I know that I am very late with this one, but I still hope that it will be of interest to some of you. I thought of doing this only because, contrary to the general feeling in the forum that this past week was a bit of a let down after the strong episodes of the week before, I felt it was revealing and productive in many ways.
The whole of the week, Jodha Akbar bubbled and boiled like a witches' cauldron, while bits and pieces of plots and intrigues floated to the surface of the brew and then disappeared again. The overall impression was one of flux, but of a flux on the very edge of upheaval.
The long overdue explosion came in the precap on Friday, with Jalal staring, cold-eyed and implacable, at a Bairam Khan who seemed to have decided the prove the old adage, Vinaasha kaale, vipareeta buddhi (or its Western equivalent: those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad). This scene will be a landmark, heralding Jalal's coming of age at long last.
Let us take each of the power plays one by one.
Jalal-Bairam Khan: If I was to pick the best scene of the week, it would not be the hamaam one over which so many young ladies here are, predictably, in ecstasies (at the risk of being pelted with rotten tomatoes, I would say that Rajat needs to work out more in the gym and try for at least 4 pack abs, if not 6 or 8. Right now, when exposed, front or back, he looks like a very nice, khaate peete ghar ka ladka!😉).
It would be the one in which Jalal, confronted by Raja Takhtmal and learning that his father owed his life to the Raja, thinks deeply, absorbs his Khan Baba's vituperative asides, and falls back on his own ingrained sense of justice when he declares at last: Inhe riha kar do (Note the change, due to the gratitude he feels for the Raja, to a respectful mode- he does not say Isko, and he adds Yeh jiyenge) .
He nails down this display of independence when, reacting to Bairam Khan's (extremely ill-advised) attempt to browbeat him, he says bluntly Nahin, Khan Baba! This act of self-assertion amounts to a crossing of the Rubicon, and it is all the more remarkable for the contrast to his behavior so far.
Jalal attaches so much importance to the three crucial relationships in his life (Mahaam Anga's face was a study as Jalal enumerates them, putting her last; the relief that floods her eyes and her whole being at finally making the cut was a sight to see!) that he cuts his Khan Baba a lot of slack, far too much for Bairam Khan's own good. Thus, he tolerates Bairam Khan's overt impertinence when he turns and leaves the Emperor's presence abruptly, wihout so much as by your leave or a salutation, as Mahaam Anga is quick to point out. Instead, he goes so far as to regret even the mild protest he had made to his mentor - Main unki badaulat hi to hoon.
This remark, which must have made Mahaam Anga's palm itch to land Jalal one of the ringing slaps she later bestows on her son Adham, is a very revealing one as far as Jalal's character is concerned. He is grateful for any and all kindnesses done to him. This is remarkable and rare in a king, for kings have a highly developed sense of entitlement, and see the loyalty and devotion of their followers as no more than their due; gratitude is out of the question. Not so with Jalal, and this is an innate quality that has always been there.
He has had very few in his life so far whom he could see as his own, and he does not want to lose any of them. He is like Shanaya in SOTY, he does not like to break a relationship. But this trait, which is endearing in an individual, can, in an emperor, become a major weakness. As it does for Jalal, with both his mentors.
So, even after he overrules Bairam Khan over Takhtmal, Jalal still refuses to think ill of his Khan Baba, till Bairam Khan himself, by his blatant flouting of the Emperor's decision, makes it impossible for Jalal to continue doing so (it is another matter that had Adham Khan not been lurking around when Bairam Khan and his cohorts hang Takhtmal, Jalal might not have crossed his personal Rubicon for a while yet. Why is it that Adham Khan, standing there as large as life, is not spotted?).
By the end of the week, this power play had ended: Bairam Khan had destroyed himself thru sheer stupidity and overweening conceit.
Bairam Khan- Mahaam Anga: These two worthy adversaries are always, metaphorically speaking, at each other's throat, and I was pleased that this week too, the female of the species ran rings around the male, punch-drunk as he was on his own arrogance.
The Zaheer ploy was a stroke of sheer genius - placing the lady on par with the masters of intrigue of Renaissance Italy, like Catherine de Medicis, who too had a penchant for poison in rings . That it did not work out fully as she would have hoped for was due to Jalal's mulish attachment to his Khan Baba.
But the lady, who is nothing if not tenacious, plugs away regardless. Her homily, and in particular her insistence that Jalal should show the awaam that he makes his own decisions, obviously go home, for when Jalal later turns Bairam Khan down over Takhtmal, the argument he uses is that of public opinion.
As for poor Zaheer, death must have come as a blessed relief from acute physical and mental suffering, so we need not feel too sorry for him. It is, however, strange that Jalal, who keeps himself personally well informed by his spies about political developments, like the confabulations of the Rajput clans led by Amer, has not thought fit to keep himself similarly abreast of the happenings in his own household. This is again a symptom of his excessive dependence on a mentor.
By week end, Mahaam Anga had clearly triumphed in this power ploy, but it was as much a case of Bairam Khan committing political suicide as of her winning.
Jalal-Ruqaiya: There was a lot of sparring and teasing and displays of intimacy between them all week, and it was not really Ruqaiya's power ploy against the Emperor. Rather it was Ruqaiya vs the rest of the harem, and once against Mahaam Anga. She came a cropper in the latter for no fault of hers, but she made a quick recover during the hamaam scene, putting Jalal thoroughly on the defensive, and this very prettily and without bruising his ego, something of which she is generally none too careful.
As for the rest, she made mincemeat of them, especially at the Meena Bazaar, and did not fail to rub it in either. For her, they hardly count for more than a nuisance that she, confident in her hold, be it only of the mind, on Jalal, can afford to brush aside with contempt.
But while their inchoate hatred and ill-will might not touch her, and Jalal is willing to overlook her many near impertinences because of his fondness for his only childhood playmate, I felt that she is at times squandering her hold on him and pushing her luck too much. He is not just a man, with the normal masculine ego. He is an emperor, and a famous warrior who has never known defeat. Whatever his indulgence towards her, it cannot be presumed upon heedlessly without eroding it. And when she gets around to grasping this, it might well be too late.
I thus could not understand her leaving him - when she is seeing him after months! - to go off and settle a harem squabble. Or her making him wait till she saunters into the bedroom at her leisure. Or her turning her back to him and pretending not to notice him at the Meena Bazaar till he comes to her khema and stretches out on the divan next to her. These gestures smack of unseemly arrogance, and this when it had been brought home to her , in the Zaheer affair, how much her own standing in court depends on him.
It is true that theirs is a very strong and long lasting relationship, which as she herself says, cannot be easily damaged. I was amazed and impressed by Jalal's immediate regret at having ticked her off in public, and even more so by his unreserved apology to her later. With those few for whom he cares, he has no ego.
Plus, he loves Ruqaiya in his own way, for the core of all love is caring for the feelings of the loved one. In his apology and all the assurances of regard and affection he gives her, he shows that he does care, deeply, for her and her feelings.
The problem, to my mind, is that she does not - bar the instance of the portrait, where she is, for once, gentle and demonstrative - show a similar caring for him. Their interactions are more like mind games, where she mostly wins and he does not, contrary to his usual mindset, seem to mind losing. There is no indication, on her side, of a deep need for him to be with her, as a person she loves, not only as the emperor.As for him, he thinks first of her for advice when he faces a dilemma, but that seems to be more as a trusted and valued confidante and a very dear friend than as a beloved. Neither haunts the consciousness of the other.
This does not mean that there is no love between them. It is rather that it is what Mira Nair described in her wonderful A Monsoon Wedding as 'old shoe love'. The affection and caring that comes with a long association, that is warm and enduring, but without being a desperate need, a clinging, an obsession. This comes thru very beautifully in the scene with the chadar and the jooties. It was exactly the kind of domestic squabble that can be expected between a happily married couple of long standing, who do not need to indulge in romantic niceties with each other at this stage (if these two ever did, which I very much doubt!).
But when a sudden, new obsession takes hold of one of the two, usually the husband, this is the kind of relationship that is the most at risk. Especially when the new obsession exposes the man to unfamiliar emotions and hitherto unknown delights. Today, this would end in a divorce. Jalal has it easier, that is all, for he can keep both the old and the new.
He will surely ensure, when he falls in love with his new begum, Jodha, that Ruqaiya suffers no loss of face or prestige. But I suspect that when she faces this situation, Ruqaiya will realise that it is not just Jalal who has suddenly discovered that he has a heart after all, but that she has one too. A heart that is not content with ruling Jalal's mind. That will be her personal tragedy and her personal heartbreak.
My usual questions:
- Why on earth is the blind and suffering Zaheer lugged all the way from Rajasthan to Agra? So that Mahaam Anga can do her number, thru him, on her three targets?
-How is it that, given the strict code ki ladki ke sasural mein paani bhi nahin peete, all of Jodha's brothers not only land up at the Bhanpur palace but seem to have no qualms about accepting her sasural's hospitality? I am not even touching on the lovey-dovey scenes between Jodha and Suryabhan, actively encouraged by his mother, all which would be unheard of in those times, and even today in very conservative families.
- How does the otherwise astute Mahaam Anga get the idea that she can foist her son, who does not have a drop of royal blood in him, on the awaam and the court as the Shahenshah? As for the ringing slap she lands him, I did not think that was soapish or excessive.He is obviously very headstrong and equally stupid, and I do not think anything short of that would have had the least impact on him.
Pleasing moment: When it was finally made clear to the viewers that Ruqaiya, as the granddaughter, in the paternal line, of the Emperor Babur, is Jalal's equal in birth, and not some airi gairi childhood playmate who got to marry him.
Nostalgia bit: Ruqaiya's clever quip to Jalal about what she wants to be - a girl before whom dost apna dil, shauhar apna imaan, aur shahenshah apna sar jhuka de- was clearly inspired by the classic lines from Mughal-e-Azam, where the sculptor, Sangtaraash, describes the statue he has made (which is really Anarkali covered in plaster) as one jisey dekh kar shahenshah apna taj, sipahi apni talwar aur insaan apna dil nikal kar uskay kadmon mein rakh degaa. I must say that Ekta's guys have got it better!😉
Shyamala B.Cowsik
NB: I do apologise for this excessive length, and promise to be better behaved in the future!😉
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