Friends, the much dreaded fake pregnancy issue has started. Exactly as I had predicted in the last two days, the jashn was interrupted by the lady Hakim giving Jalal the news of Ruq's pregnancy. As could be expected, Jalal just dropped the whole wedding anniversary jashn like a hot brick and ran to Ruq's side and we got a repeat of exactly the same gushing behaviour from Jalal as he did the last time Ruq said she was pregnant.
It was horrible to watch. Especially because Jodha followed Jalal and came and stood at Ruq's room door and understood exactly why her husband had forgotten all thought of their wedding anniversary and had left the jashn like a bat out of hell! Jodha cried because her day, her life and her heart's happiness were feeling ruined. What could I do? I also cried a bit along with her, especially when I couldn't take watching Jalal effusively kissing Ruq on the forehead and the hands ... what can I say, I understand his position too and see that he is yearning for a child, but to forget everything else and act like a man completely taken in by a wife's sudden and suspicious news of pregnancy was too much to bear!
Agreed, we all know it's a fake pregnancy, which Jalal doesn't know. Maybe he was acting as he would naturally and normally under these circumstances, but I could not bear to see it all. My heart was somehow entwined with Jodha's last evening and I could feel her intense pain more than I could feel Jalal's overwhelming happiness.
Most of all I felt like throwing something heavy on Ruq, coolly lying there and lying through her teeth! She had achieved her goal - if her goal was just to separate Jalal and Jodha on the evening of their special day together. She had wiped out all thought of the day from Jalal's mind and made herself the centrepiece of his attention. She was all smiling - and as she herself had said, she had left Jodha in tears. What more did this girll want before she felt utterly satisfied with her life?
I thought this whole weekend would go in my "shok-manaoing" but this morning Maddy, my dear sweet friend, had left a PM for me that changed my mood. She has sent me a Pinkvilla article that said this:
"Zee TV's popular show Jodha Akbar is on a happy track these days. Jodha and Akbar are coming closer and we see many sweet romantic scenes between them. The much awaited consummation scene of Jodha and AKbar was delayed due to some reasons but now finally audiences will see this happening on 26 May episode.
Well, it won't happen so smoothly as when Jodha and Akbar will come together in their palatial room, King Akbar will get a news of Rukaiya begum's pregnancy and he will leave Jodha alone in the room to see Rukaiya. Akbar will be very happy and will forget that this night is for Jodha. Poor Jodha begum, she will feel little disheartened.
When Akbar returns from Rukaiya's room, he will ask Jodha to forgive him as it was his responsibility to meet Rukaiya at this time. Jodha who has been waiting since long to spend some quality time with Akbar will argue with Akbar and finally both will make love. Also, as far as current track is concerned, it looks like soon Jodha will get pregnant with her first child. Also, there is a twist with Rukaiya's pregnancy which we will reveal later. "
So I am now feeling a little better after reading this (normally I wouldn't believe Pinkvilla, but since their first spoiler has come absolutely right, I have no reason to doubt this second spoiler). Again my prediction that the SR will happen on Monday has been confirmed. So this time I seem to have hit bull's eye with two predictions ... I hope the rest of what I wrote about Shehnaaz's background also comes true. Let's see ...
For those who want a recap of what all happened in the episode I'm doing a very short one here for lack of time today ...
At the DEK, Hamida kissed both Jodha and Jalal and brought out the two crowns and put them on their heads. (Jalal's crown was not too bad but Jodha's was awful - it looked like a boat!). The happy couple also heard that a whole load of gifts had also arrived from Amer from Raja Bharmal and Mainavati.
Hamida then insisted that a Rajvanshi rasam be included in the ceremony and so they all adjourned to another spot where a big tub of milk had been decorated with rose petals. Jodha and Jalal had to put their hands in and find a gemstone (am I right here?) put in there. Jalal made full use of the opportunity to catch Jodha's hand under the milk for nearly three-quarters of the time and then when she finally wriggled out of his clutch she managed to find the gem. Hamida declared the game over but gave them the blessing of children soon! Thus the air was already expectant of this topic of "babies".
Soon there were dancers dancing away at the centre of the room, and all the spectating public were enjoying these, when Jalal mischievously told Jodha to sit closer to him as he had something to say. Jodha moved silently closer, as Jalal did the same till they were close enough to exchange secrets. Then the precap scene of the previous episode happened. Jalal told Jodha that this night they had to start discussing babies. It was a very delicate matter and could not be postponed. Jodha looked mock-angry as she asked "Oh, is this what you made me sit closer to you for?" She tried to move away from him again but her dupatta caught in his clothes and he made full use of this to say "See even your dupatta wants us both to do some shararat!". Again this topic of babies was uppermost in Jalal and Jodha's mind.
While all this was happening at the jashn, three other things were happening unknown to the family in celebration.
One, Shehnaaz was having a free run of the palace, and the first thing she did was to run to Gulbadan Begum's room to look through her papres and the Humayun Nama again. She found nothing of what she wanted - but before she could begin to look elsewhere Moti Bai appeared on the scene and pulled Shehnaaz away to look at the jashn from a vantage position on the terrace. Shehnaaz's opportunity to turn the palace upside down in her search went to nought!
At a tent outside in the open space, somewhere beyond the palace, Maham was supervising the visit of the Gwalior Hakim who was no doubt dressing all the wounds of the captive who had been tortured in the surang by Maham. Maham spoke to herself saying "At any cost this person has to be kept alive till I get the info I need." (The Gwalior Hakim's presence to me sounded good, and I''ll give the reason for it in this post a little later!)
The third person in the palace who was up to no good was Ruqaiaya. She summoned a young lady Hakim and muttered something to her in mute. (Not hard to guess that she was telling the Hakim to give everyone a fake-pregnancy diagnosis for Ruq!). Soon this Hakim was seen summoning Atga at the jashn and telling him that she had urgent news for Jalal. Jalal just upped and left Jodha at the jashn and ran to hear the Hakim's story. There, again in mute the Hakim gave the "story" to jalal, and before we knew it, Jalal made an Usain Bolt style dash to Ruq's bedside, effusively kissing her and gushing over the fact that he was going to be a father. His enthusiasm was OTT as was to be expected - but this Ruq was there, cool as cucumber taking it all in and gloating over the fact that this husband of hers was so easy to distract from his "deep love" Jodha's side!
Jodha herself came right up to Ruq's door to see what the commotion was about. But she was just in time to see Jalal at his "gushingest-best" kissing Ruq endlessly and telling her "I will go nowhere, I will take care of you myself, my dear ... etc etc." (Yech, blech!).
Tears ran down Jodha's cheeks - for not only was her day ruined but it looked like her heart was torn out too, to see her Jalal thus so preoccupied with Ruq and not so much as even thinking of her and the way he had abandoned their wedding anniversary to get to Ruq's side and stay there. To poor Jodha it must have felt like the end of the world, for in the face of the idea of becoming a father, Jalal seemed to even forget that he was in love! What can I say, I don't know whether to chastise Jalal for his overflowing sentimentality and his complete bewakoofi in falling for Ruq's ruse ... or whether to commiserate with Jodha as she broke down in gut-wrenching sobs!
Anyway, the Harem soon spread the news and Hamida and Salima also got the news from JijiAnga, and went into raptures. To these ladies it looked very "paak" that this good news has come on the day of Jalal's wedding anniversary thus making it look like "sone pe suhaga".
However there was one small thing that happened in Hamida's room where good sense prevailed. At the idea of having a jashn for this pregnancy news, Hamida said "No this time, let's all keep it low profile and not make a tamasha like the last time". And then Hamida asked the elderly lady Hakim who had come to her room "Last time you yourself told me that Ruq will never be able to have babies, so how has this happened?" The elderly Hakim looked skyward and threw up her hands and said "That is the greatness of God". That answer seemed to satisfy Hamida at least for the time being!
In the precap, Jalal is seen giving his haar to Shehnaaz, no doubt in celebration of the news that he is to be a father. But as soon as he goes out of the frame, Shehnaaz wears a look of such evil on her face that the transformation from ingnue to fiend is complete. She tears the haar apart viciously and says "Jalal, it's your haar that I want, not this one!"
Achha, let me come back to the Gwalior Hakim as I promised. Remember the Zee man had told Ela and others that Maham would expose the fake pregnancy of Ruq? I have a feeling that when Maham hears of this sudden Ruq pregnancy her devious mind will immediately suspect Ruq since she may wonder how exactly on the day of Jalal-Jodha's wedding anniversary Ruq got this pregnancy confirmed. So Maham may bring the Gwalior Hakim over and say "He was passing by and I thought he could look at Ruq" ... and the Gwalior Hakim may declare this whole pregnancy as a complete false alarm. What say, folks?
My comments on this episode:
Here are my "green thoughts" (as Mandy called them yesterday!).
I am thoroughly disgusted with Ruq. It was not just a pathetic thing to pretend a pregnancy but it was totally graceless to ruin Jodha-Jalal's wedding anniversary with this ploy. What does Ruq gain from all this in the end? How long can she keep up a fake pregnancy? A few months? After that will she be satisfied that she has pulled Jalal away for a couple of months from Jodha and then declare that the news was wrong and there was no pregnancy? As usual Ruq's plans are not well thought out and are in fact so poorly executed that she may soon fall into the same hole she has dug for Jodha!
It is fortuitous that Maham has called the Gwalior Hakim (the greatest Hakim of them all) to dress the wounds of the surang-victim. I have a sure feeling this is going to come in handy for Maham to now expose Ruq's fake pregnancy. But the question arises "Why would Maham want to expose Ruq? After all her enemy too is Jodha isn't it? So why would Maham try to make Jodha's life easier by bringing Jalal back to her and away from Ruq?" My answer to that is that neither Ruq nor Jodha may be on Maham's mind. She may actually be gunning for Jalal's blood. It may give Maham utter satisfaction to puncture Jalal's bubbling happiness at the news of fatherhood if Maham can expoose Ruq's pregnancy. Besides Maham may have done some quick arithmetic and found that for the most part of the last two months nearly, Jalal has not slept with Ruq, as he was gallivanting all over the Sultanate looking for Jodha and then he spent time at Amer and so on. Maham must be wanting to expose Ruq so that she can triumphantly show Jalal "See you are punishing me for separating you and Jodha ... but here your own pathetic little Khas Begum has made a total bewakoof out of you and you have fallen hook, line and sinker for the ruse she has embroiled you in." Maham may also go on to insist to Jalal "If my gunah was that I separated you and Jodha, then in what way is Ruq's gunah less?" Disgusted with Ruq, therefore, Jalal may stop all communication with her and start sidelining Ruq (as confirmed by the Zee man).
The latest spoiler from Pinkvilla does not exactly say how fast Jalal will uncover this truth abour Ruq's faking her pregnancy, but the earlier spoiler did say that Jalal will know almost immediately about Ruq's ruse and then run back to Jodha after shouting at Ruq. And then the suhaag rath sequence will happen. So I am hopeful that this pregnancy track will not run beyond Monday. If all the spoilers are to be put together, along with the Zee man's hints, then on Monday we may see this:
Maham gets the Gwalior Hakim to check out Ruq and declare her "unpregnant". Jalal may be taunted by Maham that he has been made a bewakoof by Ruq. Jalal will then shout at Ruq and and thus the downfall of Ruq may start. Hamida-Salima etc will also be mightily miffed with Ruq. Jodha by then would not know all this has happened and she may be crying in her own hojra. Jalal will suddenly remember that the wedding anniversary day is still young and he should go to Jodha whom he had abandoned very ungracefully. He will go to Jodha and tell her all about the fake pregnancy etc. but Jodha may be difficult to placate. The more Jodha puts up resistance, the more sexually tense the atmosphere between them may get. Finally there will be the consummation scene.
Yes, I expect all this to happen on Monday itself, because the IPL last week starts on Monday and in between matches there are days off. So the serials will start all plugging their high points especially on the match off days to get their audiences back in full swing just before the finals of the IPL. After the IPL finals, the serials will all start their new tracks. I am currently watching at least 6 serials and all of them are thus waiting to unleash their high points this week and start new tracks the week after IPL finals! I expect JA to do the same with this SR on Monday! Let's see if we get any weekend promos to confirm this!
Regrding Jodha, it seems like a good thing if she is crying her heart out now. Because I sense it is not just the sorrow of the special day of her life being ruined. I think she is very disappointed that Ruq has borne the waaris and Jalal is back with Ruq. This is first real sign of jealousy I am seeing In Jodha.
In fact, as I had written yesterday in one post, I would prefer that she does no maha-tyaag and leave Jalal with Ruq. I want her to put up a fight for Jalal and not just succumb to being second in his life. I think her tears are deeper than we suspect, and it's more about losing Jalal to Ruq than just about the jashn left midway!
I also wonder ... after Jodha knows that Ruq faked the pregnancy what will she do? Will she accost Ruq the way she accosted Maham? I think she should. When Jodha accosted Maham saying "Have you no shame?' I saw the first signs of Jodha taking on the full authority of her position as a Begum of Jalal. I now want her to be as stiff with Ruq for trying to sentimentally attack Jalal at his most vulnerable point: fatherhood.
I want Jodha to say to Ruq "Shame on you, that you had to stoop so low to hold your husband. And how long did you think you could pretend? How long would it have given you the happiness of holding Jalal to your apron strings before your colours started running with the wash? Was it worth hurting him just to have him? What kind of a wife are you? What kind of a friend are you?"
Of course, Jalal himself may say all this to Ruq, but it would give me deep satisfaction if Jodha also did. I want to see a different, authoritative and self-confident Jodha at the end of this "track". Let us not be content with just the "downfall of Ruq". Let's hope there's an "upsurge of Jodha" to match!
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