Friends, I am back ... my back is back ...and I am ready to start writing again without any lingering aches and pains. I feel good now! Thanks to all those who gave me good wishes. Over the weekend I was such a good girl, taking full rest that I am now chirpy and happy!
Achha, let's get to the Monday episode. It was an OK episode. It cannot be classified as a filler but neither was it one of the most memorable episodes. If I have to find a common linking thread in the whole episode, between the various scenes, I found the dialogues to be full of sankets, warnings, and suggestions of future possibilities based on how the characters were either sharing happiness with each other or prophesying doom on each other. There were also a couple of reverse sankets - where characters were saying the opposite of what they really intended to do going forward.
When I analysed the episode, I found as many as six sets of sankets in all that were issued by the various characters to be very important to the future story. Here's my list of what I thought of as sanket-ful dialogues:
Good Sanket No. 1: Jalal dreams of a baby in the cot ... and its Jodha's and his baby!
It was the second scene of the episode, when Jalal was asleep in his bed (why is Jodha not sleeping with him?) Anyway, Jalal then seemed to have a very disturbed sleep, as he dreamt again of him rocking the empty cradle and Jodha saying it was an apshagun. But then suddenly the dream turned positive. Jodha was seen in the dream smiling prettily at Jalal and both her hands were rocking the cradle and there was a baby in it! Jodha in the dream was seen telling Jalal it was their baby!
Jalal woke up with a smile as the first rays of the morning sun fell on his face. It was an early morning dream! He almost ran to meet Jodha and share his dream with her. Jodha was in her hojra doing her early morning aarti for Kanha when Jalal rushed in. "Oh, you're up so early?" she said and first made him take aarti before he said anything else. When that was done and both had dutifully prayed before Kanha, Jalal then couldn't keep his dream to himself.
"Jodha begum, I dreamt this early morning in my sleep that the cradle is no longer empty and there's a baby in it, and two hands were rocking the cradle, and they were your hands!" he cried in happiness." Jodha was thrilled to bits to hear this "Oh my God, an early morning dream always comes true, " she said, "my Dadisa used to say this. That means you and Ruqaiya Begum are going to be so happy!" Jodha in her graciousness still thought that Jalal wanted that baby with Ruq, that Ruq had so cheated him about!
"No, Jodha Begum, it was not Ruqaiya's baby in my dream, you were the mother of the baby" he corrected her with some mixture of amusement and happiness. Jodha was stunned as she let this sink in. And then Jalal continued "You are going to be my Marium Uz Zamani!". The delight and surprise that spread over Jodha's face was beautiful to watch. She said the words "Marium Uz Zamani" to herself in her mind, savouring the feel of the elevation, and the kindness of Jalal in talking about a title for her.
We then saw an intercut to the Akbar Ka Makabra scene, where Jodha's soul says to Jalal "That was the first time you referred to me as your Marium Uz Zamani!". That makabra scene as usual was heart-warming and poignant!
This whole scene seemed to give me twin sankets ... of the baby of Jalal and Jodha soon to arrive, and the title of MUZ soon to be given to Jodha. So all in all it was a good pair of sankets!
Mixed Sanket No. 2: Jalal then looks at the sikkas he gave Jodha near Kanha ... and an idea strikes!
The second of the sankets I saw was that after talking about the cradle baby dream to Jodha, as Jalal was shaping to leave Jodha's room, he turned back for a last prayer to Kanha. There at Kanha's feet Jodha had kept the sikkas that Jalal had given her as a gift. On one side was the etching of Radha-Krishna, and on the other side was the Muslim kalma etched into the metal. Jalal looked at it again as he took that sikka in his hand and he seemed to get a pleasing idea then and there. "Don't forget to come today to the DEK", he told Jodha as he put the coin back and folded his hands before Kanha and left the room.
At the DEK, Jalal gave action to his newly born idea. He ordered Atga to make sure that thousands of such two-sided sikkas be made and distributed among the public! It would be, he said, an indication to the praja and everybody that there may be many different religions, but God is One ... and the two sides of the same coin are Islam and Hinduism!
The maulvis at the DEK took the coin in the their hands and didn't quite like the Radha Krishna etching on one side but as they agreed between themselves, who could go and tell Jalal that ... he wouldn't ever listen! Sharif and Adham too saw this coin as the ascent of the Amer clan in the court of Jalal and seemed not to like what they saw. But Jodha was thrilled as she turned the coin from side to side. Jalal saw her delight with it and that was all that seemed to matter to him. He had wanted to show her that he valued her religion equally with his own as two sides of the same coin. In distributing this coin to the praja he was signalling the advent of an era of equality between Hinduism and Islam in his Sultanate hereafter.
Later Jodha and Jalal were talking about his grand gesture. "I loved what you did" said Jodha. Jalal replied wisely "Yes there were many who didn't, I know that". Jalal's sanket that the sikka was a turning point in the Sultanate's religious policy was clear, but it was also clear to Jalal that there were ominous murmurings at the DEK from those who disliked this whole "religious equality concept".
In the precap of the episode we see a large model of the sikka standing in the midst of the people (I presume it may have put in position at many places of the kingdom) where the coin could be flipped to turn side as it was fixed on a rotating hinge. With each rotation of the coin people could see both the Hinduism and Islamic sides of the sikka - and no doubt it was an educational campaign for the public to understand the significance of the idea. Jalal was praising Jodha for the idea (I am not sure if he praised her for the sikka idea itself or for the idea of thus promoting the idea). I thought the sikka was one sanket that had a good side and an ominous side. On the one hand it was a sign of a "turning point" in the Sultanate's orientation towards religious harmony. On the other hand it was also dividing the "idea likers" from the "idea dislikers". Jalal was treading on tenuous ground here!
Mixed Sanket No. 3: Shehnaaz gets and gives warnings of who owns the takht and the khanjahar!
In the opening scene of the episode, we started with where we left off in the precious episode. Shehnaaz was seeing herself grabbing a knife from Jalal and stabbing him twice in the stomach till he collapses and spits up blood. But in reality it all just turned out to be Shehnaaz's imagination. No doubt, Jalal saw her eyeing his knife, because he told her "My knife is my inheritance from my father and it cannot be given to anyone. So why don't you go and find Jodha and be with her instead of loitering around the palace terraces?"
Shehnaaz didn't like the sound of that proprietorial way in which Jalal claimed the knife from his father as his inheritance and particularly she took it as a sanket that he was unprepared to share with anyone the things his father had given to him by right as his successor.
In a later scene, Shehnaaz was seen in the dead of the night in the DEK, running her hands all over Jalal's famous takht - his throne. Shehnaaz's hands savoured every inch of the power the takht embodied, and since no one was watching, she sat herself on the throne and started giving out pompous self-dialogues of high sounding praise for herself as the Queen of the Sultanate. I saw this whole dialogue as an answer to Jalal's sanketful dialogue about his father's knife. Here Shehnaaz seemed to be giving Jalal a sanket that soon she would be not just after the knife, but his throne itself - and what was more, she too did not intend to share their father's gifts with Jalal either. She too wanted all or nothing! She swore to herself that she would eliminate Jalal from any share of this takht!
The two scenes put together seemed like ominous warnings that brother and sister gave one another. Both said in so many words that what came to them from their father, they were unwilling to share with each other! In Jalal's case, I recall he had earlier told Jodha, "If I find Chand Begum's daughter, I want to give her the due share in our inheritance." But this knife-dialogue of Jalal's seemed to go counter to that sentiment at least in Shehnaaz's ears. She was always trying to read signs and signals, and the knife dialogue must have sounded to her like Jalal was of no mind to share anything. Her own idea that she would usurp "her share of the inheritance" also thus changed ... and by the time she savoured the takht, she too was reciprocating what she thought were Jalal's sentiments. She was also now not prepared to share. It was all hers if she could but remove Jalal from the race!
Reverse sanket No. 4: Maham seems ready to betray Ruq ... although she says the opposite!
A very interesting continuity on the Ruq pregnancy faking seems to be occurring in this story, and I am so glad for that, because I did not want Ruq to run scot free after Jalal forgave her. I did not want that forgiveness to be the logical end of the Ruq faking track and we got clear sankets yesterday that the Ruq faking incident had not yet seen its conclusion!
Firstly, when Jodha and Jalal were talking about the sikka idea promoted during the DEK, Jodha brought up the subject of Ruq. She said "Pity Ruq did not make herself present at the DEK!". Jalal said "I think she is still ashamed of showing her face before us in public after her disgraceful act of faking pregnancy. If it wasn't for you, Jodha Begum, I couldn't have forgiven her. Thanks again, for making me bite down my temper and save the relationship from deterioration!" I got the sanket from this dialogue of Jalal's that he had not yet really forgiven Ruq. His mind still rankled and this faking of pregnancy had cut a deep scar on his heart. But for Jodha's sake he had forced himself to do the decent thing and forgive Ruq if only for the sake of maintaining an old relationship. Yet the soul of the old relationship seems to have gone and only the shell of the relationship seems to be in a state of maintenance at least from Jalal's side!
In a later scene, Resham comes and tells Maham the gossip in the harem. "It is believed" she says "that Ruq faked pregnancy, but Jalal caught her out and forgave her only because Jodha advised him to do that!" Maham did a double-take! By jove, how hard Jalal has punished her with disdain and stripping of her powers - and how lightly he had let off this Ruq on such a big count such as faking pregnancy! How was that fair? But then Maham also told herself in a contrarian voice "Yet it's better to be punished than to be forgiven by the sympathy of Jodha Begum!"
Having talked all this to herself, however, Maham couldn't resist going to Ruq for footnotes! As she went to Ruq's room, a completely un-remorseful Ruq faced her, as arrogant as ever and said "Well, you came here to find out what happened, did you? Jalal actually found out all himself and caught me out at my faking game! But then because I was his Khas Begum, he also forgave me! That's what happens when a long-standing valuable relationship is at stake. Jalal had to honour my Khas-ness and my relationship with him!" Ruq was crowing about it all a bit too much and she actually thought being found out in the faking and then being forgiven was a sign that Jalal showed his vulnerability to the old relationship with her!
Maham however acted as surprised as she could be with all this and then turned the tables on Ruq. "I'll have you know Ruqaiaya Begum" she said, "Jalal did not forgive you for your Khas-ness but because Jodha Begum advised him to forgive you. She has now turned the whole thing against you smartly by getting closer to Jalal and by acting big-hearted and asking for your pardon! Shame on you to be at the receiving end of her sympathy! But anyway, I who know every grisly detail of your pregnancy faking saga, you can be sure I will not tell this to anybody. Your dirtiest secrets are safe with me!"
I have never heard more ominous words from anybody so far ... for when Maham said to Ruq that it was disgraceful to be pardoned because of Jodha, it was a sanket in itself that Ruq was on thin ice with Jalal and not really forgiven whole-heartedly by Jalal. But the words that Maham said about never letting out Ruq's full set of secrets on this pregnancy faking saga was a sure sign that the time was imminent for Maham to totaally betray Ruq. It was a warning that Maham knew a lot and had the power to sink Ruq deeper than she already was! I thought this Maham-Ruq confrontation was all about the deterioration of the Maham-Ruq combine. One thief was telling another that betrayal was not far off. Unfortunately Ruq did not hear Maham properly because her ire was directed against Jodha now. Maham gave Ruq a a "reverse sanket" which then Ruq replicated with Jodha!
Reverse sanket No. 5: Ruq spews venom at Jodha ... and swears to repay her "ehsaan"!
Jodha was in her room when suddenly she got a visit from Ruq. Without wasting too many words on pleasantries Ruq got straight to the point. "Who do you think you are Jodha Begum" she said, "you are a two-faced liar. You knew right from the start that I was faking pregnancy but you went along with it, pretending to believe my lie and even furthering my lie with your so-called care of me. And all the while you were double-crossing me. You then go and advice Jalal to take pity on me and pardon me, just to ingratiate yourself as a magnanimous soul with Jalal? I don't need your pity or your sympathy! Keep it to yourself. And as for the so-called kindness and favour you have done to me by asking Jalal to forgive me, you can be sure I will repay you in kind as soon as possible!"
That was a warning indeed. But Jodha was silly enough to imagine that Ruq actually was speaking of doing a good turn herself. Everyone on the forum that I spoke to yesterday on message chats seemed to feel that Ruq may be signalling that she would participate in Jodha's pregnancy miscarriage if she could, because there was so much talk of Jodha having a baby now and becoming Marium Uz Zamani and Ruq saying she would return the favour could only mean she may do something to make Jodha miscarry!
Here folks, I have a small doubt whether to take Ruq's sanket too seriously. For one thing, whatever Ruq plans I feel she herself is on slippery ground with Maham waiting to destroy her. Perhaps, on the other hand, Maham will plan on a long chain of events. She may encourage Ruq to destroy Jodha's pregnancy and then also expose Ruq's faking so that she gets even with Jalal by destroying the peace of both his wives.
I am not sure how all this will play out, but between Ruq and Maham, I see Maham with more real power in the situation while I see Ruq as less of a villain and having more bluff and bluster than the real ability to hurt Jodha with a miscarriage. Let's see how these two reverse sankets pan out - Maham's reverse-sanket to keep Ruq's "secret" versus Ruq's reverse sanket to "return Jodha's ehsaan"!
Good sanket No. 6: Rahim signals it is time for Jalal and Jodha to give him a little Krishna!
In the garden, Jodha was telling Rahim the beautiful story of the birth of Krishna and talking about the love that his father and for his mother. Rahim was savouring all the little details of the whole story, when he spotted Jalal lurking nearby listening to it all. "Yes indeed" cried Rahim, "Krishna's parents loved each other like the Shahenshah loves you, right? He asked again and again as Jodha tried to divert the story away from this track. But Jalal was all grins and mocking. He came up to Jodha and Rahim and told Jodha to answer Rahim's questions. If that wasn't putting Jodha already in a tight spot, Rahim then changed tack slightly and came at Jodha from another angle. "And when are you going to give me a little Krishna to play with? " he asked impatiently. By now Jodha was blushing and Jalal was grinning from ear to ear.
This whole dialogue was a sweet end to the episode, but again I couldn't help see this scene also as a sanket. The first "dream-cradle-baby" talk between Jodha and Jalal, and now Rahim's directly asking Jodha when she would give birth to her own baby was all giving signals of an impending Jodha pregnancy.
I think enough sankets were going on in Jalal's mind at least that he should now stop sleeping alone on his own bed and dreaming of babies, instead he should be sharing the bed with Jodha and being more productive!
This scene was entirely a good sanket scene, so I have no cribs about ending an episode on this note. Let's see if there are some changes in sleeping habits between Jodha and Jalal now, because I don't want to have that typical serial-wala sanket that the baby was created out of that one single SR many many nights ago! However romantic that sounds, there's no satisfaction in seeing an SR and then seeing the two leads sleeping apart and dreaming away and then coming together only to share dreams and a sudden baby! I think Rahim should act as a pressure point and not let go till the two - Jodha andJjalal - are forced to keep him quiet by giving him what he wants!
My comments on this episode:
The big question on my mind now is "timing and interlinkages". Since we saw a scene so full of sankets - good, bad, mixed and reverse - the question of when all this will happen and how soon is what I am preoccupied about.I am also wondering if at some point all these multifarious sankets will cross paths with each other.
In order for things to unravel from here, there have to be two big happeneings: Chand Begum's presence in the surang needs to come to the attention of Jodha and Jalal and with the saving of Chand Begum, Maham needs to get caught and then betray Ruq. On the other side, Jodha needs to be shown as pregnant, so that Ruq may try (but not entirely succeed) to destroy her pregnancy and get caught possibly for the "double-act" of faking her own pregnancy while trying to destroy Jodha's pregnancy, so that Jalal will really really cut ties with her.
The Chand Begum-Shehnaaz track seems to be running parallel to the Ruq-Jodha-pregnancy track, although both tracks need not necessarily be connected.Meanwhile we have had the promo of the entry of Mahchuchak, and we have also had the IF Tellybuzz article that Jodha will have a very interesting swordfight with Shehnaaz! Neither of these spoilers suggests an end to the Ruq-Jodha pregnancy track or the Chand-Begum-discovery track in this present week, so I am wondering if this whole week will again go with similar "buffet spread" episodes like the Monday episode that give progress to the parallel tracks but do not quite bring anything to completion and closure.
You know folks, I am getting a little weary of this "mixed fare" kind of episodes and wish I could get some one track fully closed before another starts. This idea of running the story with multiple open tracks all the time and with nothing coming to full conclusion is somehow taxing my mind a lot. We are all left wondering why we are being shown so many tracks at the same time if the tracks will not merge at some point. If you analyse the parallel tracks though, logic defies this track mixing idea ... how can the Shehnaaz-Chand track have any bearing on the Ruq-Jodha pregnancy track?
If we are to have a forced track-mixing scenario, the only links I can think of is that Ruq may try to make Jodha miscarry but Maham will get caught meanwhile and thus betray Ruq ... and again meanwhile Jodha may fight Shehnaaz and Shehnaaz may then turn positive after seeing Jalal intends sharing his inheritance, and Shehnaaz may thus help Jodha against Ruq's attempt at creating a miscarriage? Isn't all this getting too complicated?
And where do Mahchuchak's plans come in the middle of all this? If a promo has already come on her entry then this week we should see that track also starting without any of the previous tracks ending properly ... which will leave us wondering if Mahchuchak is going to somehow tandem with Shehnaaz and prevent her from turning positive. I can't for the life of me make out if Mahchuchak will be shown as a separate inimical force now on a separate track, or she will use on of the existing villains to do her dirty work for her.
At the moment, I seem to be just drifting with the episodes and trying to hold all the many strands in my grasp. There are just too many things happening all at once that is making the storyline look haphazard, and in the process of the Creatives also trying to keep a grip on many things, they are creating too many huge bloopers.
I think we should all call Zee and give them the feedback that there are too many loops for audience comfort, and we prefer to see a story where the storyline is less complicated, clearer and full of more memorable scenes than to see something that looks terribly disjointed all the time, with scenes that are so small and storywise apart and filled with huge blunders. None of the dialogues seem memorable and none of the scenes linger with us as things we can savour. Everything is happening all at once and in bits and pieces of progress, and there seems no common linking thread through all of this. Meanwhile the romance between Jodha and Jalal is also following this pattern of being in bits and pieces and not making a cogent romantic story we can enjoy.
I think we need to tell Zee that we can get the broad idea that they want the romance to play in the context of the political hotbed in the background, but if both the romance and the politics are thrown into disarray because of this way of writing the episodes as a medley of many small things, we neither enjoy the romance nor the politics. And we are all forever texting each other saying "Is this linked to that" or "Is this person of this track going to affect that person of that track" and so on. Maybe we audiences are desperately trying to find interlinkages that don't form part of the Creatives' plan at all!
I am in confusion what to make of the story now. I don't know if I should see it as four or five parallel tracks or expect a grand interweave of tracks. And I don't care about the gazillion tracks if I get my romance intact - which I am not getting at all! I am a bit perplexed - and miffed! I am going to try and give Zee an earful today if I can!
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
