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)đ? 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.
In between,there was some fluff : a meaningless encounter between a demented looking Sharifuddin and a footloose Sujamal, and a reversion to her Mrs. Popeye avatar by Jodha's mother. The only relevant point to emerge from the former was that Sharifuddin is still scared stiff of falling out of Jalal's good books, thus not up to rebelling against him, unlike the film avatar, leaving such folly to the likes of Adham Khan.
The second was noteworthy for the resurrection of the term jauhar, which the CVs here seem to equate with suicide by burning oneself to death, whereas it was a highly ritualistic and very formal mass self-immolation by all the women in a Rajasthani fort when it was sure to fall into the hands of the enemy. It always irritates me to see its significance distorted, and it is second only to Jalal ka sar in my list of pet peeves in Jodha Akbar.
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 thatđ!
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.
She is panic-stricken, and afraid for the first time in the whole of her Machiavellian life (apologies for the gross anachronism, but I could not think of an adjective derived from Chanakya!) . Afraid, she whispers with eyes wide open in apprehension, that Jalal will cross the very thin line separating hate from love in his dil (whose existence is by now taken for granted by everyone in Agra bar Ruqaiya, who prefers his dimaagđ).
The fearful prospect of his coming to love Jodha is beginning to haunt Mahaam, and she is undoubtedly planning prophylactic measures, like the generous sprinkling of chilli powder in the food Jodha has cooked for Jalal. But you have to hand it to Mahaam Anga, the old witch has ten times the brains of anyone else in Jalal's entourage, she can sense things about Jalal and Jodha that the principals themselves are unaware of, aur woh bahut door ki sochti hai.
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.
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 allđ !
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!
The precap was one of the routine pieces of malice that litter saas bahu serials. I bet Jalal, though he would be sure the abundance of chillies was Jodha getting her own back for the hamaam trick, will eat the stuff with every indication of relish, to the utter astonishment and dismay of Mahaam Anga. She will then see doom approaching at a very brisk pace, while Jodha continues in a state of blissful ignorance. I wonder if she even finds out about it!
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!đ
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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