Friends, OMG, OMG, OMG! Jalal is back to being the flavour of the month! It seems while we were all blinking our eyes at his daily seesaw behavioural changes, saying: "Is he clever? Is he dumb? Is he clever? Is he dumb?" ... it was his game plan all along to string along Maham and Adham. And he wanted to use the Tasneem case to once and for all strip Adham of all his perks and positions and privileges in the Mughal Sultanate! And he was apparently doing all this in a cozy threesome with Ruq and Jodha as his co-conspirators!!!
When the penny finally dropped for Maham at the end of the episode, and all was revealed to us viewers also, I was left chewing my lips and wondering: "Should we viewers thank the Creatives for giving us back our strong Jalal ... or should we, along with Maham and Adham, hide our red faces, after we too have been taken for a long joyride?"
Folks, the quandary I am in now is to try and fathom how far back in the story we have to go to understand where this cozy threesome began their counter-saazish against Maham and Adham. Was the Ruqaiaya-Jodha enmity all a fake drama for the consumption of all, including us? Was Jalal's sadness and especially Ruqaiaya's sadness about the divorce all faked? Was Salima made to read a letter to Humayun just to create appearances of a sad and distraught Ruqaiaya? Was Hamida taken for a ride along with Gulbadan and JijiAnga about Jalal's impending divorce? Was the Maham stone throwing an accident or a deliberate act - or just a fortuitous circumstance used by Jalal PlusTwo Wives? Was the praja really irate, or were they instigated and incentivised to act irate? (Or worse, were they all drama-troupe extras? Hehehe!) I am hysterical thinking of all the possibilities here, because I have no clue as to where this Jalal Ka Masterplan began!
Here'a hunch: I think maybe all that we were seeing on screen was true ... until that scene where Jodha meets Jalal in the armaments room, and sees him distraught, and gives him the idea that Ruq should face the public. At that stage, Jalal is seen agreeing with Jodha but the scene cuts there, and in the next scene we see Jalal debriefing Ruq on what exactly to do when she makes the praja-speech. But in-between there could have been a whole lot more planning. Maybe Jodha and Jalal talked further and thought: "We must not only nail Adham for the Tasneem case, but we need to take stock of his behaviour as a whole. For Maham's sake we have been tolerating his rampant defiance of the rules of the Sultanate and now he has had the temerity to even question the Ruq-Jalal marriage as illegal and ask for a divorce. He needs to be stopped but in a way that Maham cannot hold us back from doing."
I am not sure, but at this stage Jodha may even have told Jalal about how she saw Adham and Sharif together at Amer as co-plotters - and since Sharif has now proved himself as a "bhaagi", maybe it was time to dish out the harshest punishments to Adham also before he can turn into a nastier piece of work than he already is!
Jalal then must have gone to Ruq and told her the Jodha plan, and also reassured her that Jodha was kosher and could be trusted as the third arm of the "Anti-Adham-Trio" and Ruq needn't fear a threat from Jodha etc etc. Ruq, in the happiness of her marriage having a chance at survival, thanks to Jodha's plan, must already have become well-disposed towards Jodha, although for misleading us and the world at large, she may have pretended to continue the tirade against Jodha. Cast your mind back, folks, to that very short meeting between Ruq and Jodha after Jalal tells Ruq to speak to the public. There Ruq is seen telling Jodha (to the hearing of many bystanders): "I will ruin your life as you have ruined mine". Look at that scene again and you will see Jodha makes no reply - but also does not look too rattled either! We missed seeing that detail yesterday. Could that be a telltale sign that things seemed to have been patched up between them by then?
I am fully expecting that in tomorrow's episode we may be given a series of flashbacks to show us exactly how Jalal-Jodha-Ruq planned the dethroning of Adham (and thereby also of Maham) and I am especially keen to see how Jalal made these nightly visits to Jodha (as Maham said she found out today!)
Anyway, it seems all's well that ends well! It looks like Jalal's immediate issue was the Adham-Tasneem marriage, his next bigger issue was the new law enactment, and his largest agenda was to strip Adham once and for all of all perks and positions in the Sultanate - all without offending Maham, and also by not alerting her as well! He achieved all this. Which brings me to the question: Was Maham also on Jalal's blacklist apart from Adham? Was he shrewdly trying to gauge her loyalty and reliability as well? Has he seen through her game? While he appeared to spare Maham and only nail Adham, did he by nailing Adham also nail Maham with a clever "one stone, two mangoes" strategy?
Okay, now for the precap ... looks like a Ruq-Jodha "lovefest" is now on the cards. Gifts and kind words seem to be getting exchanged. What does this mean for the impending "love letter track"? Don't tell me that Jodha's letter to Jalal is going to be read aloud to Jalal by an angelic and friendly Ruq? Or will the love-letter make this precap scene a one-day wonder? And will Ruq and Jodha go back to being alley cats?
Million dollar question: Will the love letter be written and sent tomorrow? Or is there something more to be sprung on us (e.g. long flashbacks of the Jalal-Ruq-Jodha saazish) so that we have to wait for the love letter track only by Friday? If I myself have no patience, I don't know how Riyya is going to manage till then!
Anyway, as if we didn't have enough high jinks already, here's a more detailed analysis of events today ...
Jalal and the public: how things were managed!
There were two scenes of Jalal facing his public. The first one was right upfront when he requested time from his people to address their concerns and the case ... and the second one was after he had punished Adham when he went to tell the people the issue was over. Yesterday Jalal seemed to shout about revenge on the public for hurting Maham, but none of that was visible today. On the contrary, in both scenes with the public, Jalal was focused, strong, authoritative and reassuring.
The first scene of Jalal with the public: The episode opened showing a concerned Jodha trying to tell Ruq that Jalal must be stopped from going and facing the irate public. In return, however, Ruq gives her some more pieces of her mind about her ill-intentions - and then adds for good measure that Jalal knows what he is doing, and he will do exactly what is needed in the situation. Jodha then accosts Jalal, who is pulling a bleeding Maham along to face the public. Jodha tries to say that Maham needs medical attention but Jalal just curtly replies that Maham is strong enough to take all this and he then proceeds to go and stand before the public.
The crowd is loud and angry and yelling and screaming for Adham's blood. Jalal at first seems to take on an aggressive tone with them saying "Look what you have done to someone I consider my mother. Why don't you guys throw stones at me instead! Go on, hit me!" The crowd however is still chanting Adham's name relentlessly, calling for him to come and face their wrath. Atga tries intervening, but until Jalal himself speaks again the crowd is not convinced.
People from the crowd say the law is untenable for them to apply retrospectively to their lives. Jalal then tries saying he too is under the law and that's why he has decided to divorce Ruqaiaya against his own will. But the public reply "We don't want you to divorce Ruqaiaya. We don't want the law to work backwards. We will follow the law going forward, but in return we need the head of Adham. He is responsible for all chaos!"
Jalal says he fully understands their ire, but he needs time to find a just and satisfying solution to this crisis, which cannot be had unless there is some peace to work with. The people seem to be okay with what they've heard from him and his tone of sincerity seems to appeal to them. They disperse, giving Jalal the time that he needs to work out justice.
The second scene of Jalal with the public: After Jalal has pronounced due punishments to Adham at the Diwan-e-Khas, he is then seen going with Maham and Ruqauiaya and Atga again to face the public, to round off the issue. He begins by telling the people that he has used the time they gave him to address the case to their satisfaction. He then tells Atga to read out the proclamation that seems ready.
Atga reads out that henceforth the new law against child-marriages by coercion shall be effective with forward effect. Jalal and Ruq will also not therefore divorce. The objective of the law is to protect the citizens and especially the welfare of their small children. The public seems happy with this declaration and nod in approval. But one of them then asks : "That is all very well, but what has been done to punish Adham Khan?"
Jalal then replies "Adham has been stripped of all positions he occupied in the Sultanate. He is no longer Subehdar of Malwa, his access to the Diwan-e-Khas and Diwan-e-Aam have been barred, he is now persona non grata and has been incarcerated." That seems to be fully satisfy the public who then leave with chants of "Shahenshah Zindabad".
All through the two scenes of Jalal with the public, I thought it was extremely interesting that he took Maham along to witness all that was being said and done. Maham was furtive and guilty, judging from the expressions on her face. In between these scenes, she had caught Adham trying to decamp from the Palace via Tasneem's house to collect her as he fled! But Maham had stopped Adham just in time to din some sense into him. Between the Maham who was witness to Jalal's first meeting with the blood-thristy public and then the second meeting where the public were silenced, Maham must have been feeling like she had saved Adham from death - delivered by Jalal or even by the crowd - by a hair's breadth!
Jalal, Maham and Adham at the Diwan-e-Khas!
I wanted to highlight this small but important scene where Jalal deals with Adham at the Diwan-e-Khas, simply because I thought it was a sort of climactic point of this track!
Jalal begins by telling an Adham, standing before him (with barely with any shred of remorse), that: "I have decided to deal with you strongly for hurting Ruqaiaya so much. I have planned to hand you over to the crowds for them to give you their street justice." Adham eys are glazed and expressionless, but Maham sounds very alarmed. She suddenly collapses on bended knees before Jalal saying "Please have mercy on Adham Khan, don't hand him over to the public. He is my son and your doodh-brother! Please have mercy!" Jalal's voice becomes full of menace as he replies Maham "It is for you that I have been tolerating Adham's misdoings for years, one after another. He has now even had the temerity to defy my orders, and question the legitimacy of my marriage to Ruq and called for me to divorce her. His misdeeds are countless."
Adham looks shifty, but again Maham intevenes " If you must punish him, kill him yourself, but please don't hand him over to the crowds. They will kill him by lynching and torture. You misunderstand his motives. He never intended to hurt you or Ruq or call your marriage illegal. He will confirm it himself to you." Maham then presses Adham to confirm what she said to Jalal.
After what seems an age, and a whole lot of pleading from Maham, Adham finally opens his mouth and reiterates Maham's words (saying it all as if he didn't like being forced to do this): "I did it all out of anger for not being allowed to marry Tasneem. I did not intend to hurt you or Ruq." But even then there was no remorse in his eyes, no hint of guilt and only more defiance. He said "Why after all my years of service to the Sultanate was my case singled out for the law to take effect? Why did so many other such marraiges take place without the law banning them. That was what made me angry".
Jalal was quick to reply that he had "lalkaro-fied" the Shahenshah and insulted his family and his marriage but once again for Maham's sake he would spare Adham's life - although Ruq being the aggrieved party could choose whatever punishments she wanted to give him. A dutiful Ruq then handed back the issue to Jalal saying "You are the best one to decide for me what his punishments should be".
Jalal then, with Ruq sitting beside him in solidarity, stripped Adham of his Subehdari of Malwa, denied him privileged access to the Diwan-e-Khas and Diwan-e-Aam and removed all his other positions, perks and privileges to reduce him to the status of a common man. He asked Atga to recover all his official mohurs and armaments and keep him incarcerated until further orders.
Maham watched gobsmacked as he was led away by the soldiers. Jodha, Ruq and Jalal looked like a huge challenging chapter of their lives had come to a conclusion. Is this the beginning of the end of Adham Khan?
My analysis of the real weaknesses of Adham and Maham!
One important point that strikes me about Adham, is that Adham has got himself trapped not by his saazishes and wiles, his devious mind or even his barely-controlled thirst for the takht. In fact, he has got trapped by his weakness for women, especially baandhis!
He started his fall from grace with the chase after Moti Bai. Then in Amer he was seen plotting and planning with Sharif - and it was when he got distracted by Jodha disguised as a baandhi that he let loose his tongue saying too much that could implicate him. Now he has fallen for Tasneem, again a baandhi, and that has snowballed into this whole case against him, the new law, the insult of Jalal and Ruq and the stripping of every vestige of power from him. As Maham has also said to him today, his weakness for baandhis seems to be his doom. I know that history attributes many other faults to him, but from what we have seen so far, this baandhi-weakness seems at the bottom of most of the faults he has got into and then been unable to get out of!
Maham's weakness has also been exposed as the tendency to underestimate Jalal, Ruq and Jodha. She seems to be shocked today that Jalal has pulled off this huge ruse against her involving a magnitude and complexity she would have not believed him capable of. And he has clearly done this in concert with Ruqaiaya and Jodha, judging by the scale of the operation - and this despite Maham herself trying very hard to split Ruq and Jodha by turning them against each other. Maham seems to now believe that her attempts to split the two women was neutralised by Jalal himself, who cemented them back together to form a team. It therefore must be her realisation also that Jalal knows exactly what she is up to and is staying one step ahead of her all the way!
Maham's suspicions seemed alerted only after this proclamation was read out to the public by Atga immediately after the Diwan-e-Khas session ended. Royal proclamations of that sort would normally take a few days to be promulgated, it appears, but the fact that Atga was able to read it to the public immediately after the punishments on Adham were pronounced seemed to tell Maham that Jalal must have had it all sewn up days in advance. The whole show had been stage-managed to hoodwink her and Adham and lead to circumstances by which Adham's ambitions to get more powerful and defiant could be stamped out once and for all!
I think its rare for us to see a scene where the penny drops like this for the biggest villain of the serial, so we must all make the most of this moment. Tomorrow is another day and Maham will be back with a bang again, and will probably be more fleet-footed than before - because she is now minus her son who was her biggest liability. Let's celebrate when we can, that the hero and the heroine and the sauten have together done in the villain- for the time being!
Cricket
Bindi
