Friends, yesterday's episode threw me ... especially the words of Jodha after Jalal ignored her at Hoshiyaar's birthday jashn and preferred to sit with Ruqaiya! Jodha said "Oh, now I realise that the Shahenshah is really angry with me!" So it has taken all these days of up and down behaviour from Jalal to make Jodha understand that?
In a way I am surprised the Creatives made Jodha take so long to even come to this grand realisation. But in a way I am not surprised either. Jalal has been giving so many ambivalent cues to Jodha that what was she to think?
Just look at the episodes of the last one and a half weeks , including yesterday's episode, and you'll see how many instances there were of Jalal privately nursing his bitterness about Jodha and yet not opening his mouth and outright asking her. Jodha too felt his animosity - but though she tried once or twice asking him what was the reason, she got nowhere! He had this deep angst against her, yet he refused to question her or directly accost her about this "gair mard". He thought she would think he was accusing her, that he was suspicious. He didn't want that. So he preferred silent anger, which seemed to burst out in irrational ways. I think Jodha felt througout that something was amiss but not what.
THE MANY INSTANCES OF JALAL'S AMBIVALENCE:
Here's one example:
He came to her room at night (in the last episode), fully drunk ... after first insulting her by saying openly to all that he is going to sleep with Ruq. After he came her room, he said in drunken slurring words "Jodha Begum, you know I like you - but you did not do the right thing!" She said to him "Please finish the sentence you have started, you were saying something about my not doing a good thing at all?" Despite being given this opening, he still refused to say what's on his mind, and instead he silently seethed in anger. He is in two minds all the time ... he loves her, he doesn't want to suspect her, he wants her to tell the truth, yet he will only give innuendos and he won't openly ask her the truth.
He confided in Maham yesterday that he is getting eaten up with the fact that Jodha is not herself coming out with the truth that she is secretly meeting some "gair mard" and why she is not doing so ... and yet he still doesn't want to go and ask Jodha himself. Maham decided to use some reverse psychology. She said to Jalal, "I know you don't at all suspect Jodha of meeting some stranger without your knowledge, and I know she will soon tell you everything herself", but later Maham was rubbing her hands in glee that Jalal would believe the exact opposite. He would become very suspicious of Jodha, and he would not have the patience for her to come and tell all in her own good time. Maham knew that she had set Jalal on a negative spiral. True enough the events of the day yesterday did not see Jodha come to Jalal of her own to say anything to him and his alternatively melting love for her continued to be punctuated by boorish behaviour.
When Jodha went to ask Jalal for permission for holding Hoshiyaar's birthday, Jalal barked at her, his inner anger bursting out despite himself, and he said a point-blank "No". He was in fact rude and dismissive and said "If Ruq says No it's a No." But to Jodha's utter surprise later, he later tells everybody (except Jodha) that he has given permission for the birthday party! Jodha, then, with tears in her eyes tells Jalal, "You gave permission alright, but the way you talked to me yesterday when I came to ask for permission was not at all acceptable". Jalal on seeing her tears seemed to melt ... and an apology of sorts left his lips!
JODHA HAS ONLY SOLVED HALF THE PUZZLE SO FAR!
The only astute person in this whole situation seemed to be Hamida. When Jodha and Jalal met yesterday at Hamida's room, Hamida praised the act of giving Hoshiyaar a birthday party to the high skies. Hamida said to Jalal that his father and grandfather - his ancestors - would have been so pleased to know he has thus rewarded a khwaja sera - for khwaja seras had been such reliable wafaadaars for the Mughals for ages! When both Hamida and Jodha gave Jalal the credit for this generous gesture towards Hoshiyaar, Jalal did not seem to demur from taking the credit. But he was still morose throughout this meeting with his mother.
Later, after he had left, Hamida asked Jodha the reason why Jalal looked so depressed , and could it be something to do with Jodha? Jodha said she doesn't really know, and Hamida told her "Even if he doesn't say what's on his mind, why don't you try to find out?" Jodha then talked to herself in her mind and said "He keeps on talking about that dhakka night. Maybe that is what is troubling him?".
Look at the level of confusion in Jodha's mind if she thinks the dhakka issue is what his whole problem is!
All through last week, Jodha has kept repeating to Moti "There is some strange distance between us. It is as if the Shaehnshah doesn't want to acknowledge me or he is not being himself with me. Something is the problem, but what?" She sensed a "problem" but she had no idea what the problem may be, or even whether he had a problem with her. It was only yesterday, when he ignored her at the birthday party and went to sit with Ruq, that the penny finally dropped for Jodha that he is indeed angry with her.
Now even that has solved just half the problem. She knows he is angry with her ... but she still doesn't know why ...
... and that I suspect she will finally get to know only on Friday April 4th (according to the promo) when he finally tells her the reason he is so angry, and he says the words "gair mard" to her!
Aside from this continuing ambivalence of Jalal and the slow comprehension of Jodha of what his problem could be, there was not much to this episode we saw yesterday. Ruq was seen as usual guffawing that Jodha wanted to have a birthday party for Hoshiyaar, not realising that Hoshiyaar is soon going to switch to Jodha's side.
We had another bit of Javeeda wasting our time.
We had a lot of time wasted on Hoshiyaar's birthday dancing and gift-receiving ceremonies.
We had Sujamal at first refusing to come to the party and then eventually relenting (at Bakshi's insistence).
And we had Jalal agreeing to come to the party as well on Jodha's invitation!
Incidentally, the two scenes we had seen in the previous precap (of Maham meeting some strange sipahi in the night and then entering a surang ...and then Ruq and Jalal decrying the Hoshiyaar birthday party with Jalal saying "People need to be kept in their places" ) ... these two scenes never came in the episode yesterday.
BUT WE HAD TWO INTERESTING SCENES THAT I HOPE YOU ALL SAW:
One, when Bakshi seemed to need help in getting up and walking around, she seemed to totter, and suddenly Sujamal (aka Dilawar) came to her help in an almost romantic way. The closeness between Bakshi and Dilawar is getting very interesting. While her husband seems to be never at her side, this Dilawar seems to be developing a soft spot for Bakshi. "Will Dilawar be able to prevent Bakshi from creating mischief for Jodha?" is the million dollar question in my mind. Previously I was thinking that after seeing the painting of Jodha and the way Shariif was possessive over it, Bakshi was becoming a definite enemy of Jodha. But now that I see Dilawar getting to be closer to Bakshi, and seemingly doing more for her than his job specifically demands, I am wondering if Dilawar may be able to neutralise or brainwash Bakshi from becoming a Jodha-hater bent on harming Jodha?
Friends, I am a bit short for time today as its financial year-end at the office and lots of work load. But I want to end this post today with one question that's vexing me:
Can it happen that this week itself, before the Friday episode when Jodha is sent away by Jalal, this Sujamal takes the arrow for Jalal and thus reveals himself.
I am a now a bit confused what this spoiler means. How do you all think it will happen?
Will Sujamal be revealed by the arrow episode and yet Jodha will not tell Jalal that this was the man she was meeting? Will Maham set up the other secret surang-wale man as the "gair mard" and engineer a Jodha meeting with that man (via a paigam calling her out), while Jodha does not know that Sujamal has already revealed himself to Jalal? Will Maham thus get Jodha caught for meeting a different "gair mard" than Sujamal who has already revealed himself to Jalal?
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