Friends, thank God we have had an episode at last that seems to give indications of the impending end of this miserable Jalal-Atifa track! Yesterday we had an episode with not even a single frame of Atifa ... and to cap it all, we saw deep concern in Jalal's eyes for Jodha, a concern that we have missed seeing for nearly two weeks now!
It is true that Jalal and Jodha exchanged heated words on the subject of her having sent a paigam without his permission to the Hindu Rajkumari promising to help cancel her marriage to Atga's son. The fiery words exchanged between Jodha and Jalal started with this topic but then spread to how Jalal was feeling terribly insulted that Jodha was making him look small in front of people - and how it was all due to her taking unfair advantage of the fact that he now had found his "dil" and had given her so much love and freedom.
But through this exchange Jodha had just one question for Jalal ... "Are you having an illicit relationship with a married woman?" Jalal parried this question once and tried not answering it and went back to his pet peeve of Jodha insulting his guroor with her own guroor. But Jodha kept coming back to the subject ... "Are you having an illicit relationship with a married woman?"
Jalal got driven to go on the defensive when he finally admitted to having an affair with Atifa - but then he tried a sideways swipe at Jodha saying it was her behaviour, her disregard for his ego and his standing, that had driven him to love someone else.
Jodha then touched a raw nerve in Jalal saying "Say no more, for the children in my womb need not know how badly their father is treating their mother!" But Jalal fired back, half in anguish and half in indignation, "Yes let them know that their father has married someone who cares less for him and more for a darinda!"
In the end, however, Jalal could not sidestep Jodha's question forever. He looked away and then gathered himself and found the words to say "Yes, I am in love with Atifa!".
Friends, that stony silence that Jodha gave him, with her eyes full of accusation and unshed tears, that silent message that went to him from Jodha that she thought he was "down there in her estimation" after he could have admitted to such a lowly act of breach of trust ... a lesser man may have melted with shame and been unable to face her scorn and grief. But Jalal seemed to hold his own simply by desperately keeping the furious look on his face intact, despite, I guess, the clanging guilt and self-condemnation beating inside him.
For long minutes they both just stood there looking at each other, a million different emotions asking and answering questions unsatisfactorily between them. Jalal finally had to leave the room with a dubious-seeming temporary victory. He had told Jodha how much he hated that she constantly injured his pride, his ego, his dignity, his self-respect ... and how because of that he was driven to another. But heart of hearts, I think he knew that this whole argument was a cop out ... and no matter how thoughtless Jodha had been it could never justify his going into the hands of another willing woman, betraying the love between him and Jodha, especially at a time of her difficult pregnancy.
Yesterday, as all of you know, I spoke to the Zee guy who said Jalal was doing all this Atifa-love drama for the "bhalai" of Jodha , and the "bhalai" of the waarises and the Sultanate who were in khatra. He knowingly was leading Atifa on - and yet in the process he probably thought it fit not to confide in Jodha about his plan because knowing Jodha's temperament she would have instantly jumped in with her own wrong tactics if she knew Jalal was putting his own life in danger to save her and the babies. And at this time of her pregnancy, Jalal did not want Jodha to get all entangled in the Atifa saazish till he had time to unravel it all in his own way and at his own pace.
I asked myself as I saw yesterday's episode "Is it all a drama by Jalal, even the part where he tells Jodha that she is insulting him and making him feel small and that is why he had to go to another woman?" It then struck me to remember what I myself had written on my post a few days back. There are two issues here. On the one side Jalal is angry with Jodha for time and again countermanding his instructions, going against his dignity, making his feel small etc. On the other hand he is trying to romance Atifa with a view to uncover her saazish against Jodha and the babies and possibly himself. But in Jalal there seems such a mixture of indignation and guilt simultaneously, that he is tying up the two issues and saying "Because you are insulting me, I have fallen for Atifa! You are driving me towards her."
In a way Jalal may be wrong, but in a way he may be right too. Because both of them - Jodha and Jalal - are not doing 100% right by each other.
I guess both Jodha and Jalal have lessons to learn and mistakes to rectify.
She has to stop championing causes and people in a way that that later makes him look small. She needn't have supported the Rajkumari without telling him, and she needn't have made a spectacle of supporting the darinda in front of the public and using her "wish" to make Jalal's diktat look silly in the public eye. But then she too had not many choices for she really had a soft heart that overtook her senses, whereas he was being adamant on his decisions.
And Jalal too needn't have hidden the plan Jodha that was going to expose Atifa by romancing her. He was obvviously thinking he was saving Jodha from a saazish and it was therefore okay to hide it all from her just because she was otherwise sure to jump into it all. Now by hiding things from her he probably has put her in graver danger than bbefore - for she seems driven once again to suicide, and thereby into the hands of Khyber (and if SBS is to be believed she is going to roll down a hillside in writhing stomach pain, is going to flee dakus and soldiers and is going to be at the brink of losing her babies and her own life). What would Jalal feel he has accomplished by driving things this far?
Anyway, people in love do silly things to each other all the time - and from that stories of how they later learnt to manage their love emerge. So let's just go through with all this and wait to see the resolution. In the end the lovers will come together and hopefully both will have more sense in their heads. Meanwhile we have a roller-coaster week ahead full of rough-and -tumble and unexpected consequences for both Jodha and Jalal.
As long as Atifa is exposed - and Ruq is exposed as the hand behind Atifa - I am a happy bunny! (Yes I think Ruq is behind all this Atifa saazish - and although Maham may choose to fan the flames she is not directly behind the saazish herself).
Two scenes that I loved yesterday were: One, the scene where Jodha is praying with Hamida and the ladies and Jalal is passing by and he has eyes of deep concern only for Jodha. What a lot of unspoken words passed between Jodha's and Jalal's eyes in that scene ... fabulous! Two, there was the scene where Jodha went into his room and rattled off a list of all that she had readied for public distribution but without even looking at him, she walked out. His melancholy cry to her to stop ..."Jodha Begum" ... as she just walked on was a fabulously directed shot.
Accha, one more thing that struck me was what Diksha had pointed out yesterday. There is a growing sense in me also now that maybe Salima knows Jalal's plan in romancing Atifa to uncover her saazish.
In the last episode, I now feel, Salima may have been sent by Jalal to meet Jodha and pacify her when she was crying her heart out with distress after hearing of Jalal's affair from the harem gossips. Remember how Salima had said "I don't believe these stories about Jalal. And also, if your love is true it will go nowhere, and if it goes, it's not true love". Salima seemed to be giving Jodha a message that all was well with her love for Jalal. And then again, in yesterday's episode, in the prayer room, when Salima saw Jodha praying in misery and Jalal peeping at Jodha with uneasiness and concern, Salima rose to try and invite Jalal in but he declined. Salima seems to be in the tough position of having to balance what she knows Jalal is doing with her knowledge of how bad Jodha is feeling!
I love Salima and if this is her role in this issue, I love her all the more for it!
Okay, so here's what all happened in the episode yesterday ... I have written out the conversation between Jodha and Jalal with a little more detail than the other parts of the story.
The episode starts with Hindu Raja visiting Jalal and Atga. He says Jodha has sent a paigam to his daughter agreeing to help with cancellation of her marriage with Atga's son - but Jodha should not have done this as his daughter, the Rajkumari, was ready for marriage. Atga looks quite upset. Jalal is furious with Jodha. He goes angrily to Jodha.
Jodha and Moti are meanwhile discussing the news that Atifa's husband plans to complain to the Qazi regarding Jalal and his wife having an affair. Jodha tells Moti "Things have now gone too far. I have to have a word with the Shahenshah, wherever he is at the moment - his room, or the prayer room or the DEK. He will have to listen to my words."
Just then Jalal comes in angry and shouts at Jodha "There's no need for you to go anywhere, for I have come here myself." Jodha begins "I have something very important to say to you ..." but Jalal doesn't give her a chance to complete the sentence. He starts shouting instead "First you tell me how, without my permission, you had the guts to send that paigam to the Hindu princess? How many more insults will you heap on me in front of everybody, Jodha Begum?"
Jodha does not answer his question but comes up with a stronger one of her own "Shahenshah, I want to ask you if you are having illicit relations with a married woman?"
Jalal parries that question "I have come here to ask questions and not to answer them. Now tell me, how did you have the temerity to break the rishta for Atga's son that I have fixed?" But Jodha simply says "That is not the answer to my question, Shahenshah! I ask you again ... please tell me if you are having any illicit relations with any married woman?"
Jalal looks away from her eyes, gathers himself and then hits back "Yes, I am." He tries to look his furious best as he stares at her utter silence. Then he is forced to add defensively "I am the Shahenshah, and I can do whatever I want. I can marry anyone or make anyone my Begum. For that matter, from the day you became my Begum-e-Khas what have you done for me but for insulting me in public and reducing my standing? What have you done but for taking unfair advantage of my love and the freedom I give you? As a Begum you have disrespected my "huqum" by sending that paigam to the Rajkumari. You may be in love with me but you have always taken undue advantage of that love. You gave me my "dil" but your guroor has also stamped upon it. So yes, I have no hesitation in saying that if today I have fallen for another woman, you are the cause."
Jodha is already distraught and probably knows what is coming next. She says "Please stay quiet Shahenshah and don't say anything more. Don't say anything else that will give the children in my womb the wrong idea of how badly their father talks to their mother." Jalal fires back "Oh, the children should know why their father is doing all this. They should know that I have got such a Begum to whom, more than my own life, a darinda's life is important."
Jodha isn't able to take the old accusations any longer. "I told you this even before. I was just trying to stop you from killing mercilessly and doing a "paap" in the holy month of Ramzan. It's my duty to see that as my pati you do no such "paap"." But by now Jalal is shouting so loudly that Jodha begins to tremble "Does your dharm also tell you to insult your husband at every turn? To make me feel small in front of the whole awaam? Jodha Begum you have used the love and freedom I gave you against me. So yes, Jodha Begum, yes, I am in love with Atifa!"
Jodha is ever so silent and deeply in tears. He keeps on a furious face. They spend several minutes like that just staring at each other, each in his and her own private world of chagrin, grief and sorrow. Jalal has a furious face, but he too looks a bit crestfallen after having admitted his affair and after having seen her stony grief and forced fortitude. Her silence is too damning. Meanwhile, Maham hides behind a curtain, overhears all this and smiles wickedly to herself.
In the next scene, two sipahis guarding the well in which Khyber is lodged, talk of how he is endlessly shouting and banging his head on the walls and is bleeding so much he may die soon. They go from there, shaking their heads at Khyber's plight.
Atifa's husband meets the Qazi and tells him of the affair between his wife and Jalal. Seeing that such an important person as Jalal is involved the Qazi becomes flustered. He says without proof and a witness the case cannot be taken up. Atifa's husband goes away very miffed. Adham later sees this miffed husband in the market cursing Jalal and thinks he should find out what is the matter.
Hamida and all ladies join for special holy night prayers when Hamida explains to Jodha that all prayers on this holy night are always answered. Jodha joins her hands and prays deeply. Jalal passing by sees Jodha in prayers and stops to keep looking at her. Jalal's face as he looks at Jodha is full of questions and concern. Jodha looks back at him and for a while both pairs of eyes are transfixed upon each other. There is deep hurt in her eyes that compels him to keep looking at her with equally deep concern and a fair bit of worry. Salima meanwhile sees him and goes to invite him in, but still keeps looking at sad Jodha as he says he was just passing by and needs to go elsewhere. He takes his leave without lifting his eyes off Jodha's face.
Maham meanwhile decides to go to see Chand Begum in the surang. Maham says on this holy night she will take Chand to her daughter if she reveals the khazana location. Chand Begum tricks her. She begins to talk of the khazana with a gleaming light in her eyes and Maham cannot believe she is finally getting the answers from Chand Begum. Chand then acts as if she is giving instructions to reach the khazana and says it's in a lake under a golden lotus and a silver swan. Maham gets frightfully angry when she realises that Chand Begum is spinning yarns - and says if she doesn't tell all by Ramzan end, she will kill her.
In Jalal's room, a sipahi reminds Jalal that he has to distribute gifts to the awaam with Jodha Begum. Jodha is nearby and hears this - and also hears Jalal answering the man with some sadness that he will make all arrangements himself as he is not sure if Jodha is ready. But Jodha goes in there and gives the full list of all the varied things she has already arranged for the public distribution, and then walks out without another word or even a look at Jalal's face. Jalal rises to try and stop her and says plaintively "Jodha Begum" ... but she just marches on in deep sadness and anger. He looks very affected by her ignoring him for he has seen her face and eyes reflect an anguish he has caused.
Meanwhile sipahis in the corridors gossip that Khyber now learnt to say Jodha's name. Jodha walks past them but doesn't quite hear this gossip.
Sharif meanwhile goes to the jail and scolds all the sipahis there for their lapses in security of late, and he ensures that he sends them all away to other parts of jail in search of routes Khyber may have taken to reach Jodha's room. When he is thus left alone, Sharif enters the surang in Khyber's old jail cell and via this surang, he aims to reaches Jodha's room.
Meanwhile Jalal and Mansingh are also touring the jails to look at the security aspect of the jails. Jalal tells Mansingh, "You have very well fortified jails with good wall structures at Amer. I want you to take charge here and repair this jail to the standards you have at Amer." Mansingh agrees. In all this talk, Jalal and Mansingh fail to see Sharif enter the surang in Khyber's cell.
Jodha in her room is half dressing up - listlessly - as Hamida has invited her for some special evening function. Jodha midway through dressing up gets uneasy as she senses someone in her room peeping at her but can't spot the miscreant. Sharif, meanwhile, from behind the curtains is leching at her. Jodha goes out of her hojra to warn Moti outside about this suspected miscreant in her room, but hears Moti and some bandhis discussing how Khyber is banging his head on the walls of the well and is bleeding to death. Jodha seems affected to hear this and in her already despairing state starts thinking.
In the precap, we see Jodha going to the well in the jungle where Khyber is housed. She goes to the edge of the well and tries to jump in (probably to end her life) but a huge hand grips her hard and restrains her. "Leave me, why don't you let me go" cries Jodha as she tries to yank her hand back from that tight huge grip, when she sees that it is Khyber himself who has stopped her from jumping into the well! She gets a shock!
Keep an eye out folks, to see if this Zee guy's info on the maha-episode on the next Saturday is correct and we get some promo soon about that. If it doesn't happen as he said, I plan to skin him alive!
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