adjust to this reality!" Hamida is seen trying to calm Mahchuchak down but to no avail. Back from the flashbacks and into reality Mahchuchak continued to speak to the picture of Humayun on the wall "I will take revenge on Hamida and her son".
In another part of the Agra palace, Adham came to give his mother all the news for she seemed totally unaware of the goings-on. "Todarmal's sentence has been revoked by Jalal, and Shehnaaz has been exposed and she has fled and Jalal has gone after her" he said. Maham was rattled. "Oh my God, " she replied, "now what is to happen if Jalal comes to know that I helped Nigar all this while? I just hope Jalal does not reach Nigar!" she said with trepidation.
Jalal, riding ahead alone, reached a forest clearing and dismounted expecting Nigar to be in that area somewhere. "Nigar Apa, Nigar Apa!" he called out for her. But when she appeared before him, about ten of her sipahis slithered down the surrounding trees, armed to the teeth, and began to encircle Jalal. Nigar gave them orders to kill Jalal!
But our hero isn't Jalaluddin Mohanmmed Akbar for nothing. Despite being unarmed, he made short work of all the sipahis of Nigar, folding up some of them into bundles of arms and legs, and breaking their bones and driving the wind out of their lungs in show of great sipahi-giri. In the end barely two men were left to despatch to heaven when Todarmal and Atga brought reinforcements in the form of several of Jalal's sipahis and so the men of Nigar were all vanquished.
Jalal was hurt on his lip and chin, but as he looked up from the action to spot Nigar, he saw she had fled again. "Where did she get so many men from? And why does she hate me so much?" he asked himself - as he told Atga to search the forest for her, but also to ensure she is not killed.
The answer to where Nigar got sipahis from was answered in Kabul. As Mahchuchak asked Fazal what was the latest "khabar" from the war front, a sipahi of hers brought news. One tukda of the army had already reached Nigar, and the bulk of the army was now in Punjab, from where Delhi and Agra were but just a reasonable distance away!
Back in the palace, Jalal was in his hojra going back on all the events of the day when Jodha came in crying. "Were you able to catch up with Nigar and change her mind?" Jodha asked tremulously. "No unfortunately, I couldn't because she fled the scene again" Jalal replied remorsefully. " I have always wanted an elder brother or sister to talk to and look up to and see what I have found instead! "
Jodha was by now in copious tears. "I am so very sorry" she said to Jalal. "It was all because of me that Todarmal was jeopardised and so were you. I had no clue she was Nigar." Jalal came close to Jodha and said "You know I cannot bear to see you in tears. Don't cry Jodha Begum. It was not a mistake done knowingly. You were taken in. But we have all learnt lessons from this, haven't we? We will see that we never repeat these mistakes again."
Just then Hamida entered the room with Salima. Hamida was all concern for Jalal "How are you my son?" she asked. He replied that he was okay. But Salima had a gleam of an idea. "If Nigar thinks that the Shahenshah has kidnapped his mother, then that surely means Chand Begum is alive somewhere as Nigar has even seen her?" said Salima. The idea then lit up everybody's face and mind. Jalal immediately clapped for a servant and gave word to get everybody assembled pronto at the DEK.
In the precap we see two shots. In the first one, Jalal at the DEK is giving orders to Atga to get everyone fanned out in all directions so that Chand Begum can be found by the very same evening, come what may! In another shot we see Jalal being led into the surang by Adham Khan, but in the dim light there we are not sure if Jalal has spotted Chand Begum - or if Maham has already shifted Chand Begum from there!
My comments on the episode:
I think, folks, I am heartily tired of the political scenes at the Agra palace and at Kabul, and so I am really looking forward to some real war action for a change. At least it should be fun to watch. Jalal will be good with his moves and if they are planning to include Jodha in the action as well, that should also be good. For the rest we can enjoy watching the Dandiya!
The thing that I am not able to comprehend is where Salima fits in with her war costume and where Ruq fits in with her bow and arrows? Do these two women also feel impelled to join the war because of Jodha being a key part of the charge?
Even if they are showing the war, how long can they show it going on? Maybe for a maximum of three days with intermittent non-war scenes woven into the script? Can they afford to show a war for a whole week or will that get too monotonous?
Will they show that Nigar is killed by Jodha accidentally as part of the war action ... or will there be a twist in the tale when Nigar is actually killed off by Maham or Mahchuchak. Maybe, just before she dies, Nigar gets to know that Jalal is not her mother's captor because her mother is found by then and is in her right senses and drills the truth into her daughter that it was Maham not Jalal who kidnapped her?
My mind has started going in this direction because I do think Nigar will be killed for her cameo to end. But before that we may have some heart-rending scenes where she gets to know that she was wrong about Jalal and become utterly remorseful in death
There are many, many possibilities now ... so there are several open questions in my mind, all hanging as loose unresolved strands of thought:
1. Maham now has no more use for Nigar or her mother, especially if Nigar has already found the farman and has whatever she needs to ascend to the Delhi takht by vanquishing Jalal. So the question that seems most important to me now is whether Maham will have to forget about getting Delhi for her son and just manage to cover her backside on the Chand Begum kidnap issue? In that case would it not serve Maham better to try and kill off Nigar (and make it look like part of the battle or fleeing) and would Maham also not be better off killing Chand Begum rather than risking exposure as Chand Begum's kidnapper? Yesterday when Adham brought the news of all that was happening to Maham, for once I saw Maham behind the times. She had seemed to have lots her sharpness if she wasn't even aware of the goings-on at the palace. And when she did come to know from Adham, her first instinct was fear that Nigar may tell Jalal that Maham encouraged her to fight Jalal. Maham's greatest fear now is exposure on the Nigar-knowledge and Chand begum-kidnap front. So I think both Chand Begum and Nigar are at risk of death from Maham now.
2. Incidentally, how come Adham Khan was escorting Jalal into the surang in yesterday's precap? Has Adham decided to go against his mother out of pity for Chand Begum (he was already showing pity for her when he first saw Chand Begum) or does Adham think that if he lets Jalal get Chand Begum in this mad state, Jalal will no longer gun for his mother and Jalal will never get the truth from a mad Chand Begum?
3. When exactly will suspicions on Maham being the captor of Chand Begum surface? And how? Contingent upon that is Hamida remembering the strange behaviour of Maham in the forest area?
4. We also know that Mahchuchak just needed Nigar to start the war with Jalal, but I think the minute the army of Mahchuchak is at Agra, Mahchuchak will ensure that Nigar is killed and she will then continue the war against Jalal for her own benefit. So that is enemy No. 2 gunning for Nigar's life.
5. Jodha and Jalal may try very hard to capture Nigar rather than kill her as they want desperately to put her straight on her wrong notions about Jalal kidnapping her mother and snatching her inheritance. But will Jodha and Jalal manage to get Nigar without accidentally killing her? And does Jalal refuse to fight his own sister and this then causes Jodha to enter the war instead? Will Jalal enter the war after Nigar is out of it, either killed or injured or captured?
6. Will Abul Mali join the Mahchuchak forces at Agra?
7. Will Chand Begum be seen by Jalal? I have a feeling she will because if Maham kills her off too quickly a large part of the story will get erased unexploited. I suspect that at some point the Gwalior Hakim's treatment will yield a non-mad Chand Begum, and I also feel that somehow she is going to overturn this whole Nigar angle by saying "I lost my baby in her infancy. My child died in my arms and that's why I became psychotic and kept holding onto the doll. This girl who calls herself Nigar is in fact not my real daughter at all. My daughter had some distinguishing birthmarks which this girl doesn't have. Could she be a plant of that daasi woman? Or could she be a plant of Maham via that daasi woman in order to be able to find that farman?" Alternatively, if Chand Begum does acknowledge Nigar as her long-lost daughter she may well straighten out Nigar by saying "My daughter you have got it all wrong. Todarmal is a decent man you have besmirched. It was he who took me safely to Humayun at Agra before you were born. And Jalal knows nothing about the farman and khazana your father left for you!"
8. I also feel that Chand Begum's captivity and ill-treatment by Maham will come out from the mouth of Chand Begum and thus Maham will get exposed despite her meticulous plans not to get exposed. (Now I am still stuck on the Zee man saying that when Maham goes down she will take Ruq also down with her. So could it be that Ruq gets too aggressive with Maham when Maham gets caught and in return Maham exposes her in front of Jalal?)
9. How will the war end and when? Will it end with the death of Nigar and the driving away of Mahchuchak forces by Jalal? In the meantime, will Hakim join Jalal's forces against his mother's army or will he change sides at this point?
10. What was that dialogue of Mahchuchak for, when she tells Fazal to kill off all the soldiers of her own army that do not fight for her with full loyalty. Will there be a scenario where Mahchuchak's own armies are turned against each other within their own ranks, where the loyal ones try to kill the disloyal ones and thus eat up their own strength?
11. When do Jodha's brothers join the war? And what about this enmity brewing between Mansingh and Hakim Mirza? Will we see that start?
12. Is this war only about the resolution of Nigar, Chand Begum, Maham and Ruq or is this war setting the stage for greater action hereafter on the Mahchuchak versus Jalal angle, when the politics will be less within the Agra palace and be more about Agra versus Kabul?
Folks, here I am guided to an extent by what the Zee man told me on phone two days ago. He said that within one month we will get things resolved in this order: First there will be the war, then the discovery of Chand Begum, then the exposure of Maham, and then via Maham the exposure of Ruq. I have no reason to doubt this Zee man who spoke to me for he was the same man who had said some correct things before.
If this is the case then all the attempts by Jalal to find Chand Begum immediately may fail, and the war may start and only after that Chand Begum may be found.
I am feeling as if there are lots of loose ends all around me but I am not sure how to make them all fall into a story pattern at this stage. At the same time I am eagerly looking forward to the war and to see how the pieces of this complex puzzle will all fit eventually. Any guesses any one?
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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