Folks,
Those of you who still visit the Jodha Akbar forum, and used to read my almost daily episode analyses for Jodha Akbar between June 2013 and April 2014, would be surprised, if not startled, to see me popping up again, like Rip van Winkle😉, well after the serial has been (clumsily) wound up. It is not a long story, so here goes.
My very good friend Mandy (ghalibmirza) had persuaded me, somewhat against my better judgement, to write episode analyses once again for those watching the rerun of Jodha Akbar. This began on her Jodha Akbar Discussion thread at
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/zee-anmol/4447559/jodha-akbar-discussion-corner
and I have so far done Episodes 1-10. These were fresh ones for me, since I had posted first in this forum only 2 weeks after Jodha Akbar started, on June 30, 2015. I had thus done these new ones on a daily basis.
But from now on, I shall be doing biweekly posts for 3 episodes at a time, on Thursdays and Sundays.
As for reviving these posts in the main Jodha Akbar forum, this is in response to requests from some of my regular readers, who felt that there might be interest in reading them even among casual visitors to this forum. I am not very sure of this, but I am willing to make experiment, so here goes with the post for Episode No.1: Sound and Fury.
I send PMs about these posts to a certain number of regular readers who want that, and if you want to be included in that list, all you need to do is to send me a PM to that effect.
If you read this post or the follow up ones and happen to like them, do hit the Like button without fail. I want to keep track of my regular readers even if they are silent readers, and this is the only way I can do that. So please do not forget the Like button!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
_________________________________________________________________Jodha Akbar 2: Violence tactical, violence strategic
Folks,
This episode falls neatly into 3 parts: Jodha's shapath, l'affaire jootis, and the Jalal-Sharifuddin exchange.
I disliked it as a case of sustained overkill the first time I watched it. Om Puri having been cashiered by then, the burden of strengthening the Jalal as Jallad leit motif fell squarely on Jalal. And he went at it with vim and vigour, to the considerable detriment, on June 19, 2013, of the enamel of my teeth! Indeed, at times, the almost maniacal gleam in his deep set eyes reminded one of the Roman Emperor Caligula, always teetering on the edge of insanity (he was the one in the film Gladiator, and if you have seen it, you will understand what I mean).
Now, while that reservation still lingers, I can see method in what looked are first sight like Jalal's madness. For him, at this stage of the proceedings, this exaggerated edginess is deliberate and calibrated, not insensate rage or violence spinning out of control.
Nor is it sadism, ie pleasure in inflicting pain on another. It is purely and simply a calculated means to a desired end. It is the same whether it is the jooti chor at the receiving end, or his subedar Sharifuddin. But let us take the former first.
L'affaire de jootis: The opening shot in this sequence, of Jalal and Bairam Khan riding thru the streets, is very well taken and decidedly striking. Jalal rides with easy grace, almost a part of his mount, shamsheer in his left hand while he controls the reins with his right.
In the masjid, the stillness in his face as he does the namaz contrasts with his habitual, cynical, half sneer. He seems to be quite another man when communing with the Almighty.
Even as he emerges from the prayer hall and finds his jootis gone, the face is still, and the eyes are cold but clear. But it is the stillness of a rising anger that even the quips of his favourite Abdul (and what a special pleasure to see him again! Abdul, I have missed you so, far, far more than the original Motibai!) - Kehte hain ki jootiyon ke saath buri bhala chali jaati hai- fail to quell. Wo balaa bhi hamari hi thi. Koyi hamse hamari cheez bina pooche le jai, yeh humein manzoor nahin...phir chahe wo hamari jaan ho ya hamari joothi..
Violence tactical: Now we see what I meant by calculated edginess. I suppose Jalal did apply itr to his feet, but the tactic he uses would have been equally effective even if he had not done so. The point was not to smell the hands and feet of potential thieves, but to make the man betray himself by sniffing at his own hands. And Jalal pounces on the hapless chap, and offers the jootis in return for the truth. Agar jhoot, to zubaan meri.
The tactical violence of his khanjar at the chap's throat works, and belying his Khan Baba's pessimism, the jhootis appear. And Jalal laughs, his trademark, terrifying laughter. He tosses them back at the thief, but claims his feet in return.
Standard punishment: Now, there has been lot of alarm and disgust here about this brutal medieval punishment that Jalal metes out . This is understandable given our modern sensibilities, but it is uncalled for. In those days, such punishments for theft were routine, and even today, in Saudi Arabia, the sentence for theft, legal and codified, is to have the hands of the thief surgically amputated. At least Jalal does not cut off the chap's hands, and he is better off for leading his life with no feet than with no hands!
NB: Where on earth does that guillotine turn up from? It almost looked as if Jalal and Bairam Khan were lugging it around as standard equipment for such eventualities😉! Why not chop his feet off with a swipe of a trusty shamsheer?
Violence strategic: Be that as it may, Jalal sees the whole incident as part of a well thought out strategy, of undermining any and all opposition to him and his rule by spreading the khauf-e-Jalal as far and as fast as possible. He makes an example of the joothi chor not just to prevent further thefts, but to make the common folk in the areas he seeks to conquer, and their rulers, fear him as an article of faith.
That the spreading of such a reputation of heartless brutality is an effective political tool was proven earlier in the episode, when the Ameri soldier, talking to Jodha at the Kali Ma mandir, and Bharmal talking to Mainavati at the Amer palace, reinforce each other like a jugalbandi which ends up making Jalal out to be a kind of ruthless, all-conquering, invincible force of nature.
Soldier:Use koyi nahin rok sakta..
Bharmal: Jalal ki shamsheer hawaon ko kaat sakti hai..Use kisi baat ka dar nahin, ne maut ka, na jahannum ka, na qayamat ka ( a very strange lapse into pure Urdu!) ..
Soldier: Uski nazar mein jeevan ka koyi mulya nahin.. maut ka farishta hai wo..
Bharmal: Uski mitti shaitan ne buni hai.. Uske seene mein dil hi nahin hai..
And now the punch line: Kayi rajaon ne us se bina lade hi ghutne tekh diye..
So you see the advantages of this cleverly applied tactical and strategic violence - real and psychological - calculated to make Jalal feared to an inordinate degree. Whether all that is attributed to Jalal is true or not, whether he is really so omnipotent or not, is besides the point. All that counts is that he is believed to be so.
Given this level of fear, which has effectively reduced a (presumably) veer yoddha like Bharmal (please disregard the excess avoirdupois around his midriff!) to a mass of quivering jelly, calling out to the Almighty to send him a savior who could defeat Jalal, and scaring his wife to death in the process, why need Shahenshah Jalaluddin Muhammad fight at all?
Even if he had to, this fear in the minds of his opponents was probably, as weapon against them, worth a whole lot of soldiers! This is psywar, circa the 16th century.
The shapath: I had thought this too to be grossly overdone, but this time around, I realized that the very OTT quality of Jodha's reaction is really a cover up for her helplessness in the face of the twin outrage: the desecration of Kali Ma's shrine, and Motibai's attempt to immolate herself fearing rejection and disgrace.
Jodha does not question the physical weakness of her femininity, but she seeks to make up for it by the ferocity of her shapath, the apparent impossibility of which is both an extra spur action and a salve to her badly bruised psyche. In her cold, determined rage, Jodha, in the alternating shots of her and her bete noire, seems more natural than Jalal with his trademark half sneer.
The siren song: Jalal is in fact busy setting out his goals for Rajasthan. Yahan ke har zarre par hamara haq hoga.. Yahan ki mitti, yahan ka sona, yahan ki khoobsoorti.. sab hamara.
And then the indefinable pull on his whole being: Suna aapne, Khan Baba? Yeh Amer humein pukar raha hai!
Soon he will be off, in defiance of his Khan Baba's express instructions, and will launch himself on a very dangerous voyage to the heart of the enemy's territory, all in response to the call of Amer and of the Registan ki Gulab. Only, unlike the unfortunate Greek sailors lured to their doom by the song of the Sirens, apna Jalal will emerge triumphant from this mad adventure, watched over by his kismet!
Violence tactical: Sharifuddin: In this closing segment, everything that Jalal does is calculated to, firstly, make sure his subordinate is always kept off balance, never sure if he is trusted, and thus does not dare to take the slightest liberty with his lord and master. Ghulam sawaal nahin poochte, Sharifuddin, sirf baja farmate hain..At which Bairam Khan, normally distant and unreadable, casts an approving sideways glance at his pupil.
Secondly, to impress upon him that an emperor who seeks to write his own destiny with his shamsheer must never, ever let the control of his affairs slip from his own hands. So Sharifuddin, like his other subordinates, need never hope to take advantage of even an instant of such slackness from his emperor.
The whole spiel of forcing Sharifuddin to taste the meat personally before Jalal will eat it is meant to drive home the same point: Jalal trusts no one, and Jalal will ensure that he is both implicitly obeyed and feared. Hum hukum ki tameel chahte hain, tumhara jawab nahin...Bairam Khan looks on, amused and approving.
Then, Waqayi lazeez hai yeh (the grapes), par agar wo tumhare halak se nahin utarta, to tumhara halak abhi si waqt zameen par hota! One could hardly make a point more bluntly than this! No wonder Sharifuddin's face is ashen, even as Abdul smiles from the other side.
Finally, Hum Shahenshah se pehle ek yoddha hain. Aur ek yoddha kabhi apne dushman ko sambhalne ka mauka nahin deta.. Aur hum idhar isi tayyari ke saath aaye hain ki use tayyar hone ka mauka hi na mile..
The tactical code of action for Jalaluddin Muhammad could not have been put more succinctly, and the gleam in Jalal's eyes is matched by that in his Khan Baba's.
The prophecy: I have nothing to say about the OTT goings on between Shaguni Bai (with a strangely unlined and youthful face under all that junk of beads and scatty hair) and the hyperventilating Mynavati. Suffice it to see that they vy for the top spot for overacting.
There are two curious points. One, Mynavati calls one of the ladies standing around her jethani, which means the wife of Bharmal's elder brother. But she is not in white and is all decked up, so she cannot be a widow. If so , how come it is not her husband who is the Raja of Amer?
Two, Shaguni Bai seems to have left all her cowries behind when she sashays out, having reduced Mynavati to a hysterical fit of impotent rage. Mynavati later casts the whole lot down from the terrace. Does this mean that Shaguni Bai has an inexhaustible s
upply of the charmed cowries?
Caveat: I am going to do all these early posts as if I was still at the beginning of the show, without the foreknowledge that comes from a second viewing. Without this mental discipline, one cannot possibly enjoy them, as one would be overcome by depression at the thought of what is to come halfway down the tale. I hope you agree with me. Sandhya, Khushi, are you listening?
Ok, folks, this is it for today. It was not so bad after all, was it, Lavanya? And even if Jalal's sneer does not please you now, possess your soul in patience. Soon, very soon, he will be a D'Artagnan, face alight with bold, rakish glee as he catches his first glimpse of his Nemesis!😉
See you tomorrow!
Shyamala (B.Cowsik)/Aunty/Akka/Di
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