Friends, it looked like yesterday's episode was more of a filler episode to set the stage up for the War of Chittor. As with all episodes just before a war, we got to see all the characters of the story reacting to the imminence of war in different ways ... Jodha was very reluctant, displeased and full of indignation, while Jalal was very eager, feral and headstrong. Bharmal was naturally cautious, while Hamida was at sixes and sevens. Salima looked poised and reasonably confident, while Ruq looked brainlessly belligerent. The Mughal soldiers looked bucked up for bloodletting, while the Rajvanshi soldiers in Jalal's army looked like they were steeling themselves not to feel conflicted on the battlefield.
It was an interesting episode, albeit being one in which progress of the story is not to be expected. It was an episode about the preparations for war at the mental level of all the players. I found that to be quite fascinating, because it's nice to get a glimpse into everyone's heads.
Accha, for my analysis today I have three topics on which I wanted to share my thoughts. But just before I get to the topics there were two things I wanted to get out of the way, so here they are ...
Congratulations, folks, Maharana Pratap has a new dress!
When I suddenly saw him yesterday in a purple outfit and not his one single green dress, I thought to myself "Oh God, things are now truly going to change in this story! Finally Maharana Pratap can have more baths because he has more dresses to change into. This is progress indeed!"
For so long have I waited for his clothes to change that little did I know it would happen only after 350+ episodes in the story. Once in the middle of the tale he had been seen by a river doing a dubki, but still he went back to his one green dress. My heart wept for him.
But yesterday when it was the color purple, I wept in joy! I thought to myself "At least Jalal cannot take him lightly now, for wardrobe lends confidence to any man, and Pratap is looking ready to face the Mughals in his new robes!"
Jokes aside, thank God they gave him a new set of clothes. Phew!
The matter of the three-year leap got settled!
Yesterday, folks, if you remember, we all had a divided forum ... half of us thought Ekta had taken a three year leap (following history) to show the Chittor War after the twins death. The implications of this were alarming to us. One, it showed that Jalal and Jodha may have stayed estranged to each other for three years. And two, the Ruq pardaphash looked like it had been sunk.
After frantic phone calls to Zee to ask for footnotes, the infamous Zee Man checked back with Balaji and confirmed that they had included no leap. They had instead decided to "prepone" the Chittor War and show it immediately after the twins death, thus implying that the reason for Jalal carrying out such a carnage during the war was because of his extreme angst after his babies' death.
I must thank Donjas for being very level-headed and adamant though all our collective fluster saying "There is no leap, just take it as a continuing context".
Yesterday when I saw the episode, it came home to me that Donjas' was right, the Zee Man too had confirmed it, and the three-year leap theory also did not make logical sense. Which man, no matter how irate about his babies' deaths will nurse an angst in raw state for three years and then decide suddenly in the third year to unleash war on some Rajvanshis unconnected with his babies' deaths? Three years was too long a time to believe that Jalal remained in suspended animation with his anger in his chest - and then after the third year suddenly gave vent to it with a war.
Especially that sermon Jalal gave to God yesterday was a sure sign that not more than a few days' time had elapsed between his babies' deaths and the war - for he was seen clearly as neither angry with Jodha, nor the Rajvanshis ... he was now raw and angry with God Himself, and wanted to "end up laughing after killing God's children in revenge, leaving God crying". The grief of loss of his kids was clearly still fresh in his mind and heart and his anger was unprocessed ... which would not be the case if he had had three years in which to process such raw feelings in himself! So that puts paid to the three-year leap theory for me.
(Incidentally, the correct English word is "advance" and there is no such word as "prepone" in any English dictionary, it's a typically Indian invention! It therefore is wrong to say he "preponed the war" ... but hey, when did we ever stop be correct!)
Okay, so here are my three points of analysis of the episode ...
Jodha's uneasy state of mind was reflective of her inner conflict!
Folks, when the episode opened with Jodha standing at the tarazu, all signals indicated that she accepted she was in conflict. But I thought it was not about the superficial conflict of whether she supported the Rajvanshis or she supported Jalal. That was the way Ruq was trying to simplify the issue with Hamida and Salima saying "Are you with Jalal or are you with Jodha?"
When Bharmal reached the tarazu in war dress he saw his daughter asking "Is this war needed at all ... there can be no winners of such a war?" He too, I thought, misunderstood Jodha's uljhan and instead of answering her question gave Jodha a sermon on war dharma - saying the war dharma of Jalal was to fight with nothing else on mind, while the war dharma of Jodha was to support her pati, whatever her own affiliations.
It is only when Jodha later cries to her father in distress, that we get to the crux of her conflict. The real conflict in Jodha's mind was expressed by her as "Both sides of my tarazu are empty today. If the Rajvanshis lose the war I'll lose, and if Jalal loses the war I'll lose again. Whatever the outcome it's a loss all round and especially for me. How do I support a venture like this knowing that there cannot be any win at all?"
Jodha's conflict seems to be about the very need for war. Was it needed to be fought at all? Was Jalal merely doing this to vent his ire out and was he going on a killing spree as a way to let his anger out? Surely he was not suddenly realising the Rajvanshi's to be such an in-your-face enemy after tolerating three years of their giving panaa to his own bhaagis?
And more so, as Jodha herself said "He was once the flag-bearer of Muslim-Hindu unity and did so much for it, how could he now decide to slay the Rajvanshis?" She didn't mean here that she wanted him to spare "her clan" but her purport was that by doing such irrational acts Jalal was putting a "daag" on his career and history forever. He was using force disproportionate to the situation and its irritations and he was going into a campaign that could bring nothing but eventual disrepute to his reign and his name as "Akbar the Great".
I thought the conflict in Jodha's mind was about the principles (or lack of them) behind the war and not about her Mughal husband killing her Rajvanshi clansmen! The sad part of it for me was that no one understood her conflict, least of all her father, who was yesterday a non-starter. He just took off tangentially when she tried to voice her concerns.
To my mind, all of Jodha's actions need to be taken into account together with her words to fully understand where she is coming from. Why did she apply a blood tilak for Jalal during the tilak rasam and say her blood is the first to be shed in his war? Why did she collect all the jewelry she had to give to the war widows of the slayed Rajvanshis for their life after the war?
I think by applying the blood tilak Jodha was telling Jalal subtly that he did not have a physical enemy but his own thirst for blood as revenge for his babies' death was driving him. And if that is so, let her blood be the first drawn to try and slake this inner anger reflected as blood thirst! And the way she gathered jewelry to give the Rajvanshi war widows was out of fear that Jalal was going into this war mindlessly driven by a single-track killing agenda and may not even have the bandwidth to think of the aftermath of war.
In all this conflict that Jodha had, it was fear of the single-obsession mindset and contorted reasoning with which Jalal was going to war that was her conflict! That's how I read it!
Jalal's anger is not against anyone less than the Almighty himself!
I think the rousing pre-war motivational speech that Jalal gave his troops was full of fervour and did reflect his driving and compulsive thirst for blood-letting very well. Hats off to Rajat for pulling off a very strong performance in that scene. He started out by telling his men to forget their "dil" and hunt for the enemy like wild animals looking for hapless prey. All that was expected, and his talents as a motivational commander came to the fore when all his men - Todarmal and Mansingh included - started shouting "Fateh, Fateh".
But the most beautiful and revealing scene of all was when he was the last to leave the gates of his Palace as his troops marched off to war. He was on a horse, armour-covered and helmeted. He stopped, removed his helmet and looked up at the blue sky above trying to locate this Wise Man Up In The Sky, his Almighty, His God ... and then when he thought he could shout to His hearing, he said "You killed my children. Now I will kill all the children You have enjoyed creating and putting on earth. I will use the talents I developed in myself for making me who I am, no thanks to Your help in shaping me. And I'll have the last laugh - as You stand crying!"
Jalal, the mortal, who had taken more than he could bear with the deaths of his babies, had reached a point where he no longer shifted blame to another mortal - not to Jodha, not the Rajvanshis. Between the previous episode and this one yesterday, he had started feeling equal if not more powerful than the God who supposedly reigned over everybody but failed to give him elementary justice in his life. It was a God who couldn't even save the lives of innocent babies. What did he need such a God for? This war for him was a war not with mortals on the fields of the earth, but a war in the sky with the most Powerful Being of all whom he wanted to reduce to tears. He wanted to shred humans and spill blood and leave innocents dead just as way to take revenge on a Force that did the same with his innocent babies.
Folks, this is already a slightly changed Jalal, to my mind. As long as he was shifting blame to Jodha we all were indignant that he was exonerating himself of all blame in the deaths of his babies' and he was treating Jodha like dirt. And then as long as Jodha thought he was razing Rajvanshis to the ground for no fault of theirs he was still being perceived as casting the blame on Rajvanshis, but not himself. Jalal has now come to the stage when he is still shifting blame but at a higher target - God.
The time is not far off when the same God will know how to humble him till he realises he cannot shift the blame away from himself and he is as much implicated in his babies' deaths as everyone else he blames. That will be the next stage. And then eventually, as God usually does with all of us humans, there will come that final stage when he realises that no one need be blamed at all, not even himself. Some things are meant to be, and they are always for the greater good even if they are painful phases to go through. But life must go on in the hope of a new spring in everyone's lives. He will reach that stage when he realises that it's not who you blame that helps, but it's when you drop all blame that you are redeemed. He seems still to be two stages away from that insight.
I would love to see him make that evolution from playing the blame game to absolving everyone including himself of blame by the time this war is over. I think by making him more than successful in the war, by making him slay people in thousands and yet find no solace, God will kill his ego and his anger with excessive kindness. Jalal will win the war beyond measure but he will lose beyond measure any satisfaction at success. He will lose so much internally that he will realise who he is, who God is, and why blaming someone or even himself for something bad is never a solution.
Will Jodha ever get her "dilwale" Jalal back, wonders Hamida!
I just want to briefly touch upon that question that Hamida found herself asking Salima when the two of them were together. Ruq had just left them after a foul-mouthed diatribe against Jodha and after spewing hatred of Rajvanshis. But Hamida seemed not at all worried about Ruq and her attitude - for her mind was on something else.
Jalal had lost his "dil" that Jodha had helped him find. Would he ever again get back his dil" or would Jodha lose "her Jalal" forever? Hamida's question seemed to be raising the question in everybody's minds and Salima's answer seemed to answer us all.
Salima says sagely "I have full faith that Jodha will get "her Jalal" back. He will get his "dil" back. If Jodha has done it once before she can do it again!"
That was lovely to hear not just for the quiet calm philosophy of Salima, but because it's like the Creatives are telling us that we can look forward to a return to that beautiful phase of the story when Jodha first helped Jalal find his heart and his love. We are about to get back those days again when she helps him find his own peace and love for her. I still feel nostalgic for those days and look forward to going through all that again, don't you?
People who have had a beautiful love, and then somehow lost it, say that when it comes the second time around it is far sweeter than the first time. I hope they are right, and our next few weeks are spent in enjoying the way Jodha and Jalal rediscover what love is about.
This time there will be a difference in the quality of love they find in themselves because this time around there will be more maturity in both than before. They have also been in great pain together and that is a factor that will affect the quality of love they will now regain. I can't imagine how the Creatives are going to handle this phase but I do wish they do a great job of it!
All that happened in yesterday's episode:
Jodha goes to the tarazu as she is in uljhan. She remembers Jalal declaring war from anger over babies' deaths and also his refusal to hear her arguments against war. Jodha says "It's not okay, what he is doing - for he is venting his anger by this planned killing spree". Bharmal comes there in war dress and tries to tell Jodha not to lose heart.
Jodha tells Bharmal "The Shahenshah once did so much for Muslim-Hindu unity and today he wants to kill Rajvanshis. There can be no winners in such a war." But Bharmal says there is a war dharma for Jalal to go and fight as a soldier and not think of anything else. And the war dharma of a patni is to support the pati whatever his ideology.
Ruq meanwhile rants to Hamida and Salima that Jodha is siding with Rajvanshis and that's why she refused the tilak puja for Jalal and tried to not let him go for war. She tells Hamida "You too lived once with Rajvanshis but you didn't stop Jalal from war?" Then she asks Salima "Who do you support - Jalal or Jodha?" Salima says they are both just one to her.
After Ruq goes, Hamida tells Salima "Jalal has lost his dil' which Jodha gave him. Will jodha ever get her dilwale Jalal back again, I wonder?" Salima says "Jodha will get back her Jalal. I have full faith in her. If she can give him a dil' once she can do it again." Hamida and Salima share that moment of hope that Jalal will change.
Meanwhile Jodha is still at the tarazu with her father. "Can't we stop this war?" she asks. Then she begins to cry "Today my tarazu is empty on both sides - for if Rajvanshis lose I too lose, and if Jalal loses again it's me that loses. There are no winners in this war and I am the biggest loser". Her father just walks off as he has no answer.
Rana Pratap is discussing with his father that, despite Mughals having more resources, the Rajvanshis are good enough to match them. But his father and others caution him to be prudent. His father says "You go ahead with your men so that we can join later if you need back up". Pratap is high on confidence despite warnings. A voiceover then says that to prepare for war Pratap and his father decided not to be together at the same place or their known places. Pratap relinquished his fort and took refuge elsewhere, while his father did likewise relinquishing Chittor in the hands of two of his chieftains Jaimal and Patta.
Meanwhile Bharmal is seen telling all Rajvanshi soldiers under Jalal to be good wafaadars and fight against Rajvanshis without favouring the enemy. He also allows the Rajvanshi wives to do tilak pujas for their husbands. Jodha watches all this. Bharmal suddenly gets a summons from Jalal to meet him for private talks.
Jodha then tells Moti to bring her father to her room and is surprised when he is not in war dress. Bharmal says Jalal asked him to stay back and look after the palace. Jodha wants to send lots of jewelry to the Rajvanshi sipahis under Jalal so that their families will be financially protected if they die ... but is unable to send these. Jodha feels sad that she is not able to help the Rajvanshis in any way.
Meanwhile Jalal gives a rousing speech to his troops before departure. His feral eyes are cold and insensitive as he tells his men to lose their dil' and just go for the hunt like animals. Todarmal and Mansingh and all other shout "Fateh...Fateh ..."
Jalal's army marches out of the gates as all the women watch from the balconies. Jalal is the last to go out on his horse. He removes his helmet and looks upwards at God and says "Like you took my children, I will leave all your children dead. I will end up laughing - and you will cry." Jodha and Hamida are upset - while Ruq looks pleased.
In the precap, Jodha looks at the red skies of the warfield and says it looks like blood of Rajvanshis that Jalal is shedding. Another shot shows Jalal walking amongst the hordes of dead Rajvanshis looking at what he has done.
Okay, who's got a schedule of what will happen next week? How many days of war will we have to see and what will we see in it? And how soon will the reconciliation phase between Jodha and Jalal begin? Can we trust the Zee Man (despite his dismal track record) when he says they will be together again by Diwali? Someone tell me we can trust the bloke!
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
Anupamaa
CID
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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