Friends, yesterday we saw more of the Jalal obsession with Atifa, and to make matters seem even worse than before, Jalal was not just allured by her inside the Palace, he was also contemplating leaving his wives behind and going on a shikar trip with Atifa. This alone should make those disgusted with his behaviour bristle and fume like they've never done before! It all looked bad and sad for Jodha who asked him "Even if I am pregnant and cannot participate actively, could you not have taken me along just for the company?" Jalal's silence and downturned eyes said it all. He couldn't face her!
To add to matters, we had Atga airing his uncomfortable thoughts (like running commentary) on the matter of Jalal behaving too familiar with the wife of another man, even touching her, and trying to interfere in her marriage. According to Atga, law was against anyone interfering in anyone else's marriage however unsatisfactory the marriage may be, unless the woman in the marriage herself chose to complain. Over and above that, to hold the hands and shoulders of that woman married to another man was taboo. Atga was afraid that Jalal was heading down a path that would backfire badly on him and cost him dearly!
Not only was Jalal thus getting himself deeper and deeper into this "enthrallment" of Atifa, but Jodha made matters difficult between herself and Jalal by going to the jail in Khyber's defence despite Jalal's warnings - and had to face an angry Jalal waiting for her as she stepped out. And Khyber and his handler then also found a way to reach Khyber into Jodha's bedchamber where he has come to do God knows what! Khyber seems to be possessive over Jodha but he has both, a gleam of amour in his eyes as well as an iron rod in his hand, so what is he going to do to her? Kill her with kindness or beat her to death?
One more issue that cropped up to muddy the already disturbed waters between Jodha and Jalal was that the daughter of the Hindu King soon to be betrothed to Atga's son (by Jalal's good offices) sent a paigam to Jodha saying she wanted to cry off this whole engagement. She was not that impressed by Jodha, a Hindu, setting an example of marrying Jalal, a Mughal, for she did not want to besmirch her own religious moorings to marry outside her faith! How will Jodha take this matter to Jalal in this current state of dissonance between them is anybody's guess!
All in all, things seem to be perfectly poised for a mischief-maker like Ruq to add her machinations to. And she was not slow in trying to do that. She fed Jalal some drink (that looked like a hallucinogen) no doubt to make his mind fantasize even more about Atifa ... and then she herself took great joy in letting Jodha know that Jalal was going for shikar without her.
Ruq seems to be more than just "making hay while the sun shines". She looks to me and Diksha like she's playing some deeper manipulation games. We'll have to see how she comes out of all this when the track closes ... which I hope will be very soon. The infamous Zee man seems to have hinted to many that the track should "reveal all" by next week, so in the absence of any other hint, we have just his words as dubious solace.
I hope the Sunday promo this weekend does not further throw any big bombshells at us and instead gives hints of a resolution for the Khyber-Atifa tracks. So till Sunday we will wait, afraid of what may come in the promo!
In Rahim's room, after the toy buying is over, Jodha quickly stashes the paigam in her hand within the folds of her skirt, as Salima enters and makes small talk. Soon Jodha takes leave of Salima and Rahim and makes her way out.
Elsewhere in the Palace, Jalal and Atga are walking through the corridors discussing how the rishta for Atga's son from the Hindu Raja is a good one. Atga says it will further help bind the Mughals and the Hindus together. Just then Jalal chances to see that in an adjoining room Atifa is sitting with Tansen and his troupe and practising music. Jalal gets entranced to see Atifa again, and after telling Atga to wait outside the room, he enters and goes to stand close to Atifa. He enquires if she is OK and praises her voice and hopes she feels safe here in the Palace. He then says that soon there will be a mehfil with all the singers and a good evening can be had by all. Atifa bats her eyelashes at him, obviously basking in such exalted attention.
Meanwhile, as Jalal is maintaining his steady eye contact with Atifa and addressing her almost exclusively with his remarks, Atifa's husband comes to meet Atga to show him some papers. Seeing his wife getting all this attention from Jalal really enrages this husband. Atga tells him to go to Todarmal for further accounts work and the husband leaves - but not without another look at the Shahenshah and his wife looking too cozy. Atga also senses this sudden interest of Jalal in Atifa and starts feeling a bit uncomfortable.
As Jalal leaves that room and proceeds with his walk onwards with Atga, he asks Atga about this husband of Atifa. Atga then confides in Jalal that the man is good at his work, but has a frightful temper and is even known to be a compulsive wife-beater. Jalal gets enraged to hear this. But Atga tells him "Unfortunately none of us can interfere for the law says that husband-wife relations are entirely between them and unless the wife herself complains, outside interference in their marriage is not allowed." Jalal is very unhappy with this explanation and says "That is completely unfair. The next time this man hits his wife I want to know, I want to be told, and that's an order."
Meanwhile, Jodha coming down along the corridors from Rahim's room, meets with Moti who tells her with some concern that again some very loud grunts and groans of pain have been heard from the jails and it looks like someone is continuing with Khyber's torture. Jodha stops in her tracks in deep anger. She decides something has to be done about this and rushes to the jail to Khyber's cell. There she enters Khyber's jail cell, sees the sipahi (Khyber's bodyguard in disguise) and scolds him harshly saying the Shahenshah has forbidden the cruel punishment of Khyber and if he continues to ill-treat him he will be reported. The sipahi apologises. Khyber throughout this dialogue has been ogling Jodha with an amorous eye. As Jodha steps out of the jail to find her way back, however, there is a very angry Jalal standing in her path, and the look on his face is ominous.
Jodha is taken aback, but Jalal then declares "Takhliya" and dismisses all the staff from there leaving just himself and Jodha there outside the jail cell (and inside there is Khyber chained to the woodwork). Jalal starts berating Jodha with a volley of very strong words. "It is all because of the love I have for you that you are taking such advantage and going against my wishes. How many times do you need to be told that this man is a darinda and can harm you and the babies? There are other husbands in this world that keep their wives under control using very harsh means. I think it's all because I give you too much room? Jodha Begum, you are not a wife living up to your husband's "umeed"!" Jalal shouts. Jodha is unable to get a word in. Meanwhile Khyber cannot stand his Jodha being scolded and yelled at by Jalal and looks murderous as he grunts within his throat!
Jodha is then seen in her own room looking very upset with Jalal for scolding her. "Have I no rights to do the right thing? Am I a daasi here or a Begum?" she asks herself in anger at Jalal. Just then her hand touches the paigam tucked into her skirt waist and she remembers she has not even read it. She withdraws the parchment and starts reading it. To her utter surprise it is from the young daughter of the Hindu Raja who has been fixed as a rishta for Atga's son. The girl entreats Jodha for help. She says that her father being a small Raja was majboor to accept Jalal's idea of her marriage with Atga's son ... but being a Hindu she herself is unable to countenance a marriage with a Muslim boy. She says she understands that Jodha made a compromise and married a Mughal, but she herself is unwilling to break her bonds with her own religion and marry an outsider from another religion, and she hopes Jodha can help her prevent this marriage. "The toy seller who gave you this paigam is my henchwoman and can be trusted if you wish to send me your reply" the girl writes. Jodha is left wondering what to do.
Meanwhile Jalal, still very angry at finding Jodha in jail against his wishes, goes to Ruq's room and starts throwing things around and ranting volubly. Ruq sees his agitation and hears the reasons for it. She then commiserates with him and goes to get him a glass of some drink. "What is this drink?" Jalal asks. "It nothing serious. It's just something to help you sleep peacefully", Ruq replies ... but as Jalal grabs the glass and empties its contents, Ruq gives an evil look like she's managed to dose Jalal with some mind-influencing drug!
In Atifa's room, Atifa is again sitting rather happy with herself and remembering all the attention from Jalal, when her husband enters. He directly comes to the point with her. "What's going on between you and the Shahenshsh?" She replies "Nothing!" But he counters with stern eyes "I saw it all with my own eyes!" Then on a sudden angry whim he says "OK, pack up now, we are leaving this place forthwith." Atifa gathers the courage to give it back to him. "No, I feel safe here. I am going nowhere with you. I feel safe in this place from you, from a husband who ill-treats me day in and day out." The man is by now uncontrollably angry. He hits her hard across the face and leaves the room ... and she is on the floor writhing in pain and humiliation.
In Ruq's room, Jalal is lying on the bed with Ruq sitting next to him, and presumably the drink that Ruq gave him is beginning to work, when a bandhi comes in with the news that Jalal wanted to be told of if it happens! The bandhi confirms that Atifa's husband has hit and abused her badly. Jalal grabs his energy and runs towards Atifa's room. Meanwhile Atga also gets the same news and tries to run to Atifa's room before Jalal can get there, but by the time he reaches Jalal is already there. Jalal is then seen holding Atifa by the shoulders and caressing her hands and trying to console her saying "I will be there for you, I will not leave you fear not etc.etc." Jalal raises Atifa by her shoulders to sit her on her bed and then continues to hold her trembling hands.
Atga sees all this and gets extremely concerned. He thinks to himself "My God, the Shahenshah is going to be made to pay dearly for the way he is behaving. It is going to become costly for him. He knows that by law a man cannot touch another man's wife." Atga tries to prise Jalal out of the room fast and says "Shahenshah, you please go, and let me handle this issue." Finally Jalal leaves reluctantly but looking very personally pained.
On the morning after all this fracas, Atga is with Jalal as Jalal is sharpening his sword. He is about to say something to Jalal when Jalal pre-empts him. Jalal says he has a mind to go for shikar. Atga says "But which Begum would you like to take with you? Jodha Begum unfortunately is pregnant and may not be able to bear the strain." Jalal looks at the ground and replies Atga "No begums will come with me. But tell Tansen and his troupe - his whole troupe, all of them - that I want them on this shikar trip with me." Atga's heart sinks. "Looks like the Shahenshah wants to be with Atifa" he says to himself with grave concern in his eyes.
Hoshiyaar is too desperate to give news to Ruq of this shikar trip. "The Shahenshsh is not taking Jodha Begum, but that doesn't mean he is taking you either" says Hoshiyaar. But the latter half of that sentence doesn't bother Ruq - for she loves the sound of the first half of that sentence. "It doesn't bother me who he doesn't take, so long as he doesn't take Jodha" she replies and then decides that she should be the one to immediately give Jodha the "good news"!
Ruq runs to Jodha's room and tells her about this shikar trip on which the Shahenshah has decided not to take Jodha. She then mischievously asks Jodha "How is it that you know nothing of this trip and its arrangements? Is there some "anban" between you and Jalal?" Jodha calmly replies that there is no friction between her and Jalal, but after Ruq leaves, she begins to wonder why the Shahenshah is still so angry with her jail incident that he is avoiding her company for the shikar!
Jalal is dressing in his room with the help of his bandhis when Jodha suddenly takes their place without his knowing and helps him into his overcoat. As he turns, he sees it is Jodha there and not his bandhi. "Are you still so angry with me that you are avoiding taking me with you for shikar?" Jodha asks with a quiet voice. Jalal then looks at the ground and everywhere else, unable to look her in the eyes. "You are pregnant and cannot participate in the shikar", he says finally. "True, but at least you could have taken me along for company?" she says. He has no reply!
In the final scene of the episode, Khyber's handler (his bodyguard) is seen telling a grunting and angry Khyber "Silence, be calm, I know you like Jodha immensely and want her, and she too seems to like you. She has even braved all opposition to come here and meet you. Now if you do exactly as I tell you, I will see that you get your Jodha." Khyber's eyes gleam with anticipation and desire. The bodyguard then gives Khyber a map of the Palace with instructions on how to reach Jodha's hojra and he also gives Khyber a heavy iron rod as a weapon.
In the precap, Jodha is fast asleep alone on her bed in her hojra with the purdah all around her bed. Khyber with rod in hand has entered her hojra and is peering at Jodha from very close through the gap in the purdah. Khyber is breathing heavily and his eye has an unholy gleam!
My comments on the episode:
I understand and sympathise with the popular discontent with what's happening but I want to stay true to my own inner instincts that say that this track is not what it superficially seems to be. I have decided at least that I will not succumb to the general downbeat crabby mood, and I will keep my tail up and manfully bear the episodes that seem to be less than satisfactory.
In my bones, deep within me, folks, I still feel very strongly that what I see in Jalal's eyes is neither lust nor love ... it is something else. Maybe I am not able to say what it is, for sometimes it looks like curiosity about this girl, protectiveness towards her, a fascination for her, a need for her company, whatever. But it certainly is not romantic love or unbridled lust ... and I do not believe Jalal is cheating on Jodha wilfully. I don't believe even Ekta with her twisted mind will sully her 300-epsiode saga with this kind of obnoxious lust in Jalal at the completely inappropriate time of Jodha's pregnancy.
I say this with conviction purely born out of my own inner instinct, and not just because the Zee man also seems to confirm this to many of us in our calls yesterday. In fact even before we all called the Zee man, I have been saying this from Day One of this track that I feel this way. Right from the beginning my personal intuition has refused to read Jalal's behaviour as "amorous", and even I can't explain why. It just doesn't seem genuinely like lust or love to me, and the more I see it, the less it looks like lust or love.
I cannot help but compare this behaviour of Jalal with his very first look at Jodha in Amer during Gangaur. That look of Jalal as he turned his head to look at Jodha for the very first time in her palki, and then the way he kept looking at her as he walked alongside her palki to the river front, and then the way he looked at her from the reflection in the water and the way he kept her dropped payal, and finally the way he dreamed of carrying her away on a horse ... to me that was the way Jalal looks when he has love and lust on his mind. At that time it was certainly not yet love on his mind for Jodha - it was a combination of fascination for Jodha, maybe some love, maybe some lust, maybe something less emotionally elegant ... but when Jalal is truly fascinated by a woman who deeply impresses herself on him, that Gangaur look is what Jalal wears. The way he looked with Benazir and the way he is now looking at Atifa does not match that look that lingers in my mind from the Gangaur days of Amer.
I know that my sentiments are running counter to what most people in the forum are saying and feeling, but I have to be authentic to myself and state with truth what I really feel, without fear of going against the popular sentiment.
I therefore feel compelled to state my personal truth here ... I DO NOT FEEL IN ANY WAY THAT WHAT JALAL IS SHOWING IS EITHER LOVE OR LUST.I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT IT IS THAT HE FEELS EXACTLY, BUT TO ME IT LOOKS NEITHER LIKE LOVE NOR LUST.
At the maximum I can say he is feeling a sort of mesmeric attraction that he himself cannot explain, and there is pull in him towards this woman for some reason that he himself cannot understand. I can yield up to that point, but personally I am not able to attribute more than that to his behaviour! I also feel that there can so many different types of pulls of different people on our psyches and branding every type of inner pull that one person has on another as love or lust would not be the best way to try and find a fast solution to the matter at hand.
There are lots of suspicious circumstances here. Why does the picture of Atifa painted by Jalal look so similar to Chand Begum? Why did Jodha and Jalal say to each other that they have not yet fully fathomed each other? Why did Jalal tell Ruq that she knows everything from their childhood that he knows too? If we take all these kinds of individual sentences or actions of people, loads of questions arise around every point for which we have no answers yet.
I will not therefore just dust Jalal's behaviour off me by just saying "It's disgusting. The man has no morals. It is plain lust" etc. etc. I will wait and watch, knowing that there are all kinds of possibilities and twists still open!
Maybe in the end I am proved wrong, but I will rather wait and be proved wrong. I will not try to rush to negative conclusions today just for the moral satisfaction of having condemned Jalal strongly for today or just to feel relieved that I have vented to my satisfaction.
Accha, here I want to just leave things for the weekend with a sudden thought that has crossed my mind..
I can't put too much of a construction on that one drink we saw Jalal having and we cannot guess if Ruq has been continuing to give him that drink for a while now. It looked like he was having it for the first time yesterday for he asked Ruq "What is this drink?"
I do suspect however that it is some type of psychotic drug that Ruq may be now feeding him AFTER seeing his attraction for Atifa. Maybe Ruq is trying to get Jalal more and more into a fantasy about Atifa so that she can separate Jalal from Jodha, using Atifa as an object that shines in the drugged Jalal's eyes?
This is just a thought I had after discussing with Diksha the possibility that Ruq may be engineering this Atifa fascination in some way - and hopefully will even get caught for it soon!
It's just a passing thought, so I thought I would share it on the post and see how everybody feels. It could be something linked to the way Jalal is behaving or will behave in future - or it may be nothing also! Let's see ...
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