Three different strands entirely made up the Monday episode!

Friends, the Monday episode of Jodha Akbar seemed to be a kind of medley of three totally separate strands of events taking place. The episode seemed to be bouncing back and forth between these three strands of events, alternating the story's focus from one strand to another throughout the episode.

Overall I thought it was a good episode in terms of pace and style and content. It was clearly intended to set the foundations for the development of the three tracks of the story in the forthcoming week. So I could not have expected more of anything substantial or exclusive on the Jodha-Jalal love front than what we were given. When I saw the way things were going, I scaled down my expectations and stayed with what was being shown, and found myself quite enjoying the intrigue, the potential for MUs and the potential also for good reconciliations after the MUs.

The three strands of the story that I am taking about are these:

TRACK ONE: We are heading towards Ruq becoming "less khas" and Jodha becoming "more khas" in the eyes of Jalal and the people at Agra ... thanks to some self-sabotage by Ruq that was fully exploited by Maham.

In the Monday episode we saw Ruqaiya summoning Jodha imperiously to her room, after Maham had said to her "Jodha is taking so much of your place with Jalal, she is intruding so much in the afaairs and goings-on at the Agra palace, she is growing so much closer to Jalal now, that perhaps one day he himself might give the harem over to her to run and make you redundant!" This was the exact handle that Maham knew would rattle Ruq and it did. Ruq sent for Jodha with a tone of superiority and with the flourish of a Queen summoning an underling.

Jodha apeared before her, but when Ruq suggested to her that she hereafter takeover and run the harem, Jodha apologised politely, refused the offer and said (without wanting to offend and yet very firmly) "I do not know all the people in the harem as you do, Begum Ruqaiya, nor do I speak their language or know their customs. I do not think I would like to rule over them as it is not in my dispoisition to want such power to control others. You seem to be the right person for all this and indeed Jalal has given you this position. So please forgive me if I cannot accept!"

As soon as this speech was over and Jodha left, Ruq, the brainless woman that she was, actually then told Maham, in so many words "See this is what I wanted to show you. She knows she can never take my Khas Begum position, I am that all-powerful here. And she has also betrayed a fear of the job because she feels incompetent. She has given a walk-over!" But Maham sarcastically replied "Indeed Ruqiaya Begum, indeed!" and went away, leaving Ruq feeling enormously absorbed in her own audha!

What this scene showed us was that the Begum-e Khas had come close to offering her seat of power - the harem - to Jodha ... but Jodha has clearly not wanted the Khas Begum appellation nor was enamoured of it .

The next scene where we saw the continuation of this strand of the story was when Jodha was with Rahim in the garden. He was teaching her Urdu, and she was repaying him with a kahaani! Just then Jalal appeared where they were, and saw Rahim saying gooodbye to Jodha, calling her a Khas Begum (because she was Rahim's "khas" friennd, wasn't she)?

Jalal looked very taken with the idea that Jodha was called "Khas Begum", although Jodha demurred. But he then went on extol all her "hunars" and saying she truly was "khas in hs eyes". And as was his usual way, he included her good hunars and some of hher dubious hunars as well as he counted them - her swordsmanship and archery skills, her singing, her ability to pull bullets out of guns, her ability to swallow snake poison and survive.

Jodha made noises that she thought he was taana maro-ing, but he swore he was telling the truth! He did think she was very "khas"! Especially he loved the way she was always improving her knowledge and skills like studying Urdu now. He also especially liked the way she saved his life from Ben, but then he wanted to know why did she save his life, if that was not one of her hunars? Jodha was hard-pressed to explain exactly why! She said "Because your my pati ... because I have this duty ..." As she hummed and hawed he laughingly said this humming and hawing too was one of ther hunars that made her "khas", and in the end a beaming smile of self-satisfaction hit Jodha's face. Jalal was serious and to him she was "khas"! What more did she want to hear!

Now this garden event then set the stage for even more happenings on this strand of the story. Ruqaiya was seen by Maham planning an exclusive romantic boatride in the night and getting all ready for it. Maham saw that Ruq had not yet told Jalal about this plan and was just about to send a message to Jalal via a baandhi that he was to expect this boatride with his "Begum-e-Khas". I suspect that Maham got her perfect opportunity to do her "chance pe dance". Her objective was no doubt to separate Ruq and Jodha with this audha-fight and thus keep the enmity pot boiling between them ... and while neither Ruq nor Jodha were her bosom favourites, she no doubt would like Ruq to best - and oust - Jodha in any one-on-one enounter. Ruq was a manageable idiot for Maham, but Jodha would become a deadlier enemy given the chance to ascend - and hence the need Maham had to keep Ruq always fighting and insecure with Jodha to try and eliminate her?

The precap (which was the same as Friday's episode) and the new promo all gave us a hint of Maham's saazish.

It apppears Maham may simultaneously send word to Jodha that Jalal has invited her - his Khas Begum - for the romantic and private boatride. After the afternoon's convo with Jalal, Jodha may welll believe it was Jalal who called for her as his "khas begum" ... while Ruq may be thinking she has sent word to him about herself as the Khas Begum . At the moment of the boatride, Jodha (according to the promo) may no doubt arrive early enough and be welcomed aboard by Jalal ... and Ruq may arrive as usual a trifle late to see the boat push out with Jodha and Jalal leaving her back on the shore?

What does this whole strand of the story tell us? It perhaps establishes the ways in which inadvertently Jodha starts occupying the "khas" space in Jalal's mind and life - and Ruq is herself the author of her own failures. Ruq was not only overconfident of herself, but she planned in front of Maham. Maham is out for the kill for Jodha and is not above shooting from Ruq's shoulder at Jodha. So now Ruq has engineered a situation where she gets upstaged by Jodha through her own efforts and Maham's slight twist to the tale.

Friends, I suspect this track to be the beginning of the real downfalll of Ruqaiya. We may see even more examles of Ruq plotting and failing thanks to Maham in the coming weeks, and thus Jodha's ascending in audha and Jalal's love through Maham playing a reverse Cupid role. Every attempt of Maham to dethrone Jodha via Ruq's anger is flopping and Ruq is getting distanced from her audha while Jodha is growing closer to Jalal!

TRACK TWO: It looks like Sujamal is going to be instrumental in making Bharmal and his boys initially look like enemies of Jalal and cause MUs - and Sujamal's Agra visit on the sly to see Jodha is going to cause a a Jalal-Jodha MU. But in the end there may be a grand recoonciliation between Amer and Agra!

In the last episode we had seen Sujamal all set to attack Mewat, the area under the supposed care of Sharifuddin. Now in the Monday episode we saw the first fallout of Sujamal's plans. At Amer, Bharmal and his sons were in war armoury, discussing how they had to fight a rather small battle - a skirmish on the borders rather - but it was making them all very uneasy because the skirmish neither had a reason that was worthwhile, nor were they unable to tell if it was all part of a bigger war plot. It looked like they had all been temporarily sidetracked by this skirmish while something bigger may be afoot.

Soon enough though they got their answer. A footman delivered the news that Sujamal hadattacked Mewat! Now Bharmal and his sons were in a fix, because they had to show their wafaadaari to Jalal and prevent the attack of Mewat, and yet they had to do so without giving Jalal any room to question their fidelity since the attacker was one of their own sons , Sujamal. Given the existing bad blood between Bharmal's family and Jalal after the Shivani incident there was no knowing how Jalal may take the whole thing. He could very well mistake the intentions of Bharmal and family if he had some notion that they were supporting Sujamal and not opposing him? In the end some "dubious wisdom" prevailed. The father and sons thought they should not tell Jalal anything yet and instead they should go and prevent Sujamal from capturing Mewat and they should be seen as standing up to Sujamal and foiling him.

I am not sure it was a good idea though to not tell Jalal anything and for Bharmal and sons to proceed to Mewat. I now suspect a huge MU where Bharmal's worst fears get confirmed and Jalal does think Bharmal and his sons are supporting Sujamal's attack at Mewat. Until Bharmal himself returns Mewat to Jalal, the MU may persist. Added to which if Sujamal now plans to visit Agra - stealthily - to see Jodha and inquire after her welfare, Jalal's spies may give Jalal the wrong picture ... and he may either suspect Jodha of having a lover (as in the movie) or he may suspect Jodha of helping her brothers and father capture Mewat. Jalal may well believe Sujamal was sent by Bharmal on the sly to apprise Jodha of the sinister Mewat capture plan.

I can think of a hundred possible MUs ... the situation is so loaded with pre-existing prejudice against the Bharmals ... plus, Jalal is so touchy these days about Jodha thanks to his budding love, that it may take very less to tip him into another MU where she is concerned!

The good part of it all may be that after the initial round of MUs, will there be opportunity for a grand reconciliation between Jalal and Jodha, and Jalal and the Bharmals, such that the bad blood caused by the Shivani-Tejwant issue becomes washed away. But till then, we'd better all wear our seatbelts and be prepared for a rocky ride.

TRACK THREE: The enemies of Jalal are beginning to plot and plan against him in earnest - but although they talk of joining forces, it seems to be all a story of double-crossings

Meanwhile, on another front, Sharif, who had just been let out of prison was seen already back to his evil ways. With another horseman he ventured into a remote forested area and then exhorting his footman to wait with the horses, he dismounted and went on foot searching for some co-conspirator. There in a remote and ramshackle hut he found the man he wanted. Iit was the hairy Abul Mali! The man dreaming of the Agra throne was sleeping on a stone slab amidst a lot of hay, having visions of grabbing the Sultanate from Jalal and killing him. Sharif at first found a lot in common with Abul Mali and his eyes gleamed at Mali's intentions to dethrone Jalal. But then Mali started turning around and blaming Sharif for the failure of Ben's assassination attempts on Jalal. Mali said Sharif had actively helped Jodha save Jalal. But Sharif quickly changed the story and said with sinister double-meaning "No, that was not what happpened, I had to help the object of my love". (Yech, blech!)

Mali then said through his clenched teeth "If only I get my hands on that throne, I will first kill Jodha!" Naturally to Sharif that sounded terribly unpleasant as he had designs on the beautiful Jodha. He would rather that Mali's killing spree begin and end with Jalal alone. So Sharif replied saying "Here' a pact. I don't like messing with the female folk and the family. So let me help you get the takht and kill Jalal, and in return you agree to deliver the family and the women safe to me! " Abul Mali said "Deal!" and both men hugged. But inside the heads of the two men, seemingly hugging as friends, two different storylines were being plotted. They were both planning to double cross each other.

Sharif thought he would eliminate Mali well before Mali succeeded to the throne after killing Jalal, while Mali thought of Sharif as all kinds of a fool for he had fallen for Jodha and may be less than careful about getting the takht rather than the wife of Jalal! Evil smiles cracked both ugly faces as they brokered a ragged deal in a hut far away from the seat of power at Agra!

Now in a continuation of this track, Jalal was seen in the Diwan-e-Khas with Adham and Atga Khan. Jalal semed furious because Adham who was in charge of Malwa seemed to have slept on his watch and there was trouble brwwing at Malwa! In a fit of rage, Jalal summoned Atga to take control of the Malwa situation and thus stripped Adham of thepowers that he was supposed to have held exclusively over Malwa. The enmity between Adham and Jalal intensified as Adham gritted his teeth in furious anger at this reduction of his audha, and at the same time no doubt some more seeds of enmity between Adham and Atga were sown. I expect that when Atga goes to Malwa he may come across even more of Adham's financial plundering and when Atga retuurns there could be a full-fledged suspicion in Jalal's mind about Adham's hands not being clean. History says Adham eventually went on a killing spree and eliminated Atga as part of this murderous rage, and we already saw one more reason yesterday as to why Adham may hate Atga. There was also a sanket in Friday's episode when Maham was telling Adham to try and control his irrational rages. All things now point towards Adham slowly spiralling out of control.

I currently see two banks of enemies of Jalal. One of them is this Sharif-Mali twosome. The other is Adham-Maham. I am not at all sure if these will all operate together at some time before they all fall out with each other? We'll have to wait and watch ...

TWO INTERESTING QUESTIONS I HAVE:

QUESTION ONE: Will Track Two and Track Three merge at some point?

What was interesting in the DEK was that after speaking about Malwa, Jalal asked Atga what the latest news was on the Mewat front. Did he know that some Rajvanshi attack had already been made on Mewat? Did he know it was by Sujamal, one of the sons of the Bharmal family? Did he know Sujamal was a black sheep in his own family?

Or was Jalal just casually asking about the well-being of Mewat since that was Sharif's territory that Sharif would now be free to handle?

And how will this then tie into the Agra visit by Sujamal on the sly? I am not sure any reconciliation between Sujamal and the Bharmals or Jalal will take place, though. The Ameris hate Sujamal for all the trouble he has given them, so Sujamal may not be part of the re-connection of the Ameris with Jalal. So where will Sujamal go ... will he go and join the Adham-Sharif-Mali nexus and become part of the third "enemies of Jalal" track? Is there scope for Track Two and Track Three to intermingle?

QUESTION TWO: What about the Rahim-paigam track and the Shivani-Tejwant tracks to expose Maham?

Now that we have the three new tracks (i.e. "khas-ness transfer from Ruq to Jodha" track, the "Jalal enemies plots-and -double-crosses" track and the "Bharmal-Sujamal-Mewat issue" track), do we assume that the Jodha paigam and dhakka will never become an issue and it will be just forgotten and bypassed as the story moves forward? Rahim has merely taught Jodha Urdu yesterday, and then vanished.

Jyoti has been telling me for a while now that they may not go back to that paigam again and instead they may show Jodha's love of Jalal growing in other ways, because they (the Creatives) may not want the unmasking of Maham so soon! Jyoti believes that despite their being male villains like Sharif and Mali and Adham, a female villain is a must for TRPs and Ekta will never have a story without a female villain - and the actress playing Maham's role is doing a sterling job.

I am now beginning to believe Jyoti's theory (although I so wanted the paigam to be read and Maham to be caught). I also wanted Shivani-Tejwant to return and expose Maham. All this expectation from me, of course, was a hope built on the "tukkas" of the telephone answering guy at Zee (who misled many on this Forum and continues to do so).

But it looks like the Ruq-jealousy track, the Sharif-Adham-Mali plotting track and the Bharmal-Sujamal track has been started instead. Till there is some sort of quasi-closure of these three tracks I have dim hopes of the dhakka-paigam issue and the Shivani-Tejwant issue happening. So maybe as Jyoti says Maham will continue to survive and thrive. My only hope is that if Maham continues to create mischief betweenn Ruq and Jodha, she will indirectly help Jodha win more audha and "khas" ground from an already descending Ruq!

What do you alll say about these three tracks and the possible delay of the dhakka-paigam and Shivani-Tejwant tracks? Do you all agree with my surmises, or disagree with me, or have a different theory altogether. Would love to know your views!