Friends, yesterday's episode was all about Jalal for me. I suddenly found a sharp change in Jalal. He lost his forbearance, his tolerance, his quietness and his reactiveness. Instead he was being pro-active, determined, intolerant, aggressive - and also calculative, I thought.
What a relief this episode was because we had all been for long wishing he would open his mouth and berate Ruq for her obnoxious behaviour with Jodha and even the elders of the family like Dadisa, and yet till now Jalal was seemingly putting up with a lot of nonsense from Ruq and not saying much, other than feeling very quietly sorrowful and upset over Jodha's state of grief.
But when he did push himself to act and talk yesterday, oh boy, did he do it in style! I loved the way he told Jodha "Whatever you may say in Ruq's defence, come what may, I have decided to bring the baby back to you!" ... and then I loved the way he just entered Ruq's room and without any preamble he asked her outright if she had not even the slightest degree of shame or etiquette in the way she behaved with Dadisa and Jodha, not even letting them touch the child that was much more theirs than hers!
I liked the derision with which he talked to Ruq for she deserved no better. I thought he was spectacular in the relentless volley of confrontational attacks he made on Ruq's behaviour, and most of all I loved the way she couldn't even turn to look at him and had her tight face turned away and down as he spoke his biting words at her.
Jalal left her no room to reply as he spat out that after all the baby was Jodha's (an incontrovertible, if inconvenient, fact!) even if Ruq had the care of him, and to deny Jodha even a small amount of time with her own child was meanness and indecency of an order that made him utterly ashamed! And even when Ruq eventually rattled back her defence by attacking Jodha for killing Hasan by neglect - even then she could not look at him as she spoke, for fear of finding his "tarafdaari" of Jodha too raw and indigestible!
The worst of Ruq came out in this encounter because she hit back hard at Jalal for his defence of Jodha by saying Jodha was the one who by her utter incompetence and negligence caused the death of Hasan and could not be trusted to care for Husein. So ugly was Ruq's face as she said that one sentence that if Jalal had not shaped up to give her a ringing slap, I surely would have.
But just as Jalal raised his hand in fierce anger to hear Jodha being disparaged thus, Ruq went into a bout of apparent choking and blustering as if she couldn't breathe, and suddenly Jalal had to get temporarily side-tracked in calling a hakima to attend to her. Thank God he didn't fawn over Ruq as I thought he might - and thank God his anger on Ruq was still intact even after the choking incident. Because when the hakima declared the whole to be nothing more than cold and fever and said Ruq had to be quarantined away from the baby for a week, Jalal was rather too swift in just picking up the baby and taking it back to Jodha happily!
This was the second time in the episode he was running to give the baby Husein to Jodha. Already when he first entered Ruq's room to find her bathing, he unknowlingly thwarted Zeenat from a poison attempt on Husein and carried Husein hastily away to Jodha. It looked like yesterday Jalal was a man on a mission to give Jodha as much time as possible with Husein, and by the end of the episode he had determined to give Husein to Jodha forever.
It is in this context of a Jalal unwilling to tolerate any more of Ruq's behaviour, and one ferociously enraged by Ruq casting aspersions on Jodha as the murderess of Hasan, and as a Jalal determined to restore Husein to Jodha, that we have to judge what else Jalal is doing cleverly to entrap the real killers of Husein.
I have a strong feeling after yesterday's episode that Jalal has now taken over this whole "child-death and Ruq-adoption" issue and has now hatched his own plot to catch the child-murderer (whoever that is) red-handed, and also render Ruq toothless when he takes the baby away from her and restores it to Jodha ... and I wonder if in all this Jalal has co-opted Jodha, Salima, Moti and Zakira as well. Why do I say this? Wait till you read the analysis and prediction below ...
Yesterday after seeing the precap and having my usual late-night chat with Diksha, I found that Diksha and I had almost identical interpretations on what was now happening - and especially on Jalal's possible pro-active role in all this. And we also had almost identical predictions on what was likely to happen going forward, so today instead of two separate predictions from us, I have put down just the one prediction on which Diksha and I see absolutely eye to eye.
But before we get to the prediction here are two quick thoughts ...
The case of the missing finger glove and the role of Salima!
The episode opened with Jalal's entry into Ruq's room just as Zeenat was planning to poison the baby Husein with the poisoned finger glove she was wearing. Unfortunately, seeing Jalal looking intensely in her direction Zeenat had to quickly remove the finger glove and stash it under Husein's clothes. But to her consternation, Jalal, on finding that Ruq has gone for a bath, just lifted the baby Husein off Zeenat's lap saying "I want to spend time with my son!" and then post-haste he carried the baby across the garden to where Jodha was sitting anxious about him!
Now Zeenat was all afluster ..,. because the incriminating finger glove had gone off with the baby, and what if Jalal got to see it? While Zeenat was thus sitting in a quandary, Jalal however shuffled the baby's position from his arms to over his shoulder and in the process the finger glove fell to the ground in that garden and Jalal never really got to see it.
The finger glove then went off our radars till much later - because in the intervening time Jalal was thoroughly enjoying seeing the bloom return to Jodha's face on holding her dear baby again. She became so full of life that she actually was able to enjoy a bit of light banter with Jalal. He said the baby looked like an old man, Jodha said he, Jalal, looked like an old man. Jalal replied that he was still ladies' man whom they all wanted to marry. Jodha replied that it was his takht they all wanted and not him. All this to-ing and fro-ing of light words thrilled Jalal's heart for he knew that he was pulling Jodha gently out of the mire of depression and sorrow into the light!
But alas, the happiness of the young father and mother and their precious little baby was lost faster than it was gained when Ruq appeared fresh after her bath and ready to do battle for her baby. The baby cried a little and Ruq saw Jodha itching to feed the baby which was unbearable to her. She quickly then snatched the baby out of Jodha's hands, even having the temerity to ask Jalal "Did you bring him here?" as if he needed her permission to do so and he should not have given the baby to Jodha at all costs. She then said Zeenat would feed the baby and was off from the scene as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving Jodha wordlessly bereft and Jalal mightily upset with this display of callousness!
Once in her room Ruq strangely asked Zeenat to feed the baby in her presence and not sitting in a remote corner for she wanted at all times to be able to see her baby. She said such was the atmosphere of distrust in the palace these days that one could not be more careful - and further Zeenat should never have let Jalal take the baby!
She bracketed Jalal as one of those she needed to be careful about and she said this to the outsider Zeenat - unbelievable!
Now we come back to the case of the missing finger glove. As darkness descended over the evening, Zeenat, with mashaal in hand, started combing the garden for the missing glove for she was sure by now that it must have fallen somewhere and Jalal too had shown no signs of having known about it. Unfortunately for Zeenat, Salima appeared on the scene suddenly and asked her "What are you up to?" Zeenat swiftly dropped her finger ring to the ground and pretended to be searching for it. Salima eventually found the finger ring but when Zeenat was trying to wear it again, she noticed the strange acid-burnt look of Zeenat's index finger. Salima remarked about this, and insisted that Zeenat should see the hakima.
We know only this much that happened in front of our eyes, but we do not know yet how much Salima's curiosity was alerted by Zeenat's strange red finger and what the hakima said on examination of it. I suspect that this detail is going to become very important! Will the hakima privately tell Salima about her suspicions about the red finger ... and the use of finger gloves filled with poisons as a weapon of murder? Also, will Salima buy this finger-ring-lost story from Zeenat or will she herself try to comb the garden again for strange objects and find the finger glove. And in the interim it had rained, so would the poison have gotten washed off that glove even if it was found by Salima or anyone else? All these are worth speculating about!
Jalal has had more than enough and seems to have taken over!
Accha, now after seeing Ruq's disgraceful and crude behaviour in snatching the baby from Jodha earlier in the evening, Jalal came to Jodha's room to apologise for the behaviour of his "first queen"! The ever-saintly Jodha however took the expected tack ... she said she could understand Ruq's possessiveness over Husein as a mother and it was she, Jodha who had voluntarily given Husein to Ruq so she shouldn't complain. She knew what it was like to lose a baby (Hasan) and she knew Ruq would feel the same pain of loss if Husien were taken away from her and given back to Jodha.
But you know what folks, Jalal told Jodha "Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. I can see that you are hurting. I am determined to bring Husein back to you come what may. Enough is enough with Ruq!" Jodha again tried to demur on behalf of Ruq but Jalal was not buying it at all. He said "I'll give a last try talking to her - and then I am just going to take the baby off her and bring him back to you! And with that resolve he then got up to go directly to Ruq in a fit of seething anger at the sheer injustice of Ruq not even letting Jodha have a few precious minutes with her own son!
An absolutely indignant Jalal then went to Ruq's room. Now Ruq had already been primed by Zeenat to expect this visit for she had stuffed Ruq with the need to grasp onto Husein even more strongly for the sake of her audha (and no doubt it suited Zeenat to have Ruq keep a stranglehold on Husein and not let him go off to Jodha!) So Ruq was waiting almost for Jalal's appearance.
Jalal stepped into the room and then didn't have to search for words. Verbatim, this is what he said:
"Do you remember that day when you literally begged for the second child from Jodha Begum and she happily and voluntarily gave it to you, showing her largeness of heart? But I am disgusted that in spite of it your heart has remained rather mean and small. Don't forget that this child is not yours really. This is undoubtedly the child of Jodha Begum. How dare you have refused to even let Jodha's Dadisa hold the child that is her own grandchild. What were you trying to prove? That you had so much care for this child? What did you pretend to be affected by ... that she would try to take the child away or harm him?"
Ruq finally replied "You need to know how I feel. I feel that nobody sees Husein as my child yet. Maybe my behaviour was not okay but it's all from care for Husein. I want no risk to his life." "What khatra are you talking about?" Jalal asked with the sneer of a disbeliever. "Did you not see what happens to Husein when strange people start lifting him and he falls sick?" she replied.
And then she added the unforgiveable sentence. "I cannot be as neglectful as Jodha Begum!" "Hold your tongue" Jalal shouted with vehemence and ferocity, "Don't forget it's that same Jodha Begum that even allowed you to become a mother. What will people think of you if they see this disgraceful behaviour of yours?" "I don't care," replied Ruq with a great deal of open disrespect for Jalal himself, "and on the matter of Husein, I am not going to even bother about what you yourself say."
"Ruqaiaya try to look above your own self" Jalal then said in deep frustration, "I am not asking for Husein forever, but just for a while let Jodha Begum have him till she gets well and then you can have Husein back". "I don't believe this" Ruq replied with a condescending look "You are taking Jodha's side even after knowing she is incompetent to look after a child and she is directly responsible for negligence leading to Hasan's death?"
Jalal found himself unable to stay put and charged toward her with an arm raised for a tight slap across her face. But suddenly then Ruqaiaya went into a bout of choking (induced by the drug that Zeenat had added to her sherbet) and Jalal was forced to call in the hakima.
Jalal was getting into a slight self-flagellating mode wondering if his anger on Ruq had caused this bout of illness, but the hakima handed him a favour. She said Ruq had only cold and fever and needed to be quarantined away from the baby for at least a week. Zeenat meanwhile was having illusions of having Husein all to herself for a week as she had successfully made Ruq ill with the sherbet-drug! But alas, her plans went phut when Jalal saw his chance and swiftly lifted Husein and took him away to Jodha.
Folks, I am deeply thankful for every word of dialogue that Jalal spoke to Ruqaiaya, and for every sneer, snipe, snicker and snigger he gave her in ridicule at her sheer inhumanity, indecency and lack of ethics and values. I so wanted to see such a Jalal for the last several weeks, and he doubly blessed me - by first showing his absolute determination to bring Husein back to Jodha for good, and then by blowing a mighty fuse at Ruq. In all this she had the furtive look of a concealing rat, for she knew her whole "baby-concern" was a cover for her "audha-concern". With such an ulterior motive lurking in the depths of her hardened soul she could not have raised her eyes to one whose anger and indignation was so pure and unfettered in intent!
Okay, now here's this new revised prediction on which both Diksha and I concur!
Here comes the prediction from the desks of "Diksha & Mansi Collaborations":
Conjecture No. 1:
The poisoned finger glove incident may have been investigated and the glove may have been found by Salima who may have shared it with Jalal already ... including the information about Zeenat's acid-burnt looking index finger and the hakima's suspicions told perhaps privately to Salima that the finger looked like it had been used to administer gloved poison to the baby ...
Conjecture No. 2:
The precap shows Jodha being told by Moti that Jalal is severely wounded whereupon Jodha suddenly forgets the baby and rushes to Jalal. Now, here's the catch ... Jalal surely knows that after the desperate sorrow of losing Hasan, Jodha will never leave Husein unattended and rush to check on Jalal. So the whole "Jalal wounded" story may be a trap Jalal has set in likely conjuction with Jodha, Salima, Moti and Zakira. The idea is perhaps to create a situation whereby it would look like Jodha was leaving the baby unattended and would run out leaving Zeenat in the vicinity of the baby. Then Jalal and Jodha would hide just outside the room (as in that earlier promo) watching what Zeenat is up to and catching Zeenat red-handed as she tries to give her index finger (gloved again) to Husein to suck! Zeenat thus caught may then be proved a murderess after admitting that she had also poisoned Hasan to death. And this may allow Jalal to apply the reverse farman on Ruq that she was the negligent mother who had allowed a murderess to care for her child and harmed Hasan and daily endangered Husein. Thus Ruq may lose the baby permanently to Jodha and Jalal may feel that he has achieved what he set out to!
Conjecture No. 3:
There is this intriguing question of whether Zeenat added the drug to Ruq's sherbet with or without her knowledge. One theory could be that she did this to make Ruq ill so that the baby would be entrusted to her care while Ruq was ill and she could poison Husein. But another theory could also be that Ruq and Zeenat were in cahoots on this sherbet drug. Maybe they both decided that if Ruq acts ill after the sherbet-drinking, Jalal will immediately take Husein away to Jodha. And there again Zeenat could drug Jodha to make her look like a bad mother to Husein and thus Husein will be reinstated with Ruq by Jalal. Ruq may agree to being in the conspiracy with Zeenat because of the MUZ title dangling in front of her eyes, but she may not be aware of Zeenat having another purely selfish agenda to kill Husein ... whereas Jalal may be aware of Zeenat as a potential murderess and be ready to catch her.
(In case Ruq and Zeenat are not in cahoots, it's still possible that Ruq will independently try to drug Jodha via food to make her look like a bad mother.)
Conjecture No. 4:
Whichever way it happens, the nabbing of Zeenat will in turn allow the nabbing of Ruq (either as her conspirator or as an independent agent) where both may spill the beans on each other or get caught sequentially. The issues around which they may get caught are the drugging of Jodha and the attempt to kill Hussein.
Conjecture No. 5:
But how will Hussein actually die? It could one of three things:
Maybe as a twin of Hasan (and as an empathetic soul) Husein may die a natural death. Or maybe, Zeenat does manage to poison Husein just before she is caught red-handed by Jalal and Jodha but the death kicks in only after five days. Or maybe, the drugging of Jodha leads to the death of Husein as a result of drinking his mother's milk.
What we desperately need is a promo now ... to give us an idea of which way the track is heading to see if our conjectures are correct-ish!
All that happened in yesterday's episode:
Since Jalal suddenly enters the room, Zeenat is unable to poison Husein. She quickly removes her finger glove and hides it in Husein clothes. But Jalal says "If Ruq is bathing give my baby to me" and takes Husein away from Zeenat. Now Zeenat gets all flustered because the finger glove has gone with the baby and Jalal may find it.
Jalal carries Husein into the garden to let Jodha have him for some time and be happy. But as he carries Husein to Jodha the poison glove falls on the ground and he doesn't see it. He gives Husein to Jodha and sees how happy Jodha is. He jokes that Husein looks like an old man. Jodha says Jalal is like and old man. Jalal says still many ladies want to marry him ... but Jodha says they want the takht and not Jalal.
Just as they banter happily Husein cries and Jodha wants to feed him but Ruq comes there and snatches the baby from Jodha giving Jalal ugly smirks for bringing the baby to Jodha. Jalal is extremely upset seeing Jodha so sad again.
Ruq is in her room as Zeenat comes to feed Husein. But though Zeenat wants to go and sit in a dark corner Ruq says she should sit where Ruq can see her. She says the atmosphere in the palace is not good and so she is suspicious of everyone that they may harm Husein. She also says Zeenat should not have given Husein to Jalal. Zeenat again has no chance to poison.
A little later in the evening, when its dark, Zeenat tries to search for the glove in the garden but Salima sees her and asks what she is up to. Zeenat quickly drops her ring and pretends to search for it. Salima finds it and gives it to her - but as Zeenat wears it, Salima sees her index finger looks burnt. She insists Zeenat must show this finger burn to the hakima.
Jalal comes to Jodha and says sorry for Ruq's behaviour and he is determined to get Husein back to Jodha again as he hates what Ruq is doing. Jodha says Ruq may be afraid of losing Husein and suffering pain like Jodha did after Hasan's loss. But Jalal says he cannot stand Ruq not even letting Jodha hold Husein for a little while ... so he is going to get back the baby to Jodha.
Meanwhile its Ruq's dinner time and Hoshiyar checks all food going to Ruq. Zeenat sees this. When Ruq asks for sherbet Zeenat goes to bring it and adds some drug to it to make Ruq sick so that Ruq will entrust the baby to Zeenat. After dinner Ruq is with Husein when Jalal comes. He shouts very roughly at Ruq for all her obnoxious behaviour - first to Dadisa and then to Jodha. Ruq says she doesn't trust Jodha as her negligence killed Hasan. Jalal gets so angry he is about to slap Ruq ... but suddenly Ruq starts choking.
Jalal shouts for a hakima. Jalal thinks his shouting at Ruq was the cause of all this illness. But the hakima says it's cold and fever and she can't go near the baby for at least one week. Zeenat is thrilled to hear this thinking Ruq will give the baby to her care. But Jalal takes the baby away and says he can be with Jodha. Ruq is frustrated by this development.
In the precap, Jodha is taking care of Husein when she gets word from Moti that Jalal is very wounded. In her anxiety she forgets the baby and rushes to Jalal. But Zeenat is lurking there (in a new blue dress!) and gives wicked smiles that Husein is unattended.
Yesterday's episode was "end of the week", folks, so a promo can't be far away. Hope this weekend brings that promo we all need.
There are a lot of people guessing negatively that maybe if the baby Husein dies while in Jodha's care, Jalal will also blame Jodha (like Ruq) for negligence and there will be an MU.
I don't believe this theory at all ... especially with the TRPs already sliding the CVs can't risk an MU on top of all the tedious Ruq crap! But still if the promo comes out and quashes this negativity out of everybody's systems it will be a relief to the collective forum!
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