Folks,
Before we proceed to the main business of the day, let us dispose of the traditional Friday precap cliffhanger that is de rigueur for our serials😉. In this case, does Alexander have the kid in the crowd - the overweight (he must have been gorging on the Persian equivalent of fully loaded pizzas morning, noon and night😆) sassy kid of about eight who speaks in language fit for a teenager or older - really killed?
Even if Deepika had not dug up an Instagram pic ( at https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi9b8KmBA-o/?tagged=porus) of Puru and Alexander eyeing each other from 6 feet away, with a Macedonian soldier flat on the ground and Hephaestion an onlooker on the background, the answer would have been "No".
In the pre-instagram photo phase, my "No was tinged with a dash of uncertainty, for I do not trust this script at all when it comes to Alexander . However, on thinking the matter over, I decided that there would not be any kiddie killing.
For, as even Puru could see, Alexander had staged the whole event to trap the Bharatiya who was helping Barsine. Crowd surveillance, even with his eagle eye, had not worked. So he had jumped at the kid's rebellion - which he could not have anticipated - and tightened the screw one more notch. He was not aiming at breaking Barsine down, as Puru had guessed wrongly, for that would not help him locate the Bharatiya. She would merely open her saucer eyes to their widest and stare blankly at him.😉 So Alexander, once the kid surfaced, orders him executed in the near conviction that the Bharatiya would try to prevent the killing, and thus expose his identity.
The Persian pair poshi custom: Curiously, while I was reading about the resentment among his Macedonians towards the later Persianisation of Alexander, one key point made was this pair poshi demand of his to his own people, the Macedonians, who did not like it at all as they paid such obeisance only to the gods. There, it was mentioned that this was the traditional Persian style of obeisance to the emperor.
Also, as all of you would remember, at Granicus, when Alexander saved the Persian army survivors from being killed by Cleitus and took them into his army, they approached him one by one, as he was sitting on Bucephalus, and kissed his feet and thanked him. So clearly this script too acknowledges this Persian custom.
If that was so, why is Barsine goggling for all she is worth when Hephaestion announces the pair poshi (and showing the white of her eyes all around the irises, which does not suit her at all) as if it was something shocking to her?
Finally, reverting to the Instagram pic, I don't know about the child, but Puru has clearly knocked down the Macedonian soldier who was probably commissioned with the task of killing it. Hephaestion is standing by, so he is not involved in the dust up. The poor parents would have been terrified, and no one else would have dared to intervene.
Which is what Puru has done now, intervened to good effect. For the kid, and for Alexander as well, for his plan has paid off, and he has located the intruder. What remains to be seen is whether Alexander imprisons him or, when he is sure that Puru is from Bharat, in fact an original 100% Made in Bharat product, Puru use bahut bhaa jaata hai. 😃
To explore a truly hatke version of what niyati has in mind for this Odd Couple, please see pages 1 (from the bottom) to 3 of this thread:
upcoming episode pic , dose of drama from puru
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4989705
While you wait for Monday evening, you will be kept thoroughly entertained😆! Now on with business.
A tour de force: The whole episode literally belongs to Alexander. The 12:54 minute opening scene, in which he dictates his famous response to Darius' offer of a deal - half his kingdom, one third of his gold, and (the whole of😉 ) his daughter (presumably Barsine) - is a veritable tour de force. Rarely does an actor get so long a scene centred on him, and Rohit makes the best possible use of the opportunity to spread his wings as a performer. And boy, does he score high!!!👏👏👏
Rohit's Alexander literally chews up the scenery, pacing the room like a lion on the prowl, his lips twisting in a sneer as he reads Darius' letter, spewing searing contempt on the runaway Darius jo jang chhod kar bhaag jaaye, wo Shah to kya, sipahi bhi nahin ban sakta, an indictment that Barsine is invited to endorse, and apni shikast qubool nahin ki ja rahi, aur saudebaazi par utar aaye hain tumhare waalid!
Dictating the text of his letter to the bhagode Darius to Hephaestion as he circles the hapless girl, his head tilted towards her to taunt her as he goes on : Is saude ki peshkash karke, tumne yeh saabit kar diya ki tum ek Shah nahin, balki ek saudagar ho, jise Faras ki gaddi kismet se mili.
For the first time in this show, the former and repeated Persian attacks on Macedonia, with no enmity and no provocation from the Macedonian side, are referred to by Alexander. He cites the oppression and the looting of the Macedonian people by the Persians during these attacks. And now he, Alexander, had come to collect from Persia, sood ke saath, the cost of all those misdeeds.
A remarkable self portrait: Alexander is totally sure of himself, sure that he can sort out the situation even without having any direct knowledge of Darius' whereabouts. Sure of his abilities and of what he will do and he will not do.
It all adds up to a remarkable self portrait, which is not only a statement of his faith in himself, and why, but a political proclamation made to intimidate Darius further. It is also made with an eye on taareeq, history, for Alexander attaches far more importance to his name being enshrined in history for all time to come than to his having a long life.
So he makes sure Darius gets this point, that Alexander is now the Shah-e-Faras, and Darius should no more dare to call himself so. ...Jung hi nahin, sultanat bhi haar chuke ho tum...Alexander sultanat aur dosti jeet ta hai, unka sauda nahin karta..
He reminds Darius that he is no inexperienced youngster, nor an ordinary man. He is the son of the divine Zeus, the first Shah of Macedonia to crush the soil of Persia under his feet. Who has the armour of the great Achilles, and who, having unraveled the Gordian knot alone, can become the ruler of all of Asia.
He challenges Darius to be a man and fight him face to face, and dismisses Darius' offer with a cool assertion that Rahi baat batware ki, Darius had no longer any right to make any such offer, because Faras, uski daulat, aur tumhari beti, teenon mere kabze mein hain.
The tawny green eyes glow as he proclaims his ultimate challenge: Is duniya ke jangal ka main eklauta sher hoon, aur sher apna shikar baanta nahin karta, Darius! He gives Darius one month's time bhag sake to bhag lo, chip sake to chip lo- by the end of which, Alexander naam ka sher Darius naam ki lombdi ka shikar karnewala hai.. with Darius' family as eye witnesses to whether he manages to escape, or he loses his life at Alexander's hands
End of letter, and he exclaims: Ab aayega jashn ka asli mazaa! Chalein ? And the Persian ladies troop dutifully out after him!
The Macedonian Holmes : Now this is a major anachronism, like calling Kalidasa the Shakespeare of India, when he lived over over 1100 years before Shakespeare. Nonetheless, I can think of no other way to make my point, so please bear with me.
Alexander shows off his razor sharp intelligence and deductive powers by zeroing in on the present location of Darius with nothing to help him but the letter without an address.
The immortal Sherlock Holmes, brought to life by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1881 in A Study in Scarlet, would have been impressed by this imperial predecessor of 2214 years earlier, who operates on the classic Holmesian principles: observe every object minutely, use your card index memory and storehouse of data to assess the findings, and then use deductive logic to arrive at accurate conclusions.
Each element of data that Alexander extracts from the letter is linked to the previous one, and takes him one step further towards the solution: the condition of the ink and the cloth used point to a hot and dry place of origin, the scent of the ink indicates a provenance that is limited to a few places in Persia, and finally the decorative work on the box encasing the letter, unique to just one part of the Persian empire, brings him to the solution: Bactria. Bactria mein chhupa baitha hai tumhara bujhdil baap!
But this deduction would have been impossible without his thorough knowledge of the country, Persia, that he has not even travelled in till now, knowledge based on extensive reading and a comprehensive education at the hands on the great Aristotle.
This is not the only example of Alexander's talents in this direction. When the Persian bazaar catches fire, Alexander has just finished making his eloquent and appealing speech to the Persian populace. Barsine has been listening with a deadpan face, her face expressionless and her eyes downcast. As soon as Hephaestion explains how the fire was ignited, her face suddenly comes alive and she almost smiles, her face blossoming with a secret joy. Alexander is standing with his back to her, some twenty feet away. But his eyes rake the whole assemblage, and he also looks back at Barsine's smile, that fades as soon as she feels his gaze on her.
In that one instant, Alexander has not only deduced that there is something linked to the fire that has put new heart into Barsine, but has further inferred that the use of the magnifying glass is linked to some incident in Bharat, where Barsine was till recently, and to someone from Bharat.
As soon as he enters the Persian ladies' room now, he senses, from their desperate attempts to look normal, and from Barsine's folly in staring at the letter he holds rolled up in his hand, hinting at prior knowledge of it, that there has been someone else in the room who has just left.
He walks to the balcony, obviously in search of the intruder whose presence in the room he has surmised, in deliberate slo mo, and then surveys the surroundings with a meticulous attention that brings Barsine's heart to her mouth. He discovers foot marks on the ledge and under the balcony, and on the graveled path leading away from the palace , that confirm his suspicions that there is someone with whom these women are in touch, obviously to try and escape from his hold. Holmes too was a specialist in footprints!
But Alexander does not confront the ladies, that is not his way. He works on his own, and he will devise a method of catching the intruder independently of any inputs from these women. This leads him straight to the public gathering, and the pair poshi demand, as the best way of unmasking the Bharatiya plotter. The surfacing of the cocky kid is an unexpected bonus.
As Alexander sits on his throne with careless majesty, his eyes scan the audience like a laser beam, as sharp and as focussed. At this point, the sharp planes of his face set and his expression unreadable, with only his eyes alive and probing, he even looks like Sherlock Holmes!
A cat and mouse game: The whole sequence in which Alexander is walking down the corridor with Barsine is a one long cat and mouse game, in which he tries first to pin her down on the inconsistencies in their account of why they got delayed for the jashn.
Here again he displays typical Holmesian inquisition tactics -- only one window was open, whereas, if Drypetis had fainted, they should all have been open to let in fresh air to revive her. Why was this so? --as Barsine dodges them as best she can. If only the actress playing Barsine had been up to giving Alexander a run for his money, how interesting this scene could have been! But we have no such luck, for even when Alexander drips sarcasm camouflaged as concern - Hota hai. Kabhi kabhi ghabrahat mein insaan wo sab se aham cheez dekhna bhool jaata hai jo uski aankhon ke saamne hota hai, ie the indications of Puru's presence in her room, Barsine can do nothing but look down and avert her eyes.
Then there is a sudden switch to Aristotelian philosophy that must have confused poor Barsine even further. Zindagi aapke Faras ke kaanch ki tarah hoti hai, shehzaadi. Kab, kahan, kis cheez se toot kar bikhar jai, kise pata? Is he referring to her present plight, is it an indirect expression of sympathy, or is he referring to her father's impending doom? I think it is the latter, but Barsine probably thinks it is both, minus the sympathy.
Reason for Alexander's change of attitude: Towards the Persian royal ladies, that is. The contrast between the gentle, compassionate way in which he treated them in their tent and later seems to be at odds with the deliberate sarcasm, the hidden hostility and the inquisitorial attitude he displays now. Why this change?
Is it that the first was just a mask and his present behaviour is that of the real Alexander? And had Alexander spared the family of Darius only to gain leverage against him, and even, according to one far fetched argument, to locate his present hiding place? In fact, Hephaestion has been given a ridiculous sentence to utter, on the lines of the last point, which Alexander does not endorse. But it is left hanging in the air.
The analysis of this question has been complicated by the absence from this script of Darius' mother, Sisygambis, who had, according to recorded history, been present at Issus and had met Alexander there. It is as if a major character who did much to shape Alexander's attitudes towards Persia had never existed!
It has been narrated by innumerable contemporary and later Greek and Roman historians that Sisygambis loved Alexander far more than she cared for her son Darius- whom she in fact disowned and refused to mourn when he was finally killed by one of his former satraps. She loved him so much that she committed suicide when she received the news of his death.
If that relationship had been shown, no one, beginning with the CVs and ending with the viewers, could have seen what Alexander did for the Persian royal ladies as merely a political ploy to gain leverage against Darius, and also locate where he had hidden himself, the latter argument being totally illogical.
What leverage would holding these women give Alexander against Darius, who cared so little for the women of his family that he took them to the battlefield and then abandoned them to Alexander 's mercy? He would not have cared what happened to them if he could have salvaged half his empire in the kind of a deal with Alexander that he proposed. He was perfectly prepared to hand Barsine over to Alexander, the key factor for him was the half of his empire. No wonder his own mother despised him so much.
But Sisygambis cannot be used as witness for the defence, so we have to manage without her. Here then is my personal take on the matter.
Alexander is perfectly genuine in his attitude to Darius' family after Issus. He feels good about having been kind and compassionate towards them, whereas Darius had abandoned them to his mercy. In response to his honourable behaviour, he expects that they should, even if they cannot adjust to their change of fortune in a day - what he tells Barsine above hints at a certain measure of empathy and compassion for what has happened to them all of a sudden - at least shed their fear of him, and accept him at face value.
If they had done this, and come at least some of the way to meet him, he would have continued to treat them with consideration. He would not have mocked Darius in front of them as he does now - remember that he calls him the Shah-e-Faras when they meet in the tent - and while his response to Darius' offer would have been the same, he would not have humiliated Barsine & Co. by rubbing their noses in it.
But things start going wrong at the meeting with the populace itself. As discussed above, Alexander is now sure that Barsine is in league with a Bharatiya, and is planning to run away with his help. And Barsine is silent and sullen towards his overtures, and in general all the Persian royal ladies are frozen, standoffish and seem petrified at the sight of him. No wonder he gets cheesed off , and then there is Barsine's secret as well.
Alexander can be generous and compassionate, and in their case he wants to be so, but he cannot bear to be crossed. This plotting against him by Barsine, when he has been so good to all of them, turns the kaleidoscope upside down as far as he is concerned, and he becomes a mocking, sarcastic, inquisitorial and almost threatening doppelganger of his old self.
Even so, during their walk in the corridor, he seems to be making an attempt to reach out to her once more , by asking her about Bharat. But Barsine is still silent, and his patience runs out.
His face barely a foot away from hers, his eyes boring into hers, he tells her that no matter how many secrets she tries to hide, nothing escapes his eyes. He had brought her to that place taki tum Alexander ko achche se jaan sako.
Then comes the coup de grace. After seeing what was going to happen, he asserts. she would herself tell him Bharat ke us shaks ke baare mein, jisne tumhare waalid ko Bharat mein shikast di thi. She would also understand that Alexander did not wait for things to happen, but himself brought them to fruition. No wonder Barsine is literally struck dumb!
Puru: A new hope: For me, that is. I begin to think he is growing up at last, in terms of his understanding of Alexander, of which more below.
Also in his sudden display of interest, like an errant schoolboy rushing to complete his homework on time😉😉, to gain as much knowledge as possible about the Macedonian rananeeti. He focusses on weapons like the 18 foot Macedonian lance, the sarissa, on the light armour of the Macedonian soldiers that lets them move faster than their opponents (but then the Persian soldiers seem to be wearing even less armour!) and so on. I don't think that Raja Purushottam trained his troops in the usage of Macedonian weapons and tactics; he fought a classical Indian style battle, with elephants as his main striking force. But never mind, it was good to see Puru finally paying attention to the task he had come to Persia to accomplish!
That he is now more nuanced and balanced in his understanding and assessment of Alexander is evident at several points in this episode. He tells Laachi that Alexander will not harm Barsine and her family in any way because they are not his target, only Darius is. This is a drastic change from his earlier take on this matter.
Still, he seems to have no intention of abandoning his plan of rescuing Barsine from Alexander, which is odd and illogical. Perhaps he wants to abide by his promise to her and wants to go according to her wishes.
Puru has also developed an objective and genuine appreciation of the sharpness of Alexander's intelligence, and thus of his astute modus operandi. Thus, he is sure in advance that Alexander will locate Darius using the letter, which he had been expecting, and he is proved right.
Again, while they are standing in the crowd waiting for Alexander, Puru is quite clear in his own mind that the whole event is being organised by Alexander to smoke out the person or persons helping Barsine. But the refreshing, and unprecedented thing in this segment was that Puru does not share the cliched and predictable reactions of Hasti and the rest to the pair poshi demand, and instead makes a very sensible deduction about what Alexander is actually trying to do. There is hope for the boy yet!😉😉
It is more than likely that Puru understands that Alexander orders the killing of that kid only to draw the Bharatiya, ie Puru, out and make him expose himself, but in spite of that, he cannot take a chance, and he has to try and save the kid.
I am thus looking forward with more than usual interest to the Monday episode.
Bamni doing a Chanakya?: Coming to Paurav Rashtra- no, no, nothing about Shivdutt or Kanishka!😆 - and Raja Bamni, have you folks noticed that he seems to be doing a Chanakya? He seems to be directly negotiating with the king of Magadha, Dhananand, which was what Chanakya did in the first place, before he was insulted and thrown out, leading to his working to cobble together a different coalition against Alexander. Here, though Bamni is as unsuccessful as Chanakya was with Dhananand, he seems to be usurping the great Acharya's role, and there has been NO mention of Chanakya at all so far in this show.
This has become far longer than I had planned, but I hope you will bear with me! Please don't forget to hit the Like button if you get thru this one in good shape😉. Comments would be a welcome bonus!
Shyamala Aunty/Di
CID
