My Farewell Tribute to Rajat's Jalal
Part 3
Folks,
As many of you (especially Donjas) would have anticipated, here comes the Shahi Shaadi Saptah. I have taken extensive extracts from my 5 posts for this week's special one hour episodes, and I would recommend that you read them all at a stretch, without any supplementary comments from me. It is only then that you can get the full flavor of the way in which Jalal practices siyaasat of a very complex kind, and that with skill, subtlety, sureness, and success.
I have highlighted the passages I like the best in blue, and if it ends up making the post look as though it has had Ujala splashed over it, kya karein, Rajat ke Jalal ki khoobiyaan ginte nahin gintin!
His Jalal here has truly come of age. He knows (or thinks he knows, but that is another track which is for later) what he wants, and he knows how to get it. And no one, but no one is going to get in his way, not even his Badiammi. As he tells her with cold finality: Hum Shahenshah hain, Badiammi. Bina kisise pooche kuch bhi kar sakte hain... Hum jo kehte hain, wahi kanoon ban jaata hai.
So Jalal twists and turns and teases, now accommodating - as with the wedding rasams being all in the Rajput tradition- now demanding - as with the muhdikhayi - but always two steps ahead of not just the Ameri clan but of Jodha herself. He is at times mischievous - as when he clasps Jodha's unwilling hand in both his at the wedding - at times coldly furious - as when he hears of Jodha having burnt the shaadi ka joda he had sent her- but never does he lose sight of his ultimate objective.
As I noted in the second of these posts, he is coolly decisive, making his moves with unerring skill and a firm grasp of the psychology of the opponent, unmoved to hasty anger, with his gaze always fixed on his ultimate goal, to rule over all of Hindustan. It is this steely resolve, now deployed to make sure this Mughal-Rajput/ Jalal-Jodha wedding goes thru, that will stand him in good stead as he begins to rule over the Mughal empire in right earnest.
And of course he wants to checkmate Jodha and put her firmly in her place. Which too he manages to do, and that with a great show of patience, magnanimity and consideration for her and her family.
This, again, is not out of simple goodness of heart or due to an obsessive desire to have Jodha at any cost, even that of his pride. It is rather a calculated political move, a show of tolerance and accommodation extended to Bharmal and to Amer in the interest of the future of the Mughal dynasty in the Hindustan he seeks to unite under his aegis. This is no arrogant fledging of an emperor. This is a young man who at the top of the game of siyaasat, and he plays that game with an iron hand hidden inside a velvet glove.
By the end of the week and at the beginning of the next, which is where I propose to stop today, the cat & mouse game between Jalal and Jodha has started in right earnest, at times with savage fury on his side, and mulish resistance on hers. But the far more interesting, and psychologically complex battle is between Jalal and himself, and even, to some extent, between Jodha and herself. More of that in the extracts from Episodes 39 & 40.
In all of this, Rajat produces such a silky-smooth, utterly convincing performance that we completely forget that it is Rajat there. We see only his Jalal. What praise can be greater than this?
There is a good bit about Jodha here, but that is essential, for without it, it would impossible to understand, and appreciate, the silken subtlety of Jalal. So here goes!
1.Jodha Akbar 35: Shahi Shaadi 1 :Opening Gambits
Posted: 05 August 2013 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
Folks,
First things first. It was a peach of an episode. All the masala anyone could have wanted was there, blended as expertly as in a Khana Khazana show. There were all the navarasas of classical Indian theatre, and more: fear, trepidation, gnawing worry, arrogance, mischief, malice, shock, disillusionment, grief, courage, resignation, innocence, and even a tadka of comedy with the rotund halwai from Amer who is such an excellent advertisement for his wares. Plus gorgeous sets and costumes. When Jalal and his entourage are coming in for the muhdikhayi, the overhead shots show richly covered walls gleaming in dull gold, setting off the lavish dresses of the principals. Especially Jodha's dream outfit, which is opulent and yet tasteful, a none too common combination.
It was also throughout like a game of chess, whence my title. At one time, as after the kangan bandhan, it was advantage Amer, but then, with his insistence on the muhdikahyi , it becomes advantage Jalal. Again, with the face-in-the-water gimmick, Amer gets ahead, but the wind plays spoilsport, and as Jodha's veil is blown off her head, Jalal smiles in unmistakable satisfaction: this move was his.
The two sharts: But the real opening gambit comes not at the beginning or in the middle, but at the very end, as a demurely veiled Jodha, looking all the lovelier for that, sets out her two sharts. The second one brings Jalal to his feet in a sudden reaction - but of what? Is it anger, or is he merely taken aback? His face is indecipherable as he turns it over in his mind, and the assemblages on both sides of the dividing curtain (why make it like some sort of town assembly from both sides? It was done better in the film, where the two met alone in a tent) hold their collective breath.
The developments today were all predictable in the broad sense, but it was the detailing that made them fascinating. The highlights, again in no particular order:
The most charming vignette: The delightful encounter between Jalal and Mansingh. Jalal is greatly taken with the boy's innocence and his principled courage ' in his determination to defend Jodha, his Buasa, and Amer, he reminds Jalal of, whom else? Jodha, of course. I loved the way in which Mansingh, who does not hide his disapproval of the marriage, nonetheless shows due respect towards both the Shahenshah and the soon to be javaisa of Amer, by backing out of his presence, as Jalal gravely does an aadaab. When Sharifuddin turns up immediately thereafter, full of questions which Jalal, characteristically, does not bother to answer, there is a strange faraway look in Jalal's eyes.
Is he perhaps ruminating about the uncomplicated courage and the simple but rigid code of honour that are the keys to the Rajput psyche? Fitting them into the idea that he had tossed to his ministers the other day after Bharmal had left - that the bravery and martial skills of the Rajputs should be co-pted to serve Mughal interests? Or is it plain and simple admiration, tinged with indulgence, towards one so very young and yet so fearless? Whatever it was, it is no wonder that in later years, Mansingh became Akbar's right hand man, the one who was constantly at the receiving end of Akbar's stentorian roars, Mansingh! Hukum ki taameel ho!
The Muhdikhayi: While Jalal's demand for this is a pure power play, part of his plan to teach Jodha a lesson, Amer turns up trumps on this one. The face in the water idea was brilliant diplomacy, for it preserved the sanctity of the kangan bandhan ritual, and yet met Jalal's demand as well. I would bet that it was the Dadisa, who had earlier thought of the kangan bandhan ploy, who was the one who came up with this as well, for it needed plenty of IQ, a commodity not plentiful among the😉
Jalal's face, as he waits for Jodha to approach the water, is full of what the Germans would call Schadenfreude, the mischievous, indeed malicious delight in the discomfiture of another. He watches her like a cat at a mouse hole, and when she takes the reflection of his face, so much like the one she saw in the water during the Gangaur festival, to be a projection of her own fears and draws back, his wide smile shows puckish satisfaction. To make sure that she grasps the truth, he remarks audibly, Subhanallah! Badi fursaat se khuda ne banaya hai tumhe!
As her panic mounts , her veil is blown off by a gust of wind, and she stares at him in agonized disbelief, the watchful, smiling stillness in his face is infuriating. When she turns eventually and bolts from the hall, he smiles again in pure triumph. He is not angry, nor does he feel humiliated, for this was exactly what he had wanted, and Jodha's reaction has exceeded his expectations.
Incidentally, Jalal seems to have a sound intelligence network; the Mughal spy who reports back to him about Dadisa's kangan bandhan ploy is as like a Rajput as could be.
The Tilak ceremony: This was fascinating, and also a landmark scene for two reasons. The more important one: Jalal's acceptance of and his readiness to participate in a typical Rajput/Hindu ceremony, and this without the slightest hesitation, marks the beginning of a far-reaching process of cultural assimilation with the Rajputs, and then with the Hindus as a whole . It was this which, in parallel with political accommodation, was the bedrock of Akbar's inclusive Mughal empire. No wonder the fanatic Mahaam Anga winces in dismay, though by now, she knows better than to open her mouth!
The second and more personal reason has to do with Myanavati, still haunted by the memory of Shakuni Bai's shrill pronouncements. As Jalal leans forward and offers his forehead for the tilak, for the first time ever, there is a slight smile on her face. As she finishes the aarti, she looks up at him, and her eyes meet his, ever so fleetingly. It seems that the look of grave regard on his face reassures her, for she seems calmer as she turns away.
Also striking was the fleeting expression on Jalal's face when Bharmal, welcoming him, addresses him as Shahenshah (no more Agra ka Sultan!)
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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2.Jodha Akbar 36: Shahi Shaadi 2- Imperial flush
Posted: 06 August 2013 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
Today's episode - bookended between Jodha burning the shaadi ka joda on the one hand, and the shart scene on the other - belonged, beyond the shadow of a doubt, to Jalal the Emperor. By his unruffled and effortless domination of all around him, Rajputs or Mughals, Jalal shows that he is now truly the master, and not just in his own house. He is coolly decisive, making his moves with unerring skill and a firm grasp of the psychology of the opponent, unmoved to hasty anger, with his steely gaze always fixed on his ultimate goal, to rule over all of Hindustan.
And of course checkmating Jodha and putting her firmly in her place. Underneath every move of Jalal's today, , there is a smouldering, suppressed rage against Jodha for insulting him so blatantly, and that bodes ill for her life in Agra, even if she is able to cope with the very special istaqbal (reception) he is planning for her there.
By episode end, Jalal has won hands down over Jodha, and this with all the appearance of great magnanimity, patience, and consideration for her and for hers. What he really feels is in his eyes as he leaves the hall after accepting both her conditions; she alone sees it and despairs for her future.
Jalal's self-restraint: I am a good bit of a female chauvinist, and normally, in any such clash, I would always, instinctively, side with the woman. But not here. Jodha today let me down with a thud . She is not a tragic princess sacrificing herself on the altar of her duty, who puts her people above herself without question, as she claims earlier that she would. Instead, she is irresponsible, self-centred, and exceedingly foolish in her total lack of understanding of the consequences of her folly for her father's subjects. Instead of seeking,and finding in herself the courage to face down any odds, she wails and whimpers and feels sorry for herself.
Yesterday I had believed, and rejoiced, in the prospect of her rising above her shock and distress and making the best of the situation for the sake of Amer, while still seeking to preserve her individuality and her personal identity, religious and cultural. Today, if tens of thousands of the dead and dying in Amer did not pay with the destruction of their lives for her selfcentredness, if the terrible trio of Mahaam Anga, Adham Khan and Sharifuddin were not able to feast like vultures on the despoiled ruins of Amer, it was not thanks to Jodha.
It was rather because Jalal had the wisdom, and the self-restraint, not to let himself be stampeded into crushing Amer to salve his personal ego. Because he rates the reputation of his royal line, and his own as emperor, above such petty self-gratification. He is angry at Jodha, yes, even coldly furious, and he has every intention of paying her back. But he puts that in a separate compartment; he can look beyond that to see the broad picture, and his own place in history, and it is this that saves Amer.
It is not compassion or simple goodness of heart, not at all. Nor is it, as the romantics would undoubtedly interpret it, because he has fallen for Jodha without realizing it as yet, and he must have her at any cost, even of his pride. It is rather a calculated political move, a show of tolerance and accommodation extended to Bharmal and to Amer in the interest of the future of the Mughal dynasty in the Hindustan he seeks to unite under his aegis.
Checkmate 1: The main hall in the Amer royal family's encampment . On either side of the curtain, Jalal and Jodha are seated, facing each other. Her face is veiled , and so are her downcast eyes as she begins to speak, setting out her two sharts. At the second, Jalal springs up, his face hardening - but is it anger at Jodha's presumption or is it shock?
He begins to pace up and down like a panther, his keen, narrowed eyes always on Jodha's face. At one point she raises her eyes and meets his, but only for a fleeting moment, while Motibai, in the background, smiles in anticipation of the success of her mistress's stratagem. Jalal does not miss either.
Suddenly he stops, and begins to speak - Aapki shartein bahut badi hain, shehzadi "and he catches the tiny smile at the corner of Jodha's mouth. Par itni nahin ki Hindustan ka shahenshah Jalaluddin unhe poora na kar sake. Jodha's face crunples from the shock and her eyes brim over with sudden tears. Even her veil and the curtain combined cannot hide her misery. Jalal sits down and reiterates Aapki donon shartein hame manzoor hain, and rising, looks down into Jodha's tearful face as he sketches an aadaab for her, head bent in an exaggerated flourish of secret triumph.
Jodha, trying to outwit a master of the game, is herself outwitted when Jalal thinks two moves ahead of her. There is now no way of escape for her. The hosannas to her sung by her relieved and joyful family ring hollow in her ears. Checkmate.
Checkmate 2: Mahaam Anga is already furious. Her joyful anticipation of the destruction of Amer by an enraged Jalal has come to naught, because Jodha has, unexpectedly, agreed to the marriage. Now, with Jalal having accepted what she sees as Jodha's disgraceful conditions, Mahaam Anga's cup of fury runneth over. She scolds Jalal for his having consented to Jodha having a mandir in the Agra palace. He sits there, still and unmoved, until his patience snaps under her nagging. Hum Shahenshah hain, Badiammi. Bina kisise pooche kuch bhi kar sakte hain. Nonetheless, he still explains his reasons, lucidly and with patent wisdom, but she goes on and on, now citing the kanoon of the harem that cannot be broken. That does it. He states, not in anger but with rocklike firmness, Hum jo kehte hain, wahi kanoon ban jaata hai.
Mahaam Anga realises that this is no longer the boy she could coax, cajole and control. The Shahenshah has finally arrived, and he brooks no defiance or questioning, even from his Badiammi. Checkmate.
Sheh par mat nahin: Jodha is smarting under the barely veiled barbs of Mahaam Anga while she hands over the exquisite shaadi ka joda. This worsens as she looks at all the jewellery gifted to her by Jalal, and remembers the sacrilegious depredations of the Mughal soldiers at the Kali Mandir. Her face rigid with suppressed fury, she receives the joda, but immediately flings it at a lit pedestal lamp. It catches fire and goes up in flames, as Mahaam Anga screams dire warnings and the unfortunate Mynavati, after one look at the charred outfit and Jodha's rigid face, set in acute hostility, collapses nearby.
The heedless irresponsibility of what Jodha does, and this after her mother's grave warning just minutes earlier, shows her lack of both maturity and of the courage she talks about earlier, when she claims that she would be ready to sacrifice herself for Amer. When the time comes for her to walk the talk, she is found sadly wanting, for all she can do is to weep about her maan and sammaan, and voice her hatred of Jalal, with nary a thought for the fate of Amer.
The insult to the emperor is a very grave one, but Jalal does not let that, or Mahaam Anga's vociferous complaints, echoed by Adham Khan and Sharifuddin, stampede him into war against Amer. He understands, though they will not, that a bloody and destructive military campaign by the Mughals against Amer because of this failed marriage, will make the Rajputs martyrs and besmirch his own reputation for all time to come. He too seeks revenge on Jodha, but not at this juncture, nor in this manner.
So it is sheh for Jodha when she defiantly sets fire to the shaadi ka joda, but Jalal prevents it from becoming mat.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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3. Jodha Akbar 37: Shahi Shaadi 3- Wedding blues https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3694221&PID=89572072�
Posted: 07 August 2013 at 2:01pm | IP Logged
Eureka! I have finally achieved my heart's desire, of an episode during this Shahi Shaadi Saptah which is long on spectacle and short on substance. The first two were anything but short on substance, but today, things were better, though not as much as I would have preferred. So here goes with all the bits and pieces.
The Wedding: It was appropriately rich is tone and texture throughout, even though the venue was restricted and the rasams were far fewer than I would have liked. In fact, leaving aside the wedding proper, there were only the ceremonies at the entrance of the groom at the beginning, and the jootiyan churana at the end. It would have been far better to have included a few more Rajasthani customs, instead of wasting time and footage on Sujamal skulking around in the most improbable fashion, attempting to masquerade as a waiter right under the noses of not just Sharifuddin but the Amer royals, and worse, the even more improbable Mahaam Anga and Adham Khan shouting match.
Sight of the day: Jalal's bewilderment when faced with a kneeling saas-to-be with two matkas on her head! And again when she is apparently measuring him from toe to top with a red cord, and brushing him around the head with a branch of neem leaves to ward off the evil eye. By now, Mynavati seems far more at home with her javaisa, and Jalal the Jallad seems to have faded away.
Jalal and his saalis: The jootiyan churana episode ended on a very charming note, with Jalal picking up his littlest saali, showering them all with gifts, and triumphantly looking back at Jodha when one of the girls declares, in ringing tones, that jeejaji is not just bahut achche,but also gore chitte! This last gave rise to a momentous development, the first glance, as distinct from glare, exchanged between Jodha, who seemed taken aback by this unexpected side of her patidev's persona, and Jalal.
But the initial anger displayed, when Jalal's jootis go missing, by both Sharifuddin ( who digs up the infamous foot chopping episode; this was obviously meant by the CVs to further stoke Jodha's revulsion against Jalal) , and by Jalal himself (in a kind of throwback to the first two episodes), was excessive and uncalled for. Jalal's Amer inlaws seemed paralysed with shock and dismay at this explosion of wrath, and no wonder.
Equally curious and inappropriate was young Mansingh admonishing the Shahenshah for what he takes, quite wrongly, to be Jalal ridiculing this custom. As Jodha swallows in nervous tension, Jalal reacts with surprising gentleness and patience. He does have a soft corner of the kid, and his nazrana for Mansingh might well be to take him to Agra with him.
The costumes of the bridal pair were suitably gorgeous, especially Jodha's , in glowing yellows, with an identical zari applique of mango patterns on both the lehenga and the chunari. As you would have seen from my last post, I was sharply critical of her burning the Dacca mulmul shaadi ka joda, but that regrettable act too had a silver lining, it seems. The yellow and gold outfit she eventually wore suited her far better than the Dacca muslin would ever have done!
Wedding rites: I am not au fait with the details of Rajasthani wedding customs, but in the traditional saat phere, the groom goes first for the first four pheras, and then the bride takes the lead for the next three, as she intends to confront Yama himself, were he to turn up,and protect her husband's life like Savitri did for Satyavan. But here, Jodha went first for 4 pheras, and then Jalal for the last three. And in the saptapadi, the man usually takes each of the 7 steps first, and the bride follows him,but here it was the opposite. Then again, there was no mangalsutra, which is almost universal in the rest of India, and the maang bharna was taken as the final seal of the marriage.
I have also never heard of the bride taking any vows, though I dare say they might have dug this custom up from somewhere. The point obviously was to get Jodha to voice her gratification at having him for her dev! Jodha had by then got over the reluctance that made her pull her hand away from Jalal's earlier, and she spoke her vows fairly firmly, despite being acutely conscious of Jalal''s amused attentiveness.
As for the hand angle, once Jodha's hand had been firmly placed is his by Mynavati, the mischievous Jalal rammed the point home by imprisoning it for a little while between both of his, in order to enjoy her discomfiture. This apart, he seemed to be enjoying himself thoroughly right thru, and he was relaxed throughout, not reacting even when Jodha pulled her hand away. He did nothing, and simply waited till Mynavati sorted it out for him
The assassination plot: This seemed far too pat and amateurish to be credible, and if there had been even a halfway effective investigation, Adham Khan would have been exposed at once. Jalal sounded naive when not just excusing but actually commending Adham Khan for killing that Aslam Khan on the spot before he could be forced to identify his employer.
But what stayed with me was the supreme self confidence with which Jalal asserts that even if he had been sleeping in the room, nothing would have happened to him. It reminded me of his telling Abdul, before they leave for the Amer adventure, that death itself fears and avoids him. This tremendous self belief, and faith in his manifest destiny , are the true marks of a great ruler, and no wonder Jalal became Akbar, or The Great!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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4.Jodha Akbar 38: Shahi Shaadi 4- Cat and Mouse
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/89642325Posted: 08 August 2013 at 2:32pm | IP Logged
The title more or less sums up today's episode, and before we get into that, one has to applaud the CVs, or rather the editors who decide the precaps, for bowling such a sly googly at us last night. It had all of us clean bowled, as it slithered thru our guard and uprooted the leg stump😉.
Half the forum was breathless over that precap, interpreting it as Jodha rebuffing Jalal, and speculating feverishly as to how harshly he would react. Even I was bamboozled into taking it at face value, as an attempt by Jalal to get up close and personal with his lawfully wedded wife, and I was moved to assert that he would never force himself on any woman, even a wife he wanted to tame.
When the telecast came, we were all caught flat footed😉. Alas for all our agonies of apprehension! It turned out that it was
- an attack by Jodha with that khanjar, yes, but on what she took to be an intruder, not on her patidev, and
- Jalal was there not to make amorous advances to her, but to berate for not presenting herself when he had summoned her to sing for him, with his entourage present,
- Jalal did hurt his hand on that khanjar, but thereby hangs yet another tale.
The scene itself was sheer viewing pleasure. There was Jalal, fuming at having been stood up by his newly minted wife in front of his courtiers, barging into her khema, prepared to haul her over the coals for disrespecting her husband and not fulfilling her marital vows. Two minutes later, though she is trembling with nervousness and her breath is ragged in her throat, Jodha has managed to put her lord and master on the defensive, moving him to concede Bahut khoob! Hum to aapke pas apni shikayat lekar aaye the, par aapne to humein hi mujrim tehra diya!
She does this by lecturing him fluently on the need to put his patni's maan aur sammaan ahead of his rights on her, and about how no vow that she had taken permitted him to ask her to appear in front of outsiders, to treat a wife like a dasi or to use force on her. And she does all this with Jalal barely one foot away, leaning over her in a manner that would intimidate the most courageous of women. Atta girl, I said to myself, you deserve a standing ovation!
It is to Jalal's credit that, despite being very angry with Jodha as he enters, he does not rage at her mindlessly but seeks to argue his case by reminding her of her marriage vows. Later, he accepts Jodha's lecture and admonition in good part, and does not try to bully her. This says much for his sense of fairness, even towards a woman against whom he harbours several grudges. This innate sense of justice bodes well for the rest of his reign.
Probably it was also a novel experience for him to have a woman conquering her fear of him, arguing her case against him with all the coherent logic of a lawyer, and winning it too. That he does not resent it, as most men would have, but is moved to reluctant admiration, also says a lot about him as he is now, even without having had the benefit of Jodha's haivaan se insaan magic that we have been promised from Day 1.
But of course there is the male ego, and this one is an imperial ego. So, he gets back at her by commenting, approvingly, on the all too evident fear in her eyes about what he might do next. And while leaving, after reassuring her that she need fear no one and nothing as he is there to protect her from every danger, he adds, with a wolfish grin of malicious delight, Par aapko mujhse bachane ke liye - a deliberate pause, and then Koi nahin! It hits bullseye, as we can see from Jodha's ashen face as she sits up in bed. She looks even better when she is frightened, by the way.
Chicken con trick: This one was side splitting, that is if you were not Jodha😉. Having felt obliged, as a dutiful wife, to feed Jalal a chicken leg with her own hand - which he promptly holds firmly with his sound (!?!) one- not to speak of then washing his fingers and wiping them, Jodha emerges to find out that it was all a con trick, which Jalal makes sure she does not miss.
Rajat/Jalal was superb in his foxiness, the veiled sideways glances at Mahaam Anga (for her to make sure that Jodha sits next to him on the dais), at the servants, and at Jodha herself, pointedly not seeking her help, by word or gesture, as he apparently struggles to pick up the chicken leg. Then, out front, the deliberate brashness with which he cuts thru the fake bandage, and then hefts his shamsheer with the practiced ease of an expert swordsman. (I am really looking forward to the Jalal-Jodha fencing match, which is bound to materialize somewhere down the line).
It is pure mischief, free of malice, of the kind a naughty boy would play, and Jalal obviously no longer holds her refusal of the previous evening against her. As he goes off, he is very pleased with himself, while Jodha must be promising herself that never again will she be so taken in. Famous last words, for the next time, it will be something entirely different and unexpected.
Till, of course, they reach a stage when he does not have to trick her into holding his hand.
...
The Mansingh phenomenon: Now, the only thing left is to pat myself on the back for having, for once, correctly predicted that the nek that Jalal would give young Mansingh would be to take him with himself to Agra and make him a great warrior.
Mansingh, who has apparently not yet learned to smile, responds in a dampening fashion to this flattering invitation, making it clear that he is ready to come to Agra only to protect his buasa (it is not clear from whom, especially when she has the Mughal Emperor and half the Mughal army to do this job). He seems to be a gravely impertinent child, who is unaware of his impertinence and not in the least in awe of the Emperor, which is probably while the latter is so taken with him.
Jalal is going to have his hands full handling not only affairs of state but, and far more difficult, his recalcitrant Begum, and her pocket edition, Mansingh, as well😉. One wishes him luck, for he is going to need it! It might be a rather far fetched comparison, but if one took this as a Tom and Jerry affair, no prizes for guessing who would be Tom😉!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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5. Jodha Akbar 39: Shahi Shaadi 4- Storms brewinghttps://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3696432&PID=89709322�
Posted: 09 August 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged
Folks,
Melodrama galore: ...There is Ruqaiya, doing full scale kaan bharofying about Jodha to Jalal. So kaan ka kachcha is he, that whereas yesterday he was able, despite his initial fury, to appreciate the reasons for Jodha's refusal to heed his summons to her , today, his temper rises visibly when Ruqaiya tells him that his shaan and ruthba are being eroded by Jodha's excessive guroor,as shown by her studied indifference to her imperial shauhar.
Jodha's mistake: Which is true to a considerable extent, for at the jashn to celebrate her marriage to Jalal, Jodha does not make the slightest concession to public impressions, or even to the disappointment her very standoffish behaviour would cause her incredibly kind mother-in-law. She is transformed into a marble statue of disdain as soon as Jalal appears, and the way in which she offers him the sweet is exactly like the way in which she held the chicken leg out to him at breakfast, making me wonder whether she was going to shove it up his nose. He salvages the situation by catching hold of her hand and guiding it to his mouth, but the impression conveyed is one of extreme indifference and coldness from her side, whereas earlier, she is very polite and pleasant to all the guests, and handles even the catty Ruqaiya with grace and calm evasiveness.
The contrast is so marked that a great deal of gossip was guaranteed, and this could not have reflected well on the Shahenshah. If Jodha had continued to be pleasant and proper, even if not at all forthcoming, to Jalal as well, he would not have been so open and receptive to the poison that Ruqaiya pours into his ears.
The upshot of this rising spiral of anger is that Jalal makes a highly undesirable move by forcing his wife to sing at the jashn, something normally unheard of for highborn ladies of the court. The ode to Rajput chivalry and their code of honour that she sings only makes matters worse. Jalal is roaming around the hall like a caged panther, and when he comes near her, Ruqaiya adds the last earful of poison, by interpreting the song as a slur on the Mughals. That does it. He shuts the jashn, and Jodha's song, down in an instant and leaves. As the hall empties swiftly in the Emperor's wake, Jodha is left standing alone, humiliated, and not even Hamida Banu comes up to speak to her and comfort her.
Jalal's OTT behavior does not end here. He then drinks himself into a state of mounting and self-reinforcing anger, dredging up every bitter memory of Jodha to deepen his resentment even further. When he sets off to get his inteqam, one assumes he is going to Jodha's room, and one shudders at the thought of what he might do in an alcoholic stupor.
Now, by all TV norms for precaps, the scene of him setting out for his inteqam should have been in the precap, with no hint as to its final shape and form. Then all of us could have agonized the weekend thru about Jodha's likely fate at the hands of Jalal the Jallad.
But this tempting scenario was not to be, for though there was nail-biting suspense for quite a while thanks to Jodha's highly realistic and misleading nightmare, Jalal was a no show in the end.
Bright spots: Young Mansingh restraining his father Bhagwan Das from flying at Adham Khan's throat when the latter speaks insultingly about Amer and about the Jodha-Jalal marriage. It shows that he has a great deal of maturity despite being so very young, in fact more than his normally placid father.
Mansingh again, who, on being quizzed by Jalal about what had happened, does not babble idealistically and hide the truth, in the time-honoured manner of TV serial good guys. Instead, just as Adham Khan is opening his mouth to utter an omnibus denial, Mansingh recites, fluently and accurately, the whole list of his insulting words. He has Adham Khan's whole para down pat, without a single slip up of any kind. The kid must have been the star pupil of his guru, the shruti, or oral tradition being still strong in the 16th century !😉
Storms brewing:Ah, yes, the storms of the title. There are quite a few of them in the works: between Jodha and Jalal, between Jodha, Mahaam Anga and Ruqaiya, between Adham Khan and the Amer duo, and finally between Jalal and himself.
As Mansi had pointed out in her very perceptive comments on my last post, Jalal's ominous lines to Jodha, that he likes to see the fear of him always there in her eyes, and that there was no one to save her from him, can be best interpreted by turning them around and applying them to Jalal instead of to Jodha. It would then be as follows: He hates that fear of him in her eyes, and no one can save him from her.
That mirror image take on what Jalal said to Jodha is, methinks, exactly what is going to happen some time in the future.
This is because, in Jalal's reaction to Jodha, there is one thing on the surface - his being attracted to her because of her beauty and because she does not fawn on him - and there is a different undercurrent as well, of which he is not conscious as of now. That is the strange pull that dragged him on a very dangerous mission into Amer, and this when he had not even seen her.
Right now, he will be more and more angry with her for the immediate future, a process that has already begun at and after the jashn. What I am waiting for is to see when it dawns on him that what he wants is not her. Not the possession of her, legally or physically even, for if he sought the latter, she, as a dutiful, wedded wife, will not refuse her husband that intimacy no matter how much he frightens her. What he will want is for her to want him, in the sense of caring for him, even if the idea of love is very long in coming.
Now he can, soon enough, command her dutiful obedience in all acceptable things, but not her respect and her caring. This will gnaw at him, and we shall see how he handles that entirely unfamiliar situation. This is exactly where Mansi's mirror image of what Jalal said to Jodha comes in. No one can protect him from that sense of deprivation that will eat away at him from within. It is going to be very interesting.
Joke of the day: Hamida Banu Begum is as fixated on Jalal's (lost) dil as her new bahu used to be on Jalal ka sar, while for Ruqaiya it is his brain. The women in Jalal's life seem to have a curious obsession with his assorted body parts!😉
Finally, never before did TGIF sound so very apt as it does to me tonight!
Shyamala B. Cowsik
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6. Jodha Akbar 40: An Emotional Fog
Posted: 12 August 2013 at 1:46pm | IP Logged
Folks,
The one common factor in every segment of today's episode was the confusion about what our principal dramatis personae were really feeling, as distinct from what they professed, to others and to themselves, that they felt. It was this emotional fog in which they, especially the Shahenshah and his rebellious Begum, were groping that lent this otherwise overly melodramatic episode an edge.
Jalal: What he feels most strongly, when Ruqaiya tells him about Jodha's desperate wish that he stay away from her, is anger. But at what? Ruqaiya, whose perception of what makes others tick is totally blurred by her extreme self-centredness and vanity, thinks that his ego is hurt and that he will react accordingly.
Jalal himself believes that he hates Jodha as much and more than she hates him, and this bit of one-upmanship salves his ego, badly bruised at the very thought that she, a mere woman, can actually reject him. For that is what Jodha's wish really amounts to. But is this ego hassle all that it is?
His whole tirade against her is, on the surface, predicated on this egocentric approach. By asserting that his hatred for her is not merely greater than hers for him, but is far more effective when measured against its objective - which is the humiliation and the overall crippling of its object - he wants to prove that she can never win against him. That his will must always prevail, that he has won and she has lost.
When he tells the cornered Jodha, in a superbly violent and stormy encounter, that he can do anything to her by right, but will not, that he will in fact not even touch her, he adds that this is so that she does not develop any delusions that he desires her or loves her. But why does he have to say this at all? A king, or indeed any man, does not have to love every woman with whom he has intimate relations, and where Jalal is concerned, the extent of the Shahi harem should be proof enough of the truth of this dictum. Why then?
Methinks Jalal protesteth way too much; more than trying to humiliate Jodha, he is really trying to convince himself that this is what he feels and this is why he behaves the way he does.
Mansi, where are you? This is a situation tailormade for your wise uncle's mirror image interpretation. This one, however, is not a rational explanation meant to cover up an emotional reason; it is one emotional outburst to cover up another emotional hurt, almost a wound, that is none the less deep for being unacknowledged, suppressed and totally denied.
Mills and Boon will not be denied, apparently, for the very thin line between hate and love is the leit motif of their brand of romantic fiction. Anything is better, to their way of thinking, than indifference, which is the true negation of love. Hate, on the other hand, is a very near relation .
Jalal is clearly moving from one stage to another in his emotional graph, but how far, or how fast, one can only guess. The irony of this situation is that the catalyst for this shift in his subterranean mindset has been catalyzed, however inadvertently, by, of all people, Ruqaiya!
Jodha: When Jalal does turn up, drunk and aggressive, Jodha's instinctive but rather childish attempts to hold him off are of a piece with the her earlier discussion with Ruqaiya, though they are bound to be not just useless but counterproductive.
This includes her maddeningly logical explanation - abandoning her earlier tack of the need for him to respect her maan sammaan - for why she sang what she sang at the jashn.That too in a delightful little girl voice, like a schoolgirl trying to convince her furious teacher that she was being wrongly scolded and punished. Anyone could have guessed that this would ony enrage Jalal futher.
Let us grant that she knows no better, having led a very sheltered life. So what happens next, right up to the time Jalal storms out of her boudoir?
First, she listens to him declaring in the most emphatic fashion possible that (a) he hates her from the bottom of his heart, (b) that he had married her only to crush her personality and cage her in the harem, (c) that she would learn what beizzati really was, and mar marke jeeyegi and finally (d) that no one could protect her from him.
When she shrinks from the amorous advances he then makes, he is further enraged. That ends in his pushing her against the wall and then asserting, as noted above, that despite his conjugal rights, he would not touch her, in order not to give her any illusions that he desires her or loves her.
At the end of this ultra turbulent encounter, Jodha, who by all logic should have been limp with relief and thanking her Kanha on her knees for having listened to her prayers is, on the contrary, shattered. Her drawn face as she watches the retreating Jalal is a study in helpless anguish. The same desperate sense of loss, of being without a mooring in life, is evident from her subsequent conversation with Motibai.
I thought I was making a sacrifice for Amer, she wails, but Jalal has married me only so that he can destroy my life and salve his ego and arrogance. I thought that for the sake of the dignity of Amer, I would live out my life somehow, but now my existence is rudderless. What shall I do now? Where shall I go?
What is startling about this undoubtedly sincere lament is the lack of logic that lies at its core. Now that she is sure that Jalal is not, for whatever reason, going to make unwelcome advances towards her, that he also says that she will be safe and outwardly well respected in the harem, whatever his personal hatred for her, she should in fact feel that she is in clover. This, after all, is exactly what she was seeking when she proposed that bargain to Ruqaiya. What then is so different, so hurtful, now that it causes her so much anguish?
There is only one thing that has changed between Jodha's tete a tete with Ruqaiya and after she has faced Jalal's venomous tirade. It is this: earlier, she had thought that Jalal had manoeuvred her father into this marriage because he wanted her, Jodha. She hated him, but she assumed that he cared for her, in whatever fashion, and that he did want her. His behavior all thru the wedding phase, and on the road to Agra, must have strengthened this assumption of hers, which she undoubtedly told herself was hateful to her, coming as it did from Jalal the Jallad.
Now, that bubble has burst, and she faces the ugly new interpretation of all that Jalal has done to secure her. It is not wanting of any kind, but virulent hatred, and the accompanying urge to humiliate and cripple her whole being. And this 'truth' is something she is unable to stand. It reduces her to a level of abject misery never before seen on the face of this feisty young lady, who earlier stands firm in the face of great adversity, but is now crushed by the realization that Jalal hates her with a corrosive hatred.
Why this should be so is something she, clearly, does not know. But perhaps we do.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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7. Now this one is a pure viewer's delight, as Jalal flirts, mischievously and outrageously, with his reluctant touch-me-not Begum, thru a stratagem which is as astute as it is simple. His tactics and strategy were both impeccable, and Rajat brought to this scene all his overt and covert seductiveness, that too in a most relaxed and casual fashion. Little wonder, therefore, that the whole sequence was a treat of a high order!
Jodha Akbar 41: The Emperor holds the aces Posted: 13 August 2013 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
Folks, if all of you, and especially the young ladies, have finished drooling over Jalal in the hamaam, and have also had enough of dreaming of what they would do in Jodha's place, can you please lend me your eyes (with apologies to both Mark Antony and Shakespeare)😉? Okay, so here we go.
Perhaps the most delightful episode so far, this one was also an analyst's dream; it had just 2 noteworthy scenes, but boy, were they superb! These two bookended the whole, and both were unquestionably a showcase for Jalal the Shahenshah, wise and farsighted at one end, and wickedly flirtatious at the other.
Jalal & Mansingh: The soft thumping you might be hearing is the sound of me patting myself on the back, for having correctly predicted that Mansingh would get off scot free once more. I can understand why many felt that he would be bunged into jail, and that Jodha might seek his release after winning the chess match, but it feels good to have second guessed the CVs for once; it is rarely enough that I manage to do that!
The script has done Jalal proud in this scene, but Rajat goes beyond the script to achieve sone pe suhaga. His clear-eyed wisdom would be the envy of any ruler; he shows himself to be an excellent judge of human nature and of individuals, and he knows how to prize that all too rare virtue, loyalty. He sees that loyalty in the stubborn Mansingh, right now for Jodha, and in the future, he is sure, for himself. And so he binds the young man to himself with that strongest and most enduring of bonds, open-hearted and unquestioning acceptance and appreciation. As he places his hand on Mansingh's shoulder and looks into the boy's eyes, one can literally feel Mansingh, his own gaze clear, steady and untroubled by doubt, transfer to his new mentor his fealty for a lifetime.
Jalal's withering put down of Adham Khan for his temerity in reminding him about the harem kanoon - Kanoon humse hai, hum kanoon se nahin! - is both magisterial and masterly . The superb lines are spoken with the absolute authority of a true emperor. It is like a sledgehammer blow, and it knocks down not only its immediate target, Adham, but also, at one remove, the redoubtable Mahaam Anga as well...
Jalal-Jodha, or the Hamaam Follies: No two words for this; it is pure delight. Of course the opportunity falls into Jalal's (underwater) lap unexpectedly, but he seizes it with both hands. From the initial Takhliya to the hamaam attendants, he is on the ball, mischievous eyes narrowed as he contemplates the possibilities that her sudden descent on him might offer. And she walks right into the trap he sets for her.
He plays her like a Menuhin on a Stradivarius. He can sense the nervousness that makes her breathing fast and shallow; he knows most of what there is to know about women, even about one so juda, so alag as this one. So he refuses at first, taking the high moral ground of not being ready to lie for her, and listing all the successful demands she has made on him already, and her refusal to oblige him in anything he wanted her to do.
Then he waits. Waits as she hesitates, hoping against hope and unwilling to accept defeat so easily. And just as she reluctantly turns to leave, he times his call to the second Rukhiye!
A sudden switch to sweet obligingness; jaate jaate kehke jaayiye ki hamein kya kehna hai. Jodha is overjoyed and promptly produces a draft for him, which he accepts at once and undertakes to say it to her father. That does it; though she does not thank him, her guard is by now completely down.
It is in this moment of joyful relief that he lowers the boom; he has a shart this time. She can hardly refuse, having posed so many of her own, and even though she jibs at what he wants her to do, she now has no way out.
Master of the game: What follows in a symphony in languorous, wicked flirtation by a master of the game . The sidelong upward glance at her confusion, her discomfort at this first ever physical proximity to her handsome husband, that too in a state of considerable exposure, of the kind she has never before faced. The relaxed enjoyment as she pours the milk, very tentatively, over his shoulders. Taking the jug away and himself pouring it all over his face as he leans back, his strong features, clear thru the white stream, offered up to her gaze, which he knows will be focussed on him.
Then, just as she reaches for the empty jug, dropping it deliberately into the water, so that she is now forced to use her hands instead. Which of course takes much, much longer, even when she gets the hang of it and, seated right next to him on the pool edge, scoops up the water in both hands and washes the milk off his neck.
She looks sulky, pouting as she goes about splashing him, but it does not seem as though she is really angry. Perhaps the sheer relief at having secured the peace of mind of her parents is so overwhelming that it drowns her resentment at having been tricked into helping him bathe. Or maybe it did not feel all that bad after all !
Whatever it was, Jalal had a ball, and the expression in his eyes in the closing shot said it all. He achieved exactly what he wanted, to get his rebellious Begum up close and personal with him, and this without any chance of her refusing. Tactics and strategy were both impeccable, and it was a treat for us as well!...
Well, folks, a good bit of fun lies ahead, with our Petruchio and Kate putting up a convincing show of newly wedded bliss for the sake of her parents. As GenX says, ungrammatically but with infectious energy, Enjoy!!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
PS: A special Clairvoyance Award to Bhabhafan, who had actually hoped for a hamaam scene!😉
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This, I am sure, is more than enough for today. I hope you survive it, and even manage to enjoy it! 😉Adios, folks!
Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di
PS: One small request.If you like this post, please DO HIT THE LIKE BUTTON WITHOUT FAIL. I keep track of my regular readers, and this will help me a lot.Thanks in advance!
Edited by sashashyam - 10 years ago
!!! a to youuu ❤️ .. 
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