Friends, when I saw the episode yesterday for the first time at 8 pm I have to admit that I filled with disgust of the extreme kind. I wanted to puke, and my insides were churning with indignation.
I could not believe that I had seen a whole episode dedicated to showing Jalal falling head over heels for a dreadful looking woman - while his supposedly beloved wife was pregnant. I could not believe that the Creatives had even put her in the bathtub and make Jalal strip down to the waist and get into the tub with her. I couldn't further believe that they would make him moon like a lovesick calf over this bathtub scene even while Jodha was with him later many times, and he was speaking to Jodha of things like mutual love. I couldn't believe it again when he painted this woman's portrait compulsively almost ... and then in the DEK he stared mesmerised at her face when the wind blew off her dupatta. And then in the precap to make things worse, I didn't think he would leer at her with the look of an amorous luccha lafanga as he held her hand.
It was all laid on a bit too thick by the Creatives that he was lattoo over this woman and could not get her off his sick mind.
I got off the TV set and wandered around a bit not knowing what to say on my SMS updates which I usually do for my closest friends every night. "It's too much of a lattoo, it's just too much, why should the Creatives have gone so overboard in showing Jalal so lattoo? " I thought as my mind went round in circles.
And then something happened. I felt as if the answer was there in my question itself. Why did the Creatives want to show Jalal with so much "overdone lattoo" over this woman? If they wanted to show Jalal as falling for this woman a few pointers would have sufficed but why this over-the-top exaggerated overdoing of his lovelorn looks and lovesickness?
Then it struck me: "What if the Creatives were doing all this over-the-top stuff as a red herring? What if they just wanted to make the audiences believe Jalal was lattoo over this female so that they can then give the whole thing a twist and show that we all (including even Ruq and Jodha) were wrong about gauging how Jalal felt about this woman? Can Jalal's behaviour and repeated thinking of this woman be for an entirely different reason?"
The very fact that the Creatives had layed on this lovesickness of Jalal to such an unnecessary extent starting giving me doubts. "Maybe he is not lovesick ... but then what else could his expressions, his behaviour, his constant dreaming of this woman be about?" I wondered.
As I started exploring this path of thought, I saw the episode a few more times (yes, I am a self-torturer!) and when I saw Jalal's behaviour and feelings and expressions and dialogues again and again with a more calculative look to see what trick the Creatives may be up to, I saw Jalal's behaviour very, very differently ... and an entirely new theory hit me as a second possibility.
Most importantly, I saw every expression of his not as lovesick or "attracted" to the girl but "intrigued" by her. Where earlier I was seeing him as "mesmerised" by her I now saw him looking at her with a quizzing, questioning, look at her as if he was "trying to remember who she was as her face was familiar".
So what I have done below is I have given the whole episode update in brief. Then I have followed it by two theories that I have with me now on what is happening. I am just going to put out my two theories and leave it to you all to decide which theory best fits your mood, your own assessment and your inclination to believe.
If you believe in the first theory more, there is bound to be sadness, disgust, self-torture, dismay with Jalal's lack of morality, and despair over the Creatives!
If you believe in the second theory, you may get an inkling of how the Creatives may be playing a clever twist on you, Jalal's behaviour may be redeemed, and you may feel the storyline of Jodha-Jalal love is not lost after all.
As always, I like to be the cautious optimist so I believe more in my theory No. 2, but as an experienced serial watcher I will always be prepared for the worst that Theory 1 may happen too.
So here is the gist of the episode followed by my two theories:
What happened in the episode:
The episode begins with Jalal scolding Jodha for supporting Khyber and Jalal takes his mother's side on this. Further when Jodha also has stomach pains because she kept the roza without telling Jalal, he gets more mad and scolds her soundly for being too ziddi and never listening to him.
Later when Jodha is in her room feeling very upset over the way Jalal spoke to her, Moti tells Jodha that both Hamida and Jalal care for her and that is why they were both so upset with her. Moti also tells Jodha that her bath is ready and she can go to the hamam.
Meanwhile Ruq further poisons Hamida that Jodha has spoilt her roza by behaving so irresponsibly about her own safety and the safety of the waarises she is carrying. Hamida starts asking herself if Jodha has become so headstrong and indisciplined because Jalal is showing her too much love.
Jodha goes to the hamam presumably ... but doesn't spend too much time there as she is still too upset. She comes back to her room quickly enough to dress, when her mala breaks and she begins to dread an apshagun.
Meanwhile Jalal feels horrible that he has been rough with Jodha and decides to meet and make up with her. He is told she is in the hamam and so he goes there and in the dim light of the hamam, he sees a woman in the bath, playing with the water there. He assumes its Jodha, and strips down to the waist himself and enters the tub to frolic with Jodha. He goes from behind and hugs Jodha ... but then the woman turns to look at him, and its someone else entirely. But it looks like a face that imprints itself in his mind.. He gets mesmerised and stares at her, even as he asks "Who are you? And why are you here?"
Just then Jodha enters the hamam for she too wants to talk to Jalal and clear the air. But she is shocked to see Jalal bare-bodied in the water with another woman. Jodha begs pardon for her entry at an inappropriate time and tries to leave and trips a bit. Jalal jumps out of the water saying "Careful!" And then he proceeds to stutter and stammer to her that he thought she was in the water and he found someone else entirely. That lady is also out of the water by now and wearing her dupatta over head.
In Jodha's presence Jalal then asks her who she is? She says "I am sorry I fell in the mud and my clothes got dirty, so I came here to clean up." Jalal then tells Jodha, "You heard me, I didn't know who she was." Whether Jodha believed this story or not she just diplomatically said "You are the Shahenshah, I know you have the license to be with whomever you want whenever you want!" But Jalal then speaks to Jodha of their love and says why would he do that? He hugs Jodha ... but in his mind he gets visited by the visions of that woman in the bath!
Meanwhile the lady who has jumped out of the bath runs down the corridors of the Palace in agitation. "Oh my God!" she tells herself in trepidation "The Shahenshah thought I was Jodha Begum and hugged me!"
In the next useless scene we have a bit of a funny situation where Javeeda while practising sword fighting has completely rampaged Maham's room. She apparently is practising in case the darinda decides to kidnap her next!
Jalal is then seen in his room feeling pulled to complete the painting of Jodha he started. He starts vigorously drawing and painting but by the time he's finished, its turned out to be a painting of that woman in the hamam! Jodha then again drops by, and she asks for pardon for her behaviour from Jalal and Jalal too says sorry for shouting at her out of fear of the darinda doing something to her again. Both having said "sorry" Jodha is about to leave when she is startled to see the finished painting of some other lady instead of it being a painting of herself. "Who is this lady?" she asks Jalal? Jalal looks a trifle guilty as he says "I have no idea. It was just my imagination". Jodha congratulates him on the beauty of his imagination and leaves. After she's left, Jalal looks at the painting himself and says "This looks like that woman in the hamam, but who is she, and why is she intruding on my thoughts like this?"
Jalal is still staring at the painting when Ruq walks in with a loud "Subanallah!" Jalal says she suddenly frightened him appearing out of the blue like that. She says "What is there to be scared about unless you are hiding something?" He replies "You know me from childhood. What can I hide from you that you do not already know yourself!" She then looks at the painting and mistakenly thinks its Tabassum's work and compliments the artist. Jalal with a bent head and a guilty look doesn't correct her wrong impression! She then asks him to play a game of chess with her and he agrees. But even as she's clapping for the bandhis to bring in the gameboard, he looks back at the painting and gets lost in its thoughts.
Later in the DEK, Atga says a group of refugees have fled Kabul and come here to beg the Shahenshah for safe haven. Jalal tells the group he can do whatever the law allows him to do for them. Just as he is addressing the group, a gust of wind blows off the dupatta covering the face of one of the refugee woman and Jalal is shocked to see that it's that "hamam woman" again. He gets visions of her in the hamam again. He stares at her mesmerised.
The man accompanying the lady is miffed. He tells her to cover herself with the dupatta and asks why the Shahenshah is staring at her like that? She stammers back a reply "I have met the Shahenshah already". The man is aghast and says "What?" The lady then adds "I went to the hamam and he saw me there." The man then says "Pray to God that no one here sees you and the Shahenshah especially does not recognise you!" When Jalal then tells Atga he is ready to give safe haven to these people, the man tells the lady "Allah ka shukr hai that we got safe haven!".
By then Jalal moves into the crowd closer to the lady. He keeps on staring at her as he tells Atga to give jobs to these people according to their talents. He asks the man what he's good at and the man replies "I used to keep accounts at Kabul". Jalal tells Todarmal to give him a suitable job. He then again turns and starts staring at the lady. By now Ruq who has moved closer to Jalal sees the glances going back and forth - from Jalal to the lady and back from the lady to Jalal. There seems to be some "recognition of deep interest" in his eyes that Ruq notices which she could easily imagine to be a love interest and a compelling attraction.
In the precap, Jalal is seen smiling at the woman as he holds her hand. There is a look on his face of happiness as he looks deep into the woman's eyes. Ruq and Jodha are both in the distance watching him and the way he is seeming to react with lust and conquest on his mind regarding this lady!
MY TWO THEORIES LAID OUT:
Theory 1: If we believe the Creatives may risk showing Jalal as a compulsive womaniser
Here we'll assume that the Creatives of Ekta, in typical Ekta style, care a hoot for the concept and purity of love and they have decided to risk losing the audiences by making a totally callous track where even while Jodha is pregnant with twins, Jalal's roving eye get entangled with a new woman hitting his life. Jalal's repeated visions of the lady in the bathtub seems to reinforce the idea of a compelling attraction he is feeling towards. Later when he is talking to Jodha and even to Ruq his mind keeps going back to that bathtub scene, which adds to this impression that the feelings he has for this woman are physical.
In typical double-dealing he speaks to Jodha of love and hugs her but he still keeps having visions of this lady in the bathtub. He paints her picture as if by inner compulsion, and then he is driven to keep staring at her by going close to her in the DEK. She too seems to return his glances. Ruq seems to notice the amorous exchange. Later in the precap he seems to have a look of "I've got you!" in his eyes as he holds the lady's hand much to the consternation of Ruq and Jodha.
The conclusion we will reach if we believe the Creatives will do their worst on us?
We will be confirmed that it is lust in his eyes for this woman, he is historically-proven a womaniser, he is without morality that he can do this even as his wife is pregnant, and that he seems ensnared by this lady and her charms. He cannot seem to forget her!
I even saw posts on the forum talking of how this lady may be a trump card of Mahchuchak sent here to ensnare Jalal by hypnosis! God help us!!
Theory 2: If we believe the Creatives will not risk showing Jalal like an indecent womaniser
Here's an alternative possible explanation of Jalal's behaviour. Jalal sees this strange woman in the hamam, and her face teases his memory. Where has he seen this face before? It looks familiar and yet somehow he is unable to grip the issue. He is attracted to her, because he is terribly intrigued. His mind is therefore churning with repeated visions of her because he is desperate to place her but he is not able to.
It is someone he knows, for sure, for he is able to paint her portrait almost accurately after just seeing her once in the hamam. So how is it that he knows every detail of her face so well? He also asks himself when he is alone "Who is this woman and why is she intruding on my thoughts so much?"
The lady herself also runs from the hamam in agitation saying "Oh my God the Shahenshah mistook me for Jodha and hugged me!" It seems as if she already knows Jalal but is desperate to stay in hiding from him. The question that may be asked here also is: how come a refugee traipsing into the Palace goes straight to the Shahi Hamam and uses it? Does that signal some sort of royal background of this woman that she has the temerity to use the private rooms of the Shahenshah and his Begums? Is she familiar with the Palace?
This feeling gets further confirmed when later in the DEK, Jalal sees her again. By now the man next to her is clearly and obviously scolding the woman for showing her face openly, and he asks her to cover herself with the dupatta and asks why the Shahenshah is staring at her like that? She stammers back a reply "I have met the Shahenshah already". The man is aghast and says "What?" The lady then adds "I went to the hamam and he saw me there." The man then says "Pray to God that no one here sees you and the Shahenshah especially does not recognise you!" When Jalal then tells Atga he is ready to give safe haven to these people, the man tells the lady "Allah ka shukr hai that we got safe haven!"
Regarding the precap this is my reading: as Jalal has said, Atga gives jobs to these refugees that match their talents. The lady is probably a singer and gets a job as one. Jalal gets to hear her singing and in an instant the face and the voice fall into place for him. It is someone he is able to recognise from the past and it is someone to whom he has been very close (a favourite sister, perhaps, or a favourite cousin, whom he has only seen in childhood in Kabul and was finding it difficult to place her as she's grown up now - familiar and yet very different?) It could be that he therefore holds her hand and gives this smile of utter satisfaction as in the precap, looking deeply into her eyes, because he has managed to finally recognise her.
Following further on this theory its clear she and the man with her have escaped from Kabul due to persecution there and have tried to come to Agra incognito. So Jalal may also quickly size up the fact of not only who she is, but that she wants to keep her secret and not let the people at Agra really know who she is and why she has come.
I suspect that Jalal will therefore continue to favour this woman with smiles and maybe even have secret meetings with her to tell her he has found out who she is. All this will look to us and to Ruq and Jodha as if Jalal is secretly meeting a "gair aurath" and giving her romantically-attracted smiles and he is coochey-cooing in her ear. This would be a sort of reverse of the Sujamal situation. Jalal may be bound to keep the identity of this woman secret for her own safety, and yet he has found out who she is - and therefore he believes it's perfectly ethical and OK for him to be close to this lady without feeling like he's cheating on Jodha ... because this may be his own relative perhaps!
There's also this additional support for this theory. If Jalal should know this woman from childhood, so should Ruq, isn't it?
Now cast your mind back to the dialogue between Ruq and Jalal in his room about the woman in the painting. Jalal is still staring at the painting when Ruq walks in with a loud "Subanallah!" Jalal says she suddenly frightened him appearing out of the blue like that. She says "What is there to be scared about unless you are hiding something?" He replies "You know me from childhood. What can I hide from you that you do not already know yourself!"
Does that signal to you that this woman could be someone known to Ruq also - but only thing Jalal is teased by the suspense of who she might be, but Ruq is not teased by the lack of memory?
I think the Creatives will do three things in this track:
One, they will deliberately hang the audiences in this "disgust with Jalal mode" and lead us to believe that Jalal has a new love interest ... but they will ultimately twist it to give us a surprise on this woman's identity as his close childhood relative perhaps?
Two, because Jodha is showing a lot of interest in Khyber, the Creatives may also make a piqued and peeved Jalal deliberately overplay his secretive meetings and whispers and eyelocks and handholds with this woman heavily in front of Jodha just to make Jodha feel insulted and bad for supporting Khyber.
Three, Ruq, who is an eager watcher of Jalal's new apparent "lattooness over this woman" may be shown as ready and waiting to sow the seeds of sadness in Jodha's heart by actively furthering Jalal's liaison (and talks of marriage even perhaps!) with this new woman. Ruq may well tell Jodha that now that Jalal has made Jodha pregnant he is free to go play with other woman as he always does!
I think most viewers yesterday saw Jalal only from the angle of Theory 1. But I promise you guys if you read my Theory 2 and then see the episode again and again, you too will see what I see ... that Jalal is intrigued by this face he partially remembers, he then finds out who she is by her face and her voice, and he then helps her keep her identity secret for her protection - but in the process he gets deeply mistrusted and loathed by Jodha and us. And Ruq meanwhile tries to make hay while the sun shines!
Folks I want to say one thing here. I have seen serials for close on ten years and loads of Ekta serials too. I agree she is really horrible sometimes to the audiences with her tracks and twists and she throws ethics and morality and pure love to the winds.
But despite her reputation I don't think she will so badly sully the love between Jodha and Jalal that she reduces the build up of 300 episodes to dust. She will NOT make him lust for a woman while his deeply loved wife is pregnant! This is my firm belief.
Even I (as seasoned Ekta watcher) don't believe even she (the sadistic story twister) will go down to such a low level.
Take heart folks, this is probably just a short gut-wrenching twist. It will give pain but it will give TRPs, because no matter how much everyone says they will stop watching, believe me everyone will watch in secret!
And it's my feeling that the background of this the issue is not all that desperate at all! It's just someone Jalal likes and knows from way back and keeps on thinking about because he can't place her immediately ... and it gets compounded by his helping her to hide her identity after he's found out who she is.
It's just a reverse Sujamal track!
Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile
Fan Fictions
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
