A Farewell Tribute to Rajat's jalal...combined with visions of Akbar! - Page 31

Originally posted by: sashashyam

And I miss your Laawaaris! After that cliffhanger episode when Akbar finally comes face to face with Jodha after 9 years, I seem to have lost track of it,and not only because I was hospitalised. Do let me know where I can catch up with it.

As for your very warm words about my posts, I am touched more than I can say. Thank you!

Shyamala

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dear myviewprem,

I had not intended to respond to anything on this thread, firstly for lack of energy, and secondly because even the warmest praise of Rajat in Jodha Akbar, for me, a given, at least so long as he was not forced into clumsy moulds.

One should always judge a performer by his/her best effort, and Rajat's best efforts are superlative. He is a master of both nuanced and broad stroke performances, and as I have said often in the past, he can make his eyes and his voice (even if an assumed one) do anything he wants them to do. Of how many actors on TV or the big screen can this be said?

As for his looks, I cannot see how he could be asked to look any better! There are different kinds of good looks, but by any standards, Rajat is remarkably handsome. Plus, he has that intangible quality, presence, which cannot be taught. Height, yes, 3/4 inches more would come in handy in these days, which are not those of the Khan troika, who averaged 5'6", and in Aamir's case, less. But if the audience takes to him, inches will not matter. I am keeping my fingers so tightly crossed for him that I could easily quality for a Ms. Pretzel contest!😉

This apart, my response to this very interesting and hatke post of yours will be purely on factual grounds, about what it takes to succeed in Bollywood, and by inference, about Rajat's prospects. So please bear with me when I differ from you!

Firstly, I agree with you that family connections within the film industry, and the influence they bring along, PR, etc. are all important and useful. But they can never be, in the final analysis, decisive.

For the film industry is above all a business, and the language that speaks loudest there is that of the cash counters ringing. If an actor can bring in the money, he stays and rises. If he does not, no amount of family connections can salvage him. If this was not so, Uday Chopra would now be a star! Or Nasir Husain's son Tariq would have been a hit performer, whereas he disappeared without a trace after Yaadon ki Baaraat. And I need not even cite the one film wonder Kumar Gaurav, son of the Jubilee Kumar, Rajendra Kumar.

So, while the Veeru Devgan connection might have given Ajay Devgan a leg up - and Veeru Devgan was not, be it remembered, a Yash Chopra, but only an action director - it could never have sustained him if his debut film, Phool aur Kante had not been a huge hit. Ajay was initially packaged as an action star in an era of action films, and he fitted the bill perfectly.

It is to his credit that he then took the risk of doing a Zakhm for a Mahesh Bhatt. He brought to that role a kind of brooding angst and sensitivity that can hardly be dismissed as only 30%! He discovered himself, and a new audience discovered him.

Take Company, the other film that has been cited, with 70% of the credit for its success again being given to the script. If that was so, the author-backed role was not Ajay's Malik. It was Vivek Oberoi's Chandu, then Ram Gopal Varma's blue-eyed boy. He is handsome enough, and he was an explosive actor in that film. Still, he fell by the wayside all too soon. Why?

Let us not attribute Shahrukh's success to his connections. The points cited, his theatre background, his freedom fighter father, mean nothing in Bollywood. If anything, his theatre and TV background would have been a handicap. The key factor is that post-Baazigar, he was a money-maker on the grand scale.

But it was not his anti-hero roles that made him what he is today. After the huge success of Darr, Anjaam, his third in that genre, was a miserable flop, and this despite having Madhuri Dixit as his co-star.

He is what he is today because Yash Chopra then packaged him expertly as the quintessential lover boy. But Yash Chopra was able to do that because Shahrukh (of whose acting I am no great admirer) had it in him to fit that mould. Yashraj are not philanthropists, and if they had not been confident of his ability to bring in the money, they would not have bothered with Shahrukh even if he had been their jamaisa. The fact is that Sharukh has what it took for that niche, and Lady Luck smiled on him at just the right time by bringing him together with Yashraj. She has mostly continued to do so. Plus, without any great claim to looks, Shahrukh has star quality.

As for a superstar who came to the top without connections of the kind that might have helped, one has only to cite Amitabh Bachchan. His patrician poet father would never have lifted a a finger to help him into films, or even to become an AIR newsreader! What made Amitabh a huge star was the confluence of his explosive angry young man persona and the scripting talents of Salim-Javed.

Today, Ranveer Singh seems to be doing very well without any filmi parivaar background.

Just staying in the news will not make you succeed if your films bomb one after the other. You have to have a proven track record of success to help you ride over the failures. And as for PR, why only the Khan troika, EVERY actor nowadays has to learn how to promote his/her film in this age of 3000 screen releases where success or failure is decided by the first weekend.

As for the excellent actors you have cited who did not go on to become stars, why that is not just because they lacked backing, but because they do not have star quality. Amol Palekar had many very successful films with Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterji, but his personal preference was for dark films like Akriet. I cannot remember him struggling for parts.

In general, ask the paying moviegoer to choose, and he/she will mostly pick a Khan film over one of a Nawazuddin Siddiqui or a Manoj Bajpai. It has always been so in every film industry. Spencer Tracy would always have ranked way behind Cary Grant as a star, and Charlton Heston, with the larger than life roles that he fitted like glove, became a big star despite limited acting abilities.

But the good thing is that the multiplex phenomenon, and evolving audience tastes, have made it possible for a Nawazuddin Siddiqui to have a niche of his own. It was much more difficult for Naseeruddin Shah in his heyday.

But the funny thing is that scratch a fine actor, and his secret dream is to become a superstar. Whether it is Laurence Olivier, arguably the greatest Shakespearian actor of our times, wanting to become a Cary Grant, or Naseeruddin Shah wanting to become an Amitabh Bachchan. It is the desire to reach out to and hold a huge audience. For the bottom line is that they are all performers, and they want viewers in large numbers.

Coming back to Rajat, what he needs is luck. He has all the rest.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dear myviewprem,

I had not intended to respond to anything on this thread, firstly for lack of energy, and secondly because even the warmest praise of Rajat in Jodha Akbar, for me, a given, at least so long as he was not forced into clumsy moulds.

One should always judge a performer by his/her best effort, and Rajat's best efforts are superlative. He is a master of both nuanced and broad stroke performances, and as I have said often in the past, he can make his eyes and his voice (even if an assumed one) do anything he wants them to do. Of how many actors on TV or the big screen can this be said?

As for his looks, I cannot see how he could be asked to look any better! There are different kinds of good looks, but by any standards, Rajat is remarkably handsome. Plus, he has that intangible quality, presence, which cannot be taught. Height, yes, 3/4 inches more would come in handy in these days, which are not those of the Khan troika, who averaged 5'6", and in Aamir's case, less. But if the audience takes to him, inches will not matter. I am keeping my fingers so tightly crossed for him that I could easily quality for a Ms. Pretzel contest!😉

This apart, my response to this very interesting and hatke post of yours will be purely on factual grounds, about what it takes to succeed in Bollywood, and by inference, about Rajat's prospects. So please bear with me when I differ from you!

Firstly, I agree with you that family connections within the film industry, and the influence they bring along, PR, etc. are all important and useful. But they can never be, in the final analysis, decisive.

For the film industry is above all a business, and the language that speaks loudest there is that of the cash counters ringing. If an actor can bring in the money, he stays and rises. If he does not, no amount of family connections can salvage him. If this was not so, Uday Chopra would now be a star! Or Nasir Husain's son Tariq would have been a hit performer, whereas he disappeared without a trace after Yaadon ki Baaraat. And I need not even cite the one film wonder Kumar Gaurav, son of the Jubilee Kumar, Rajendra Kumar.

So, while the Veeru Devgan connection might have given Ajay Devgan a leg up - and Veeru Devgan was not, be it remembered, a Yash Chopra, but only an action director - it could never have sustained him if his debut film, Phool aur Kante had not been a huge hit. Ajay was initially packaged as an action star in an era of action films, and he fitted the bill perfectly.

It is to his credit that he then took the risk of doing a Zakhm for a Mahesh Bhatt. He brought to that role a kind of brooding angst and sensitivity that can hardly be dismissed as only 30%! He discovered himself, and a new audience discovered him.

Take Company, the other film that has been cited, with 70% of the credit for its success again being given to the script. If that was so, the author-backed role was not Ajay's Malik. It was Vivek Oberoi's Chandu, then Ram Gopal Varma's blue-eyed boy. He is handsome enough, and he was an explosive actor in that film. Still, he fell by the wayside all too soon. Why?

Let us not attribute Shahrukh's success to his connections. The points cited, his theatre background, his freedom fighter father, mean nothing in Bollywood. If anything, his theatre and TV background would have been a handicap. The key factor is that post-Baazigar, he was a money-maker on the grand scale.

But it was not his anti-hero roles that made him what he is today. After the huge success of Darr, Anjaam, his third in that genre, was a miserable flop, and this despite having Madhuri Dixit as his co-star.

He is what he is today because Yash Chopra then packaged him expertly as the quintessential lover boy. But Yash Chopra was able to do that because Shahrukh (of whose acting I am no great admirer) had it in him to fit that mould. Yashraj are not philanthropists, and if they had not been confident of his ability to bring in the money, they would not have bothered with Shahrukh even if he had been their jamaisa. The fact is that Sharukh has what it took for that niche, and Lady Luck smiled on him at just the right time by bringing him together with Yashraj. She has mostly continued to do so. Plus, without any great claim to looks, Shahrukh has star quality.

As for a superstar who came to the top without connections of the kind that might have helped, one has only to cite Amitabh Bachchan. His patrician poet father would never have lifted a a finger to help him into films, or even to become an AIR newsreader! What made Amitabh a huge star was the confluence of his explosive angry young man persona and the scripting talents of Salim-Javed.

Today, Ranveer Singh seems to be doing very well without any filmi parivaar background.

Just staying in the news will not make you succeed if your films bomb one after the other. You have to have a proven track record of success to help you ride over the failures. And as for PR, why only the Khan troika, EVERY actor nowadays has to learn how to promote his/her film in this age of 3000 screen releases where success or failure is decided by the first weekend.

As for the excellent actors you have cited who did not go on to become stars, why that is not just because they lacked backing, but because they do not have star quality. Amol Palekar had many very successful films with Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterji, but his personal preference was for dark films like Akriet. I cannot remember him struggling for parts.

In general, ask the paying moviegoer to choose, and he/she will mostly pick a Khan film over one of a Nawazuddin Siddiqui or a Manoj Bajpai. It has always been so in every film industry. Spencer Tracy would always have ranked way behind Cary Grant as a star, and Charlton Heston, with the larger than life roles that he fitted like glove, became a big star despite limited acting abilities.

But the good thing is that the multiplex phenomenon, and evolving audience tastes, have made it possible for a Nawazuddin Siddiqui to have a niche of his own. It was much more difficult for Naseeruddin Shah in his heyday.

But the funny thing is that scratch a fine actor, and his secret dream is to become a superstar. Whether it is Laurence Olivier, arguably the greatest Shakespearian actor of our times, wanting to become a Cary Grant, or Naseeruddin Shah wanting to become an Amitabh Bachchan. It is the desire to reach out to and hold a huge audience. For the bottom line is that they are all performers, and they want viewers in large numbers.

Coming back to Rajat, what he needs is luck. He has all the rest.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My Farewell Tribute to Rajat's Jalal

Part 1

Folks,

That I am back here again after ages, to be precise after April 11, 2014, when I wrote my last stand alone analysis for Episode 220: The final meltdown Part 1, is proof not only of my abiding affection and admiration for Rajat and his many splendoured Jalal, but also, and even more so, of Mandy's tenacity. For I am in bad shape these days, what with a hurting knee that keeps me awake all night, plus great difficulty in typing for even half an hour at a time. So. much as I love Rajat and his Jalal, all I want to do is to crawl into a hole and pull it in after me. But Mandy will not take No for an answer, and she has a will of iron!

As many of you would remember, I have written an enormous number of episode analyses for Jodha Akbar, not only for the stand out episodes for Jalal, but also exploring the little gems that might otherwise be passed over. Because of this, and because of my aforesaid limitation, I shall be drawing heavily, in this tribute of mine, on these old posts. In any case, I could hardly better my then fresh descriptions of Rajat's Jalal in those episodes, could I? So, if there are large doses of dj vu for some of you, please do bear with me!

I plan to do this nostalgic ramble down the months, on which I invite you to accompany me, in parts. How many parts, I myself do not know as yet, but let us see. For now, here goes with Part 1.

1. The beginning:

I must confess that after suffering thru what felt like a bad overdose of khauf-e-Jalal on June 18/19, 2013, and watching Jodha run a 400 metre dash to save that pigeon, I seriously contemplated abandoning Jodha Akbar if it did not improve by the end of the week. But then the inevitable happened, and by Friday June 21, I was hooked.

Still, but for young Disha (disha15) , who knew me from my 6 week long stint in the DKDM forum analyzing a single, fabulous track, I would never have thought of writing in this forum. But she was a kind of Mandy Jr., plus she had a clear cut agenda of her own, to get me to defend Rajat from the charge of being too "stiff" in his portrayal of Jalal. The result was my first ever post here, on June 30, 2013, which I am reproducing here in toto, to give it its full flavor.

The striking thing about this post is that it has not become dated at all, and I hope you will enjoy it, even in a repeat reading, as much as I enjoyed writing it. Especially the take on the payal scene. Yes, there was the buccaneering, d'Artagnan quality of Jalal's insane venture into the heart of enemy territory, and the bold rakishness with which he looks up at Jodha in her palki, and the almost mystical, fey quality that he brought to the "face in the water" scene at the Ghangaur festival. But there is nothing like the payal scene to bring out the complexity of Jalal's character, or to showcase the subtle mastery that Rajat, for as long as he was allowed to do so by the scipt, brought to his interpretation of his role.

Ekta's Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammed: an assessment

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/jodha-akbar/3647623/ektas-emperor-jalaluddin-mohammed-an-assessment

Posted: 30 June 2013 at 3:35am | IP Logged

As one who is, at 60+, far too old to drool over a handsome young man, also as one who has never seen Rajat Tokas on screen before, and finally as one who, as a history buff, has a pretty good idea of what the real Akbar was like, let me add my tuppennyworth to the vigorous debate in this forum about this Jalaluddin Mohammed, soon to become Akbar the Great.

I think the selection of this young man to play Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar was one of Ekta's casting coups.

First of all, Jalal here is 19 or 20 years old. He has been the Emperor since he was 13. How on earth can one cast a more mature actor? It would be totally unsuitable.

Second, Rajat has the one intangible quality needed to play a young emperor. He has presence. This is something that is either there or not there; it cannot be taught. He looks every inch a king, one born to command, one born to rule. A couple of inches more in height would have been even better, but it does not matter, and Akbar was not tall in any case.

As for the rigidity that seems to be the major cause for complaint, one has to take into account the character to be played. This is a young man who has his world at his feet. So arrogance comes naturally to him, as also the attitude of one who habitually dominates lesser mortals. The stance, the hands behind his back (exactly like the great Dilip Kumar playing Prince Salim in Mughal-e-Azam, incidentally), the slow walk to pick up Jodha's payal, the way he picks it up, with a slight hesitation before he does so, it is all part of the consciousness of being a Mughal ruler.

Jalal is not used to bending at all, for anything or anyone. It would normally never occur to him to stoop and pick up a girl's payal as a token. Women have always been his to take as he chose, he would never dream of chasing any of them. Still he picks it up, which means a lot more than with an ordinary man.

He does not kiss the payal as any ordinary lover would. It would be not be like the Shahenshah at all. He tosses it up in the air, but he always catches it, and when it falls into the fire, he burns his hand to retrieve it. This is not so much, as some have thought, a sign of passion for Jodha. He is not yet aware that he is falling in love with her, he does not know what love means. It is rather the possessiveness towards her that, as the line has it, uske parvaan chad gaya tha. For him, the payal symbolizes Jodha, and he will not let go of it or her, even if he has to burn his fingers to secure it.

It all comes thru beautifully, and far from being unnaturally rigid, it is all spot on for who Jalal is.

Jalal sneers so often because his whole approach to life and to most others is sardonic; he has never had to adjust to anyone at any time. His mirthless smile just before meting out punishment is terrifying, and in his interaction with Sharifuddin, when the latter tries to get him to take rest, he is all smooth menace. Perhaps the sneer is too pronounced at times, but that is a matter of degree, and not too serious.

Rajat has deep set eyes, so I cannot see how such eyes can be 'bulging'. They gleam in their depths when he gets close to another and sneers, and the whole effect is meant to put the interlocutor off balance. It might seem overdone at places, but in an Indian TV show, where hamming is the rule and not the exception, it seems to me that the complaints on this score are excessive.

Surely one does not see a Dilip Kumar or an Amitabh Bachchan or a Balraj Sahni on TV these days? At least I have not seen any. Male leads in most TV serials are routinely shortchanged in what is basically a woman's medium.

This one might be the exception, though the scriptwriter seems to be confusing the young Jalal with either Mahmud of Ghazni or Mohammed Ghori, given to ransacking temples for the jewellery and abducting any female within reach. Probably this was done to give Jodha that much more credit for reforming him. But it is historically totally inaccurate. Akbar was born in a Rajput kingdom where his father had taken asylum while on flight from Sher Shah Suri, and he spent his early years among the Rajputs. It was this exposure to a different culture that shaped the broadmindedness of his policies towards the Rajputs and towards Hindus as a whole once he had begun to set his own course.

To sum up, nothing is really lacking. It is not the actor's fault, and not even the director's. Rather Rajat's performance is related to how Jalal the Emperor is visualized and developed. He is now part an arrogant warrior, used to victory, and part an impulsive young man, following a desire of the heart that he does not as yet understand, and struggling with unfamiliar emotions.

One of the best scenes so far, which showcases the actor's ability to project a complex, emotionally deprived character, was the one between Jalal and his mother Hamida Banu Begum. The bitterness in Jalal's voice, as he talks of when and how he remembers her, sears the screen.

Of course Rajat is not perfect, but then what is perfection? There were those who criticized Dilip Kumar's Prince Salim in Mughal-e-Azam as being too, what else, stiff. They wanted him to be like Pradeep Kumar in Anarkali, a besotted lover dragging himself all over the ground to get to Anarkali. But then Mughal-e-Azam is a classic, and Anarkali has been long forgotten!

Shyamala B.Cowsik

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2.I loved this one for the sheer chutzpah, the reckless daring, and the icy courage plus incredible resourcefulness that Jalal displayed. It was a marvellous exercise in derring do, all the more so because of the boyish delight that he clearly took in dicing with death, a delight that Rajat brought out flawlessly, and more important, without overdoing it.

Jodha Akbar 10: Revelation!

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/86829406

Posted: 01 July 2013 at 3:12pm | IP Logged

Jalal was in top form, and despite the Damocles sword of having to rescue Abdul hanging over his head, he seemed to be enjoying himself like a lively, resourceful schoolboy playing truant.

Carrying Jodha's palkhi in order to be able to peep up at her; it had me in stitches. Staring with wide-eyed disbelief at Jodha as she recites all his misdeeds to Suryabhan. Rushing to Abdul's cell and abusing him loudly in order to attract his attention.

The Shahenshah standing to attention in front of the cell, eyes discreetly lowered, as Jodha approaches, but still casting sidelong glances at her. The suppressed mischief in his eyes as he looks at her full in the face and, asked where he is from, answer, truthfully but deviously: Umarkot. The fluent rural Rajasthani dialect, undoubtedly a carryover from his childhood in Umarkot. The cheekiness with which he comments, after having 'proved' himself to be a Rajput soldier, about the perils of doubting.

The astuteness with which he locates the identifying mark on the dead guard's arm and duplicates it on his own with the point of his knife. The attention to detail shown by the fact that before going into the prison as a soldier, he turns all the three rings on his right hand inside , so that the valuable stones do not show and thus betray him as not being a simple soldier.

The superb swordsmanship that could overcome and disable at least 11 soldiers - this was my count, but there might have been a couple or so more at the sides - and then the sheer physical strength needed to bend those thick prison bars so that he could enter the cell, cut the chains and rescue Abdul. This last reminded me (and Holmes aficionadas will bear me out) of Dr, Grimesby Roylott in The Speckled Band, who could bend a steel poker. And of course Sherlock Holmes himself, who could straighten out the bent poker!

Finally, the arrogant declaration of both his identity and his intent in the message (bilingual, obviously for the benefit of the Rajputs and us, but why then the Persian version?) left on the prison floor, and written in the only medium available, blood, presumably that of the 11 incapacitated guards. This is vintage Jalal all over, for by doing so, he further jeopardises his already tough escape, and in the pre-cap, is getting ready to fight a round dozen opponents with a limp Abdul on his hands to boot. But of course we know that, like d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, our boy wonder will emerge a winner, which is the only saving grace!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3. This one was as different from the previous one in Amer as chalk from cheese. It did not crackle with tension as we held our collective breaths for Jalal to escape unscathed. There was no derring do, no breakneck horseback rides thru the dark countryside, a desperately wounded man clinging for dear life to his master and protector. There was no 1 against 20 swordfight, as Jalal drew on all his reserves of sheer strength (it is said that among the Mughal emperors, it was only Babur and Akbar who had tremendous physical strength, though Babur was a short man and Akbar only of medium height) , skill and lightning reflexes to put paid to the whole lot, and then ride off, leaving a neatly stacked pile of bodies for Suryabhan Singh and Jodha to find.

The jung of the title here was between two fierce opponents - Mahaam Anga and Bairam Khan - feinted and circled each other as each strove for supremacy in her/his hold on Jalal. But what stood out, when all was done, was the range of emotions - from icy, unforgiving rage towards his Khan Baba to the hidden craving for tactile affection as he cuddles in his Badimmi's lap, displayed by Rajat as Jalal reacts to their manouevres, and with equal felicity.

And yes, for a boy emperor who delights in describing himself as heartless, who can forget the gentleness and the abundant affection that Rajat brings to the scene of Jalal, still far from safe and hiding under an overhang of rock, wiping the face of the wounded Abdul whom he has cradled in his lap? The very delicacy of the touch as he comforts his companion - for Jalal never thinks of Abdul as a servitor - speaks volumes.

Jodha Akbar 12: Siyasat ki Jung

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/jodha-akbar/3652114/jodha-akbar-12-siyasat-ki-jung

Posted: 03 July 2013 at 2:55pm | IP Logged

...

It is proof of Mahaam Anga's tactical skills that she brings out the whole Zaheer atrocity without showing her hand at all- she does not even mention Bairam Khan's name. As Jalal explodes in rage and anguish at Zaheer's condition, the impenetrable barrier that Bairam Khan had built around the Shahenshah, allowing access to no one but himself, suffers its first ever breach.

The scene that follows, between Jalal and his Khan Baba, is a remarkable display of rigidly controlled but still barely suppressed fury on Jalal's side, and a desperate rearguard action on Bairam Khan's, ending in a last ditch attempt to to salvage the situation as he kneels at Jalal's feet and offers an eye for an eye as retribution. Jalal refuses to punish him, but so unyielding is his condemnation of what was done to Zaheer, as he turns away from his mentor of many years, one can practically hear the door closing in Bairam Khan's face.

...

Today we saw the two extremes of Jalal's persona, and both came across equally convincingly.

He was at his gentlest yet with his Badi Ammi, and when he stretches out, with his head in her lap, one can glimpse the emotional deprivation he suffers from, and his need for simple, tactile affection. It was, in a way, an extension of the very touching scene yesterday, when he cradles Abdul's head in his lap and wipes his face with cool water. Jalal has affection, deep and in abundance, but only for the very few who have the key to his heart: his conviction that they care for him, really, truly, deeply.

Immediately afterwards. the raging, impotent anguish with which he watches Zaheer writhe in agony is matched, if not exceeded, by the icy, rigid aloofness with which he treats Bairam Khan. Both segments have been beautifully visualized and impeccably performed.

Equally well done, and extremely plausible, are Jalal's restlessness and his discomfort at having had to snub his lifelong mentor. It is not possible to sever the ties of a lifetime in an instant, no matter how deep the revulsion and anger that he feels against the father figure who has dominated his life for as long as he can remember. And so he turns to his other support system, Mahaam Anga. ..

Jalal now realizes, for the first time, the true burdens of kingship, torn as he is between a father figure, now sadly defiled, and the only mother he has ever known.

Standout moment:

Jalal's characteristically cocky comment to Abdul that if he had carried off Jodha instead of him, he would have made her naayaab (incomparable) and boosted her ehmiyat (value or importance). He obviously believes that she should not be paid so great a compliment, as it might go to her head! I then visualized the likely scenario if he had carried her off. Careening all over the Rajasthan countryside in the dark, trying to control a woman who would all the time have been trying to scratch his eyes out, if not decapitate him with his own khanjar. Nice going!😉

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

4. This one is an exception to my overall brief as given by Mandy, for it is basically a tribute to Smiley's Ruqaiya. There is no one whose exit I have mourned more, apart from Jalal's Man Friday, the unflappable Abdul. Why, oh why were they jettisoned so pointlessly?

Jodha Akbar 13: Sheh, par mat nahin

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/jodha-akbar/3653462/jodha-akbar-13-sheh-par-mat-nahin

Posted: 04 July 2013 at 1:59pm | IP Logged

...

The one between Jalal and Ruqaiya Begum: This is the most fascinating of the three, and no wonder.

For Ruqaiya Begum is that rara avis, a woman who can hold not just a man, but an emperor, effortlessly. Not by her beauty, for that is no more than passable, but by her intelligence, her political shrewdness, and her total self-possession. Plus the fact that thanks to a lifetime of knowing him, she can read his mind like an open book. Jalal must be having a lot of affection for her, as much as he can have for anyone, but as he says, the vital point is not that she is his wife, but that she is his friend. And he has very few friends.

So she teases him ruthlessly. There is the arrogant gliding walk - like a model these days on the catwalk - with which she slides past all the simpering females who line the upper terrace for a glimpse of their lord and master, and ensures that his eye not only catches hers, but stays with her, right until she glides back and out. It is a delightful display of control, and no wonder the other aspirants to imperial attention turn a delicate shade of pea green!😉

When he appears in her chambers, she does not run to him and fawn over him. She stays where she is for one long minute, leaning back against the bolster, her left arm negligently outstretched. Clearly the lady has Attitude with a capital A. Especially when she is smoking a hukkah, with ease and elegance.

She makes Jalal resume the game of chess that he had left unfinished the last time , declaring Zid hamara haq hai. This not said with pretty coquetry, but with unhesitating certainty. He knows her very well, so he is not riled, plus he is a natural, self-assured dominator who, as he says, hates to lose. Ruqaiya then displays the ready talent for repartee that must have won his heart and, even more so, his mind: Hamein jeet pasand hai, isiliye to dil har kar aapko jeet liya hai.

When he does make a winning move, the pun in her acknowledgement Yeh to kamaal ki chaal thi, refers as much to his disappearing act, that she has already found out about, as to the chess game. Her unfailing instinct tells her that there is something new in the air. When Jalal reveals to his friend that he had gone to Amer, her eyes narrow as she looks into the distance, and their expression is hard to read. He is leaning forward, fastening her e yes with his own. Can he read them?

All in all, Ruqaiya is the most fascinating woman I have seen on TV in a long, long time and Ekta's team should be felicitated for having portrayed her as such an enigmatic, astute and intellectually superior individual. She is clearly an original, and she will be a delight to watch. (famous last words, alas!😭😭)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

5. This one is perhaps the first of the high watermark scenes for Jalal, not one of the little gems I had mentioned at the beginning. The title of the post, from which this is an extract, fits like a glove, and what impressed me the most was the absolutely controlled display of domination by the young Shahenshah, with his anger being calibrated to precision, and never allowed to degenerate into the loud, bull ready to charge, head lowered and snorting with fury kind of hamming into which poor Rajat was later forced by unskilled directors.

Jodha Akbar 20: Coming of Age

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/87911015

Posted: 15 July 2013 at 1:47pm | IP Logged

It was High Drama all through today, as Jalaluddin Mohammed, the erstwhile protege of Bairam Khan and de jure Mughal Emperor, finally came into his own, staring down his Khan Baba in a fierce tussle of wills. It was a watershed on the long road that would lead him, and us, to the Emperor Akbar the Great (a patent verbal redundancy, as Akbar itself means 'the Great'), and it lived up to all our expectations and more.

That was not the only moment to remember in an episode studded with them: Jalal burning Jodha's portrait, Bairam Khan self-destructing in a vortex of impotent rage and bitter ranting, Ruqaiya once again showing her mettle as a smooth, subtle intrigante. But it was clearly the high water mark of the evening, and a very high one at that.

Jalal and Bairam Khan:

As Jalal listens to Takhatmal's soldier pouring his heart out, we can practically feel the rage rising in him like molten lava. The narrowed eyes have a manic glare. A hand clenches on the hilt of his sword and almost crushes it.

Eventually, he stands up, and we see, with somewhat of a shock, that his face is smooth and inscrutable. The rage that was consuming him only minutes ago has disappeared without a trace, and as he leans back in his seat, the whole body is loose and relaxed. The change in the body language is as startling as it is eloquent. The Shahenshah has made up his mind, and he knows exactly what he has to do and how.

The scene that follows could have been scripted by a Renaissance dramatist. Jalal never once raises his voice, but his level tones have a force and a finality to them that none of Bairam Khan's high pitched rants can command. When Jalal effectively ignores him, and issues a stream of orders to rehabilitate the Takhatmal family, Bairam Khan seems to lose it totally. The crude putdowns of Jalal, and the self-glorification he indulges in reach their nadir when he derides the Emperor Humayun as totally ineffective. Which leads to Jalal making it clear to his former mentor, with unprecedented bluntness, that

(a) he is the Shahenshah,

(b) that Bairam Khan's right to issue orders, and his very title as the Wazir-e-Ala, were granted by him, Jalal, and

(c) that while he would never wage war against his Khan Baba, he would do so unhesitatingly against a rebel.

The final denouement seems scripted to sum up in itself the essence of the scene. As Bairam Khan is storming out of the Diwan-e-Khas, Jalal calls out Baba! Khan stops, hoping against hope for a reprieve, some shred of pride that he could perhaps salvage. There is none.

After Jalal has delivered his final warning - that he would fight to win, no matter what - he sweeps past Bairam Khan and exits, in effect preempting him. Immediately, all the courtiers stream after the Emperor, forming a double wave that flows past Bairam Khan as he stands, still and isolated, in the centre of the hall. It is as if all his vaunted powers were flowing out of him with that double wave, leaving him a hollow shell bereft of all but life.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, folks, that is it for today. I hasten to reassure you that we are not about to delve into every one of the 220 episode analyses I did here😉, though, truth to tell, there was not, in the early days of the show, even one such episode which did not have something remarkable to show by Rajat. If we have covered only 20 episodes in Part 1, it only goes to prove how lavishly Rajat spread out the rich resources of his talent for us to enjoy.

More follows, once I have recovered from the strain of this one! And if it feels like an overload, blame Mandy, not me!😉

Shyamala/Aunty/Di/Akka

Originally posted by: ghalibmirza

welcome dear and please give you two cents as well to the thread as we want this thread to complete its journey of 150 pages..reviving those RT's AT days when we did so much of masti!