Friends, after all these days of waiting for the climactic end to the horrendous Atifa track, how do you all feel about the big day of denouement we saw yesterday? Shall I tell you my frank feelings? I thought it was one the most pheeka climax scenes I have ever seen on Indian television, compared to all the hype and hoopla that was allowed to surround it for nearly a week.
The whole episode was so rushed, the dialogues were unintelligible, things seemed to happen in fits and starts, and people's faces and their expressions intersecting the scenes all seemed to be at odds with the goings-on in the plot. It was clearly a hasty cut-and-paste job of an episode, no doubt urgently produced and aired with a mixture of all kinds of previously shot and canned pieces of the story, just to end this ghastly track in haste and to assuage the irate public feelings that resulted in a TRP drop to 5!
The fact the the Creatives were up until the last minute re-drafting their sequences, and re-arranging what was to happen when the episode aired, was obvious. Even yesterday afternoon we saw SBS showing us the part where Maham declares she is behind the plot. In that SBS sequence Jalal was shown along with Atga in disguise as a sipahi. But suddenly when the episode aired, Jalal was dressed in disguise as a maulvi! Everything seems to have been put together at the last minute to somehow wrap up the track by Thursday ... and there's more ...
The precap suddenly showed that Jodha and Jalal were sitting on the same bed, where he was shedding tears about how much he wanted the culprit to be someone other than Maham, and she was mopping his tears. So it was further clear to us that a hasty retreat to a romantic track was being attempted whereby maybe we won't even get an adequate explanation from Jalal as to why he so insulted Jodha throughout, and we won't even get a question or a wee bit of petulance from Jodha that she was so hurt by him. All will be forgiven and forgotten like it all never happened and they may suddenly go from the nikaah-beheading and Maham unmasking to the bedroom scenes where they coochey-coo like the last three weeks never happened!
All I can say is this: see what a drop in TRPs does to the CVs. It lights a stick of dynamite under their bottoms - and hey presto, the track that disgusted audiences for weeks on end is tied down and completed in the space of 22 short minutes with some hastily assembled scene bits from the editing table, and the track is declared over by a single "back story speech" from the hero. And a precap is shown of the very next episode being a "romantic scene" so that the audience can eat their angry words and settle down to accepting the "epic romance" again!
OK, I won't say more on the negative assessment front, because I want to find at least three good positives from the episode, and unless I find something positive to say my atma will not be in shanti! So here are the three positives found with some difficulty:
One, it was great that they were able to show alternately the moves and countermoves of the pro-Jalal and anti-Jalal forces. There was a sort of match on between them as to who is now surrounding whom. That was interesting to watch. First when Atifa cuts the groom's throat, her men surround all the women in the hall. Then Amanullah Khan comes in with a posse of his men who surround the men in the hall like Mansingh and Todarmal. Then we have Maham doing her act at which point Jalal unmasks himself and shows Maham that he has caught her red-handed. He kills all the sipahis in the room, but Maham then tells him not to think too highly of himself for she has more men in the Palace at strategic places. Jalal then tells her he has his cannons ranged outside the Palace surrounding her extra men. Jalal then tells her "You are actually one man short" as he points to the bridegroom who turns out to be Maham's henchman! And then he crowns it all by saying he himself still has one additional man standing - and as Maham finds out that is Atga, who arrives with even more troops. So in the space of fifteen minutes we had both sides counting each other's men and some swift arithmetic going on. That was a nice touch!
Two, I thought they played Jodha into the scene quite nicely. For starters she was not wearing much jewelry which added to her beauty, and secondly, she was given a last minute eagerness to go to the wedding hall (despite being barred from it by Jalal) just to wish him for his nikaah and then to go back to Amer. She tried to enter the hall, but sipahis warned her off, but then when she insisted, the sipahis insisted on accompanying her. By the time Jodha got entry to the hall, the news that Jalal had been beheaded must have reached her ears for she came into the hall in a lather only to be held back by the swords of the enemy. After that I expected some major histrionics from Jodha, but thankfully the Creatives and the Director did not show us this hysterical side of Jodha. She stayed put, albeit with an aghast and nonplussed expression, as she watched the goings-on. When Maham did her speech at Atifa, Jodha's eyebrows touched her hairline but she still didn't say a word. She listened with incredulity. But when Maham came to the point where she said "I wanted to save Jalal from this liability of Jodha Begum, and I intended for him to be dethroned but not killed, and why the hell did you kill him Atifa?" ... that's when Jodha made her first move with a screech saying "I will kill those who killed him!" But then Amanullah checkmated her ... till Jalal appeared as the maulvi and began shedding the pieces of his careful disguise, saying "Don't you dare touch Jodha Begum!" ... and that's when the first smile spread across Jodha's face. After that she was all rapt attention as Jalal told all of his sizzling tehkeekaat! Thank God the Creatives did not make Jodha, Hamida, Salima and Ruq scream like banshees, and thank God they showed a Jodha with expressions and restraint! It would have been too much if the women had all collectively gone bonkers along with the swinging switches of power in that hall between the pro and anti-Jalal forces!
Three, I have to say a good word for Jalal who made that hero's entry in his maulvi disguise. It was a real catcall moment ... when he suddenly appeared from out of the crowd, and began undressing (ulp, removing his beard and balloon hat and extra paraphernalia, I mean!) as he took over the floor. The next seven minutes all belonged to Jalal as he berated Maham, told everyone the back story of his investigations and his ploys to foil the saazish, and Maham gaped at him open-mouthed while the women of the family suddenly turned all glad and proud of him! I thought Jalal's dialogue was a bit too fast and jerky but then if I managed to get his Urdu even at that speed I reckoned most people would have got it too! It's always nice to see these paisa-wasool moments when the hero turns up trumps and trounces the enemy with his superior mind, and especially for all of us who wanted in the end to see the "teda-Jalal", he was yesterday shown as teda through and through. He was so teda, in fact, that he needed no one else on his side but Atga to decipher the whole plot and to orchestrate its downfall. And even that Atga I suspect was a last minute addition to his Team of One! I liked the fact that we guys were in on the likely back story almost correctly. We too suspected that Jalal would have asked "How the hell did this chick Atifa get into the Shahi Hamam when only Badshahs and Begums could immerse themselves there?" ... and from there he zeroed in on the Kabul refugees not looking like they were Kabul-returned at all, and he also took Atifa alone for shikar in order to convert himself into the master shikari with her as prey! It was all in good filmy order to see that the hero had single-handedly worked all this out without any external help, so to speak, and then the same hero also showed his tender side in the precap shedding a few tears for the culprit who had meant a lot to him in his childhood. I now see it coming ... he will say to Jodha "How alone I am in this world of the treacherous souls around me!" whereupon she will say "You need no one but me and our two waarises who almost boarded the train to Amer!" The great part is that the episode has only partially revealed the whole extent of Jalal's tehkeekaat, and so we have another full episode today to look forward to the three things we most want: we want that he should be even more of a hero by saying exactly how he uncovered the saazish and the players, we want him to say to Jodha that he never meant all that he said to her insultingly as part of his drama-acting, and we want him to spend the rest of the month in her bed, doing whatever he thinks a man should do when in his wife's bed.
I hope for my own peace of mind, and sense of proper closure, today's episode is a little more easy-paced and well edited, and the expressions of Hamida, Salima, Ruq, Jodha etc. match the words that Jalal is going to say. I hope we see overall that Jalal did swing a masterstroke, and I am really eager to see what punishment exactly awaits Maham - and whether the infamous Zee man's theory that Maham will also bring down Ruq happens in some form or other? I am also waiting to see the lollipop love scenes between Jalal and Jodha which now seem like a distant memory!
For those who want a slightly more detailed look at what all happened yesterday, here it is:
Continuing from the last episode Jodha is standing sadly at her window as Jalal stares at her concernedly from within her room. Atifa then comes unexpectedly and says she is too excited to sleep so she wants to sing for Jalal. He agrees and goes with her.
In the morning Atga tells Jalal once more not to go ahead with this nikaah ... but Jalal rudely dismisses him from there and Ruq hears all this.
Jodha prays to Kanha that He should protect Jalal and give her share of punya to him.
Then all assemble at the marriage hall. Jalal enters and sits on stage as Atifa sits behind the purdah. Jalal asks if anyone there has guts to oppose his marriage - and the Maulvis present there gather courage to say they will not perform this nikaah. Jalal's men then bring another new Maulvi at swordpoint. Hamida objects to such treatment of respected Maulvis but Jalal just sneers at her.
Salima sitting in the marriage hall prays that this marriage should not happen.
In her room Jodha sadly removes all her jewellery and thinks back to the day she arrived at Agra - with ghrina. Now she feels so bad to leave.
Meanwhile, the nikaah ceremony starts and the groom wears the sera. Both bride and groom say "qubool hai" thrice when asked by the Maulvi, and are then declared man and wife. The bridegroom then walks to stand next to bride.
Jodha meanwhile wants to go to wedding hall to wish Jalal before leaving for Amer but Jalal's sipahis prevent her. When she insists, a few sipahis agree only if they can go with her. She agrees. She thinks this is all part of Jalal's plan to insult and sideline her.
In the wedding hall as people shout "Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar Zindabad" Atifa takes out a knife and with a quick slash cuts the throat of the groom and he falls to the ground lifeless. All are aghast thinking Jalal is dead ... as Atifa laughs like a hyena and says her "maksad" is achieved. Her own face is splattered from the bllod of the corpse.
Jodha meanwhile runs in after hearing Jalal is dead - but enemy sipahis holds swords to bar her. Jodha, however, is unable to believe Jalal is dead. Atifa then declares that she is not even married to Jalal as she is not Atifa, she is Sakina!
Amanullah meanwhile comes in and with his extra sipahis surrounds all people in the hall and says first women will be taken as prisoners. Jodha says she won't leave Jalal ... but Mansingh tells her to be safe and sensible rather than so blunt.
Suddenly then Maham goes to Sakina and shouts "Why did you kill Jalal when I only told you to dethrone him. " People are aghast at this new turn of events as Maham condemns herself before all by her own mouth! Maham then goes and sits near the groom's body. She says to the dead body "I only wanted you dethroned as you were unfit to be king - as you had fallen for this worthless Jodha Begum. I decide everything that happens here and I decided that Jodha has become a liability for you. Besides I wanted revenge as you took everything from me ... my position, my name, my past record. So I brought Atifa here to entice you, take you away from Jodha, and bring you down - but not to kill you".
Jodha hearing all this shouts "You don't deserve to live" and tries to reach the body but Amanullah prevents her. Then suddenly a Maulvi comes forward from the crowd dramatically ... he removes all his disguise and it is Jalal! He gives dhamkis to Amanullah not to dare touch Jodha ... and Jodha becomes thrilled to see Jalal. Jalal then fights and kills all Atifa men single-handedly. Maham sees the carnage that Jalal has created and also sees that her game is up. She tells Jalal, "You may have finished off these men, but I have more men. Jalal tells Maham "Look again, you now have one man short" as he points to the dead body of the groom and Maham sees its her henchman.
Jalal then says "I have cannons all around the Palace and I too have one man short in this room." As Maham looks around she sees Atga arriving with lots of troops. Completely checkmated Maham sits in a daze as Jalal then tells everyone the back story of how he foiled this huge saazish of Maham.
It seems he suspected a big culprit and a big saazish when he saw that Atifa had been given access to the Shahi Hamam, where only he and his Begums were allowed. He figured out that someone was trying to entice him to fall for Atifa and he decided to play along to find out what was the saazish and who was behind it. He found out that the refugees who came to him for help were not from Kabul at all, and yet he let them stay at Palace under his eye. And then to study Atifa's behaviour from close quarters, he arranged the shikar trip in her company.
The episode ends at this point with the rest of the back story to follow in the next episode.
In precap Jalal is in Jodha's bed, with her sitting next to him - and he says "I so didn't want the culprit to be Maham" Jodha senses his sorrow and wipes his tears.
Looking at the larger picture of the tracks to anticipate after this Atifa track, I think there will be some four or five main ones now? We can probably expect the Adham-Atga death tracks, and the Chand Begum discovery track more immediately. The birth and death of the twins may come on a little later. In between we could have the assemblage of the Navaratnas at the court perhaps?
What all do you think is due to be shown to us between now and the threatened leap in October? I hope it is all interesting and not rushed through just to resurrect the TRPs with the leap.
I hope we have some real worthwhile romance between Jodha and Jalal. I am tired of this anger-separation-misunderstanding type of storyline. I hope the Creatives can go beyond that as a reward to us for having stomached 300 episodes. C'mon guys, give us a break.
And please keep your Zee man better informed about your plans so that he can tell at least partially correct stuff to callers! This Atifa track has exposed not just Atifa and Amanullah but also the Zee man!
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