Friends, sorry for the weekend when I vanished from sight. My Net was down on Saturday and Sunday, and then work piled up on Monday as a result of that.
Accha, now coming to the episode of yesterday ... as many of you already know, I am an eternal optimist. I watch serials for the positive thrills in them, try to keep my chin up in the face of desperate storylines and scripts and acting, and try to not to look only at the negatives and then whine and vitiate the whole serial-watching experience making it unpleasant for everybody. If there is a glimmer of hope to be had, even by talking to my infamous "Zee man" I would latch onto it and look for brighter days. That's what I've decided to do during this current track ... I am hoping for the best outcome eventually and have decided not go through the motions of watching every day kicking and screaming!
Yesterday, however, I must admit, that the Creatives did their best to push me onto the side of negative cry-babies, and I feel as if I have done a Herculean climb away from pessimism to optimism despite the best efforts of the Creatives! From start to finish, the episode had the quality of a low-grade Hindi movie full of melodrama than a serial befitting a historically huge personage and his life and times.
There are two ways to analyse what happened yesterday ...
Analysing the storyline and characterisation and judging if justice has been done to the characters and the history behind the story we are being shown:
This is the area where I see the maximum angst. There is a lot of opinion that what is being shown is not at all true of a historical character such as the great Akbar, that he never ever got himself caught by any of his enemies, that he was never weak and would never have exposed himself so carelessly and guilelessly to his enemies, and that the enemies may never ever had had a chance to tie him up and beat him etc. etc. I know I myself, and many others, called the Channel to ask if this storyline is in any way keeping with history and preserving the calibre of man that Jalal was? And if not, why not?
Those of us who asked the Channel for footnotes have been given to understand that eventually the objective of the Creatives is to show that Jalal was in no way hoodwinked by his captors, that he was always in control of what was happening to him, and that he will be eventually revealed as having out-thought his enemies and strategized more smartly than any of them, and so he will be the man of the season. But before that for the heightening of the drama and the suspense, there will be ups and downs shown during the war, ostensibly to have us all chewing our fingernails and sitting at the edge of our seats.
We audiences have two choices here again. One, to watch with equanimity and wait in hope that the character of Jalal will be shown as the one standing finally through clever strategy while the others fall ... or two, to keep whining that this Jalal is not the Jalal we want to see and go through each day with chagrin and clenched teeth.
Unfortunately, the Creatives have decided that the script will go this melodramatic way, even if it is all not strictly according to history, and it's of little or no use ranting to the Creatives because they know what gets them TRPs and what doesn't. They will therefore do what they will do. They will apparently hide Jalal's smartness from not only his enemies, but also from all of us, till by some sudden twists and surprises, we eventually we see how smartly he has outmaneouvred his enemies and was all along fully aware of every step he was taking.
The TRP-driven script also envisages a heroic role for Jodha ...whereby when Jalal seems to be in a tight spot (if indeed he is in a tight spot, or it's all of his own making!) she gets an opportunity to display her valour and fighting skills to keep the enemy at bay.
Further, the Creatives, it seems, intend to create every kind of complication in this plot ... there is also to be a kidnap by a gorilla-like body-builder, a henchman of Mahchuchak, and all this is to happen while Jodha continues to be in a "delicate condition" ... and so the war track, as it were, will be going through many more ups and downs before it comes to a close. To expect a fast end to this track would be foolhardy. The Creatives, it appears would like to squeeze every ounce of juice from this track, and it's hard to tell when they will throw their hands up and say "Enough, we have done the maximum to shove the TRP up a notch! Bas ho gaya!"
Whether we like it or not, this is the story we are being given and this is the way the episodes this week are going to proceed ... and there's more next week also I presume with this gorilla-man kidnap drama? There is going to be an array of events that put "suspense and question marks" on what is happening to Jalal's character, and Jodha is going to be shown heroically as holding her own end of things and/or even "saving Jalal" (and it will all look like he is in a terrible fix and he needs her help to get out of it) ... but in the end we will all see that he never was in the soup, he was the one playing all the trumps - and her saving of herself, the harem and him was gallant and scintillating, but he didn't really need it for he was in control all the time!
The question I ask myself is: Knowing this is what is going to be dished out at me for the next two weeks or so, shall I take it in my stride and continue watching through this track with my usual alacrity, or shall I moan, groan, grumble and whimper on a daily basis?
Folks, I've seen worse before, because I've been seeing serials for a decade almost ... and I am not about to throw my life, my peace of mind, or my principles of decency and dignity in behaviour, and my forum etiquette on the line for a TV serial. So I am deliberately going to choose to take what is dished out at me in my stride, and instead of complaining and crying I am going to enjoy it all with a huge laugh, and give myself the joy of two weeks' worth of over-the-top comedy.
I see no point in continuing to watch and continuing to crib. If we don't like what's happening, no one is forcing us to watch, are they?
Analysing the execution of the storyline and judging whether what is being shown is at least of quality and credibility:
The part of the serial where I'd like to analyse what is happening for quality is the execution part. Granted the storyline is not going to be exactly what we audiences may ask for and get, but at least, even if "extreme naatakiya roopanthar" is shown, is it of reasonable watching quality? Are the shots well directed, is it credible-looking, are the production values at least good? I know of several movies I have lived through where the story was all crap and yet the camera skills and the direction was so good that after one and a half hours I have myself wondered how I would have sat through it, if not for the sheer artistry displayed in the making of the production.
On the production values front, I think last week many of us agreed that there was considerable improvement in the serial on the direction, the shots and the editing, the dialogues and the sequencing of shots and the overall lighting, camerawork and acting. We were in fact, many of us, especially Donjas, keeping a strict eye on the quality and when Donjas says there's improvement, you can bet there was.
I am just wondering if even the execution aspects of the episode we saw yesterday were poor or was it just the script and storyline that was overwhelming the production values? If I look at what happened in the episode there are just three sentences I can write the whole synopsis in:
Sentence 1: The enemies captured and tortured Jalal and yet he would not give in.
Sentence 2: The enemies said they would now "loot the izzat" of Jalal's harem.
Sentence 3: The haremites were told of Jalal's capture and some were ready to drink poison if Jalal died, while Jodha was unready to believe Jalal would die.
Bas, khatam.
The same three points were shown cyclically. First the capture-torture, then the harem looting dhamkis, then the haremites in a quandary ... then back again to capture-torture, the harem looting dhamkis and the haremites in a quandary ... and so on and so on, round and round, the same three sequences, for a whole 22 minutes. There wasn't even some lighter relief from this monotony of OTT scenes ... and talking of OTT, the scenes had everything ... beating, blood, gore, hero muffling his groans, hero hissing and spitting, guffawing villains and banshee-like harem women, and some heroine-giri from Jodha.
It looked like there was an attempt to elongate the misery of Jalal to heighten the drama, and so there was absolutely no thought, it seems, given to beefing up the episode with anything other than these three repetitive sequences. Todarmal whom we had all learned to love as a person was yesterday in and out of one sequence, looking inept and in no way showcasing his calibre of mind and method. The haremites had expressions that did not match the theatrical moments they were in, notably Hamida, whose face looked blank and not gobsmacked to hear of her son's capture. Something sure was missing from the scenes that were supposed to be full of histrionics. The situations and the people in them seemed mismatched. And all this was noticeable even to my tolerant eye. Maybe Donjas and Diksha would have more to comment on the poor quality for they notice everything!
I particularly want to point out something that the Creatives remembered to add that the track would be incomplete without. In typical filmi style, the villains gave 30-hours time to the hero in which he could plan his escape. I don't know why, but it seems the formula for most "dramatic villains" to test their own strengths by giving a "long rope" to the heroes, which the heroes then clasp at thankfully. In this case I am sure, even if Jalal had not earlier planned his moves, 30 hours is long enough to do some smart thinking ... because, remember, at the same time the villains also get pushed to see what else they can do to him by way of torture to spend the remaining hours. So it all becomes a mental exercise of who has more ideas in 30 hours. Thanks Creatives for upfront declaring how many hours Jalal and Jodha have in order to flummox the villains. Now we audiences have to calculate how many episodes it will take to cover 30 hours of villain-time!
I also want to add a special word for the quality of the background music that accompanied the shots of Jalal's capture and torture. Oh la la la ... what did we have here? I have not seen any Hindi movies in a long time with scenes of goons bashing themselves in a godown or cellar somewhere with accompanying background music that hits a crescendo for every bash. Yesterday I was reminded of those movies exactly - where goons says to each other "Number 10" and "Yes Boss". At one moment when Abul Mali had the rod in hand and was looking at Jalal, I almost thought he would say "Kitney aadmi the" to the tune of "Crash-Dish-Bang-Splat". What for God's sake was that background score, and what was that background score again when the haremites were seen looking speechless on hearing of Jalal's capture? Donjas, take this one away!
At the end of the episode there's one message I want to give the Creatives:
To give us an unbelievable storyline without the least quality control was a double whammy that we don't deserve.
And I am one of your mild audiences who takes a lot cheerfully at most times and is happy taking the positive outlook rather than the negative one. If you have pushed even one like me to the edge of negativity, from where I have had to claw myself back, you have a lot of improvement to address!
I just wish now that you'd give us a new promo that hints at a date when the war track and its plethora of incredible catastrophes will end. It would help me to know for how long I have to keep my artificial smile pasted on my face!
OK that said, for those who did not see the episode out of fear for what they may see, I'm here giving you the lowdown on what you may not like to hear...
The episode opened with Jalal trying to strain himself to get out of the clutches of the many sipahis of Abul Mali and Nigar who were holding him back tightly - as Mali and Nigar continued to abuse and insult and taunt him. Nigar said some melodramatic things at Jalal like "You took Mali's eye and my haq and now you shall repent for all that." Nigar also held a knife at Jalal's throat when he tried to explain that she was barking up a wrong tree, and that he knew nothing of her mother's existence till the paigam was put in Jodha's doli in the city market, and he knew nothing of Nigar's existence either or he would have shared his father's inheritance with her. Nigar scoffed at this and Mali stated the obvious "You will be tortured."
Then suddenly in the middle of this cordial conversation Mali got a bit overwhelmed by emotion and drew his sword to its full length to pierce Jalal's body saying "I will kill you right here and now". But then Nigar held out a restraining arm and said "Remember the paigam of Mahchuchak to us? She said we must give Jalal a 30-hour slow-torture treatment, and then dismember him, remember?" Mali remembered for he - and we - were shown the flashback of MC describing this 30-hour treatment. And so it happened that Mali went on the spree of giving a series of hard strikes against the suspended body of Jalal, whereupon Jalal groaned and hissed whenever he could and occasionally spat ketchup (err, blood) through his mouth, to complete the impression of gore.
Finding bodily hits not working well enough to make Jalal crumble, Mali then started hitting his legs hard saying "Go down on your knees and beg for mercy", but Jalal refused to do his bidding and stood as straight as he could to show the stuff he was made of. (He has steel-reinforced legs which Mali does not know!)
Finding even the knee-bending not happening, Mali then shouted at Jalal "I will parade your harem women in the city, stripped of their fine clothes, and my soldiers will have a ball "looting their izzat" and leaving them all a laughing stock", at which Jalal clenched his teeth especially at the mention of Jodha's name.
While all this was happening, at the harem khema, the ladies were all sitting around in a circle of elegance waiting for word of the war. They were interrupted by Todarmal wringing his hands and humming and hawing - till he came out with it. Jalal had been captured and was no doubt being tortured. One sipahi who had been part of his accompanying forces (I thought he had none?) had somehow managed to escape the enemy and had brought Todarmal this news, and now Todarmal did not know what to do etc. etc.
Hamida in a tremulous voice said "As Marium Makkani I say that you have to now work for the release of Jalal. Take as many men with you as you need but you have to save Jalal." Todarmal, seeing the heavy liability on his hands with these harem women being in the battle area ventured to suggest that the haremites return to the Agra Palace, but the women all said in one voice that they would wait for Jalal, but would not countenance leaving without him!
A little later Todarmal then re-emerged at the harem khema with some soldiers, having decided on a strategy for Jalal's release from his captors. He told the haremites that he would take a few soldiers with him and leave the rest for the protection of the haremites, but they again said in one voice that he needed soldiers more than they did, so he was to take all the soldiers that could be had. Then there was a bit of haggling and bargaining and a deal was reached by which "a few" soldiers would be left behind with the haremites while the bulk of manpower would go with Todarmal.
Soon after this, Ruq was seen distributing bottles of poison one by one to all the haremites to the strains of a whiny melody. "Let us all drink this if Jalal should die" said Ruq pragmatically. The last bottle of poison was reserved for Jodha but as Ruq gave it to her, Jodha threw it to the ground rather aping the style with which Ruq usually throws things to the ground. "I will not have vish and die. In my bones I know Jalal is alive and he will remain so", Jodha said emphatically, and the episode ended with a split screen ... there was a shot of her face showing steely determination while Jalal was on the other side showing steely courage in the face of even more torture.
The precap was that scene from the promo which showed Abul Mali throwing Jalal's blood-soaked armour and shamsheer at the haremites and saying Jalal was dead. But, as is to be expected, Jodha was not the one to believe this fiction as her "inner self" seemed to be giving her the opposite news.
This then is the brief gist of what happened, but I am sorry I am unable to give you the background music that so enriched the episode. If you had heard that you would have enjoyed my short write up even more!
A last word about all those who valiantly tried to spread hope and cheer over the weekend:
Doubtless as you all know I have been personally fortifying my hopes by speaking to the "Zee man", and I tried sharing that on my posts to keep spirits in the forum happy. I am happy to add that many others were also trying hard to keep up the hopes of their fellow audiences over the weekend.
One forum member had commented that she saw someone looking very much like Maan Singh among the sipahis of Mali holding Jalal in the torture chamber, which led immediately to a lot of hopeful expectations that Jalal the Clever was at work already. Alas, in yesterday's episode this was proved to not be the case! So that attempt to raise the spirits of fellow forum members went for a toss along with all the caveats that were issued with this news ... but never mind!
Another forum member had us all grinning by doing a spoof of the Zee man giving predictions of a "chain fainting spree" upon the news of Jodha's pregnancy coming to everyone's knowledge. That kept us going for about half a day.
Some of us again called the Zee man for reconfirmation of what he had told us previously and when he said "Trust me, I was telling the truth, Jalal is working to a plan", we shared the news amongst our selves and subsided into our hopeful selves, for what other choice did we have.
To all those who provided "Zee man" news, sudden discoveries of Maan Singh, and frolic about the fainting fits ... thanks, folks, for the efforts to keep the forum in hope.
Since it is so easy to berate, lament, get ascerbic, get cynical, spread negativity and hopelessness, or even to mock those who try to spread cheer, those who did their bit to keep all of us light-hearted and chipper deserve special mention! They have my applause!👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Kumkum Bhagya
Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Shiv Shakti
