Jodha Akbar 13-15: The Ruqaiya enigma

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Sandhya.A

@Sandhya.A

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Posted: 9 years ago

#51

Jalal in his blue jama with the single green bead/ emarald hanging from his taj......Ufff!

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Kalgi22

@Kalgi22

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#52

Originally posted by: sashashyam
My dear Kalgi,

I am delighted that you enjoyed this one so much, undoubtedly due to your having set aside Ruqaiya II!

Oh yes, Rajat in that new blue. He looked wonderful, but I do not seem to remember his wearing it afterwards, though he must have, Ekta's chaps would never waste so much money for one scene!😉

Also, I noted that he does not wear an outer dress at this stage, not even while entering the harem. That makes him look slimmer.

Shyamala Aunty

Ruqaiya II... I really like her in Off screen pics only not in JA😆 One thing I've to emphasis here.. You've a great observation skill too Aunty paying attention to minute details and all... Really great.👏👏👏 Specially that Jalal's outer dress now only it clicked me😳

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Kalgi22

@Kalgi22

Stunner

+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#53

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A
Jalal in his blue jama with the single green bead/ emarald hanging from his taj......Ufff!

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#54

My dear Devki and Preeti,

I am not one who claims that Smiley's Ruqaiya was a Sarah Bernhardt character. She is not as goodlooking as Ruqaiya II, she has a voice like a corncrake, and her diction is as flat as a pancake. Nor is she any great shakes as an actress. But she looked like the Padshahi Begum, she had dignity and grace, she never raised either her voice or her hand with those below her. In she was a lady who was every inch a queen.

@bold. Look, Devki my dear, all this is tea leaves reading a with vengeance. One cannot possibly have any idea what Smiley's Ruqaiya, had she continued, would have been like. That would have been in the hands of the CVs.

Plus she had far less telecast time to flesh out her character. The other one had far too much time; I could have done with about 1/10th of it!

My belief if that the change was made because the director did not think that Smiley could play the banshee like, insufferably and crudely arrogant (just look back to her first meeting with Jodha,where she is so obnoxious, and for no reason at all ) and terminally stupid Ruqaiya II, whose plots against Jodha and then Salim, and thus by extension against Jalal, grew worse and worse as the tale progressed and could not possibly be balanced by her all too infrequent flashes of decency.

The change in the portrayal of Ruqaiya was not only due to the change of circumstances. It was because the CVs decided they had made a mistake with the layered Smiley's Ruqaiya, the agony in whose face when Hamida declares that those without mohabbat cannot have aulad seared the screen( that was a ludicrous statement if ever there was one, but that is not the point here) . They wanted a scheming nanad to supplement Maham's vicious saas, that is all. Smiley would not have filled the bill.

Innocent? Who? Ruqaiya II? How, and when ? Have you forgotten that she deliberately fed opium to her 9 year old nephew, and poisoned his mind against his parents? The former is a vicious, unforgiveable crime. And that later she systematically fomented strife between Jalal and Salim, and finally, nearly got Jalal killed thru her criminal folly ?

Foolish, yes, even terminally stupid too. But since when has that become a virtue, or even a palliative to those disgusted by her other qualities? I HATE those who are so rude to their servants and slap them around, besides screaming all time and breaking furniture.

Plus, she was like a plastic harem superintendent, devoid of any of the dignity and grace that should characterise a Padshahi Begum.

Note that I am not talking of her plotting against Jodha, but of her general behaviour, In fact, she is very much like Maham in this respect: bully all those below you and suck up to those above you, in this case Jalal. Ruqaiya II is abominably rude to Jodha at first sight not because she is insecure about her. It is because she is nasty to others as a rule, and pleasant only as an exception.

The sense of easy camaraderie with Jalal that is shown in these episodes with Ruqaiya I is gone as soon as Ruqaiya II turns up.

Both are endemically insecure.

In Ruqaiya I's case it because of the lack of a child, and because for all her talk of ruling Jalal's dimaag ( her constant repetition of this mantra is enough of a hint about her insecurity), she wants Jalal's mohabbat too, as a kind of insurance against future sidelining, whereas in this period he detests the very word. The second reason is is of course linked to the first, her childlessness. She is no fool like Ruqaiya II, and she knows that the day will come when another begum will give Jalal an heir, and will then neatly supplant her as the favourite. So this insecurity is ever present, whatever her public show of confidence that she is Jalal's sabse chaheti begum.

In Ruqaiya II's case it is because of Jodha, and thus more acute.

This kind of insecurity is bound to lead to self-centredness, it is just the survival instinct!

But this does not mean that Ruqaiya I has no affection for Jalal. She was very likely an aggressive tomboy and thus not demonstrative, and there is no touchy feely romantic affection between them on either side. She scolds him, tries to feel equal with him by keeping him waiting for her and defeating him in chess, but at times there is a sudden switch to wifeliness as she says, about the soiled chadar, Rehne do, hum sambhal lenge! or Aapki har cheez humein keemti hai.

I do not know how one can conclude that Ruqaiya II had any real affection for Jalal either. Even when she is expecting a baby, she is talking only about becoming the Mariam-uz-Zamani, not of his joy in becoming a father at last. And if she had cared for him, she would never have made the son he loves so much an opium addict at 9, and then poisoned Salim's mind against his parents and fomented every instance of discord between Jalal and Salim. No one can possibly forgive her role in the afeem affair. It was every bit as ugly as anything Maham did.

I am glad Smiley left when she did. At least she did not have to corrupt a 9 year old!

None of the above, my dear young ladies, is to get you to like Ruqaiya I better than Ruqaiya II. Not to do so is your inalienable right! And the greatest minds have made nothing of being in a minority, even of one or two. Only, please do not argue that Ruqaiya II is innocent!

Shyamala/Aunty

Originally posted by: devkidmd

Even I did not like the screeching and scheming part but I did like LT's Rukaiyya on the whole. She had an innocence, almost a foolishness(no joothis please!!) to her. She was reduced to nothing more than smirking towards the end but that is not her fault.

I do feel Smiley's Rukaiyya would have given a more cold, deadlier vibe. She seemed the kind who is capable of doing worse things in a more poised way, more manipulative manner. She seems like a sophisticated vamp.😆

Both gave their own spin to the charachter but to me the basic qualities of insecurity and self centeredness is evident even in the present one.

Devki

Originally posted by: Coolpree

Devki @ bold. very elequently said. I have a few pages earlier tried to convey the same to Shyamala but could not put it as aptly as you have. I was afraid I was the lone minority voice on this thread😊 As I said to shyamala, the key word she has used to describe Ruqaiyya was " self absorbed" So self absorbed in fact that she appears to have no empathy or affection for Jalal whats o ever. How then can we call their relationship greater than romantic love when it is so one sided. Like you I also found LT to be more humane and endearing ( no no I did not like her scheming and screeching) in that at least her affection and loyalty for Jalal was very clear

Your last line is very pertinent. until now there was no one to challenge her position as Jalal let her walk over all the other begums . But its " Grace under Pressure " that counts most isn't it?

Originally posted by: devkidmd
Smiley's Rukaiyya was definitely more poised and graceful as opposed to LT. I honestly liked both of them. LT brought a little more passion, a little more life to the charachter IMO.

The change in the portrayal of Rukaiyya(setting aside the change in actors) the way I like to see it, is more due to the change in circumstances than anything else. The present Rukaiyya has no reason not to be graceful and confident. Why shouldn't she? She is the center of the Emperor's attention, his world. Inspite of that she still finds a way to demean all the other begums(very gracefully of course).

The true test is under pressure and that is where a person's real poise, grace and confidence is seen. I do think that Smiley might have portrayed this unravelling in a more subtle manner but we will never know about that.

In the hammam, she was very open about how she felt about being berated in public and requested the Shahenshah to not repeat in the future, which showed how comfortable and honest they are with each other. Not a word was said about how and what Jalal is feeling for losing one of his most trusted people. It was all about Rukaiyya. To me Rukaiyya has always appeared selfish and insecure. She just had more grace when there was no one to challenge her position with the Emperor.

Devki

Edited by sashashyam - 9 years ago

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

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+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#55

Absolutely. Adiana, and I too prefer multi-coloured to grey. And I am with you in the imperative need for finite shows. After all, the great Doordarshan classicsm even Ramesh Sippy's Buniyaad, never crossed 104 episodes!

But one has to keep in mind that the TV audience is not like the multiplex audience, in that it consists largely of bored housewives/ If not Anil Kapoor's 24 should have clicked. And that a show has to hold that audience for much longer than a film, even with a finite no. of episodes.

And that reminds me that I have promised to watch Ahalya and review it for Sri! I must get on it pronto!

Shyamala

Originally posted by: adiana12
Shyamala, Donjas and others, personally I feel that its time for Indian Television to start taking risks with multi-layered and multi-dimensional characters - I have never liked the term grey becoz I personally don't think people are grey - they are multi-colored like the Rainbow - some colors are dark and some light, but all colors when they come together create beauty - and this beauty was created in and by all the characters in the initial episodes that took this show to its zenith and it maintained its place even as all characters started becoming black and white becoz Rajat's Jalal still remained multi-hued, but the day they made him uni-dimensional the show lost its footing - and this does tell the story that multi-layered and colorful characters definitely are healthy for a show's trp.

What is actually detrimental are shows that stretch like rubber - the future is for finite shows - and for layered and colorful characters - and for exploring complexities of the human nature - Ahalya's success definitely proves this.

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#56

Of course, my dear Rasika,as I am well past 60!

I am glad you enjoy my posts and find them descriptive enough, but please do watch Episodes 10, and these 3 as well. The visuals, especially of Jalal, and at times of Maham, should not be missed in these early episodes, which are very good by any standards.

As for Ruqaiya I, I am very pleased that you agree with me. Do take a look at my longish response above to Devki and Preeti.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Rasika29
Awesome post Aunty(?) I am 25 so do I qualify to call you that?😆

I am not watching the re-run of JA but reading your post is as good as watching it on screen...I would say more than watching coz you don't miss even a little nuance.

Ruqs in these initial epis was more queenly. The one who need not raise her voice to be heard. So contrasting to what she was turned into later...a screeching vamp busy in breaking furniture and slapping servants.

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NONIE

@Nonie12345

Rocker

Posted: 9 years ago

#57

Amazing analysis Shyamla Aunty😃

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 9 years ago

#58

My dear Vinita,

What remarkably perceptive comments! I have put in blue the ones I liked the best. You are absolutely right, even the poised, self-assured Ruqaiya I is lonely and insecure vis a vis Jalal, which makes her behave the way she does, as at the Meena Bazaar, to assert that she is no less than he.

Do take a look at my longish response to Preeti and Devki above about Ruqaiyas I & II. You would find it interesting.

About Resham, there is a curious point. Ruqaiya I was far better than Ruqaiya II. Moti Bai I was far better than Moti Bai II. But Resham II was far better and filled the bill more convincingly than Resham I!

Shyamala Di

Originally posted by: vinitaj27
hey Shyamalaji
thanx for the pm.
i think ruqqaiya was the most interesting character of the serial. she had more shades to her character than anyone else that is before they ripped her character apart completely and turned her into a vamp.

she was strong yet vulnerable. powerful yet weak. what touched me the most about her character was that even though she was surrounded by people she was just as lonely as jalal was. that is something i found very different about the character of jodha and ruqqaiya. even though both were jalals wives and powerful queens yet somehow jodha managed to find peace n contentment even before falling for him in his harem whereas ruqqaiya always was alone.

she always was busy holding on to her position as BEK that she somehow lost sight of everything else.

i also think that more than her overconfidence it was her refusal to be seen weak in front of jalal that made her make him wait n ignore him at times just to prove to herself n him that he was not the center of her universe like everyone else.

Her problem of course was that he was the centre of her universe, and she was always afraid, in her heart of hearts, that she would be supplanted by the mother of his heir

i think mixing friendship and love in a single relationship always calls for trouble as u end up losing one or the other. later after jodhas arrival in his heart jalal managed to draw the clear lines between friendship n love but ruqqaiya failed to do so ( i can understand not very easy to do).
ruqqaiya was a regal, no nonsense, dignified queen at the beginning of the serial.

as for the harem staff well what can we say nearly all be it moti, hoshiyar or any tom, dick and harry could walk in any time and say anything in the serial. its a wonder that the only one not shown commiting these blunders was resham...

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Coolpree

@Coolpree

Explorer

Posted: 9 years ago

#59

Innocent??? when did I call Ruk II innocent? Dear Shyamala I have been Ruk 2 fiercest opponent for a very long time including for many shameful acts including the Afeem episode.

BTW my comments were on page 4. you have not pressed the like button or replied so I assume you have not read it 😭. would have loved your to hear views on the Jalal / Hamida kheer interaction. Anyways Cheers! frankly neither Ruk 1 nor Ruk 2 mean much to me.

Edited by Coolpree - 9 years ago