Friends, this week is going to be full of action. Various sources of information, including from Balaji and Zee, have told Diksha and me respectively, that the story is poised interestingly. We can reasonably trust the information we got yesterday - that this week and maybe a bit of the next one too will see three things happening, maybe one after another or concurrently or even intertwiningly.
One, Jalal will save Jodha, or rather he will go with Mansingh to save her, but she will be atop a steep cliff whereupon during a fight between Jalal and Khyber, this Khyber will give his life to save her. Thus Jalal will end up with a good feeling about Khyber for having done a tyaag of his own life to save Jodha. This information has also been corroborated by the actor Ketan posting pictures of the shooting of his cliffside death. Two, we have also been told that Chand Begum's khulasa will happen and she will herself nail Maham. Three, we've been told further that Atifa's antecedents as a plant of Mahchuchak, aided by Maham at Agra, will come out into the open further nailing Maham and exposing Atifa's chaal.
We'll go into these three possibilities in a bit but first here's something about the new "nikaah promo" ...
There is a promo now showing Jalal getting married to Atifa and Jodha screaming that he should not do so since she was his love - but Jalal says he will go ahead. The promo has all the visual quality of a dream, and it's my feeling that when Jodha is lying unconscious on the hillside while Khyber is fending off the sipahis who followed him, Jodha must be having nightmares of Jalal actually marrying Atifa and her subconscious must be telling her to stop this wedding.
The reason again that I say it's a dream is because the information that Jodha has been kidnapped has already reached Jalal at the DEK, and we all have been given to understand that there will now be a rush of Jalal and Mansingh and his sipahis to retrieve Jodha from Khyber. There will then be a fight between Khyber and Jalal on top of a precarious cliff and in the fracas Jodha may slip down the cliffside. Both Jalal and Khyber will probably rush to save her but it will be Khyber who yields his life and saves Jodha and thus redeems himself in Jalal's eyes. When all this is about to happen or after all this happens, it appears the hakima will then give a diagnosis that Jodha is not on her deathbed as such, but she is very weak and this could put her and the babies in danger - and this is when Jalal will start caring himself for Jodha.
When all the information we have got points to this trend of progress of the story, I hardly think Jalal will delay the rescue of Jodha to get married to Atifa, nor will Jalal come back from the rescue to marry Atifa. I think therefore that this whole Atifa marriage is a dream ... and further the ubiquitous Zee man has also told me that no such nikaah will happen. So I am waiting to see if all that we've heard from various sources will now happen as above (ie. Jalal fights Khyber, Khyber gives his life to save Jodha, the hakima says Jodha is too weak, and Jalal starts caring for Jodha himself.)
Additionally we have also been told by the same group of reliable sources (90% Diksha's contacts and 10% my own calls to Zee) that in the process of doing the jail repairs that Jalal has asked Mansingh to do, Mansingh will discover the surang from Khyber's cell to Jodha's room - and this will infuriate Jalal so much that he doesn't even know the labyrinths of his own Palace, that he will institute a search of all surangs in the Palace and thus chance upon Chand Begum in the Maham surang. Chand Begum will then do a complete bhandaphod of Maham! Further Jalal's own tehkeekat regarding Atifa will also establish that she is a plant of Mahchuchak aided at Agra by Maham. Thus the downfall of Maham is on the cards, along with the expose of Atifa as an MC plant. Now if I remember rightly, the Zee man long ago told me that if Maham goes down she will take Ruq down with her, so I don't know if I can expect that happy event also. Maddy and I wait with bated breath for that to happen!
As of yesterday I called Zee again to reconfirm that this Saturday there will surely be a mega episode and he said the promo for this will be out soon. I think in today's (Tuesday) episode we may have Jodha having that "nikaah dream" and soon thereafter (by say Wednesday/Thursday ) the promos for the mega episode will be out.
I am not sure though whether Khyber will be killed midweek this week and the surang bhandaphod (i.e. Maham/Atifa bhandaphod) will happen in the mega episode ... or whether this whole week will just go in the Khyber fights and cliffside tamasha and the mega epi sode will be just about Khyber death, leaving us waiting for Maham's downfall and Atifa's exposure only in the next week.
The Zee man seems to be indicating that Atifa's exposure itself will happen in this week's mega episode ... so let's wait and see if he's right and whether they will go at high speed with concurrent tracks finishing the Khyber's death and the Maham/Atifa exposure also by Saturday.
A lot of credit goes to Diksha for getting us a lot of info from her "sources", which I then kept corroborating with the Zee guy. If all that the sources said is to now happen we will have a roller-coaster week I think?
[Caveat: As always please take all predictions and source information lightly. We are not 100% sure this is exactly what will happen, although the broad contours of what may happen is indicated to us. Believe these and all other predictions at your own risk!]
Meanwhile, here's what all happened in the episode ...
The episode opened with Sharif still hiding behind the curtains in Jodha's room as she dressed up. But his view of the whole proceedings was somewhat spoilt with the sudden arrival of Moti into the room, and seeing Jodha looking very dispirited and down, Moti offered her a glass of water. Sharif, instead of standing behind the curtains now sat down on the ground awaiting the end of Moti's discussions with Jodha, but unfortunately that moment didn't come soon.
Moti was asking Jodha not to worry, when Jodha , feeling very despondent, said to Moti "I have lost the love of my husband to another woman. What is there left to live for? I have no worries left!" But then just as Jodha was commiserating about her own dismal situation, she remembered the discussion she had just heard outside her room from the bandhis gossiping there. One of the bandhis had said rumour had it that Khyber had been punished by putting him into a deep dry well, where he apparently was banging his head on the walls incessantly, and almost bleeding himself to death. Suddenly, as it were, a light went off in Jodha's head that even if she didn't live for herself, she could at least live to help someone in distress like Khyber, who was being treated worse than an animal. "I have to try and save Khyber!" Jodha said as she hurriedly threw a shawl over herself and made to leave the Palace quietly as the family were in preparation for the grand evening prayers.
In another part of the Palace, Adham Khan was talking to his mother about Amanullah Khan, the husband of Atifa. "I have heard that this man now has managed to get a witness and his case against Jalal has become stronger" said Adham, "Maybe we both should now support his side?" But Maham as usual decried all of Adham's plans and said he didn't have the acumen to pull off saazishes. Much to Adham's further frustration she said "And remember one thing., I will not allow you to succeed with any plan that involves killing Jalal!" Adham sneered at his mother's loyalty to Jalal despite his belittling her nowadays with nothing more than an empty title. "You are my worst hurdle, my enemy " he said. Just at that moment a rather boisterous Javeeda came into the room trying to grab Adham's attention for something frivolous when Adham scolded her sharply and set her crying and said "And this one is my other enemy!"
From her quarters Atifa marched out with her head held high and a smile on her lips. She was looking like the cat that had the cream. Obviously she was up in the clouds rather showing off her exalted position in Jalal's eyes. Her husband came towards the same room from the opposite direction and they both were face to face for a moment. The husband was so angry with her that his fists clenched tightly. But hardly had he taken a step closer to manhandling his wife when sipahis of all sizes suddenly appeared around her - clearly the bodyguards that Jalal had now ensured protected her. The husband became even more miffed to see this new status of his wife as a protectee of Jalal, and Atifa without a word marched away from her husband, bodyguards in tow, as she sneered down her nose at her husband.
Jodha meanwhile had reached the well, deep in the jungle, where Khyber was housed. She peered in and could see him lying flat on the floor of the well, dejected and almost having given up, his face and body desperately bleeding. "Khyber" Jodha called out a few times and when he registered her voice, he got up and sat up. Fortunately, at that time, the well was not guarded. Since it was the night of the grand prayers, all the sipahis had gone for namaaz at the call of the muezzin, and even in the Palace too, Hamida and her ladies, Jalal and all his men, and even Atifa's husband - everybody - was in namaaz. It was the right time to help Khyber out of the well. Hearing his name called out Khyber replied Jodha by uttering her name much to her surprise. "Come soon, there is no time to waste. Prayers will be over soon and the sipahis will return. Come let's get you out" Jodha said as she tied a strong rope to a tree trunk nearby and let the other end of the rope into the well. Khyber grasped the rope and heaved himself up the rope to the top of the well and soon he was out of the well. He kept trying to speak to Jodha, maybe trying to thank her even, as his eyes looked at her with hero-worship. "Run away, go, save your life" Jodha tried to push Khyber to leave fast before his guards returned. But Khyber lingered, looking at her, reluctant to go. It took a lot of pushing and gesticulating and desperate words from Jodha to Khyber that finally made him understand that he had to go for his life, and so he started walking away from that spot at speed.
Jodha was thankful he had gone, but as she herself stood at the edge of the well, the despondent thoughts that had been with her in her room came back to stir her mind. What was the point of living, when Jalal and his love were no longer hers? She may as well fall into the well herself and end her llife? In a moment of utter weakness, Jodha took a forward step to leap into the well, but suddenly, as it were, Khyber was back and he physically restrained her from killing herself. "Leave me alone, why don't you let me go?" she cried, but then very soon her tears turned into self-remorse. "What was I trying to do?" she questioned herself, "I have no right to kill the life of the babies I am carrying!"
Remorse and guilt set Jodha crying bitterly and Khyber took the liberty of wiping her tears. But then his over-familiarity irked Jodha. "Get away from me, stop touching me" she said but Khyber kept making as if he would touch her against her wishes. Jodha tried hard to push him off, but then in a lightning and unexpected move, Khyber lifted her, tossed her over his shoulder and started walking off with her.
Jodha beat his back with her hands shouting "Let me down ... what are you doing? Where are you taking me?" but Khyber unmindfully just headed for his own path, and soon out of sheer exhaustion, Jodha fell unconscious on his shoulder as he kept carrying her off.
The sipahis returning from namaaz were barely in time to watch Khyber walking off with Jodha and were aghast. A group of them started running after Khyber as he stomped away with Jodha towards a hillside.
Meanwhile Jalal was seated at his throne in the DEK where an air of festivity was following the prayers. People were giving each greetings and sweets, but Jalal was searching the thronging crowds of family members and courtiers, his eyes looking out for Jodha. He couldn't see her anywhere. His own thoughts were echoes by Hamida who also told Salima "Where is Jodha Begum? I had specifically invited her here!" Jalal was getting uptight with every passing minute of not finding Jodha, and he then called Ruqaiya aside and asked her "Where is Jodha Begum?" Ruqaiaya at first demurred saying she must be somewhere when Jalal rounded on Ruq and said "I had specifically charged you with her care through this pregnancy, how can you say you don't know where she is?" Ruqaiaya then said "She must be crying in her room! The harem has ears and eyes. Everyone there, including me, knows that she has been sitting in her room all day crying her heart out after you told her about yourself and Atifa!" Jalal became even more upset and distraught after hearing that. His eyes had an expression of deep concern and alarm.
Meanwhile Khyber on the hillside, seeing a spot where the soldiers were still some distance away, dropped Jodha to the ground and turned squarely to face the following sipahis to finish them off. One by one as the sipahis tried to attack him, he bent and crushed them out of shape. When all was done and dusted, he then relaxed a bit to turn and look at Jodha lying there unconscious.
But at the DEK, in the midst of the merrymaking there was alarm.. A sipahi ran in with Atga in tow and together they told Jalal "Shahenshah, there is bad news. Khyber had again kidnapped Jodha Begum!" The extreme alarm in Jalal's eyes reflected his agitated state of mind. "But how? He was deep inside a well wasn't he? " asked Jalal. "Yes Huzoor, but it seems Jodha Begum let him out and after that he has carried off somewhere!" said Atga. Jalal's looks of frustrated helplessness coupled with deep distress was the last sight of the episode.
In the precap, we see that Jodha, having recovered consciousness, tries to get her bearings ... where was she? Then seeing that Khyber had brought her here against her wishes she tries to bolt the scene. She throws handfuls of mud into Khyber's eyes and temporarily blinds him and is then seen running to make her exit from his vicinity!
My comments on the episode:
Again we had a relatively Atifa free day ... what I mean is that Atifa did not appear in the same frame with Jalal, and I have no problem if she is simply seen marching up and down the corridors of the palace with her posse of sipahis and facing her irate husband. Simultaneously we also had another day of Jalal showing grave concern for Jodha ... I thought it was lovely the way he was searching the room for Jodha with his eyes (at the DEK) and when he couldn't find Jodha anywhere, his frustration, alarm and dejection were all palpable.
I also loved the way he told Ruq "When I have asked you to take care of Jodha in her pregnancy, what do you mean you don't know where she is?" Maddy must have loved that sentence because she and I have been waiting to hear that Ruq is now the hand-and-foot-maiden of Jodha in a reversal of positions from the fake pregnancy track!
Friends, I also loved that well-side scene f Jodha and Khyber. I thought it was very well scripted. First Jodha in her room is beset with sadness that Jalal's love for her is over and he now belongs to another woman. But then Jodha with her compassionate heart puts aside her own troubles when she remembers that Khyber is in danger of losing his life in the well. It is extremely symbolic that Jodha then goes to save Khyber and manages to get him out of the well - even as everywhere in the Palace and outside, the devout are all at namaaz together. It is a poignant moment, and loaded with the sanket that God is above, and all is well after all, and that the sadness of those on Earth is but temporary. Jodha then, after saving Khyber, again is washed over by feelings of dejection and she almost steps into the well to kill herself but Khyber returns to save her. And then she cries because she realises that she had no right to take the babies lives with her own. What a seesaw of emotions for a girl to go through! I thought Jodha beautifully portrayed that swing from compassion for Khyber and compassion for the babies, to time and again letting her shoulders droop in remembering her own worthless life!
It is also very interesting that till about a few episodes ago, Maham was nowhere in the picture and Ruq was the one we were largely seeing - and we all were looking to see if Ruq would turn out to be the villain of the piece where Atifa was concerned. But suddenly now it appears that Maham is back in the picture ... she is eavesdropping behind curtains, she is keeping Ruq informed about Jalal and Atifa's liaison, and she is talking to Adham about helping Atifa's husband . I have a personal feeling that somewhere along the last couple of weeks the Creatives have changed the original story they were aiming at after so much of negative feedback from viewers. There are some two or three things that seem to have changed palpably.
One, Jalal is less and less with Atifa in any scene and we are seeing more of Jalal being aware of Jodha's feelings and showing concern for her. Two, as I said before, we are seeing less of Ruq as a potential villain behind Atifa and seeing more of Maham suddenly. And three, there is this source info that the Chand Begum track will now get closure and Maham/Atifa will get exposed, while Jalal will be shown caring for Jodha. I think public pressure and downtrending TRPs have put some sense back into the Creatives that to show Jalal in close encounters with Atifa is a complete no-no, and we are all here to see Jalal with Jodha and not an MU, and that leaving all past tracks open without closure is getting on audience nerves.
I am all for tolerating this week as an action week, if I can get loads of scenes next week of Jalal caring for the weak and frail Jodha in her pregnancy. As I told the Zee guy, I don't want to see a philandering and womanising Jalal in the "paak-mahina of Ramzan" and instead we audiences want him to be taking forward that "epic-love" during this paak-mahina. As always the Zee guy said "I will be sure to tell the Creatives this." I think this time we and he have been heard - and the story has been revised and updated in the last two weeks to take a happier turn at full speed. Amen to that!
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