But then, to love like that, one has to be either very young - for it is only the very young who are ready to die for love - or a deewaana in the grand tradition of Majnun. I do not see even Jalal in that mould, and most emphatically not Jodha. She is too flatfooted and on the ground to soar to these heights like Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
I see your point about her fear being of the loss of her astitva. It is absolutely correct. But then, Adiana, she cannot be a true bhakt of her Kanha either, for the essence of bhakti is to lose your identity in that of the Lord, like Meerabai. Jodha's bhakti is confined to singing to Kanha and deafening him periodically with complaints and demands. Meerbai aimed much higher, she wanted, and got,Kanha himself. That was because she was not afraid of losing her astitva, and in fact, sought precisely that.
Shyamala
Originally posted by: adianasr
Hi Shyamala,Have been reading posts on forum and giving my little piece and so am late with my response here.The fear of Jodha that I am refering to is losing - not the beloved or love - but herself - and this is the only fear that holds a person back from taking that final leap - and this has been used even in the show where Jodha says that she does not understand a love that makes one loose his/her 'Astitva'. This is the fear that is holding her back and that is making her myopic. And this is the fear that I do not see in Jalal's characterization. In fact I actually see a Jalal who wants this, which is what has me intrigued despite the silliness of the past couple of weeks. I still cannot get the words of Jalal when he went to Jodha out of my head - beautifully said it was!!!As for what I desire - I heard the 'Laal Ishq' song of SLB's Ram Leela and I was totally stunned by the lyrics - ek toh the lyrics are just not SLB - that man does not understand Ishq the way these lyrics portray and the film definitely is not the Ishq that is the essence of these lyrics. But this is what I would like to see as a love story, what the lyrics of this song convey - am presenting those parts of the lyrics which have taken the wind out of my sails -Tujh sang bair lagaya aisa, Raha na main phir apne jaisaApna naam badal dun, Ya tera naam chhupa lunYa chhod ke saari aag, Main vairaag utha lun
Mera naam ishq, Tera naam ishqMera naam, Tera naam, Mera naam ISHQ!
Ye laal ishq, ye malaal ishq, Ye aib ishq, ye bair ishqThe essence of the lyrics of this song is what I would like some writer to pen down as screenplay and dialogues and someone create it into a beautiful story on the canvas of television or cinema celluloid - And the fact that the poetry has happened gives me hope that soon the visual drama will follow. Someone will have the courage to present it!!!Hope this gives some food for thought!!!
My dear Adiana,
A very persuasive analysis.
To my mind, when you love someone - a husband, a boyfriend, a child - you should love them as is, and not try to change them to suit you. Any change should come at the initiative of that person, because he/she wants to change. Whether it is to please you or because that person feels a need to change, the end result will be a happy one. But if one loves another with the one point agenda of 'reforming' him/her, the experiment will fail, and the love as well.
I take it that the fear you are referring to is the fear of losing, whether losing the love or the beloved. Jalal is, as you correctly point out, not afraid of rejection and a lack of reciprocity; he had in fact come to terms with the latter, and it was only what he saw as Jodha leading him on and then humiliating him that drove him to fury. Jodha, as you again see correctly, is mortally afraid that Jalal will get her to fall in love with him and then ditch her. Now, there being no way to prove a negative, her fear can only be overcome thru a leap of faith.
Jalal has the seeds of nobility and greatness in him to begin with, and he will bring them out and strengthen these traits on his own. I only hope Jodha gains the wisdom to do the same on her own as well.
But even if she does so, I feel that she is constitutionally incapable of loving Jalal with the kind of all consuming love that he is capable of, the deewaangee that would count the world well lost for the beloved. Do see my response to ngayou above; it will amuse you!
Shyamala
Hi all this is from a post that I had made yesterday 'Jodha Akbar - The premise of a Love story' and am presenting the same here for all of you. The one below in red was my initial post and the one following this in blue was in response to Shyamala's comment which also I am presenting here for all of you -
I have been reading up posts on the forum since a couple of months. I have read the analysis that have been posted and the points and counter points. All of them seem to have one of the following 2 premises -
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