Folks,
Such a delightful episode should have a delightful ending, with persistent good being rewarded and arrogant evil punished. Why then the question mark, you will ask? Because I am not yet sure that the cat is in the bag, and even if it is, the cat-eyed Mahaam Anga has yet not used up even one of her proverbial 9 lives. Let us see whether she can still talk, or rather sob her way out of this one.
The one hopeful point is that the legal proof, or what passed for it in those days, is one thing. What matters is another thing entirely. Jalal once tells Adham Khan, in the matter of Mansingh violating the harem rules: Kanoon humse hai, hum kanoon se nahin. Hum jo kehte hain, wohi kanoon ban jaata hai. Similarly, whatever the degree of proof or the lack thereof, what matters here for Mahaam is what the Shahenshah believes. In that respect, the scales tilted as soon as Jalal takes a look at that portrait. And they tilted sharply against her.
I am almost sure she is going to create a diversion by using the Mullah Beqazi precedent, and claiming that it was someone else with bhuri aankhen like hers. But I am not sure that will work with Jalal now.
The Grand Accusation Scene-Part II- Conclusion: Earlier today, in my post about the last episode, I had said: No prizes for guessing what happens tonight, but it does not seem that the Agra palace roof was shaken by any fresh explosion of Jalal ka qahar. So perhaps he has decided to spart his vocal chords, and also realized - der aaye durust aaye - that there is nothing to be done with this Amer ki mirchi (courtesy Alakh and her mischievous toli) but to disregard her buzzing around like a persistent mosquito.
I am now in the unfamiliar position of being correct about a plot prediction. It was just as mild, relatively speaking, for a Jodha-Jalal encounter as I had thought it would be, and the palace roof was intact when it ended. 😉
Jalal even achieved the seemingly impossible, by getting in a rather neat crack about Jodha's makkari having alienated little Rahim. It must be conceded that it was Jodha who gave him the opening for that, by asking extremely leading questions of the child, which would have been disallowed in court by even the most inattentive of judges.
We were then treated to the equally unfamiliar sight of Jalal wondering, once he had got rid of his persistent spouse, Pata nahin Jodha Begum Badiammi ke peeche kyon padi hai, with the trademark puzzlement of the male of the species confronted with the inexplicable ways of women. There was a surprising degree of normalcy, so to speak, about that wry comment, very typical of a harried husband with a stubborn wife. Rage and frustration seemed to have given way to weary resignation!
Ambe Mata to the rescue: Kanha having apparently earned a day off after some heavy duty listening (with earplugs, of course) over the past week,😉 it was left to Ambe Mata to do the honours this time. And she did it in style.
The CVs have obviously got their act together again after the titanic upheaval in the Jodha Akbar team at Balaji, for they today managed to sort out several seemingly intractable problems concerning, in no particular order: the solution of the dibbi mystery, the puzzle about the pirbaba get up, Humayun's humshakal Mullah Beqazi, what Jodha was doing out in the streets of Agra, plus the belief of the viewers that the telecasters had got the precaps mixed up, for there could not possibly be a Jalal-Jodha scene that was so peaceful!
In the process they also
(a) provided an excellent, entirely plausible, and very favourable build up for Jodha Begum in the eyes or, to be precise, the ears of her patidev, who was till now convinced (almost exclusively by her, of course) that she hated him unconditionally and thought only of pulling him down at every opportunity. Yet there she was, dressing down a group of idle townsfolk in no uncertain terms for maligning the Shahenshah who, she pointed out to them , was their protector and father figure. She then hauled them over the coals for gossiping about the affairs of her parivaar which, she made it clear, were niji, and thus not open for public comment. The CVs further
(b) supplemented this with a very revealing comment to the aforesaid patidev, at the end of that very charming little exchange between the fake fakir and his real queen, that a patni did not like to see her pati begging for anything. No wonder that as she went her way, the fakir's mouth twisted in a curious and entirely pleased half smile.
Poirot at last!: To top all this, the CVs also fulfilled Mansi's deepest desire: to see Jalal do something effective re: the dibbi entirely on his own!
I am not sure he launched into this line of action because of Jodha's parting homily, that to get at the truth, one has to set aside all bonds and all mohmaya, ie that he has to set aside his unquestioning trust in his Badiammi. I feel it had more to do with his remark to Ruqaiya yesterday, that if he did not solve the mystery soon, people would start thinking of him as incapable.
Whatever it was, he did some out of the box thinking, and it worked. More important, even the very clever Ruqaiya had not thought of this tack, having bought the dibbi maker's assertion that he could not see anything of the buyer because the person was in a burqa. It was only Jalal who thought of what even a burqa still reveals, the eyes.
That he decides to go to the dibbi maker rather than summon him to the palace, and possibly put his life in jeopardy, shows Jalal's innate consideration for the man's safety.
To revert, it worked for him and for us. Besides the long awaited solution, we were treated to the spectacle of Jalal masquerading as a pirbaba/fakir. Admittedly, despite the best he could do in terms of a quavering voice, plus assorted pleas to the public seeking alms for a gareeb, laachar, bhuka Allah ka banda, he could not help looking like the rusht pusht, khaata peeta individual that he really was. Any more than he could suddenly sport a 6 pack just because he had to do a hamaam scene! 😉
But allowing for all this, it was great fun watching him, especially as he dived for cover when Jodha started moving his way. Earlier, as he spotted her scolding some other devotees of Ambe Mata at the temple for not keeping the premises clean, he must have said to himself: Again?!? Why, the woman haunts me! Thank God for this get up, for otherwise she would definitely have started haranguing me once more about Badiammi!😉
The eyes of Mahaam Anga: When the combined efforts of the dibbi maker and the artist (who had earlier painted both Jalal for Ruqaiya, and Jodha for Jalal, simply from the verbal descriptions) are in progress, Jalal's mounting tension is clearly visible; he is literally on pins, as stretched as a taut sitar string.
When the artist calls out to him that it is finished, he hesitates visibly; he is afraid of what he might see.
Then he steels himself, moves behind the two others, and turns his head. His eyes widen in incredulous disbelief: This cannot be! Are you sure these are her eyes? he asks, in a desperate effort at negation. But that escape route is blocked for Jalal, and the blow has fallen.
As he moves away and stands with his back to the other two, the storm of fury and grief that rages within him is revealed only in two lone tears that trickle down his cheeks. He wipes them surreptitiously, picks up the dibbi and puts it in the bag, and leaves the room.
He has crossed his personal Rubicon.
In the precap, Jodha has found out that the Shahenshah has ascertained that Mahaam Anga is guilty. This is possible only if he had conveyed it to her, but how?
In the final frame, Jalal is striding into the harem. The gut wrenching confrontation with Mahaam Anga still lies ahead. Also the trauma of a lifetime of trust shattered in an instant. For one who has had so few he could trust, the loss of this one will be shattering, and the wounds will run deep. Who will be his refuge from this emotional wreckage?
Shot of the day: Little Rahim's large, scared eyes looking up at the Shahenshah, while his body language vividly brings out the near panic that possesses him at that moment.
Question of the day: What on earth was the point of that entirely irrelevant and unduly long segment of Kunwar Pratap and Raja Bharmal? My best guess is that the poor chap hamming it up as Pratap, whose role in Pavitra Rishta disappeared after a 18 year leap, has been promised a certain number of days work, and they are simply filling in his attendance sheet.😉
Historical footnote about Maharana Pratap of Chittor/Mewar: Kunwar Pratap mentioned Halidghati yesterday, but this cannot be the famous battle at that site, for that was 14 years later in 1576 (the Jalal-Jodha marriage was in 1562)
Chittor was conquered by Akbar in 1568 after a prolonged siege, a jauhar, and the killing of all the defendants to set an example for the rest of Rajputana. It worked, for Ranthambore surrendered quickly the same year. However, Pratap's father, Maharana Udai Singh, had left Chittor before the siege, and moved to Udaipur, his new capital and base.
Maharana Pratap was defeated at the Battle of Haldighati in 1576 . Shakti Singh, Pratap's step brother, fought for the Mughals, but he helped Pratap escape after the defeat.
Maharana Pratap regrouped and resorted to guerilla warfare against the Mughal army, and did win back a lot of territory, but he could not defeat Akbar decisively.
Abdur Rahim Khanekhana, the little Rahim in Jodha Akbar, was also one of Akbar's generals, and was in charge of the campaign against Maharana Pratap in 1580.
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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