Take 5: An end of an era; update on Friday's episode on page 15 - Page 6

Originally posted by: al_pal

sure dearie I will ,I keep on doing that more now 😆, he is Gemini 😉,me saggi,hubby piscina ,u can imagine poor fella in wrong hands 😆

Originally posted by: divyavm

A take 5 on Maham Anga's journey

(1) Maham Anga: Embodiment of a thirst for power

Maham Anga's first priority was always ambition and power ... this was never about Jalal or even Jodha, ... her thirst for power preceded that. Interestingly, this came out in the flashback from Chaand Begum ... she had this resentment she was a baandhi when she had the potential to be so much more ...

She probably saw a stepping stone to power when she became a wet nurse for Jalal. And somehow, an attachment or "love" did form with Jalal as his wet nurse.

There were moments when I thought she actually loved Jalal ... like when he thought he died at the hands of Atifa. But, I have begun to realize this was not love but a sense of possession ... almost like an obsessive lover. She was used to Jalal's love and attentions ... she wanted complete control of his life ... she would decide when he would live, when he would love, and when he would die.

(2) The threat to power ... a more independent Jalal and the entry to Jodha

Up to his wedding with Jodha, she felt full power ... but she could see the cracks when Jalal was determined to marry Jodha and was making adjustments to make it happen - putting up with her burning the wedding dress, agreeing to Jodha's conditions, and pushing back on her suggestion to just destroy Amer. She could already see a potential enemy to her power in Jodha ...

As another potential checkmate, Ruquaiyya's pregnancy news and potential to be MUZ was an added threat. She knew Ruquaiyya wanted to remove Maham Anga from power as soon as she became MUZ. There was the added concern of the future of Adham Khan.

And then the Ruqaiyya miscarriage plot was a masterstroke ... attacking both potential enemies in one strike ... eliminating chances of Ruquaiyya becoming MUZ (well , naturally) and creating a rift between Jodha-Jalal (which probably put the love story back ~4 months).

Perhaps, after Jodha's suicide attempt she realized how much she was beginning to lose Jalal ... Jalal shared why he felt for Jodha but also asked that he wanted to be alone with his thoughts ... he no longer wanted to share it his feelings about Jodha with his Badi Ammi.

(3) More direct attacks on Jodha to reclaim power ... leading her to lose her son

Again, Maham Anga felt Jodha rising as a threat ... with Sukanya's wedding and Jalal giving up his fort for Jodha's sister. This was compounded by Adham Khan's punishment in the Tasneem issue for which she blamed Jodha. Her attacks directly shifted to Jodha ... with the fake pregnancy track, the letter MU, and the ensuing Ben track.

The end of the Ben track proved to Maham Anga how much Jodha meant to Jalal ... and she used that as her perfect weapon as that love turned into Jalal's weakness in the Sujamal fiasco- the thought that Jodha loved another destroyed him.

But that weapon was too powerful even for Maham Anga and back-fired as her cover blew and her role in the fiasco unfolded ... that was the first true defeat for Maham ...she lost her son. A shock clouded her face when Jalal told her "you have lost your son."

(4) A quest for power without her son, Jalal ...

She may have lost love for her son but not her love for power. Now that having power over Jalal was no longer an option, she wanted power for Adham Khan. And she tried with Chand Begum and Atifa to win that power ... with every ploy, she became more desperate and drastic ... and the Atifa track was the last straw.

The unveiling of Maham Anga's conspiracy in the end of the Atifa track was an interesting one ... as Maham Anga looked like she had won, but at the cost of Jalal's life ... there she was lamenting Jalal's death. This goes back to my hypothesis that she is extremely attached and possessive of Jalal ... where she wants to control every step of his life ... including his death. He cannot die without his permission.

And then the table turns 360 degrees ... with Jalal unveiling her cards in front of all. She still manages to fight back saying that she wanted to give the Sultanate a better Shehenshah ... yet another attempt to shift her blame to another.

But, this time Jalal had a fitting response ... with the response of whether that is why she had hidden Chaand Begum. By then, Maham Anga had nothing to defend her thirst for power.

He finally sent her to jail ... separating her from the world she wanted to rule ... and to protect her from committing another sin. At the end of this , she lost it all, well almost.

She had to lose one more thing ... Adham Khan. And with that she was completely crushed but not defeated ... she lashed back with that terrible curse. She was still vengeful and spiteful.

But, then what happens as you near your death? They say you view your whole life ... and probably also a realization that you do not take power with you when you die and more importantly, that even power stands useless in the face of death. And if anything, you want to leave with the blessings of those you love ... so all she wanted was a "Badi Ammi" from Jalal.

(5) A thirst for love ... but too late

Her whole life she wanted only power when she had the love of her son Jalal ... when she was dying, she finally realized the value of the son she had. And hearing that loving son call her "Badi Ammi" was all she needed to die in peace. A mother finally recognized her son. And the loving son, was finally seeing signs of the "Badi Ammi" he loved ... so he gave her that final peace.

Maham Anga is a classic example of how one loses all in their quest for power ... and by the time you realize the value of people and relationships in your life it is too late. I will never justify what Maham Anga did ... but it is not uncommon to see people like her.

And with that, life came full circle ... Jalal always felt his emotional support and strength was Maham Anga ... but in the end , it was Jalal today who was a pillar of emotional strength when Maham Anga when she did not have an ounce of strength left and breathed her last.

We will miss you Ashwini ji ! You have intrigued us as Maham Anga this past year. We may have hated you, been puzzled by you, may have been shocked by you ... but we definitely could not ignore you!

So, thoughts on this take and on the end of the journey of Maham Anga?

Originally posted by: divyavm

I am saggi too

awww mishti and me JB ,u and me Sb

Divi ,

@ Pals ,

I'm boycotting all this drama because I think MA's best and Ashwini's best was some time ago. But Divy your big picture look is what I like to read to give MA closure. Whether Jalal and she said a justified goodbye , whether she felt truly forgiven, is debatable. If Jalal didn't know half her terrible secrets, how can she feel release. Jalal did his part, he did it out of compassion more than duty and he will reap the benefit of that.

Originally posted by: Rashmi81

Divi ,

Amazing write up .I loved it and yes as you promised it was not what I feared .😆

You have written so many things about Maham's quest for power.It reminded me of a quote I read."Power does not corrupt but fear of loosing power corrupts." This applies to MA.I feel power in itself is not bad .Because we need power in our hands if we want to change society .A person like Jalal had power in his hand as Shehenshah and so he did so many good things like canceling the taxes for Hindus,abolishing child marriage ,sati reforms etc.Never we saw him misusing his power .Rather we saw that he was ready to give up powerand now being ready to give up power also requires powerful mind.

So how come Jalal used his power efficiently and for the benefit of people? Because of the power of his subconscious mind which never allowed him to do wrong.

With Maham the quest for power and fear for losing it was awful.Because of the quest for power, she used some immoral methods ,even killed BK for that .She misused Jalal's emotional dependence on her.When she got all the power still she was not at peace because then it was the fear of loosing it.This made her to kill Ruku's unborn baby .She plotted against Jo ,as Jo was a threat to her power.

I always felt due to this power thing always occupying her mind did she ever have peace of mind,?Therefore I think we never saw her sleeping peacefully .

But in the end what happened ? She lost all her power.and she lost both her sons,Finally in the game of fate she was a loser.

I never had problem with Jalal crying for her as I knew he would ,since breaking the bonds of relationship is not easy .I was against the OTT display .One thing I liked that he came as Jalal and Not as shehenshah .He came as Jalal not because MA asked him to come but somewhere I thought he himself knew that if he goes and shows his grief as Shehenshah then it would be injustice to all those whom she wronged.This shows that he is more of Shehenshah now then Jalal.I am not surprised as great people like him always rose above themselves.

Now she did Salaam to Jo it's good .But if she had said sorry to Jalal also then things would be balanced more.She had betrayed him and his love .So atleast if she had thanked him or showed her gratitude that inspite of all the betrayal ,he pardoned her .

Now we really don't know whether she repented or not.I felt she never but read some saying that she repented as her actions showed .Whatever it is now,I only feel ,Maham is done with the exam of life.Her paper has gone to the examiner ,above all of us to decide whether she passed or failed.If she has failed then the soul has to go through the repeat exam of birth and death and if she has passed then soul is free and has attained " moksha" .

nice post Rashmi. lovely post by you too Divya.

@bold: agree with you. Its is a fact for everyone. we think we may have lead a better life, But whether we passed or not is in the hands of God.

My theory is a little different when it comes to Maham not asking for forgiveness. Of course I will be in the minority. Today in fact she did tell that she is Mamanga and she always returns the favor, so expecting her to take a full turn and change is not possible. Yet somewhere I did feel that she was repenting. The way she accepted JO and also she craving to meet Jalal for one last time and him to call her badi Ammi says it all. Knowing Jalal, he would have never expected an apology from MA. He know his badi ammi very well. For some sorry comes easy but for some it does not come out easily but they show their repentance in other ways. For me today from MA it came out in the form of acceptance of JO, wanting to meet Jalal and of course the badua.

I FF somes scenes in the morning as I was at work. Just watched and Lori and crying of Jalal was okay to me. I am saying this again from Dil se.

One another thing is I am not a serial veteran. This is my first serial after a very very long time so may be I do not dissect too much and see it in a way that I want it to be. as long as no Major MU between JJ, I am just fine.

Talk to u guys later. Going to meet SRK and Deepika and Gang.

Originally posted by: Rashmi81

@ Pals ,

What is JB? The other day I read IMO and now what this stands for?

I read such short forms ,only here.Rather it starts here and spreads everywhere.😆😆

Excellent write up Divya .

No matter how much I hated her plotting and manipulative behavior , I believe that Mahamanga truly loved Jalal in own way .

She has made me angry several times , with her arrogance , insolence and scheming but today I did become emotional when I saw her bonding with her son' Jalal and pleading him to address her as 'badi ammi' .

Ashwini Kalsekar breathed life into the role of Mahamanga . An actor par excellence , she will be missed .

Originally posted by: Rashmi81

@ Pals ,

What is JB? The other day I read IMO and now what this stands for?

I read such short forms ,only here.Rather it starts here and spreads everywhere.😆😆

rashmi it stands for jama buddies as I became Goldie and mishti is also one ,we have same color jama 😆