Jodha Akbar 97-100:Snakes and ladders; Episode 104: Page 8 - Page 2

Dear Shyamala Aunty,

Originally posted by: adiana12

Dear Shyamala, for me these episodes were all about Rajat being such a treat to my eyes - total eye candy - in looks, in acting and in screen presence - so much so that all others ceased to exist - hats off to Rajat for giving such a performance with the biggest handicap for an actor / artist / performer - the script

My dear Gargi,

A propos of your interpretation that Jalal sees Jodha as a challenge, that is, curiously enough, exactly what I had noted in my post on Episode 80, The turning of the tide, and this part reads as follows:

"The challenge: Apart from the sense of kinship mentioned above (which is, alas, totally one-sided) and the understanding of her inner turmoil that makes him cut Jodha Begum a lot of slack, there is something else.

She is a challenge of a kind he has not faced till now. The first woman he has encountered who wants nothing from him, and will give him nothing, not even friendship. Who detests him openly and fiercely, and often, especially of late, wrongheadedly.

This has to be changed, for he never lets a challenge pass, and he does not like losing. She has to be brought round to liking him, caring for him. So he tackles it the way his Khan Baba has taught him. When a straight on attack does not work, then you adopt salami tactics, fine slice by fine slice.

In the process, he will, in due course, find that she has, with all her follies, her pigheadedness, her self-righteous bhashanbaazi, insinuated herself into his being, so much so that she has become indispensable to his comfort. But for that, as in mathematical problems, there is one necessary and one sufficient condition, of which later. "

Shyamala Aunty (I agree with your mother; you are far too young to call me Di!)

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Now this, my dear Gargi, is a very plausible explanation of apni Jodha. She might well be afraid to let herself fall in love with him - see that comment of mine on the likely impact on Jodha of Maham's gloating comment that Jalal would now lose his dilchaspi in Jodha - as she also fears that she might end up getting badly hurt. That is a valid reservation.

And I simply loved your "selectively thickened skull"! Priceless!👏

The problem is that we never get to listen to Jodha communing with her own heart, as we do at times with Jalal. So we are left groping in the dark as far as far as what she feels is concerned.

But then again, does she have to indulge in these pert, snippish, rude imitations of the 1960s film heroines all the time that she is with Jalal? One can be distant and yet dignified, can one not? I have never held it against her that she does not intend to let herself fall for Jalal. I hold it against her that she is insufferably rude all the time. That disappoints me in any woman.

Shyamala Di ( I thought your mother had scolded you about calling me Di, whereupon you had switched to Aunty. What is it to be now?😉)

Aunty i will read the whole post later but that one shot of rajat with his shamsheer cant tell you have many times i watched it,yeh bande me tha bada dum,😳👍🏼

Dear Adiana,

Rajat is always a treat to any female's eyes, unless he is scrunching his nose up to convey rage, or looking like a khaata peetha ladka in the hamaam! But he has never, either before or since, looked better than in the wind-blown shots of his face while he is sitting in the khema looking at the sleeping Jodha.

But in these episodes, he is also intelligently dominating, self-assured and delightfully devious as with the Rat King, cool and remote,as with Jodha the morning after the body cold segment, and all Shahenshah, as during the kanyadhan ceremony and at the end of the Ratanpur qila track. Plus, he is very open and gently candid, without either teasing and baiting her, in his various meetings with Jodha at Amer. But unlike the demeaning obsession for her that will soon take hold of him , in all this he never lowers himself by running after her. That is what pleased me the most in this track.

As for Jodha, now and later, the less said the better. She seems to get on my nerves even more now than the first time around, probably because now I know that it is going to get even worse, not better, as I could hope in 2013!

Shyamala

QUOTE=adiana12]Dear Shyamala, for me these episodes were all about Rajat being such a treat to my eyes - total eye candy - in looks, in acting and in screen presence - so much so that all others ceased to exist - hats off to Rajat for giving such a performance with the biggest handicap for an actor / artist / performer - the script

Thank you so much, my dear Ashwinee, for reacting so warmly to this over long post. I am relieved, for by the time I got to the end of it, I was so tired that I had no idea of how it read, nor did I have the energy to look thru it. So I missed a few typos that I have corrected just now.

No, Vicki's Jodha exists only in her imagination. I used to argue with her about this all the time. She used to take it all in good part, and we had a lot of respect for each other's writing. She was the most splendidly emotional of all those who used to do daily analyses, and I loved her posts though I rarely agreed with much of them!

I am fast tiring of critiquing Jodha, but it is only rarely that she makes it possible for me to praise her, as when she is struggling to save Jalal in the forest (where too I was swimming against the tide!). As I wrote to Adiana above, she seems to irritate me more this time around, possibly because now I know that things are not going to get better, but will only get worse, whereas in 2013 one could hope for a turnaround.

I am still hoping that one day we will get a love story between a man and a woman (these days, this has to be stated!) who are both intelligent, sensitive and capable of deep caring for and protectiveness towards each other. This should not be asking for the moon, but most of the time, it seems like it is! If Ekta Kapoor makes Chandragupta Maurya, she will probably turn Helen too into a Jodha Mahaan! Incidentally, I read somewhere that Chandragupta and Helen loved each other since well before he defeated her father Seleucus Nicator and married her. If, as I am told, Rajat is almost sure to play Chandragupta, I devoutly hope they find a girl for Helen who can measure up to him, at least halfway, in terms of acting.

No, it is not because the pain is already bad that I am taking a week off. It is because we are having visitors; I won't be able to find enough time for the laptop. It will be the same for 2 weeks in January, when my Sasha will be here. As for the pain, it is only creeping back right now. It is going to be a toss up, the level at which it plateaus. If I am lucky, it will be at a bearable level. If not, it will go back to the very bad situation in mid-October, only I cannot have recourse to steroid pills this time around. I am hoping for the best.

This apart, my dear, this series is clearly being affected by the law of diminishing returns, and I will have to close it down sometime soon. I have to decide when, that is all. I will of course miss all of you dear girls, but if Chandragupta Maurya does materialise with Rajat, we can all regroup there and discuss fresh material, instead of this reheated stuff!

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Ash67

Dear Shyamala Aunty,

What a superb post! Loved every line of it. Loved the PS to the post too and would have loved to agree with it if the script, the CVs and others concerned had offered some evidence in support.

Aunty, at the moment, with the amount of words I am keying in, I can literally feel what you must usually go through! Hoping to be back with more within the week you are to be away. I do hope that the cause for that is not too much pain, which unfortunately seems to have returned. Please take care!

Warmest Regards and 🤗

Ashwinee

PS -

Friends,

Sandhya, welcome back! Good to have you back and to hear that the sky above Chennai is clearing literally and metaphorically!

Loved Lavanya and Gargi's posts. Lavanya your collection of shers is just fabulous - this one is as unforgettable as the tanaha chahein one.

Agree absolutely with Adiana.

Shagun, good to have you back even if for a short post and good luck for the studies/ exams.

Ashwinee

Lavanya,

Thanks a ton, my dearest girl, for liking this one so much. I was tired by the time I had finished it; 4 episodes at a time is a bit too much. So I had no clear idea of how it read as a whole, and I was too weary to revise and correct it. So there were some typos that I managed to correct only now.

Your comments are very well taken. My supplementary remarks are in blue.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Sabdabhala

HI AUNTY

THANKS FOR ANOTHER SPENDID POST!! LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT

THERE IS ACTUALLY HARDLY ANYTHING TO ADD. MY FEW CENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS -

WHEN DADISA TELLS JODHA THHARE SE YE UMMEED NAHI THHI HAMEIN, I SO WANTED TO REPEAT THIS VERY DIALOGUE TO DADISA. I FELT THAT DADISA N CO LED BY BHAARMAL AND HYPERVATI SHOULD HAVE SOUGHT AN AUDIENCE WITH JALAL FORMALLY TO ACTUALLY THANK HIM. THAT THEY DID NOT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT THEIR INTEGRITY.

This is spot on! It is exactly what they should have done, but of course it never even occurred to them. I should have pointed this out; it was a clear omission on my part.

OF COURSE, JODHA'S HALF HEARTED EFFORT WAS, TO SAY THE LEAST, DISASTROUS. AND HER SQUIRMING ACT WHEN PUROHIT JI ASKS TO PLACE HER HAND ON JALAL'S WAS DISGUSTING. AFTER ALL, IT WAS HER PRIYA BAPUSA'S WISH THAT JALAL WAS FULFILLING, THAT JIJI AND JIJASA PERFORM THE RITUALS OF THE WEDDING. HER QUICK REMOVAL OF HER HAND AFTER THE AAHUTI AND JALAL'S SAD/EMBARASSED LOOK WAS SUPERBLY EXECUTED BY RAJAT

She is the ruddy limit! The worst is that she does all this in public. But I also felt that it was beneath Jalal to try and hold her hand and not let go. Such foolish moves on his part only puff her up still more in her self-conceit.He should have dropped her hand as soon as the rasam was over, as if it was a hot potato.That would have put her in her place.

AND FROM THERE ON JODHA'S DOWNWARD BEHAVIORAL SPIRAL TOUCHED NEW LOWS EVERYDAY. THAT SHE ACTUALLY WENT TO JALAL'S HOJRA TO BOMBARD HIM WITH QUESTIONS AND YET DID NOT UTTER ONE WORD OF THANKS, WAS BEYOND MY LIMIT. SHE DID NOT EVEN HAVE ONE SINGLE GENTLE LOOK, FORGET WORD, TO THANK JALAL FOR HIS MAGNANIMITY. HER ACCUSATIONS TOWARDS JALAL FOR SAVING HER LIFE WERE SO BIZARRE THAT I ACTUALLY WONDERED WHY JALAL DID NOT SLAP HER AND ASK HER TO SHUT UP. AND HER COMPLETELY BLANK LOOKS AND PROLONGED SILENCE,EXCEPT HER LAMENT TO MOTI DURING THE MAULVI FIASCO TO THE CAKE, THE CHERRY AND THE BAKERY 😡 He is not the slapping kind, but she deserved something like that.

THE SNOWFALL WAS HILARIOUS AND JODHA'S TOUCH ME NOT ACT WAS HORRIFYING. MAHAM, OF COURSE, WAS WORTH WATCHING, IN ALMOST ALL SCENES, WITH A POWER PACKED PERFORMANCE AND HARDLY ANY HAMMING. HER INTERACTION WITH ADHAM IN AGRA WAS SUPERB. BOTH ASHVINEE AND CHETAN DID WELL IN THAT SCENE. IN FACT THE WAY ADHAM BARGED IN TO QUESTION MAHAM, IT WAS QUITE CLEAR THAT IT WAS HE WHO WAS BEHIND THE MAULVI FIASCO. BUT HIS SELF TALK, LATER IN DIWAN E KHAS PROVED OTHERWISE AND WAS A BIT CONFUSING TOO
Well, as Adham is talking to himself when he says he did not do it, it was not him. I too thought it was he at first, but this self-talk of his clearly rules that out. Now I think it is Sharifuddin, who is shown later to be in cahoots with the ulema.

I wonder how no one overhears the loud exchanges that both he and Adham have in the same place, just outside the palace walls, with their fellow conspirators!😉😉

AS USUAL, RESHAM WAS ABLE TO SPY ON JALAL WHILE HE SAT WITH JODHA, AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE HAKIMA. I WONDER WHY SHE DID NOT WAIT AND WATCH THE ENTIRE KALA VASTRAPUR ENCOUNTER. THEN MAHAM WOULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE LESS CRASS WITH JODHA. AND WHY IS IT THAT WHILE EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYTHING THAT IS GOING ON, JALAL'S NETWORK OF SPIES IS SOOO NON EXISTENT
The only time they showed Jalal's spies getting him some useful information was when he is with Ruqaiya looking at his portrait that Tabassum has painted, and the spy comes it to inform him about Rajputs hostile to him gathering near Bhanpur (?)

JALAL'S LITTLE TETE A TETE WITH RUKKAIAH AFTER HIS NAMAAZ WAS REVEALING. THOUGH HE TOOK IT IN HIS STRIDE THAT SHE TOO WAS SPYING ON HIM, HE DID NOT LET GO OF THE OPPORTUNITY OF MAKING HER A BIT JEALOUS BY MENTIONING HIS NIGHTLY ESCAPADE WITH JODHA. IN MY OPINION, I THINK THIS SMALL CONVO WAS MORE AN EXTENSION OF HIS SUNLIGHT AND LATTICE TALK WITH HER BEFORE HE HAD LEFT. A BIT OF A REINFORCEMENT FROM HIS SIDE AND PROBABLY, A WARNING THAT SHE HAD BETTER START ACCEPTING IT AFTER ALL

YOUR TAKE ON JALAL AND HIS RAAJ DHARMA WAS SUPERB. VERY FRANKLY I HAD NOT THOUGHT ABOUT IT. LOOKING BACK, NOW, I WONDER AT THE CASUAL WAY JALAL WAS DEALING WITH THIS. UNLESS, OF COURSE, HE WAS PRIVY TO HAMIDA'S IDEA
No,Lavanya, he was not privy to Hamida's plan. He looks shocked when she announces that Jodha will convert to Islam, and he is clearly not happy about it. I am not surprised that you did not think about the disastrous consequences of an abdication by Jalal. No one but me did in 2013. No one. A few were vaguely critical, but no one else was as appalled as I was, because they had not taken the trouble to think it thru.I am glad you liked that part so much.And yes, Jalal is not just casual,but downright irresponsible about it.

JALAL'S LOOKS TO JODHA BEFORE SHE STORMS OFF WERE SUPERBLY ROMANTIC.

ISI BAAT PAR ARZ KIYA HAI (FROM JALAL'S SIDE, WITH A MINOR APOLOGY TO THE SHAAYAR)

KABHI YUUN BHI AA MERI AAKNH MEIN , KE TERI NAZAR KO KHABAR NA HO

MUJHE EK RAAT NAWAAZ DE, MAGAR USKE BAAD SEHER NA HO
This is as lovely as the last one, my dear. I have already saved it in my memorable quotations file.

I KNOW U FEEL THAT JALAL TREATS JODHA LIKE A RETARD AND HENCE DOES NOT FIND ANY OF HER ACTS OR WORDS ODD. I AGREE WITH THE FACT THAT, AS A LOVE STORY, AND AN EPIC LOVE STORY AT THAT, THIS IS PROBABLY A BIT WIERD, BUT I ALSO FEEL THAT IN THE REAL WORLD HARDLY ANY RELATIONSHIPS HAVE THE PERFECT BALALCE OF EQUALITY OF GIVE AND TAKE. AND THE FAMOUS ONES WHICH DO - ROMEO JULIET, SHIRI FARHAAD, SOHNI MAHIWAAL - WERE ALL SO PREMATURELY ENDED THAT WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THAT THEY WERE PEREFECTLY EQUITABLE. HENCE IN THIS LOVE STORY I DO NOT MUCH MIND THAT JALAL GIVES MORE WHILE JODHA TAKES MUCH MORE. BECAUSE THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT EVEN WITH EVERYTHING, JALAL DOES FEEL A SUPREME SENSE OF SUKOON WHENEVER SHE IS WITH HIM, WHICH HE IS ABLE TO PORTRAY PERFECTLY.

I agree, Lavanya, but the point I was making was not about both of them loving the other equally. That happens only very rarely. In the normal course of things, there is, as I have written in the past, one who loves and one who is loved. I have no quarrel with that. Nor with one giving more and the other less. Here of course Jodha only takes from him, and gives him nothing, not even a sincere expression of gratitude.

But Jodha has no empathy with or understanding of Jalal at all, neither now nor much later, as for example after Bakshi Banu is exposed after the false pregnancy track. Nor is she ever capable of divining how he actually feels, the depth of his grief and pain. She is shallow, and thus incapable of grasping such things. That is why she always reacts in a proforma manner, and offers pat solutions to Jalal that she has picked up from Salima without understanding them at all.

Right now, on top of everything else, she is insufferably ill-mannered and downright rude.

BUT YES, JODHA'S MAHAANTA DOES IRRITATE ME, COZ I AM SURE THAT JALAL WOULD HAVE LOVED HER EVER SO COMPLETELY EVEN IF SHE HAD NOT BEEN THIS PERFECT

When I use the term mahaanta, I do not mean her being such a sarvakalavalli, though that is incredible, the ever increasing list of her hunars! I meant that she is terminally self-righteous, and that the unstinting and unquestioning admiration from Hamida and Salima only makes her worse.

THATS IT FROM ME. TAKE CARE AUNTY Thanks a lot, my dear.

I agree, my dear Amina. As I wrote here, Jalal was effortlessly dominating in that whole sequence.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: amina1

Aunty i will read the whole post later but that one shot of rajat with his shamsheer cant tell you have many times i watched it,yeh bande me tha bada dum,😳👍🏼