Jodha Akbar discussion corner! - Page 18

Originally posted by: harrybird

@ Sandy - Jallu's reaction to your post

PS :

Naved Aslam (Bairam Khan) is now playing Bhisma in Suryaputra Karn ! 😃

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Jodha Akbar 3: Cynicism abounding

Folks,

I loved this episode for the sheer, bare-faced and bare-knuckled cynicism that pervaded it from start to finish. And this was not just at the Jalal-Bairam
Khan end, though the best parts were
there.

Registan ka gulab: First,
there is Jalal, knocking a good seven soldiers flat as usual during his jungi riyaaz (in the brown outfit that
we came to know so well), lending half an ear to the babblings of the Jodha ka diwaana. This
last was bizarre, for no common sipahi in the Mughal forces would have dared to
unload such stuff on the Shahenshah if he valued his sar.

Nor could one readily
grasp where this chap got to know about
her makhmali twacha & lacheela badan long distance😉, for if he had come close enough
to her to make out these mind-blowing
attributes, he would have been dead!

Clearly this clumsily worked out
interlude was meant to reinforce the Amer
ki pukar that will soon take over Jalal's zehen and drive him to take insane risks on his adventure to the
heart of Amer.

The expression on Jalal's face as he slowly
repeats the name that Abdul has just spoken, Jodhaa... , is amazingly evocative, as is his voice. It is as if he
was rolling a particularly delicious sweet on his tongue, savouring the pleasure
of things unknown.

And as for the desecration of the
temples, this was standard operating procedure for all the invaders of India in
those days, and I presume for the Delhi
sultanates that followed. So I suppose Jalal hardly thought about the matter at this point, except inasmuch as his concern about the superior jungi kaabiliyat of the Mughal sipahis was concerned.

Let us
now skip over the ek aisi prem
kahani jo shamsheer ki dhaar par chale, aur payal ki
jhankar ko bhulne na de. For one thing, I cannot remember even having
heard Jodha's paayal ki jhankar (I would personally prefer noopur dhwani) any point of this tale of ours. 😉

Scheme of last resort: Also
over the portly Bharmal's discussion, with his sons and nephew, about how to tackle the danger that now lies at the door of Amer.
He is clearly besides himself with fear - the good old khauf-e-Jalal at work - and his
plan of action has only one merit, that it is the scheme of last resort.

Seeing the rampant disunity that pervaded
among the Rajput royalty, how Bharmal expects that a few marriages with his
daughters - and he does not even have enough of them to make an impact, as
there are only three!😉- will set things right and produce unity against the
Mughals in a miraculous fashion boggles the mind. It is in fact far more likely
to lead to more squabbling and drawing of swords about which princes are to be
allied to Jodha and her two sisters!

The only merit of this sequence is that
it fits in with my theme for this post. Bharmal does not even think of fighting
on his own, and is instead focussing on how
to get others to pull his chestnuts out of the fire, and he does not hesitate to use his daughters as
bargaining chips.

Ek bar kisise uski kamzori ko cheen liya jaye: Of
the two scenes that lit up this episode
and made me choose this title, this one, between Bairam Khan and a devoted
servitor of his, was in fact the more
brutally cynical and the more chilling. Kyonki dushman se dimaagi khel khelna to
phir bhi laazmi haim, par apnon se nahin.

The fact, however, is that Bairam Khan
has no apne besides Jalal and his beloved Salima Begum,
and all others, no matter how blind their devotion towards him, are mere pyaade
to be manipulated, thru fear and
blackmail, used, and then discarded without a second thought.

There is a cold desert in the innermost
core of Bairam Khan's being, and he has
no ability to care for another as Jalal can care for an Abdul. It is this fundamental
difference between their basic natures, coupled with Bairam Khan's increasing
tendency to treat Jalal, even in public, as his supine pupil, that led to Jalal's
estrangement from the Khan Baba he loved so genuinely.

I was chilled to the core as I watched
the poor servitor bring his first born to be blessed by his Aaka, and
noted the shocked misery on his face as he listens to his Aaka's
implicit threat - Laut kar aana to
hamari begum ki kalaayi ka paigham zaroor lana..- and realises the fate
that awaits his beloved baby son if ek
bhi choodi tooti on the
30 day journey to Agra.

Bairam Khan looks far more maniacal here than
Jalal did during the first two episodes, and far more terrifying. Zulm ki inteha ho to aisi. And his faithful
pupil watches him, eyes narrowed in concentration as he asks Kya hoga, Khan Baba, agar ek bhi choodi
tooti to?

The answer is revealing, and encapsulates
Bairam Khan' s whole philosophy of life and of control.

Nahin tootegi, Jalal. Yeh bachcha uski
kamzori hai.. Ek bar kisise uski kamzori cheen liya jaye, to phir us aadmi se jo
chahe karwa lo...Isi ko dimaagi taaqat kehte hain. Aur yehi khel tumhein khelna
hai...

As he continues, adapting the lesson he
has just given Jalal to the Rajput context,
where unhein nahin, unke guroor ko
khatam karna hai.., Jalal's eyes, narrowed in close attention, change their
expression. Slowly, the single-minded concentration is replaced by sardonic
amusement as the familiar, sneering half
smile twists his mouth.

My heart was wrung by this infinitely sad
tale of the deliberate betrayal of
loyalty and faith, and the expression in the eyes of that baby's father haunted
me long after the episode had ended.

Dimaagi taaqat ki hadein:
Yes, this is a dimaagi
taaqat, but what Bairam Khan does
not know, and thus cannot teach his pupil, is that when a man is desperate
enough, snatching his kamzori from him might not result in slavish obedience
out of fear, but in open and murderous rebellion.

In the end, large bodies of men cannot be
subjugated and ruled for long out of fear alone. They need to have a stake in the
structure of governance, and this can come only if they feel safe and protected
by their rulers. Without such a sense of belonging and security, there is none so dangerous as the man with
nothing to lose.

The contrast between Bairam Khan's ruthlessly
cynical, and eventually faulty doctrine, and Akbar's single-minded devotion to
the welfare of his awaam could not be sharper. Which is why Akbar was Akbar, whereas Bairam
Khan was only a footnote to history.

Zindagi ya mohabbat?: The real brilliance of this last
scene lay not in what Bairam Khan pontificated on (abandoning, for once, his quick
fix of sar kalamofying!) in the end,
Isi tarah humein unka sar jukhana
hai.. The principle it reinforced was after all the same as in the earlier choodi scene.

The whole creepy segment, of Jalal apparently intending to exercise his droit de seigneur* by seizing that
hapless woman, stood out at two levels.

NB: The droit de seigneur, or the right of the feudal lord, refers to the medieval European custom of any pretty bride being sent to spend her wedding night with the feudal lord, an arrangement to which the husband dared not voice any objection,

Firstly, it was a kind of power-point
display of acting by Rajat, as he forces the husband, at knife point, to
abandon his wife to her fate in order to save his own skin. The eyes look, not angry, not even
threatening, but coldly calculating. Their
focus is eagle-eyed as Jalal seeks to
assess: At which point will this man
break? And break he does, as Jalal laughs his mirthless laugh of triumphant
certitude, and Bairam Khan applauds him for a lesson well learnt on how to subjugate the Rajput enemy by breaking, not him but his pride.

The bitterness
of the soul: But secondly, and far more interesting, it is a cri de coeur ( cry from the supposedly non-existent heart)
of Jalal against the very concept of mohabbat,
which drives him to exasperated rage.
This stands out in his angry words: Gair zaroori mohabbat ki khatir kitna kuch..
Samajh nahin aata ki mohabbat tumhari zindagi par raaj kaise karti hai?...and
he kicks the man to the ground in ferocious
contempt.

He wants to demean the very idea of mohabbat, whence his sneering comments
to the woman as he tells her to go back apne
pati ke pas ( not shauhar?), ek aisa
insaan jo tumhari izzat bachane ka jigar bhi nahin rakta... Then the frightening transit of the knife point, with slow deliberation, from her wrist to her
maang.. as he speaks of what really riles him.. Aur sochte rehna.. jis mohabbat se tum donon
jude huye ho, asal mein us jazbat ki keemat kya hai? As far as the cowardly
husband was concerned, nothing. And this is reflected in the tragic desolation
in the eyes of the wife.

But that is not what is important. What
is important is what this scene reveals about Jalal's bitterness towards the very
idea of love. A bitterness rooted in
what he sees as his abandonment by his
parents, and especially by his mother, in his childhood and boyhood. Not all
the protection and caring he gets from his Khan Baba and his Badiammi could, it
seems, make up for this sense of not
being wanted, not being his parents' first priority. A mistaken sense of neglect, maybe, but it is
none the less real for all that.

It is the same bitterness that, in the
scene between Jalal and his mother Hamida Bano that is due very soon, is so
intense that it sears the screen.

Ok, folks, alvida till tomorrow!

Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My darling poppets,

You know that I would do anything for you, but you have to look at things as they are.

Each of the current, relatively short (about 3 pages) Jodha Akbar posts takes me not less than 3 hours from start to finish, including the editing and the PMs. This does not include the time taken to rewatch the episode and take notes for the quotations. Nor the time for responses like this one ( with daily posts, I am always sadly behindhand with them, which makes me fell guilty) which takes one or even 2 hours a day. After one hour at the laptop, my knee is stiff and painful. How on earth can I do anything more? I have a mother who is a cardiac patient and her health needs constant monitoring, plus she needs my company.

The other problem is Asoka itself. It is so dull and repetitive- with endless sequences of that Dharma being chased by Mir Khorasan - that it puts me to sleep at times. Now they are busy churning makkan!

So what can I analyse there? I can write well only when the subject interests me, and Asoka, till now, does not interest me at all. But I intend to continue watching it - I really do not know why, for it was for Siddharth to begin with but it is not even that now - and if the adult Asoka is interesting, I will write there, since my stint in JA would be over by then. That, my pets, is a promise!

Mandy, you can be at peace for now, there is no reason for you to watch Asoka!😉

Affectionately,


Shyamala Aunty

PS: This took me 35 minutes to type!

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My darling poppets,

You know that I would do anything for you, but you have to look at things as they are.

Each of the current, relatively short (about 3 pages) Jodha Akbar posts takes me not less than 3 hours from start to finish, including the editing and the PMs. This does not include the time taken to rewatch the episode and take notes for the quotations. Nor the time for responses like this one ( with daily posts, I am always sadly behindhand with them, which makes me fell guilty) which takes one or even 2 hours a day. After one hour at the laptop, my knee is stiff and painful. How on earth can I do anything more? I have a mother who is a cardiac patient and her health needs constant monitoring, plus she needs my company.

The other problem is Asoka itself. It is so dull and repetitive- with endless sequences of that Dharma being chased by Mir Khorasan - that it puts me to sleep at times. Now they are busy churning makkan!

The worst is what they have reduced Siddharth to. His brooding silences lit up Mahakumbh, but look at him now! Always goody-goody, nobleness personified, preaching away and forgiving the likes of Ahankara with treacly sympathy, who has to do everything of any significance that gets done, and who goes about lugging that tinpot sword around. It is an object lesson in how an actor with great potential can be reduced to a ham in 6 months.

Then there is his mother, with the worst features of Jodha Begum bhaashan and mahaanta-wise, but lacking her splendid looks. This one looks like a daasi, and she pontificates about ahimsa at the drop of a hat, so much so that I wish she had been burnt in that lakshagrih, like Agnishikha. I do not know how she thinks an empire is to be run with her ahimsavaad.

Then there Rajamata Helena, looking like a dessicated stick of celery, and twisting her tongue around the most thet Hindustani with admirable tenacity. There are the endless scenes of Charumitra slapping or otherwise berating her arrogant, unpleasant son. Not to mention the dismal looking Mir Khorasan and his daughter, asserting every now and then that Siamak would be the next samrat.

There is not a single character I like, not even Asoka. Or Chanakya, who seems to be such a flabby mess and so lacking in any ability to control events that he sets my teeth on edge. As I am sure he is doing to the real Chanakya, up there somewhere in the stratosphere. As for Bindusar, who fits Sandhya's buddhuram epithet to a T, the less said the better! At least in Jodha Akbar, the leads were good to look at.

So what can I analyse there? I can write well only when the subject interests me, and Asoka, till now, does not interest me at all. But I intend to continue watching it - I really do not know why, for it was for Siddharth to begin with but it is not even that now - and if the adult Asoka is interesting, I will write there, since my stint in JA would be over by then. That, my pets, is a promise!

Mandy, you can be at peace for now, there is no reason for you to watch Asoka!😉

Affectionately,


Shyamala Aunty

PS: This took me 35 minutes to type!

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My darling poppets,

You know that I would do anything for you, but you have to look at things as they are.

Am copying Anjali's cat here... wow and thank you so much.

Each of the current, relatively short (about 3 pages) Jodha Akbar posts takes me not less than 3 hours from start to finish, including the editing and the PMs. This does not include the time taken to rewatch the episode and take notes for the quotations. Nor the time for responses like this one ( with daily posts, I am always sadly behindhand with them, which makes me fell guilty) which takes one or even 2 hours a day. After one hour at the laptop, my knee is stiff and painful. How on earth can I do anything more? I have a mother who is a cardiac patient and her health needs constant monitoring, plus she needs my company.

Oops. We didn't think of any of that.😒

The other problem is Asoka itself. It is so dull and repetitive- with endless sequences of that Dharma being chased by Mir Khorasan - that it puts me to sleep at times. Now they are busy churning makkan!

😆 The first 100 episodes of JA had set the expectation bar so high, that everything else pales in comparison and the rest of the serial itself seemed an insult.

The worst is what they have reduced Siddharth to. His brooding silences lit up Mahakumbh, but look at him now! Always goody-goody, nobleness personified, preaching away and forgiving the likes of Ahankara with treacly sympathy, who has to do everything of any significance that gets done, and who goes about lugging that tinpot sword around. It is an object lesson in how an actor with great potential can be reduced to a ham in 6 months.

Aunty, Rudra was a brooding reserved boy. But Ashoka can't be that. He had to be super-talented and noble to become Great. And he is guided a bit by Chanakya too. And he hasn't done anything remarkable yet except find the bhatt. ( agree about his sarva-vyaapaktha in the wax palace sequence) Chanakya has to let him test his strenths himself for him to realise his potential.

Then there is his mother, with the worst features of Jodha Begum bhaashan and mahaanta-wise, but lacking her splendid looks. This one looks like a daasi, and she pontificates about ahimsa at the drop of a hat, so much so that I wish she had been burnt in that lakshagrih, like Agnishikha. I do not know how she thinks an empire is to be run with her ahimsavaad.

All our mahaan heroines do that. When Sharifuddin could be forgiven because his wife was pregnant, which was worse, Dharma's general ahimsavaad was more tolerable. Agreed. Hinsa is the last resort and is imperative in certain situations, esp defense if not attack, ahimsavaad has its own merits. Wasn't it an important tool in our independence struggle?

The non-cooperation movement and the various satyagrahas damaged the British more than the various acts of violence.

Then there Rajamata Helena, looking like a dessicated stick of celery, and twisting her tongue around the most thet Hindustani with admirable tenacity. There are the endless scenes of Charumitra slapping or otherwise berating her arrogant, unpleasant son. Not to mention the dismal looking Mir Khorasan and his daughter, asserting every now and then that Siamak would be the next samrat.

Dessicated celery?!@!🤣 dessicated and blanched. What could Charumitra do when her worthless son cannot keep dignity in darbar and lets slip his coronation as Yuvraj and sleeps his time away when Ashoka was busy impressing the Samrat.

There is not a single character I like, not even Asoka. Or Chanakya, who seems to be such a flabby mess and so lacking in any ability to control events that he sets my teeth on edge. As I am sure he is doing to the real Chanakya, up there somewhere in the stratosphere. As for Bindusar, who fits Sandhya's buddhuram epithet to a T, the less said the better! At least in Jodha Akbar, the leads were good to look at.

Bindusaar is Buddhusaar. Buddhuram is our Jodha begum pecked Jalal.🤪But then Bindusaar was no extremely capable king either. He lacked his dad's enterprise and his son's strengths and abilities and greatness. That is why we read about him in history as a link to the two mighty kings only. So it should be okay.

Chanakya is a let down. The show has to do more justice to his intelligence though it does justice to his respect and position. But he is better than our Buddhuram wjo was let down on all counts.😭

So what can I analyse there? I can write well only when the subject interests me, and Asoka, till now, does not interest me at all. But I intend to continue watching it - I really do not know why, for it was for Siddharth to begin with but it is not even that now - and if the adult Asoka is interesting, I will write there, since my stint in JA would be over by then. That, my pets, is a promise!

There is something about the show that places it way above the rest, all shortcomings notwithstanding. And yes, if someone like Salim plays Adult Ashoka, i'll happily quit. But if someone with half of RT's abilities plays the role i intend to continue and remind you of your promise assuring you and convincing you that he IS interesting.😉

Mandy, you can be at peace for now, there is no reason for you to watch Asoka!😉

Affectionately,


Shyamala Aunty

PS: This took me 35 minutes to type!

. Now you are making me feel guilty for badgering you for more posts, that we never seem to have enough. Take care aunty.

Originally posted by: Sabdabhala

WELL, TRUE TO OM PURI'S RAMBLINGS, JALAL DID EVEN WORSE - HE CREATED A DISMAL SITUATION FOR HER

ON ONE SIDE SHE HAD TO WITNESS HER HUSBAND, WHO FORSAKED HER AS SOON AS JALAL GAVE HIM A CHOICE BETWEEN HER AND HIS LIFE

AND ON THE OTHER HE REJECTED HER, THEREBY SAYING THAT SHE, FOR SOME REASON, WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM EITHER

SHE COULD, AT LEAST, PRESERVED SOME OF HER DIGNITY AND RESPECT IF HE HAD FORCED HIMSELF ON HER, BLAMING JALAL AND THE FATES

NOW SHE IS NOT LEFT WITH THAT OPTION EITHER

Originally posted by: Sandhya.A

Please, please please aunty...I know you are watching Ashoka...😃

We are good girls and will not expect daily analysis from you. That perhaps when your knee gets better.🤪

As of now weekly or fortnightly will do.😳

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My darling poppets,

You know that I would do anything for you, but you have to look at things as they are.

Each of the current, relatively short (about 3 pages) Jodha Akbar posts takes me not less than 3 hours from start to finish, including the editing and the PMs. This does not include the time taken to rewatch the episode and take notes for the quotations. Nor the time for responses like this one ( with daily posts, I am always sadly behindhand with them, which makes me fell guilty) which takes one or even 2 hours a day. After one hour at the laptop, my knee is stiff and painful. How on earth can I do anything more? I have a mother who is a cardiac patient and her health needs constant monitoring, plus she needs my company.

Oops ! Sorry auntie ! 😭 😭 😭 😭

The other problem is Asoka itself. It is so dull and repetitive- with endless sequences of that Dharma being chased by Mir Khorasan - that it puts me to sleep at times. Now they are busy churning makkan!

The worst is what they have reduced Siddharth to. His brooding silences lit up Mahakumbh, but look at him now! Always goody-goody, nobleness personified, preaching away and forgiving the likes of Ahankara with treacly sympathy, who has to do everything of any significance that gets done, and who goes about lugging that tinpot sword around. It is an object lesson in how an actor with great potential can be reduced to a ham in 6 months.

Then there is his mother, with the worst features of Jodha Begum bhaashan and mahaanta-wise, but lacking her splendid looks. This one looks like a daasi, and she pontificates about ahimsa at the drop of a hat, so much so that I wish she had been burnt in that lakshagrih, like Agnishikha. I do not know how she thinks an empire is to be run with her ahimsavaad.

Then there Rajamata Helena, looking like a dessicated stick of celery, and twisting her tongue around the most thet Hindustani with admirable tenacity. There are the endless scenes of Charumitra slapping or otherwise berating her arrogant, unpleasant son. Not to mention the dismal looking Mir Khorasan and his daughter, asserting every now and then that Siamak would be the next samrat.

There is not a single character I like, not even Asoka. Or Chanakya, who seems to be such a flabby mess and so lacking in any ability to control events that he sets my teeth on edge. As I am sure he is doing to the real Chanakya, up there somewhere in the stratosphere. As for Bindusar, who fits Sandhya's buddhuram epithet to a T, the less said the better! At least in Jodha Akbar, the leads were good to look at.

So what can I analyse there? I can write well only when the subject interests me, and Asoka, till now, does not interest me at all. But I intend to continue watching it - I really do not know why, for it was for Siddharth to begin with but it is not even that now - and if the adult Asoka is interesting, I will write there, since my stint in JA would be over by then. That, my pets, is a promise!

Mandy, you can be at peace for now, there is no reason for you to watch Asoka!😉

Affectionately,

😭

Shyamala Aunty

PS: This took me 35 minutes to type!

Originally posted by: ---Khushi---

😃