This is my response post in Radhika's thread. You may find it interesting...
Originally posted by RadhikaS0
Ekta's Jalal seems to be having a split personality. He can't decide whether he loves Jodha or hates her. This has been the story since the beginning of the show. It's been one year since they have been married and he is still as confused as ever.
He feels strongly for her. He hardly feels for any other lady in his life. Of course he loves her, but when she hurts him, it pains 100 times more and he reacts proportionally. This is Jalal. Love him or leave him.
But can a leopard change its spots? Can Jalal truly love Jodha all the time and, more importantly, trust her enough not to misunderstand her intentions ever? That which seemed au naturel not so long ago now seems more and more doubtful.
Where has he misunderstood her intentions here? He tells Man Singh that he wonders what to blame more - her rehem dil or her zid. He has never doubted her character nor her intentions.
Why Khyber
Was Khyber introduced to balance the scales for Jalal-Atifa getting closer? So that if anyone questioned Jalal getting intimate with Atifa and neglecting his beloved wife, who was going to give him his cherished waris, he/she could be silenced by someone else questioning Jodha showing sympathy for Khyber and understanding his love, as it were?
The reverse could be questioned too. Was the atifa angle introduced to show at this time of Khaiber track so that anyone who could questions Jodha's episode with Khaiber could be pacified thinking 'if Jalal could romance Atifa, why should Jodha not 'help' Khaibar? Afterall the intentions are noble'
Was Khyber introduced to redeem Jalal's character after the war track, when we wept to see an ineffectual Jalal, who could so easily be trapped by his enemies and needed the resources of Man Singh and Jodha to save him and his harem? If this were so, why has Jalal never been shown to have the upper hand with Khyber, not physically, not emotionally? Khyber has probably walked off with a lot of audience sympathy and good will by dying like a love-lorn Romeo and, before that, by showing much more concern for Jodha than Jalal had ever done. Jalal could not defeat him either through brawn or through strategy (as we had speculated in the beginning that Jalal would come up with some clever ideas to worst Khyber).
Will concern alone be enough in life? Will Jodha have married Khaiber and lived happily ever after with him had she met him before her marriage to Jalal? Khaiber is a physically very strong man unaware of the ways of the world. If he wants something, he simply takes it...others may be killed or suffer losses in the process. He has the physical power to snatch anything he wants, so he can spend all his time being Jodha's puppy and caring for her and calling her name.
Do you expect Jalal to do the same? Do no work other than obey her and chant her name? He did that, for a brief period, when his love was realised. But that can't be the story forever. Even after the strongest and most passionate times of our lives, we do return to our routine and other interests. Don't we? Why do you expect Jalal to keep pampering Jodha and counting her hunars always for ever?
In fact, Jalal even lost to him on the emotional plane with Khyber, in spite of his inability to speak, reached out to Jodha and gained her sympathy and trust, solely through his attitude and behaviour. (Jalal could learn much from him in how to treat a woman like a lady and let his actions speak louder than words.)
Did Khaiber even know the delicacy of treatment of a lady? Did he even understand love? Jodha was the first human who showed him sympathy, who treated him like a human. He did all he could for her happiness. He thought that she was unhappy with Jalal and carried her off, the second time. When he saw her seek out to Jalal he was content that she was happy with him. He knew he had lost her and he did not want to live after losing the one person who cared for him. Had it been Maan Singh in Jodha's place who showed him that care, he would have done anything for Mansingh too. So the lady-treatment or the nuances involved is not the question here.
Why Atifa
We still do not know, and likely will not know any time soon, who she is and why she is here. Is she from Jalal's past? Is she some seductress with secret means of luring men? Is she on some mission to dethrone or kill Jalal?
If she is on some secret mission, why hasn't she made any attempt so far? She hasn't even been shown conspiring with anyone.
Is Jalal really attracted to her; is it infatuation, lust, love or all a drama?
For this, we will have to wait and see.
What exactly is going on in Jalal's mind?
What makes him think he can love Jodha or abandon her, as he pleases? Does she have no feelings or emotions?
Abandon???Really? Where has he abandoned her? The moment she went missing, he was off to find her and was worried sick. He risked his life to save her, and you call it abandoning?
Why is it alright for him to romance a married woman but not alright for his wife to sympathise with anyone apart from him? It's not just about Khyber; Jalal would have been equally displeased if it had been a woman - the Shehnaz track being a case in point.
We do not know yet that he is not romancing Atifa for some reason or not. But even if he is not, it was the system those days. We can debate on that at the end of the track.
Jalal has no problem with Jodha sympathising with Moti or even Zakira. But she chooses all strange people to sympathise with. Shehnaaz could have led to Rahim's death. Jalal didn't mind Shehnaaz till that incident for sure. Radhika or anyone else who supports Jodha's 'sympathy' for Shehnaaz - If your family was a large family with children, would any of you agree to have a nutter in it, who could pose a threat to the safety of children knowingly or unknowingly? Certainly you wont. Then why should Jalal? Simply because it is Jodha's wish to have her?
Why is it alright for him to neglect a pregnant wife for the sake of a new "find"? Esp when we saw how caring he was with the faking Ruq and his own sister?
Neither Ruqs nor bb went into the prison to meat a darinda. Neither of them flaunted rules to save a prisoner against the king's orders.
For once keep the Atifa track apart and deal only with the Khaiber issue and Champavati Princess issue. Was it okay for a Queen to meet a prisoner at the prisoner and tend to his wounds? Even the ever-adoring HB wasn't in its favour. Why didn't she ask the Moti or Zakira to do it? Would any of your husbands approve of it if you tend to the wounds of criminals personally (unless of course you are doctors). Secondly she challenged his decision in front of the entire awaam.
Thirdly, she wrote back to the Champavat princess without consulting him. If he was not available for immediate consultation shouldn't she written back that since the Emperor is not available, she will get back to her at the earliest after consulting him and asked the doll-wali to come back, say after a week. To write back challenging an alliance that the Emperor had made for political reasons without his opinion, was sheer insolence and you cannot deny it. Why shouldn't Jalal be angry at her for this? Doesn't he have the right to be angry with her if she keeps breaking protocol and rules? Why shouldn't he say that she is using his affection for her in this case? (This is assuming that he is not pretending and IS angry with Jodha)
Finally, Even in today's democracy and broad minded laws, you simply CANNOT free a prisoner out of 'sympathy' because he is good to you, because you think that he is right and walk free. It is legally a crime. Even sheltering a criminal and aiding him is. But Jodha has actually taken the law in her hands, gone against the explicit orders of the king and freed Khaiber. That she didn't expect to be kidnapped is another issue. But freeing Khaiber itself is wrong. Jalal can put up with all the rumours and gossips in the state as he knows and trusts his wife. But certainly he cannot overlook her freeing Khaiber that resulted in the death of soldiers and losses to his people.
Maan Singh tells Jalal that his Bapusa and Dadasa used to be rusht with Jodha. Doesn't Jalal have any right to be rusht with her? Remember the way Bharmal put Jodha down when she advocated Suryabhaan for Sukanya and the way Bharmal handled Shivaani when he got to know of her tryst with Kanghiman? As a father he has a right to be angry with his daughters, but not Jalal. He cannot be angry with a queen who broke the law, whose sympathy caused more devastation, who risks the whole flock to save one? Jalal has no right at all. Just because he is very soft to those whom he loves, such is the pattern expected in ALL his dealings ALL the time.
Is Jalal Following a Behavior Pattern With Jodha
His character seems to be modeled on the nature of a spouse abuser. Such people alternately abuse their wives or love them passionately. Each time, they make a mistake, they beg forgiveness , only to start the abuse cycle all over again.
Then would you Jodha follow a pattern of a law-breaker? Jalal DID NOT make any mistake. He apologised as it was his good nature to do so. In the Ruqs MC track, the proof was against her. What should a king do? If he killed that dacoit king, that was because he harmed his praja. What wrong did he do in the ben track? He did trust Jo and conducted a test in DEK. but the test was negated. He agreed to marry Ben as he didn't know her truth and MA planned it that way. In Sujamal track, Jodha was equally at fault for hiding things from him.
Is There Anything Epic About This Love Story
Is this what epic love stories are made of? Would Romeo-Juliet be still remembered if Romeo had time and again pushed Juliet to the end of her tether?
Romeo and Juliet are immortalised as they died young in love.
I cannot believe that a story that has endured over centuries could be so crass. Was Akbar really like this with the MUZ - if he had been like this, would she have been his shadow and even accompanied him to wars (even in the late stages of pregnancy) or stood by him against her son?
Here I agree with you completely. Neither would Akbar have been a such a dumb marshmallow nor would HK have been a feminist law-breaking specimen.
Even if this track is entirely fictionalised, if the story has to move ahead, then something has to be done about the oscillatory behavior of Jalal and fast. How long can we see him shout at Jodha, ogle at some commonplace woman, land in deep trouble, get saved by Jodha and then cry for forgiveness? Twice is too much already. 🤢
And the impudent behaviour of Jodha too. How long can we see her take law into hands, see with a narrow vision and do ONLY what SHE thinks is right, others may go to hell, only to be saved by some stroke of serendipity and launched into nek-dil bracket.
Anupamaa
Vasudha
Avatar and Signatures Shop
29