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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

October 20 21 2014 Jodha Akbar | 355 356 War and Peace of Mind




Hi Friends,
Apologies first! Have been missing here for the last few days and couldn't reply to your comments or post an update since 2 days. This post therefore contains the update for the episodes aired yesterday and the day before yesterday. This is good in a way because the two episodes are tied together. :)

Please note that the writeup is as per the show only and does not have any resemblance to the actual incidents or people involved. :)

The War and Aftermath

On Monday, we saw Jalal attacking the Fort of Chittor.  He had challenged God that if He could take away Jalal's kids and, with them, his peace of mind, then Jalal too could take away God's children at will. Jalal, who has suffered tremendously, with the loss of his kids, wishes to inflict the same pain on the whole world.  Jalal, who feels God did him a wrong turn by taking away his kids even though he was a devout muslim, wishes to inflict equal damage to other people. 
He starts off the war by personally challenging MP and Uday Singh, who he doesn't know are not present there.  He fights a long, hard battle and is finally able to vanquish his "enemies". He charges into the fort and captures it by making sure that each and every enemy is killed, even women and children. 
Towards the end of Monday's episode, Jalal comes across a small child crying among the dead bodies, apparently because he is lost and scared. His father comes to his rescue but is slain by Jalal, who then menacingly advances towards the child to finish him off too. Just then the child's mother rushes in to save her child. Her courage in standing up to him and in protecting her son jolts Jalal and reminds him of Jodha. He suddenly sees Jodha with their twins in her arms, looking accusingly at him. It's as if Jalal suddenly realizes that the child could have been his child. How much he had suffered when he had lost his children. How could he take away this hapless woman's child and cause her the same suffering as Jodha was undergoing? He would never be able to face Jodha again if he did that. 

Unable to bring himself to kill the child, he throws the sword away and walks on. Soon he is surrounded by his victorious army, raising slogans of triumph. His own face is filled with a vague restlessness and puzzlement. Todarmal too notices this and inquires why Jalal is not in a celebratory mood. 

Jalal replies that he himself is unable to understand why he is unable to feel joyous though he sorely wants to, why he is unable to feel the sukoon he so craved in his victory. 

It is at this moment when Jalal is grappling with his own emotions that he gets word that Sheikh Salim Chisti wants to meet him. 

But before we proceed to Jalal's visit to Sheikh Salim Chisti Sahab, I wish to pay tribute to the extraordinary courage shown by the women and children in jumping into the jauhar kund. It requires a rare kind of mental strength to be able to happily give up one's life rather than let the enemy touch one's body, even dead body. May all those women and children forever rest in peace. As also all those soldiers who died fighting for their motherland. And all the peasants who risked everything to support the fight for their motherland and ultimately became martyrs. 

Visit to Sheikh Salim Chisti Sahab

Reluctantly Jalal agrees to meet the sufi saint. Still his ego is alive and kicking. He refuses to salute the saint and asks him to salute Jalal because he is all powerful now. The saint laughs  and tries to bless Jalal by placing his hand on Jalal's heart but Jalal brushes it away. 

The saint then informs Jalal that he had called him there because Jalal had strayed from the straight and narrow path. The saint then gently guides him by telling him that troubles beset everyone but the best people are the ones who do not let troubled times take them away from God. Who never abandon the path of dharma or virtue / righteousness. 

The saint gently mocks Jalal and asks him if his temporary return to being a heartless king had brought him peace of mind. Jalal shakes his head. Sheikh Salim Chisti then asks Jalal to return to the straight path because only this path can give happiness and sukoon in the long run. 

Jalal is still under the effects of his own feelings and what the saint said. He returns to his room to find Jodha present there already. She too had been restless in the palace and had come to visit Salim Chisti. 

Jalal informs her that she had been right in telling him not to wage the war but he had failed to listen to her. And now he wasn't sure if his decision had been correct because he felt no sukoon in victory and the loneliness that had been plaguing him since the twins' died was felt even more keenly now. He looks like a weary man, alone, unsure, and too tired to be able to plan next. 

Ruqaiyya - The Leopard that Cannot Change its Spots

Ruqaiyya reminds me of the pot that used to hang permanently over the fireplace in medieval England with something continuously stewing in it and the folks would keep adding bits and pieces of veggies and meat to it every day and eat from that. This woman never stops stewing or cooking some means to rile Jodha. 

Yesterday, she specially comes to Jodha to inform her of Jalal's victory and the massacre of 30-35, 000 innocent people. Ruqaiyya is thrilled that the old Jalal is back and has no qualms about killing anyone, man, woman or child. Ruqaiyya is even more thrilled to see the distress on Jodha's face upon hearing this news. 

But like all previous plots, this one too falls on its face. Ruqaiyya manages to stress Jodha so much that Jodha instantly goes to Sheikh Salim Chisti to pray for peace and runs into Jalal there. Jalal sort of apologizes to her for not listening to her advice about stopping the war. Jodha sincerely apologizes for hurting Jalal, though I saw no reason for her to apologize. 

In short, JJ stop short of kissing but make up nevertheless. 

Precap

JJ are seemingly living together as an ordinary couple in Sikri. Jodha feels dizzy and also throws up. Jalal rushes to her aid. 

In Agra, Todarmal informs Ruqaiyya (why her?) that Jodha is expecting a waris to the Mughal Sultanat. Ruqaiyya must also have felt equally dizzy and pukish the next instant, though we were not shown that! 

What Next

Well, we all know Salim is coming soon and a 5 year old one at that. 

In the short term, I foresee Ruqaiyya packing her bags and going to Sikri to keep an eye on JJ and if possible, take away this baby too from them. 

Btw, I am puzzled by one thing. Jalal was away for 4 months. Before that, he was not on talking terms with Jodha for a few days / weeks. Technically Jodha must be in her 5th month already. Does Ekta think no one will wonder why Jodha didn't show any symptoms earlier? 

Ekta is anyway smart. She knew that whatever crap she showed after Hussein's death to justify the war would soon be forgotten as well as the leap in the excitement of Salim's entry. She has tantalisingly released a promo that promises that fireworks will continue amid JJ even when Salim is 5 years old.    





You all are welcome to share your views, and discuss the episode... 

This article has been posted under the  Jodha-Akbar section of  history_geek's BLOG.


***Important*** 

history_geek has updated the historical information related to this track here.>

You can also refer to the historical update of history_geek on the twins of Akbar and MUZ here.>


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1 comment:


  1. Nice post Radhika...
    Will add my views shortly.. Quite busy till 27th October...

    A very Happy Diwali to you and all the readers here. :)

    ReplyDelete