Friends, as many of us expected the episode yesterday was all about the promo that we've been shown all of last week.
Predominantly it was about how alone Jalal felt, when one by one, his own immediate family proved to be the most treacherous lot of all, and how he then blamed his throne and his crown for isolating him and leaving him alone at the top, an embittered and lonely man ... and then how Jodha came to his rescue by embracing him and caressing away his deep pain and saying some of the sweetest words that any man would want to hear from his dearest wife.
The scene was beautiful ... and I guess it will go down as an iconic scene in the relationship of Jodha and Jalal, simply because Jalal has reached a climactic point in his life when all the power and position he has acquired feels as dust in his mouth and he stands disillusioned and deserted by close family on whom he had placed such faith. Like all men, in a moment of feeling utterly destitute, he looks for a scapegoat for the position he finds himself in ... and the takht that looms before his eyes becomes a symbol of all that's wrong in his life. Jalal then grabs the nearest mashaal in the room to set fire to the takht!
Jodha who is standing by, sensing that his uncontrollable rage has turned to desperate self-pity, tries to douse the flames, but in vain. Then realising that it was more important to stop Jalal from burning his own inner heart, she embraces him, cuddles him and caresses away his pain as best as she can. She then tells him "You have me! With or without the takht and taaj I am always yours till I die. I want you and not your power. Nothing will happen to us or our children. I love you for yourself. This Jodha will always be with her Shahenshah. You will never be alone as long as I live." Still holding Jalal in her arms like a baby she looks heavenward and prays "Kanha, I pray to you to give the Shahenshah strength for he is broken badly by this bad dua of Maham!"
Before this exquisite scene takes place however, we have the episode beginning with Maham's diatribe to Jalal which turns from sorrow over her son's death to an open accusation of him as a Shahenshah with dubious standards of insaaf. Maham is so irate that she demands "an eye for an eye, a child for a child" as insaaf from Jalal ... and swears by everything holy that he too would see his children dead and mourn them if her prayers to God were true and granted.
There is also a third scene where Jodha meets Maham in jail and has to hear more invectives from Maham, who tells "Jalal brought you here, but you don't belong here, you never will be a Mughal, and I don't talk to gair auraths. So get out of here!" She swears Jodha and Jalal will die without progeny and says the dynasty will end with them. Jodha swears back that she will give the Sultanate its waaris and continue the line. This scene is pretty powerful too - for Maham is at her scornful best, but Jodha with her steely voice outspeaks her!
These three scenes seemed to swallow up the whole episode, and the dialogues in all three of them are quite sensational. The actors delivered their lines so beautifully and with so much fervour that it almost felt like I was in there with them in the scenes, hearing it all first-hand. For my analysis however, I thought I would choose the one scene that affected me most and so here it is ...
Jalal blames the takht for his loneliness, but Jodha shows him she's there for him!
Jalal is in the room where the takht is ... and he's drinking heavily to hide from his deep inner pain. Relentlessly the flashbacks of all his family members scheming and plotting his downfall come before his eyes. He cannot seem to run away from the nightmarish quality of these flashbacks because the people he sees in them are the ones he most trusted and found out to be the most treacherous. He smashes the glass of liquor in his hand to the ground and looks for the reason for all that has happened to make him the loneliest man on earth.
His eyes fall on the throne beside him and he says "All this has happened because of you. Every time I find that because of you my hands get covered in the blood of my own family! Every time I find that my own people stand against me, and that too is all because of you! You first took away my Khan Baba from me. Then you took away my BadiAmmi. And now you have taken away my Atga Sahib from me. You have taken away from my life a "sahara" I depended upon. Now I no longer want you in front of my eyes."
And with that Jalal rises to find the nearest mashaal on the wall and poises himself to set alight the throne. Jodha comes in running to find him intent on burning the takht and she screams "Shahenshah, what are you doing?" but it's too late for he has dropped the mashaal on the throne and its upholstery has started burning. "This is such a huge apmaan to the Mughal Sultanate" Jodha stammers, as she sees the flames lick the throne. She looks around for a way to douse the flames and finds a nearby potted plant. Quickly uprooting the plant she pours the mud from the pot over the burning takht but to no avail. Jalal meanwhile is pacing up and down in a frenzy registering what she is trying to do.
"Don' even try to douse these flames, Jodha begum" he shouts at her, "let this dratted thing burn. Look at it and see what the burning inside my heart feels like. Everybody thinks this is my power, but this is actually the biggest bad dua of my life. This is my greatest liability. This takht has removed everybody from my life that I loved. And it has only left around me those who are greedy for and craving this power. This takht had even made my Khan Baba, who made me first sit on it, to turn against me. Mahchuchak, whose son I am, now wants to kill me for this takht. My brothers in law Abul Mali and Sharif are ranged against me from greed for this takht. And to add to everything this takht has now taken away my Atga Sahib from me." Jodha, with tear-filled eyes cannot help but be moved by Jalal's depth of feeling and desolation.
Jalal continues to scream "I have decided Jodha Begum, to get rid of this takht. Now neither this takht nor the crown on my head will remain. I give them up. I cannot bear anymore this hatred and this bad dua that flows at me daily from the very people I care for. I don't want this "badshaahat". This is not a takht, this is the shaitan personified. It has taken all belief in God from me, it has taken away my people, it has poisoned every relationship I cherished ... it has left me feeling all alone and deserted, Jodha Begum." Jalal's voice cracks and he starts weeping.
"My people have all either died or gone far away from me because of this takht. Look at me. I am unable to believe that my own BadiAmmi, whom I respected as a mother more than anyone else, has now given my aulad a bad dua. It is again all due to this takht. My doodh bhai, Adham, whose hand I held and led him as a kid, wanted to kill me for this takht. I just don't want this takht, Jodha Begum. All because of it, the person whose doodh ka karz I wanted to repay has repaid me with bad dua to my unborn children." Jalal breaks down so visibly that Jodha looks shattered for a moment.
She then steels herself and goes close to him to touch him and hold his hand. She says to him "be brave Shahenshah. Nothing will happen to us. Not to you or me or our children. Mahamanga is like your mother, and mothers never give curses upon their children. She has not cursed you."
Jalal is unready to accept this "No Jodha Begum, she has cursed me" he says over and over again and cries bitterly. He then just sinks to the ground at Jodha's feet saying "It's all due to this takht. I don't want all this anymore. I don't want this loneliness anymore."
Jodha sits down herself beside him and focuses her eyes on him as if to wake the dormant brave soul inside him. "That is not true, Shahenshah" she says. "Look at me ... I said look at me". She turns his face with her hands, forcing him to look at her eyes. "Know this, the relationship between you and me is not because of this throne. I am forever yours, with or without your throne. Our life together, and especially our new life, is something I want to share with you. Let the greatest hurricanes blow over us, but our lives will never be snuffed by that. I am in love with you, Shahenshah."
Jalal, ensconced in her arms, is beginning to feel hope again as he hears her and he then touches her face as if it gives him succour. She continues "That's why, whether or not we have this throne, your crown or your power, this Jodha will always live with her Shahenshah. Let even death touch us, I will not be afraid to embrace it so long as I live and die with you. You are never alone Shahenshah because Jodha has always been and will always be with you." Jalal nods his agreement with grateful eyes, and Jodha hugs him closer to herself with all the feeling at her command.
"Even the worst of wounds heals with time" Jodha adds as she hugs Jalal even tighter to herself And then she looks heavenwards and prays "Hey Kanha, Mahamanga's bad dua has hurt the Shahenshah a lot. Please give him strength." Jalal closes his eyes and leans heavily against Jodha's chest, feeling the soothing quality of her prayer to Kanha. Jodha also closes her eyes and rests her cheek upon his head. Together they look like couple that has been thorough fire - literally - and come out safe on the other side.
Isn't is one of life's cruellest ironies that the more successful, the more powerful, the more achieved you are, the more lonely and isolated you become? And isn't it also true that you don't notice your loneliness and you always keep it suppressed till one day there is some small trigger that lets it all pour out and you are yourself staggered by exactly how deeply lonely you are? And again isn't it also true that when you most feel disappointed with others is when you realise the greatest disappointment in your life is not them but you?
I thought yesterday that Jalal's dialogues of disappointment and his anger on the takht showed all three of the points I have noted above regarding isolation and loneliness and the top and the objects of disappointment in his life.
What all happened in yesterday's episode:
Maham kisses the body of Adham and then stands and looks up at Jalal on the balcony. She is fuming. She asks "How did you do this after taking Adham's share of doodh from me? What insaaf have you done for him? Did you call a darbar, did you take sala mashuara or did you let him speak his case? What badshah are you without elementary insaaf? I will give insaaf to Adham as Wazir-e-Aliyah. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a child for a child. Your children too will die and you will mourn them like me. I give you my bad dua. Oh Allah take all my prayers for Jalal's happiness and change them to my bad dua! Please grant that all my bad duas for Jalal will come true"
Jalal gets very angry and shouts "Take her away from here." Maham turns to look at Adham for the last time and goes with the jailors. Jalal also goes wawy from the balcony in a huff. Jodha is bitterly crying on the balcony as Hamida consoles her.
Jalal goes to the tarazu as he always does when he is in mental agony. He keeps hearing Maham's words and cannot stop them ringing in his ears. When Ruq sends a sipahi to Jalal he shouts and sends him away ... so Ruq herself comes to talk to Jalal but he shouts at her ruthlessly "Just get out". Ruq tells Hamida, Salima and Jodha about Jalal being in a terrible state. Jodha offers to go and talk to him, but Ruq tells Jodha "You don't risk going to him in your condition because he in an uncontrollable rage." But Jodha thinks she may be able to help him.
Jalal meanwhile is now sitting near the takht and drinking heavily. He sees flashbacks of all his family who have become enemies ... people like Adham, Maham, Abul Mali, Sharif and Mahchuchak. He curses the takht for covering his own hands with his family's blood. "You have made me alone, taken away my people" he blames the takht. "You are also the reason for my BadiAmmi's bad dua " he says ... and with a mashal he burns the takht. Jodha comes there, sees this burning takht and tries to douse the fire - but in vain.
Jalal then begins to cry bitterly "I dont want this takht or taaj. I am all alone and no one wants me". Jodha hugs him and caresses his head. She says "You have me! With or without the takht and taaj I am always yours till I die. I want you and not your power. Nothing will happen to us or our children. I love you for yourself. This Jodha will always be with her Shahenshah. You will never be alone as long as I live." Still holding Jalal in her arms like a baby she looks heavenward and prays " Kanha, i pray to you to give the Shahenshah strength for he is broken badly by this bad dua of Maham!"
Jalal's eyes start showing some hope and he looks relieved and clutches Jodha.
Meanwhile in jail Maham is still maniacally planning how to get the Delhi takht for Adham. Jodha comes there. Maham shouts at her "Came to see me mourning? Happy? Now get lost!" Jodha says "i have come to ask you a question ... why did you give this bad dua?" Jodha says "What did Jalal or I or the children do to you, but give respect?" Maham replies "Jalal brought you here but you don't belong here. You aren't a Mughal and to me you are a nothing. Get out. I don't talk to gair auraths." And then she sarcastically adds, "Oh, I forgot ...you come to the jails often, don't you, to meet criminals like Khyber and me ...?"
Jodha is disgusted. She says "Those who believe in God will be protected and you cannot harm us." Maham says "I may stand exposed now, but remember, there are many others in the Palace who hate you and your family. You will have no waaris at all and will suffer all your life unable to have or keep alive your children".
Jodha looks her in the eye. She says firmly "This khandaan will surely have a waaris from me and that's a promise". She holds her stance despite Maham endlessly shouting "Your dynasty will end. It will end." till Jodha goes.
In the precap, Ruq gets very miffed to see the other harem ladies telling Jodha "After you become the Marium-Uz-Zamani, please dont forget all of us."
Okay, now for the next week's anticipated events ... I think it's going to be a Ruq-jealousy week, don't you?
If it is so, I'll be a happy bunny. I have long waited for Ruq to be caught and exposed, so if Jodha becoming the MUZ triggers Ruq to doing something horrible and getting caught, I wouldn't mind it at all.
In fact I think next week may be all about Bakshi and her pregnancy and its fiasco, as well as Ruq getting jealous of Jodha's pregnancy and impending MUZ audha.
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