Jodha Akbar 39: Shahi Shaadi 5 - Storms brewing - Page 5

First, I am so glad that you share my views on this point.
Secondly, while the scenario you propose would be, shall I say, full of possibilities😉, there would be no toned body for Jodha's delectation, unlike in the scene of Hrithik's Jalal practicing swordplay while Aishwarya as Jodha looks on secretly.

This Jalal is always fully clothed,and in that hammam scene, what one saw of him looked not like an Adonis with a six pack, but more like a very goodlooking, khaate peete ghar ka ladka. Rajat should knock off a few kilos and exercise specifically to sculpt individual muscles for good definition. I should know, I have a 6 pack obsessed son!

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Originally posted by: Bhabhafan

"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."

Beautifully predicted. I think he realizes that somewhere deep inside hence has been a little lax with Jodha.

It will be interesting to see a sequence like: Akbar forcing Jodha to wipe his body after a bath and seeing her reaction to a toned body... something like that.

Shyamala Aunty,

I'm disappointed that our views are so different, but hopefully the writers will slowly add to Jodha's character so that we can mesh on her... its my hope they actually make her stronger than they are showing her, and not quite so innocent and naive. Although living in that harem has to definitely open up ones eyes...lets hope Jodha learns and learns quickly.

Shyamala Ji, I have been catching up with the episodes. Let me say that I may have been behind in watching the show but always keep up with your lovely posts.

No, Sonya, you should not be. In fact I was quite pleased to see you stick to your guns, however unconvincing some of your arguments, like the 21st century one that she owes nothing to the marriage, might sound to me - or to someone of my generation who places a premium on impeccable dignity in public behaviour.

What if Jalal were to say the same, accuse Bharmal of having sold him defective goods, and attack Amer again? We know he won't, but how can she be sure of it given that she thinks of him as a monster?

To revert, and a premium on keeping your cool no matter what the provocation. This comes more from my lifelong training as a professional diplomat, where, in tough negotiations, the one who loses his cool loses the game.I have held my peace and maintained a poker face when I would have cheerfully murdered my interlocutor. for I could not afford to let it be seen that I was angry..

Now, I do not want to set you off again, but I do not at all see Jodha as weak., and thus as needing to become strong. It is rather that to my mind, she is not practical and clever in making the best of the situation she is in. The situation is there to stay, and will not go away because she hates it.

Plus she is often childish. She reacts impulsively and excessively, and in the process jeopardises the interests of her people, if not her own.

After listening to that clear warning from her mother, she comes out. lets the obviously vicious Mahaam Anga get under her skin, and burns that dress. She then tries to get out of the marriage thru the sharts, without thinking thru what would happen to Amer if Jalal lost interest in it after giving up the idea of marrying her, and left them to Sharifuddin to handle.

None of this jells with her stated determination to do whatever it takes to save Amer. And it is no use saying that she is 17; if she is old enough to rejoice at the prospect of having Jalal ka sar at her feet, she is old enough to think the above out.

This sort of idiocy irritates me, for I like a woman to be stronger and cleverer than a man (which is not too difficult most of the time!😉). Jodha is dignified and mature with everyone else, with Hamida Banu and Mahaam Anga and Ruqaiya, in fact with everyone except Jalal. She is not able to be cool and dignified and at the same time polite and proper with him, which should be possible even if she detests him, as she has every right to do.

That would put her in a position of superiority in her dealings with him. And she cannot avoid dealing with him, for she can hardly imagine that she is going to be left peacefully to her own devices.

In fact, the lines given to Jalal in her nightmare show that she fully understands what it is in her behaviour that he resents, so it is not that she does not know it. She has to work out, coolheadedly, how she is going to handle him, and not give the standard imitation of an ostrich.

It is not just because she has married into an alien culture. All Rajput mothers in law would not have been like Suryabhan's mother. She could have landed with a terror, and she would still have had to cope as best she could; there would have been no question of going crying back to Mamma.

That is pretty much the sole point on which I criticise her. Otherwise, my heart goes out to the poor kid, marooned in a sea infested by sharks. But she has to learn to handle it practically, not emotionally, and find cards of her own to play against the likes of Ruqaiya. She is fully capable of it, see the way she handles the second hand gift she gets from her!

And against Jalal as well.

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: SonyaBlade

Shyamala Aunty,

I'm disappointed that our views are so different, but hopefully the writers will slowly add to Jodha's character so that we can mesh on her... its my hope they actually make her stronger than they are showing her, and not quite so innocent and naive. Although living in that harem has to definitely open up ones eyes...lets hope Jodha learns and learns quickly.

Not consciously, Rose, I don't think she is.

She is now between a rock and a hard place, for the restraint her husband showed the previous night when she refused to sing in public seems to have inexplicably vanished (inexplicable to her, that is) and now she has to cope with this very embarrassing situation the best she can and recover some measure of self respect.

Whence that song, and it does serve her immediate purpose. The irony of it is that those lofty sentiments do not apply to Amer or to her father.But I doubt if she has thought that thru at all.

In fact, she does not seem to ever think anything thru; it is all kneejerk reactions. Her hatred of Jalal is for example, an axiom that she sees no need to analyse and think thru. Motibai does that better than her mistress! Remember what she says to Jodha about Jalal long ago?

Shyamala Aunty

Originally posted by: Autumn_Rose

Jodha can be such a hypocrite..

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Thank you, my dear Chahat.

This Ruqaiya is a caricature, and so nothing can be done to salvage her, alas!

It was disgraceful of Jalal to make his wife sing in public, and that would have shamed not her so much as it did him. But one of the prerogatives of being an emperor is that you define what is right and what is wrong, what is disgraceful and what is not. But in the real 16th century Mughal court, this would never have happened.

But there is another likely angle to this. I am almost sure that to begin with, Jalal did not plan to ask Jodha to sing, When Ruqaiya complains that Jodha nearly turned down her tohfa, he grins in amusement at a women's squabble, he does not side with Ruqaiya against Jodha. She sees that at once, and immediately shifts tack to the sole, ultra touchy point,his pride as am emperor. That hits home, and it is then that he decides to make Jodha sing in public.

Moreover, the funny thing about Jodha's paean to Rajput valour and their sar kataa sakte hain par jhuka sakte nahin motto was that she is the living rebuttal of all that she lauded in her song. She has, to put it bluntly, been traded by her family to save their backsides and cover up their military incompetence. Even the boastful Suryabhan. He was defeated fair and square by Sujamal, and in a real battle, would have been killed on the spot; there would have been no need for Sharifuddin to spear him from the back.

So what dauntless valor was Jodha singing about? If Jalal had not been the Emperor, he could have brought her down to earth by pointing that out publicly. I don't blame her for trying to salvage something out of that fiasco he had created, and to turn the tables on him, but what she was singing did not apply to her family at least! I wonder if she realises that.

Shyamala Aunty

My dear,

My apologies for not having ackded this interesting and perceptive post and replied to it till now; I have been considerably under the weather of late with my eyes.

One point, re: your As he realizes that yes indeed he does have a heart and is as vulnerable as other mortals will he then run for cover.

Yes he will, and will fight this perceived weakness - he always sees mohabbat as a crippling weakness - tooth and nail. He will lose in the end, but it will be a hard fought battle, for it will be against his own ego and that is, as all the wise ones say, the hardest battle of them all.

As I agree with practically everything else that you have said here, I can take it easy!

I would be much interested in having your take on my lastest Jodha Akbar 43 post. Do take a look at it - I have PMed you - and let me see if you agree with me.

You do have a yummy id!

Shyamala Aunty (or Di if you like)

Originally posted by: peachesandcream

Shyamala Ji, I have been catching up with the episodes. Let me say that I may have been behind in watching the show but always keep up with your lovely posts.

I had typed up a lengthy response to you but pressed something and it all was erased. So I will be brief. I agree with your points.

This episode was not as good as the previous ones. It must be taxing to produce a daily serial so this must affect the quality of episodes.

Unfortunately Ruqaiya has lost her layers that allowed the viewer to sympathize with her and respect her and has turned into an annoying vamp.

Harem politics were introduced and are of course inevitable but I hope we see less emphasis on this and more emphasis on the changing dynamics of the relationship and overall political situation of the times. The CV's need to keep in mind that harem politics are particularly distasteful to viewers of this century.

I agree that perhaps Jodha's choice of song was irresponsible, yet my knee jerk response at the time of watching was to applaud her. I felt Jalaal was deserving of a set down the way he forcibly dragged her to perform even though she had refused earlier. Emperor or not he needs to respect his wife. Having said that, if I step into a time machine and consider Jodha's situation in her time, I would say she should have behaved with better discretion.

I enjoyed the Man Singh scene. His repetition of Adham Khan's words without making any accusations let the facts speak for themselves.

Paridhi did very well in the nightmare scene and her fear was very realistic. Rajat could tone down his malevolent expressions a bit though. He does very well with other emotions.

At this point the story has been nicely set up. It remains to be seen where they go from here. Jalaal at the point is angry and frustrated but intrigued and attracted. I think he will try to do what he can to elicit a response from her. He is not used to such a lack of response and feels the need to break her barriers. As he concentrates on getting her attention will he feel, as Mr Darcy did towads Elizabeth, the danger of paying her too much attention. As he realizes that yes indeed he does have a heart and is as vulnerable as other mortals will he then run for cover. It could be a very interesting journey if handled well.