Friends, first of all a big sorry from my side for not being able to reply any posts on my thread yesterday. We had a mother of a power cut, the laptop ran out of juice very early in the day, and I couldn't do anything much from my mobile which was also running out of battery. But I did read all the posts after the power came back late last evening, and my thanks to all who wrote their takes in the thread.
Coming to yesterday's (Friday's) episode of the serial, it again did not amount to very much progress in the story as many of us expected. It was not a bad episode but it wasn't above average either.
The highlight of it was three things:
a. There was this opening scene of the two paintings in Jalal's room.
Jalal had requisitioned that the painting of Jodha, which he had kept so far in Jodha's room, should now be brought back to his room (so that he could continue to be able to look at her and talk to her picture when he was alone).
He stood at the window of his room smiling both shyly and yet somehow more boldly than ever before. He had the need now for something that would overtly allow him to feel Jodha's presence all the time in his room - and the painting was just that something he could hang on to in periods of aloneness. "There's so much I want to say to you in private Jodha Begum, to talk of my love for you, that I cannot yet say openly and directly to you", he thought to himself. Now that he and Jodha had ironed out all the things that stood between them he could now let him indulge in fantasies of a more physical relationship with her than before, and that thought seemed to be making him look both shy and naughty.
Jodha walked into his room with the aarti thali to offer Jalal ... and Jalal, instead of taking the aarti, was more mesmerised by her hair and her face and started running a finger down her cheek to brush off an errant hair. She brought him back to reality saying "Shahenshah, aarti ..." when he took the offered aarti.
Then when she gave him prasad, he ate a bit of it, fed her a little bit, smiled at her shyly, and then ate up the rest of his share again. (I think he just couldn't keep his hands to himself!) All the while the two of them were looking at each other a bit embarrassed, because they were just getting to grips with the fact that "touching and caressing was now allowed" in their relationship!
Hardly had this coochey-coo been completed when the bandhi brought in Jodha's portrait and Jodha realised to her utter delight and surprise that Jalal had specifically asked for it to be brought to his room so that he could feel her presence around him even when she was not there. She was very, very touched, but words would not escape her mouth easily. She kept looking alternately at Jalal and the painting and seeing his love for her in his eyes, even though he was wearing a bit of a bashful smile. Jalal and Jodha were thus in the throes of a tender private wordless moment when Ruq barged in.
Ruq had arrived in Jalal's hojra with her own painting as a gift for Jalal, not knowing that he had asked for Jodha's painting to be also brought there. We were all wondering, two days ago, what painting she had commissioned from the lady artist ... and it turned out to be a rather formal painting of her and Jalal in a typical old-fashioned style "couples studio portrait" ... where the man was standing in a formal pose to the right of the woman siitting in a chair, again in a very formal pose.
(My grandparents used to have a picture taken like that, where both my grandpa and grandma looked like they had stones in their mouths and were not allowed to smile! The furniture on which they leaned or sat was heavy and obviously a studio prop, and the flowers in the vases were as artificial as could be had! Ruq's portrait was on the same lines.)
As paintings go, the portrait of Jodha was far better in quality and style than the portrait of Ruq with Jalal (which looked scrappily finished). Plus, Jodha's portrait seemed to emanate her qualities of being that "fearless and head-held-high Rajvanshi royal", which I felt made her look even better than she looked in real life. It was indeed a painting Jalal could talk to, for it did look like a real person was standing there who would listen to what they were being told. In contrast, the formal "couples studio portrait" of Ruq was more of a "status-y" piece, intended more to show others that here was this audha-bearing King and Queen that everyone should be impressed by.
Jodha immediately offered to leave the room to allow Jalal and Ruq to discuss this painting and its ideal position, but Jalal held her back saying "Don't go yet!". Ruq then made a bit of hoo-ha about where the painting should be kept in the room, when Jalal allowed her to choose the spot. In typical idiot style she chose the spot above Jalal's bedhead which she declared would catch the eye of anyone coming into the room! Did she not think that if Jalal himself wanted to stare at the painting he would have to do an inverted yoga pose to see what was above and behind his own head?
Jalal then asked Jodha where she would like her painting to be. She left it to him to decide. And he then put it right in front of his bed (on the front wall at the foot side of his bed) so that he could easily look at the painting and talk to it as if Jodha were standing in front of him.
No prizes for guessing which painting Jalal would find it easier to see and enjoy when he was alone in the room. But the brainless Ruq didn't get that. She remarked "Oh my painting is at Jalal's head while Jodha's painting is at his feet. How appropriate!"
(Doesn't this remind everyone of the Mahabharat when Arjuna stood at the sleeping Krishna's feet while Duryodhana stood at Krishna's head when both of them wanted to request Krishna's support for the Kurukshetra war? Krishna woke up and naturally spotted the man at his feet first and after dealing with his request then looked up at the man standing awkwardly positioned above and behind his head!)
b. Jodha got to know all about Maham's demotion in her absence.
Jodha was sitting in the garden feeding birds when Javeeda ran up to her and gushed as she usually does, saying how thrilled she was to meet her. And then the voluble Javeeda let loose her tongue and started asking Jodha if she were still angry with herself (ie. Javeeda). Jodha was perplexed as to what she was talking about. Javeeda then volunteered more juicy bits of information. She said, "I thought you would be very angry with us, especially my mother-in-law after all that has happened in your absence". Jodha said "No I am not angry about anything ... why should I be?" But before she had completed her answer, Javeeda had almost run away from the place in a fit of extreme happiness, leaving Jodha completely puzzled.
Moti Bai who was standing nearby, however, was wearing a really sombre look on her face through all this talk with Javeeda, so Jodha asked her what all this was about. Moti then came out with the whole story to Jodha.
She told her how Maham had deliberately given Jalal to understand that Jodha was having a clandestine affair with a "gair mard" when she fully knew that the "gair mard" was none other than her own brother Sujamal. She had also fully known that it was the same Sujamal who had disguised himself as Dilawar Khan and entered the harem, and Maham had deliberately hidden all this knowledge from Jalal. But as most culprits do, Maham had left some vital clues uncovered, and so later got caught in her saazish by Jalal. And Jalal had therefore stripped her of all roles and responsibilities in the Sultanate and she just retained an empty title now. She also had lost all rights to call Jalal her "son".
Jodha was astonished to hear all this. "My God, Jalal must be distraught to have found out all this about his beloved Badi Ammi and to even have to punish her" she thought to herself.
Jodha was not ready yet to broach the subject with Jalal directly, for she felt she needed to know more. She sought out Salima for more information.
Salima was sitiing in the garden, also feeding birds, when a troubled-looking Jodha went and sat beside her. "What is it? You look distressed?" asked Salima, "Are you and the Shahenshah at loggerheads again?" "Oh, no all is well on that front" Jodha said, "but I heard things are not okay between the Shahenshah and Mahamanga?"
"Oh yes, that is a sordid tale,' admitted Salima, "The Shahenshah thought of her as his own mother and gave her every seniority and privilege of more than a mother, and yet she cheated him. I feel very sorry for the Shahenshah. Especially because the person he trusted most betrayed him also the most. How would a son even imagine this the person he considered his mother would strangulate his own happiness?"
"But what was Maham's reason for doing all this?" asked a perplexed Jodha. "Why did she hide the truth about Sujamal from Jalal and turn Jalal against me? What could have been her reasons?"
"You are the reason Jodha Begum" said the wise Salima, "When you arrived first at the harem, Maham thought you would just be one of the many ordinary begums here. But the way you then started pointing out and trying to correct all the unfair and wrong rules in the Sultanate, Maham started feeling that in Jalal's eyes you were rising higher than the position Maham herself occupied. When you then saved Jalal's life by drinking that poison and laying your own life on the line, then Maham started feeling insecurity that you were getting close to the Shahenshah. And as the Shahenshah started growing closer to you, Maham felt as if he was going further away from her. All this Maham could not bear ... so when the opportunity arose, she made you and your brother Sujamal her "mohras" and started filling Jalal's ears with poison tales about you. I guess she wanted the Shahenshah to remove you from his life so that she could be the one closest to him. And she succeeded too, didn't she? But as they say, every crime leaves behind its own clues. That's exactly what happened to her too. When Jalal came to know the truth about her, he just decided to cut his relationship with her."
"But wasn't all this very hard on the Shahenshah too?" asked Jodha, feeling a great deal for him. "For sure, Jodha Begum", Salima continued. "You know he never shows his feelings in front of anybody and he pretends he has no "dil" when he is hurting badly. But I could sense that when he punished Maham he felt as if he was punishing himself. I suppose he still has a corner of love for her and that's why he gave her such a small punishment. Had it been anyone else in her place, he would have beheaded that person, for sure. He has kept her audha intact but removed from her the right to call him her son!"
"Anyway don't think about all this now. With the passage of time and your return, the Shahenshah has put all this behind him, and he is now really very happy. I would just request you not to discuss this Maham issue with him or it may again open his wounds." Jodha nodded in agreement with Salima's request.
Just then little Rahim ran up to his mother saying "Where were you Mummy? I was so searching for you! You never saw me from the morning and you didn't search for me either?" Salima hugged Rahim with all the love a mother could give."Forgive me Rahim" she said. "Please never leave me alone" Rahim said, "for I feel scared without you." "No Rahim, I promise you I will never leave you alone." Salima said with deep feeling and hugged him even closer.
Jodha saw this exchange as a stark counterpoint to the estrangement of Jalal from his own Badi Ammi. "You are right Salima Begum" she thought to herself "a child can never be happy away from his mother!". She then took leave of Rahim with a kiss and walked away from Salima with a cordial goodbye.
But Jodha knew exactly where she wanted to go next and what she wanted to do. She saw Maham walking towards her on the terrace and accosted her midway. "Have you no shame?" she asked Maham directly and ruthlessly. "Have you no shame in all that you have done?" "I have no need to give you any account of what I have done" said Maham through clenched teeth and with all her mighty arrogance intact.
"I know you thought of me as a "shatru" and you hated me" said Jodha, "but did you not think of him even once? Didn't he give you even more respect, love and position than he gave to his own mother? Just what sort of a mother are you? You've reduced the value of the milk you fed him. Till today I have heard of sons who went astray, but never of a mother that went astray."
Maham had heard enough. Her face was screwed up tightly as every word of Jodha's hammered a nail into her brain. She turned around viciously and shouted back at Jodha "Mind your position, Jodha Begum. I am still the Wazir-e-Aliyah of the Sultanate and for me you are nothing more than a mere Rajvanshi."
Jodha couldn't believe her ears. Maham was still as viperish as she always was and the run-in with Jodha seemed not to have dented her hatred of Jodha even one bit. If anything she was even more openly anti-Jodha than ever before. Both women stared at each other with utter disdain!
c. The precap was again another lollipop.
Jalal and Jodha are seen standing on either side of a latticed screen at a dargah when both are engaged at tying a dhaga together (and looking at each other through the fretwork of the screen). There issome mischief in Jalal's eyes and a quizzical look in Jodha's . After they tie the dhaga, they both close their eyes and hold their hands up in prayer.
My comments on the episode:
I suspect from now onwards we are going to get at least one - if not two - lollipop scenes per episode. The story of the two paintings was the lollipop scene for the Friday episode and the dargah scene is the lollipop slated for Monday. Meanwhile Ru q is going to be seen interrupting every such lollipop scene with her presence so that both Jodha and Jalal - and all of us - really start cursing her for being this relentless "kabab mein haddi". That seems to be the trend of the upcoming episodes to look out for.
Yesterday, Aanchal also seems to have called up Zee and got it out of that man that Ruq will fake a pregnancy, and this time it will bring about her exposure in front of Jalal, who will punish her. Apparently the Zee man also told Ela that this frequent showing of Ruq was a sure sign that she was about to plot her own downfall in Jalal's eyes, and scenes of her now are just to be able to show how she poorly executes her plans to trap Jalal and falls into the pit of her own making. The Zee man has also clarified that it will be Maham who exposes Ruq's plan to Jalal.
So my predictions of the last few days stand. I think parallelly this Maham's surang hiding of Shehnaaz's husband and baby will get exposed and Jalal will further punish Maham ... but when she is thus falling from grace, Maham will jeer at Jalal saying "You are punishing me? What about your own Khas little Begum that has been making a bewakoof of you with a fake pregnancy?" and thus both Maham and Ruq may go down the same trash-chute together!
a. The "paintings in the bedroom" lollipop scene that was given to us was to show two things. One, to show Jalal and Jodha growing closer and bolder with each other and being more open with their love of each other; and two, to show the brains (or lack of them) in Ruq who had brought in the silliest painting and put it in the silliest place in the room.
I am getting used to the idea that the Creatives are now going to show every day some close loving scenes of Jodha and Jalal and interrupt this with an ugly entry by Ruq - so no point in continuing to crib about that. The overall plan seems to be to juxtapose Ruq's idiocy and flop-shows against the growing boldness in love of Jodha and Jalal.
So as long as we know what to expect and do not expect more than that, we will be okay. If we do what we all did yesterday - that is, complain about Ruq spoiling Jodha-Jalal lovey-dovey scenes - we will all be barking up a useless alley because it is clearly the Creatives plan to make Ruq interrupt the love of Jodha and Jalal till the day Ruq gets exposed for the pregnancy fraud.
So folks, what choice do we have? Let's wait for Ruq to be exposed and till then let's be prepared for Ruq spoiling every single love scene between Jodha and Jalal. God only knows, when exactly Ruq will get exposed, so till then let's keep our stomachs lined with iron!
b. The Salima idea of asking Jodha not to discuss this Maham saazish exposure and punishment with Jalal was a good idea. I liked the way Jodha directly accosted Maham without going to Jalal and talking this matter through with him first. Because if she had done that, Jalal would have surely asked Jodha not to talk to Maham about it.
Two things were good about this scene. I loved the way they showed Rahim snuggling up to his mother as a counterpoint to the separation of Jalal from his Badi Ammi. That was a nice touch.I also liked the interchange between Jodha and Maham, simply because both women did not spare each other.
Jodha was more direct than she has ever been before when she started by saying "Don't you have any shame?" and Maham was as direct as she has ever been by saying "I am still the Wazir-e-Aliyah and you are just a "nothing Rajvanshi".
Both women then looked at each other as if they were looking at distasteful bandicoots! I liked this scene because it showed the growing boldness of Jodha and her confidence now in confronting Maham, but at the same time, it also showed the depth of Maham's hatred and arrogance. If the heroine is too weak or the villain falls too easily there would no fun in such scenes.
Anyway, that is all I can think of commenting on for this post as there was nothing more to this episode. Now I am thinking: should coconuts be broken for Ganpati to hasten Ruq's exposure on the fake pregnancy issue?
What can I do folks, I am so anxious to see the end of Ruq FAST so my mind is not going to anything else but the coconut breaking idea! If anyone else has a better plan, please tell me, for my salary is getting blown on coconuts to save the serial!
Meanwhile I have found a site where one can break "virtual coconuts" for Ganpati.
http://www.eprarthana.com/virtual/vganesh.asp
Try it. Just click on the coconut there and it will go and break itself.
I am thinking whether Bappa will accept virtual coconuts out of pity for all of us watching this serial with a lot of daily difficulty! At the rate at which the serial is serving up scenes and tracks that disgust us, breaking real coconuts will burn a hole in our pockets. So I hope Bappa will allow virtual coconuts since he knows that this serial is being scripted by a Creative team that seems to be full of coconut-heads!
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