Friends, it took me by great surprise that yesterday's episode was one of the best I have ever seen in this serial Jodha Akbar ... and although it was filled with a lot of sadness towards the end, as Jodha had to hand over one of her babies to Ruq, and she and Jalal were copiously crying within their hearts and steeling themselves to be able to part with their dearest baby, the end part was not the only stirring part of the episode.
I found that I could divide the serial into three equally powerful segments for my analysis.
One, was the great DEK scene where it looked like overnight Birbal, Jalal and Jodha had ganged up and decided to stage a fabulous coup on Ruq and find a solution to the jiziya tax problem by entangling her in her own arguments. Two, was the absolutely heart-stirring scene of Jodha and Jalal talking to each other in Jodha's room (amongst other things, about his jealousies of anyone in her life!) ... and then the way they both cuddled and cherished their babies and hugged each other into loving embraces as a close couple. And third, was that awful heart-rending scene of Ruq demanding "her baby" and the way Jodha had to tear her baby away from herself and give it away to Ruq ... while Jalal felt every twinge of pain that Jodha did and yet stayed stoic and bit back his tears for her sake.
I have no doubt that in the next week's episodes Jalal will now requisition Birbal's help again to solve this Ruq and baby issue - a spoiler yesterday came out to ratify this. It said after the successes with the jiziya tax solution, Jalal will now decide to ask Birbal's help again with the Ruq and baby issue. I have every hope that Birbal will soon tie Ruq up into knots again and I can't wait to see this!
(I am trying hard here not to be too abusive of Ruq, who went beyond limits yesterday in her ruthless ambitiousness and unbridled crassness. All I can say in polite language here is that she is close to "scum" in my books!)
Accha, for my analysis I got lots of requests via PMs asking me to describe the full scenes I have picked - without missing every little delicate detail - before giving my comment. So to please my reading audiences I have done just that. There is very little comment needed in fact, for the scenes were so eloquent and so beautiful that they take your breath away!
Ruq stands up in her place behind the purdah and tries to start speaking from there, but Jalal says she should come and stand before him and address the issue, so Ruq comes forward to stand before Jalal. "But Shahenshah," she says, "You have already decided not to abolish this tax!" "Yes indeed," he replies, "I agree with you, Ruqaiaya Begum, and don't want to change this law. Mahesh Das Ji please tell all those people who have congregated outside that I will not change this law. Either they pay this tax or they change to Islam."
Birbal acts as if he's absorbing all this, while Jodha acts like she's nonplussed and stands up in her place and says "Shahenshah, I too wish to place an argument before you." Jalal agrees to her expressing her point. Jodha comes to stand at the centre of the room before Jalal, and for a fleeting moment before she starts talking Jalal gives her a knowing look!
Jodha then says "As the mother of Hindu sons, I wish to pay the Jiziya Tax on behalf of myself and my sons!" "But why is that?" Jalal asks, as if he doesn't know already. Jodha then explains in detail, "Shahenshah, I am a Hindu and therefore my children are Hindus, and this law should apply equally to all Hindus regardless of status, isn't it?"
Ruq looks taken aback by this strategy. She starts howling "Jodha Begum, how can you do this? One of those children is mine and that child is not a Hindu. Why should he pay this Jiziya?" Jalal then intervenes smooth as silk, "Waise, those two children are mine!" he says first with authority and Ruq's face changes colour. "But I think Jodha Begum has a point" he continues, "because those children are born from her womb and are by law Hindus, and it is you, Ruqaiaya Begum, who insisted that no Hindus should be spared from paying the tax right?"
Ruq says indignantly, "But these children are to be brought up according to Islam", to which Jalal replies "Let's see that when they grow up, but for now they are babies. They can become Muslims only when they understand that they are converting and do so from their own free will. Till then they have to pay Jiziya, that's the law!" Hamida sits up straighter in her chair, beaming proudly at Jalal's train of thought! There is glee also on Jodha's face!
"No I will not accept that. So change this law!" shouts Ruq, " Because just changing the baby to Islam for avoiding the tax is not right. The baby will be doing this under majboori and not from free will." Ruq looks at Jodha and Jalal with ferocity. Jalal, Jodha and Birbal look at Ruq with shrewd expressions on their faces knowing they have succeeded in their strategy of looping Ruq into her own arguments. "This is exactly what I was trying to explain to you before, Ruqaiaya Begum" Jalal said with ultra-smoothness, "but anyway if you now make it your wish too, I will fulfil it."
Jalal then announces with aplomb "From today, no one will pay Jiziya for in this Mughal Sultanate Hindus and Muslims will be considered equal." Jodha smiles in happiness. So do Salima and Hamida and Mansingh. Jalal gives Birbal a knowing look as Birbal acknowledges it with folded hands! Ruq looks checkmated and her head shivers a bit in the pent-up frustration of having been cornered. Jodha and Jalal exchange loving smiles.
But that's not the end of the matter. Some maulvis object that Hindus and Muslims have different Gods, religions and practices so how can they be equal. But Birbal requests to answer that question and when Jalal allows him, he says "In God's eyes all are equal, both religions say that. And both religions also say that since the King represents God on earth, he too has to view all with equal eyes."
The maulvis then bring up the point about losses to the treasury by removing the Jiziya Tax. But Birbal again quashes the argument saying "More than half of all the money in the exchequer is now going into raising armies to quell protesting Hindus. If the Hindus stop protests, the money will be saved!"
Sharif's father, the BigBeard maulvi, then says "This is not possible. This is just a clever argument!" But Todarmal rises to shut BigBeard up. "No saab," he says to BigBeard, "in the long run we will actually have a lot of savings that more than make up for the tax abolition!"
Jalal smiles in self-satisfaction. "I trust all have got the answers to their doubts?" he says. "To me Hindus and Muslims are all equal. Either everyone pays the tax or no one does. In this Mughal Sultanate there will be no penalty on anyone in the name of religion," he says as Jodha's face blooms with pride in him. Hamida nods her happiness with him ... as he walks away with Kingly elegance from the DEK. Ruq still looks like a cornered rat, while Jodha smiles at Birbal!
A fabulous battle of the wills has been won by the combined tactics of Jalal, Birbal and Jodha!
My comments on the scene:
The best part of this scene, for me folks, was the fact that it looked like there had been a strategy meeting overnight between Jodha, Jalal and Birbal before the next morning's DEK, when all had decided the lines they have to say and everything was then play-acted to perfection in springing a coup on Ruq. Even down to Jodha's expression of mock-disgust at Ruq saying the law must stand, they were all play-acting. Later when they had all got Ruq cornered and they were able to bring about the sweeping change of law, the cross-glances between the three conspirators told its own story.
I also liked the way Hamida was so proud of her son -as Jalal also acknowledged his mother! In the end it was grand the way Jalal walked out of the DEK with the easy elegance of a King with unlimited confidence in himself. In Birbal he had found just the man he needed because as Jalal himself later told Jodha, "I was always against the tax but did not want to hurt Muslim feelings with a harsh and quick decision. Also most importantly, I didn't want people later talking that I was showing you favours because you asked me to change the law!"
The masterstroke in all this was two things that Birbal did. He first brought the hordes of Hindus for conversion before Jalal and showed Jalal that if all the Hindus are forcibly converted there would be no tax collectible either! And then at the DEK, he got Jodha to insist that her sons were Hindu till they themselves desired to become Muslims - and so Ruq's son would also be liable for tax. Ruq could have easily accepted that her son would pay tax, but I think Birbal and Jalal were counting on the fact that Ruq was terribly audha conscious. She couldn't bear the thought that while she was the BEK her own son would be a Hindu paying jiziya tax! Birbal and Jalal had sized up Ruq perfectly!
I also liked the way Birbal was smirking silently throughout the whole DEK scene and in the end how Jodha gave him a nod of acknowledgement! The silent exchanges between Jodha, Jalal and Birbal made my heart soar - because I so wanted Ruq to be cornered and for Jodha and Jalal to handle her cantankerousness as a team!
Jalal then moves to sit on the bed behind him as Jodha too sits beside him "In my books you are the one deserving the thanks" he says to her. "But why" she asks."Because as always you have been the reason for my taking one of my big decisions" he replies.
Jodha decides then to rib him. "But I have a doubt," she says "You were saying you would not abolish the tax, but then you changed your mind. Why?" He replies with a smile "I just did what my mind said was right!" and Jodha starts laughing at that. He too gives a beaming smile. They both know it was not as simple as all that.
"Okay, okay, let it go" says Jodha naughtily, "You should not take credit for someone's else's good work!" "Oh!" says Jalal, "tell me who is the other person deserving the credit?" Jodha replies "It's Mahesh Das. This whole idea was his. He brought thousands of Hindus for conversion to help change your mind ... and it was his ploy that got Ruqaiaya Begum admitting she didn't want the tax to remain!" Jodha then starts laughing as does Jalal when Jodha says "If only Ruqaiaya Begum knew Mahesh Das was behind this tactic, she won't spare him!"
"To tell the truth, Jodha Begum, I too was not for the this tax, but I just didn't want to hurt any feelings ... and moreover I didn't want people saying I took this decision to favour you" Jalal then says. "Yes but the tactic behind the implementation were praiseworthy" Jodha persists.
Jalal starts wearing a look of slight jealousy at this. "If all you want to do is praise Mahsesh Das Ji then why don't you go and talk to him instead of to me" he says churlishly. Jodha sensing Jalal's jealousy decides to play him along a bit. "You're right, you are always chiding me whereas he makes me smile all the time" she says. Jalal looks decidedly jealous and possessive by now. "If he so much as comes near you, I'll take his life" he says with the peevishness of an ardent lover.
Jodha starts laughing at this and puts her hand on his shoulder saying "No, I know you won't do that - for you like him too." "Jodha Begum," says Jalal, " I came here to talk about you and not about this Mahesh Das." Still very peevish he gets up to go in mock anger. Jodha grabs his hand and pulls him back "Shahenshah", she says "You chide me so often,, I was just trying to chide you a bit! Truth to tell, no one can ever mean the same to me as you do."
"I hope not even our kids stand between us - or I will be jealous even of them," Jalal replies with seriousness! Jodha says with a smile again "Oh, on this issue I can't help you., I have to give time to the babies, don't I!" He just grins as if his anger has dissolved, as she moves towards the cradles.
Jalal then comes to stand close to her and hugs her as she says "We are so happy, that I hope nothing or no one casts any sorrow on us." "Ameen" replies Jalal, "indeed I am so happy too, that I never want any other wish in my life." Jodha then replies "What else do I need but you and these babies?" She nestles into his shoulder.
One of the babies then starts crying as both Jodha and Jalal take one baby each and try to pacify the one that is tears. It's the one in Jalal's hands that is crying its heart out - and Jalal tries to say "Oh no, Oh no" cooing to the baby to try and pacify it. Jodha takes that baby from him and pacifies the child, and then hands it back to him delicately. He takes the baby so gingerly that she laughs at the way the baby has made him a softie!
They are so blissfully happy as a foursome that we feel reluctant to leave the scene as the commercial break intervenes!
My comments on the scene:
Those of us who wanted to see Jodha and Jalal's closeness and romance more seemed to have got through to the Creatives for they gave us this scene that has really satisfied me a lot! Thank God the Creatives did not take romance to the silly eyelocks and slip-catch level, but showed it as shared deep happiness in themselves and their children. How easy was the banter between Jodha and Jalal, how heartwarming was it when he showed typical loverlike jealousy at her mention of Mahesh Das, and how sweet it sounded when Jalal said he would be jealous even of the babies if they took Jodha away from him.
First of all I loved the way he came into the room as she was humming a tune and rocking the cradles and casually put an arm around her shoulders as they both stood mesmerised by the sight of their kids. And then they got in to tender conversation thanking each other for the new tax abolition ... but soon the talk became about Mahesh Das, and Jodha got great joy in ribbing her obviously jealous husband about her joy in the company of Mahesh Das. Jalal really did look peevish and possessive and for a moment I thought he was serious in his jealousy about Birbal. But then he grinned from ear to ear as Jodha told him no one could ever take his place in her life and I knew even Jalal's jealousy and anger was just a playful pretence!
It was beautiful the way they both then handled the crying baby, taking turns alternately to quieten the one that was crying its head off. I loved the way Jalal was trying to talk baby-talk to the crying baby and how when Jodha took the baby from him, he looked like a terribly perplexed new Dad. Jodha of course pacified the baby and handed it back to him, when he gingerly took the baby from her as if it would break. Jodha had to laugh at what a softie he had become, and how delicately he was trying to hold the child.
Thanks, Creatives, for showing these little acts of wonder of the new parents cherishing their babies and taking turns to learn how to be great parents. The sharing and caring was part of the joy of the scene and it was fantastic to see the bonding between this foursome. It brought a lump into my throat as Jodha said "Hope nothing or no one ever shatters our happiness" and Jalal said "Ameen, I am so happy I have nothing left to ask of life!"
Sensational! Thanks ,Creatives, for these seven great minutes of watching one of the sweetest scenes I've seen in a long time!
"I understand Ammijaan" says Ruq, but again Hamida asks sharply "If you understand then why have you come here?" "Because I want my baby immediately" says Ruq, "and if my baby is too long with Jodha it will form a bond with her as she too will form a bond with him. And if that happens the child will not be close to me. What if Jodha hstarts having feelings for this child? I hope she won't then change her decision to give me the baby! If that happens the Shahenshah's farman and my armaan will both be unfulfilled."
Jalal meanwhile trying to enter his mother's room is halted in his tracks as he overhears this. The dialogue between Ruq and Hamida continues, but Jalal's face is uneasy and very upset and he can hear no more. He goes away very dejected.
Hamida asks again "So what do you want then Ruqaiaya?" Ruq answers "I too am that child's mother and I will find him a good dai maa to feed him, I promise!"
While all this is going on in Hamida's room, Jodha blissfully ignorant of all this is rocking her babies' cradles in her own room. She is marvelling at both her kids as Jalal walks in dejectedly. "Come in Shahenshah" says Jodha with great happiness, "I am just watching the way these twins are bonded to each other and keep looking at each other fondly. See, I promise you these two will always be this close and strongly for each other"Jalal's face crumbles in deep pain. He chokes back his tears and tries to look away.
Meanwhile Ruq is continuing to work on Hamida "Getting a dai maa for my baby is not something new. You had got Maham to feed Jalal, didn't you?" she asks directly and ruthlessly. Hamida is very upset. "That was my majboori, not my choice, Ruqaiaya" she says with an angry trembling voice. "And this is my majboori for I want my son to bond with me" says Ruq, "I hope you understand?" Hamida feels very disturbed but she seems to have no more arguments to give Ruq.
Jodha meanwhile gets cut short in her exuberance over her babies when she sees Jalal's very pained face. "What is the problem, Shahenshah?" she asks him. Jalal says in a choked voice "Jodha Begum, you do know don't you, that only one of these children is going to be yours?" Jodha's eyes tear up as she remembers. "Yes, I remember, but ..." she can't control her shaking voice as emotions flood her. Jalal cannot bear to look at her pain and he turns his face away again and then down as he says "I told you about this pain, didn't I ?" and then he pulls her into his tight embrace to try and ease her limitless sorrow. His own face is a picture of intense misery.
Just then Ruq enters the room and tries to say why she's come. But before she can talk, Jalal is curt with her and pre-empts her "I know Ruqaiaya Begum, why you have come here!" Jodha then tries to put a light face on it saying "Your baby has been waiting for you. Let me see if you can recognise which one is your Hussein?" Ruq identifies the right one as Jodha pretends more lightheartedness as she praises Ruq for recognising the child.
Jodha then goes to the cradle to lift Hussein into her arms but unable to hand him over to Ruq she lingers with the baby, kissing him, cuddling him, crying tears in silence. "Give him to me" says Ruq, as Jalal watches Jodha suffering to hand the child over. Jalal also watches in deep agony as Ruq again asks roughly for the child, and he simply can't bear to see Jodha in such immense torture.
Finally after what seems a long time of silent weeping Jodha manages to hand the child to Ruq. The ruthless Ruq then talks to herself "Jodha Begum, I have taken this loved child from you as you took Jalal from me!"Ruq then acts very eager to help the child to his new quarters and goes out leaving behind a Jodha and Jalal united in grief.
Jodha cries bitterly on his shoulder as he embraces her. "Please don't say anything" she begs him too full of heartache. He caresses her head. "I have managed to give the child" she says. "What you have done no one else ever can" he says to her with his own agony hidden from her, his tears stemmed back. He tries ever so hard to be stoic and calm for her to lean on him so that she can let her tears go.
In the precap, we are shown such an ugly scene that our hearts break as we watch. Jodha offers her own self as a dai maa for Ruq's baby (probably because Ruq is unable to find a dai maa) but Ruq replies harshly "This is my son and I make the decisions. And you have no haq to come anywhere near him". Jalal listens to this with as much depth of grief in his heart as Jodha!
My comments on this scene:
Folks, this scene I have had to describe trying to bite down my utter disgust at Ruq ... in order to do proper justice to my praise of Jodha and Jalal. I don't want to focus on Ruq, in that ugly scene where she accosts Hamida that she wants the baby immediately and doesn't want it to form any emotional bond with Jodha. All I want to remember of that scene is Jalal's face as he stood in deep despair by the door hearing Ruq. His face was so shrunken with dejection and unhappiness, we could feel his every feeling for Jodha.
And then when he went to Jodha's room and found her talking excitedly about the twins being so closely bonded, his face gave in to the sorrow and he looked upwards, sideways, down ... everywhere but at Jodha, for he had bad news to give her. He prepared Jodha for the imminent visit of Ruq saying "I hope you remember that only one these babies will be yours!" She began to cry and he could see that. He tried really hard to be stoic for her but he couldn't help himself as he pulled her into a tight hug as he said "I had told you before that this would be the way you will feel, right?"
Bang in the middle of the closest moments of Jodha and Jalal, Ruq appeared on the scene like an unwanted piece of evil. She had managed to corner Hamida by saying she would keep a dai maa for the baby and had made Hamida defensive about it by saying "You did the same when Jalal was a baby". Hamida tried to say the two instances were not the same, but Ruq was not about to hear anything from Hamida, and neither did Hamida have any more arguments left to say.
A belligerent Ruq thus came and stood before Jodha and Jalal demanding her child. Jodha made me cry when she tried to lighheartedly handle the situation as she told Ruq to identify her son. Ruq did identify him, and the little interlude, I suspect, gave Jodha a little more command over her emotions. Then she picked up the child to give Ruq ... but the next 3-4 minutes seemed like the longest in my life as I watched her in agony to part with the little one. She cuddled and caressed the child, kissed it, held onto it and couldn't let go. Jalal watched in silent pity and empathy. He was spectacular because he was at break point himself but had to stay strong for Jodha.
Eventually Jodha gave the child away, but hardly had Ruq left than she collapsed on Jalal's shoulder as he whispered to her to get a grip on things. He knew what she felt - for he was like a piece of her own heart! "No one could have done this but you" he said to his wife and his love, both of them feeling the deep grief of losing a child forever and that too to a heartless daayan! I simply loved the way Jalal pulled Jodha closer and began to calm her down by caressing her back and shoulders, willing her body to tremble less as she tried to choke back her racking sobs.
What can I say about Ruq but that she was a personification of disagreeable nastiness. She gloated over the fact that she had taken from Jodha one of her loves as Jodha had taken Jalal from her. Then in the precap she wanted Jodha nowhere near the child not even to feed it (having not found a dai maa, I suppose).
I hope it's God's way that Ruq will have to allow Jodha to nurse her child because she won't be able to get a suitable dai maa. And I hope to God Jalal gets Birbal to act fast in recovering the baby from Ruq. Otherwise I am going to be crying my heart out every day watching Ruq gloat with a baby she is rough with, while Jodha and Jalal wallow in pain before my eyes!
What superb acting ... by both Jodha and Jalal. They drew me into the scene and I was crying shamelessly with both of them!
What all happened in the episode yesterday ...
In the DEK all are assembled for the jiziya tax solution. Ruq comes before Jalal and says "You should not change the law." Jalal pretends to agree and tells Birbal "Tell the people I won't change the law." Then Jodha says "Since my sons are Hindu I and my sons will pay tax."
Ruq is aghast and says "One son is mine he is Muslim". But Jalal says "No both are born from a Hindu mother and law says they are Hindu till they grow up and themselves agree to convert to Islam by free will." Ruq then shouts "Then change the law!" Jalal, Birbal and Jodha exchange thrilled glances and especially Jalal and Jodha look at each other overjoyed. Birbal smirks, and Ruq is miffed.
Jalal says "Okay, the matter ends here. The law is hereby changed." The maulvis say "But how can two religions be equal?" Birbal says "God sees all as equal and King represents God on earth." Again the maulvis say "What about loss to treasury?" Todarmal says "Most money usually gets wasted quelling protests by disenfranchised people - which is not needed now".
Jodha thus, very thrilled, is rocking her babies to sleep in her room when Jalal comes. She thanks him for the change in law, and he thanks her for the idea of changing law. Then she jokes that Mahesh Das made it all happen, not just Jalal, and Mahesh is good fun to be with. Jalal says "If he gets too close to you I will kill him from jealousy. I am even jealous of the babies if they take you away from me." They both embrace in happiness.
Suddenly the babies start crying and both parents get engrossed in carrying and cuddling the babies alternately. (What a cute scene!) Jodha and Jalal are blissfully happy and say how blessed they are and hope nothing will spoil the love between the four of them. Jalal looks at Jodha as she cherishes both babies - and he pulls her to himself in happiness.
A small scene follows of Birbal and his wife where he hugs his fat wife and says he will never marry many wives like the King since his one wife is more than enough (he means her size!) Then comes the precap scene comes where Ruq asks Hamida that she wants her baby immediately, or it will bond with Jodha. She does not want the mother-son bond to get closer between Jodha and "her son". Jalal overhears all and is very upset and goes from there.
Hamida tries to tell Ruq that the babies are too small and born premature and need to be nursed by Jodha. But Ruq says she will keep a dai maa and Hamida cannot object since even Jalal had a dai maa in Maham. Hamida is very upset with Ruq and says Jalal's case was different and the family was majboor ... but Ruq doesnt listen.
Jalal goes straight to Jodha and hugs her and seems very upset as he sees her love for the babies and says "You know we have to give away one baby?!" Jodha cries on his shoulder but then Ruq comes demanding the baby. Jodha suffers a lot to give it and Jalal suffers to see Jodha crying inside herself.
Ruq takes the baby and self-talks "I have taken what Jodha loves because she took Jalal from me". After Ruq goes Jodha and Jalal are both in tears, hugging each other for comfort. (Very sad scene ... i cried a lot myself!)
In the precap, Jodha is seen saying to Ruq "Since you need a dai ma for your baby I myself can be the dai ma." But Ruq says extremely rudely "This child is mine and it's my decision ... and you will have no right to be near this child". Jalal too is there and he is even more upset than Jodha.
So onto next week, when I expect Birbal to spin circles around Ruq.
I so want the baby back with Jodha and Jalal ... and I feel ready to go and pull Ruq by the hair myself and beat her black and blue and snatch the baby away from her and put it back silently in the second cradle in Jodha's room.
I want to see the look on Jodha and Jalal's faces as they get their baby back. I want to wipe that sadness off them and see them all a happy foursome again!
Cricket
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