On the horns of a dilemma:
Now its important for us to note- why did Bairam Khan actually revolt? As per real history Maham called Akbar to Delhi and instiagted him against BK and Akbar was only too willing to listen as he also had enough of BK making decisions on his behalf and be independent. And BK was angry when he heard jalal wanted him to relive off his post and rebelled and a war was waged and he was brought in chains before Akbar. And the rest as they say is history that is known to all.
In serial they give it a twist about taqatmal case where Ak wants to forgive and return kingdom but BK does not want and his killing Ak loyalists. Here BK is angry not only at jalal but this is a fight for supermacy over Maham on who is more close to Ak, is it BK or Maham? Like BK says that if Ak chooses Maham, Mughal empire is doomed and he shall not let his hard work go in vain. Here BK fight is more agianst Maham than an Ak and when he realized that Maham had almost all on her side including Ak he gave up. Its like a wife and mother fighting over a son, finally the wife usually wins and mother is relegated to a corner without any power. Why did BK not accept any subha offered by AK but wanted to go to haj? Because he realized Maham had won and she will not keep quiet and trouble him again and again instigating Ak against him. Instead of getting humiliated repeatedly he went away. Now he had no idea she had even planned his murder on the way in hands of an ex afghan rivals son.
Ruqaiah only helped take a final decision which was in good stead for her husband to be free of BKs influence and complete independence(which he never will get till Maham dies in reality that Ruq never understood)
Maham played her role well and like a machivellian master player in the bull or gladiator rings has the bull by its horns(BK is the bull and the red clothe is Akbar she uses to instigate BK, Ruqaiah is the one who flags off this fight)
Of guilt and redemption:
BK surrenders because he has no option, majority mughal army is loyal to Akbar not BK in reality. Secondly BKs family lives inside agra fort and his wives and son life is in danger. Thirdly he realizes that Maham has a stangehold on Akbar that he can no longer remove so best to leave Ak to his fate and go away to another pasture.
The most poigant scene is when BK stands his hands in surrender in front of Akbar at agra gate. That one moment is the final nail in coffin of relation between a foster father and son, between a teacher and pupil. Now in front is an emperor and a bhaagi, no one else. Despite Ak dropping his sword at his feet and kneeling and embracing BK and forgiving him for revolt, there is no longer a relation a soul in their relation. BK is humbled and humiliated in front of mughal empire and all those soldiers present there commanded by him once upon a time. Ak tries hard to save his respect and face in front of all buttt cannot. For the rest of world here is an emperor forgiving a traitor who was previously his foster father and teacher. The world no longer respects BK except a few like Hamida who are still grateful.
Can you just imagine what a fall it is for BK - commander of more than 2-3 lakhs soldiers, prime minister of an empire that comprises of the present 7-8 countries and 10 crore and more people calling him a traitor and treating him as one? No matter what Ak says or does BK is finished. Any other man would have committed suicide after such a fall, but BK has seen life, he has seen ups and downs of life, from a small soldier and commander of Persian army he has risen to these levels. He also has his wives and son to care for, he cannot wallow in his disgrace and do something stupid can he? No not really, so he endures these humiliations, the hateful eyes, the mocking faces with silence of a man whose fights reflect in the wrinkles on his face and the baggage under his eyes.
BK epitomizes the phrase- when a strom comes a tree bends only to stand tall again after the strom
Compare that to Maham when adham is killed - when strom comes the tree tries to stand tall but falls away and dies
What a contrast in Jalal's Khan baba and badi ammijaan?
Epiphany:
Like i said long back BK and Akbar clash is of two generations gap, Bk thinks to rule you have to create fear and Ak thinks you can do it by being lenient. That is whole crux off their fight. Bk being mature can see through Maham's evil design that Ak cannot even imagine. As soon as BK does bhagawat look at reaction of other kings- they want to revolt too and attack Akbar as they think he is vulnerable, BK was his daal till now. But Ak is well trained by BK to handle bhagawats and in wars and also Ak is no 17 year old minion deer cub that will bleat in fear looking at enemies calling out for protection he is a lion cub which can face animals 50 times their body weight without fear. And for that we have to thank his teacher and foster father BK for bringing him up so fearlessly instilling in him confidence to take on world. No matter how brave a kid is if his parents stop him and protect him he will turn into a scary, approval seeking adult(like later mughal emperors after aurangzeb). BK never did that and always let him free and to face world from young age to make him brave.
Ruqaiah 1 and Ruqaiah 2
Ruqaiah 1 is a Queen no matter the acting capabilities
Ruqaiah 2 is a souten and vamp with no royal or Queenly qualities
The hamaam scene:
Hum apni bachpan ki dost se wada karte hain ki chahe hamari zindagi mein kitni hi begumein kyon na aayein, hamari Ruqaiya Begum ka darja unse kayi guna upar hoga...kyonki kabhi bhi, koyi bhi, hamari Ruqaiya Begum ki jagah nahin le sakta.
I am surprised an emperor shall call his wife that too first one in DEA and scold her like that. No emperor would ever do that ever and specially not to his childhood friend and cousin sister. Ruqaiah is humbled by takes hit on her chin and leaves like a commoner doing Konish.
She then heads to hamam and finds fault with all that maids are doing and chases them off to surprise of Ak and whe he thinks she will come and give him bathe she starts walking off. She does not stop when he calls and only turns when he throws water at her playfully. Then she apologies and requests him not to shout or humiliate her in front of world as people shall then make fun of their relationship behind her back. Jalal forgets that people change with time, he too changes with time and more favourite wives will come and take her place later on. But Ruqaiah holds on to this promise as real that causes her heartache in future.
But while their inchoate hatred and ill-will might not touch her, and Jalal is willing to overlook her many near impertinences because of his fondness for his only childhood playmate, I felt that she is at times squandering her hold on him and pushing her luck too much. He is not just a man, with the normal masculine ego. He is an emperor, and a famous warrior who has never known defeat. Whatever his indulgence towards her, it cannot be presumed upon heedlessly without eroding it. And when she gets around to grasping this, it might well be too late.
Men anyways have egos because they are primary providers and protectors of family. They therefore expect to command respect, command undivided attention when they are at a place. Ruqaiah was treating him like in childhood ways only i think, she never realized when her kid friend jalal had become this big male egoistic emperor who needs big boosts to his ego, he loves women who defy him but to a limit, he loves women who fight with him but shall always allow him dignity of win or credit of win, he is ok with woman who abuse him provided he has abused them before(does it not remind of jodha).
Till Ak fell in love with jodha she was not this male killer who makes man dance to her tune like she became later. She played sword fight with him but was not aggressive(like later sword fight in mathura track at amer), she was angry and non obedient but never in front of others(how she sat on boat ride or came to his bedroom to sleep etc) she never crossed her limits in public usually till he was hook line and sinker wrapped in her thumb like a putty to be played around. And when he was in tears she was always by his side hugging him, consoling him, encouraging him etc like a mother. Basically Jodha replaced Maham in his life- before when Bakshi betrayed him he ran to maham to cry, later on Ruqaiah betrayed him he ran to jodha. She became more of his mother guiding him, correcting him, mollyfying him, giving a shoulder to cry etc than a wife. But usually that happens most men want a mother only in their wife. Ruqaiha failed to understand that she was more of a friend and wife than a mother and wife that jodha was.
The problem, to my mind, is that she does not - bar the instance of the portrait, where she is, for once, gentle and demonstrative - show a similar caring for him. Their interactions are more like mind games, where she mostly wins and he does not, contrary to his usual mindset, seem to mind losing. There is no indication, on her side, of a deep need for him to be with her, as a person she loves, not only as the emperor. As for him, he thinks first of her for advice when he faces a dilemma, but that seems to be more as a trusted and valued confidante and a very dear friend than as a beloved. Neither haunts the consciousness of the other.
This does not mean that there is no love between them. It is rather that it is what Mira Nair described in her wonderful A Monsoon Wedding as 'old shoe love'.
The problem here lies in the time line of relation- Ak and Ruqaiah married at age of 9 years when all they did was paint, play hide and seek, climb trees and pluck magoes etc. For Ruq marriage life for long was never about any physical relation- in those times women matured later, till then even if they married they stayed in parents house or for Ruq as she has no parents and sibling and Akbar is her first cousin she stayed with him at agra fort. And when she was young they must have stayed in zenana - womens section together for boys moved out only after 13 years. So Ak was more of a buddy to Ruqaiah than a husband.
Same for Ak, she was his friend with whom he played games, teased, pushed, shoved, screamed none of which he ever did with any of his other wives, cocubbines or maids ever. Between all other women the gap was clear that of husband or master and a wife or slave that of subservient relation. With Ruqaiah this was not there, Ruq considered him as her equal as she was with him from as young as 5 years old. So she never thought she must please him by dressing up, serving him, giving him shoulders to cry etc if he want her he shall ask her or come to her is her idea. That is even Aks idea of Ruqaiah. If she wants she will ask him, he need not guess and give or ask. With other wives and cocubbines its more formality based he gifts them, he asks what they want, he thinks what to give to please them as he does not know them from childhood, they are a mystery to him so he gets attracted to them especially jodha as she is different religion, different culture and dressing up than them. With Ruqaiah its taken for granted as with Ak she takes for granted that he will understand, buttt buttt that works at young age not later, later on you start craving for attention for respect of emperor that rest give except your childhood friend Ruqaiah etc. You crave for new gifts, new experiences that is human nature. So Ak moves on to Jodha but Ruqaiah has no one to move on to. If it was 21st century may be should would move on and marry again. But here she has no such luck.
What is Akbar actually so intruged with jodha-
Is it her beauty?
Is it revenge? that she kept sword on his neck
Is it love at first sight?
It is one and only beauty- he first goes to amer after hearing a soldier praise her beauty. Love and revenge comes later much later. So he is smitten at first sight in her palaki and follows her to ghat. Ak was an emperor an young one 19-20 years old and here he hears of one so beautiful that even a commoner can give his life to possess her for one time. So he sets out to see and judge for himself and here he is smitten like a filmstar crush on jodha. He wants to possess her, make her his own and tell the world- here the most beautiful girl in hindustan belongs to me. Not much of love and revege as to possess.
L'affaire Farida, or Uff, yeh mohabbat!!:
Firstly, the whole Fatima story is very curious. It seems incredible that the son of a baandi can inherit the throne; it is in fact nonsense. The heir would have to be the son of a high born begum, not of a concubine. Nonetheless, it is evident that the arrival of a child, his first, would absorb Jalal so much that Ruqaiya's standing with him would slip. Whence her evident relief at the 3 month revelation, and Jalal's just as evident anger. It is thus a candid take on the ground realities of life in a harem, even if an imperial one!
While Jalal snarls his dissent, Ruqaiya, understandably, looks appalled. She has it difficult enough as things are - what with baandis producing kids while she has none, and other haremites forever yapping at her heels 😉- and the idea of having to handle a mohabbat mein deewana Jalal must have seemed like a nightmare.
In muslims especially mughals a cocubbine or maid son could become a emperor. Indeed a few mughal emperors were born to cocubbines or secondary wives too. So i do not find any surprise in cocubbine and maid giving birth to a son who becomes emperor. In muslims a son is a son a daughter is a daughter of emperor no matter if born to royal princess, cocubbine or maid. All have equal chance and equal respect in fathers house. Please read mughal harem books to know more on this.
Indeed by all accounts majority Akbars kids were from cocubbines and maids only especially Murad. If you read mughal harem books, these women had no companion for long and left by emperor for years forgotten in their harem. So they used to have these small affairs with agra fort inmates be it nobels, ministers, soldiers or servants too. Hence to avoid another mans son being termed as emperors and become prince, a person was appointed to keep all the timelines of when emperor spent time with his wife, cocubbine or maid(even royal wives). If the date of conception did not match emperors visit woe bid that lady she is as good as dead.
There is one story of Salim married to some lady(most probably arranged marriage by parents) and she became pregnant and Jehangir was told its not his child and found she had an affair with some man. Jehangir was furious and ordered both their deaths but in morning in sober mood forgave and
sent them off. So all emperors had these people who kept accounts of the dates when emperor visited which lady. Even many hindu kings kept similar tracks on their wives and cocubbines so not only mughal culture. This is just to ensure your own blood becomes a king/emperor.
Otherwise it shall turn out to be like King of England mess up where a child born out of wedlock shall become ruler.
Ruqaiah and Jodha
Ruqaiah is empress of mughal empire, i doubt she shall go to market like in public. All people shall be cleared from market before she visits or market will go to her khema. And the soldiers shall never allow a rajkumari be it jodha or anyone to answer back to them or their empress. This is more for film effect.
Edited by myviewprem - 9 years ago
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