Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Sonu Sood, Punam S. Sinha, Raza Murad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Suhasini Mulay, Ila Arun.
Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar
Genre: Historic Drama, Romance,
Duration: 3 ½ hrs
Official Website: http://www.jodhaaakbar.com/
Rating: ***
The Saga is about evolution of Akbar, a Moghul warrior to a liberal and secular emperor of India and his romance with Jodha. A romance, which begins as a marriage alliance for political gain and evolves into a royal love story, of the charming king and the spirited queen! The romantic drama is the heart of the movie.
The historical facts may not be right in this movie, hence a lot of uproar and controversies have emerged along side Jodha- Akbar. But Gowarikar tries to avoid the biographers and historians and starts the movie with a disclaimer! But any publicity, is good publicity, hence the movie had curiosity factor and good response when it released simultaneously all over the world on Friday 15 February. In Austin, Texas, the movie was running house full too.
This movie review BTW may be tainted with neck pain and strained eyes since the reviewer along with her friends saw this movie unfortunately from the front row! (In the USA, its first come first served basis for seats in the cinemas even though everyone pays $11 to get in to the theater!)But we pompously claim that we saw the movie more closely, and in great detail then anybody in the whole theater!
Akbar played by the handsomely perfect Hrithik Roshan, elegantly dressed, and par lancing in pure Urdu, taming wild elephants and practicing sword fighting, topless comes out very macho! Akbar’s role also evolves from being a spectator to his many wars and political decisions to a mature independent decision maker, more merciful and liberal in thought. He is also shown to be progressive and broadminded, heeding advice from women in his family. Akbar stands out as the pioneer who wanted to create a secular India. (But Alas! We still have racial and regional problems in India.) Hrithik combines both nobility and valor to this role.
Jodha played by the beautiful Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is shown to be initially just a gorgeous, powerless princess, yet surprisingly skilled in art of sword fighting! She evolves on to be an obstinate, spirited and influential queen. She creates a position for herself in the Mughal dynasty with the cultural synthesis she brings in. Aishwarya manages to play feisty and fresh in spite of age shadowing her face.
The romance between the two shows Akbar’s chivalry and Jodha’s superiority. While the chemistry between the pair is showcased, the love story with its casual flirting, romantic moments and misunderstandings, and apologies gets quite stretched and tests patience.
The lavish sets and enthralling palaces, the amazing views of the war and battle scenes, the picturesque and extraordinary settings, grand song and dance sets, make it a pleasure to watch on large screen.
Besides the palatial sets, the $10 million budget of the movie is visible in the opulent and extremely beautiful jewelry and the elegant costumes especially of Akbar and intricately designed dresses of Jodha (except, bright yellow is not Aishwarya’s color!).
The song with the look-alike, synchronized singing and dancing, Sufi dervishes, “Khwaja- mere Khwaja” is unique and soulful, and even puts Akbar to trance and swing with the dervishes. The zealous “ Azeem –O- Shaan Shenshah” has outstanding aerial views and large scale choreography. “ Jashn-E-Bahaara” and “In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein” have beautiful lyrics by Javed Akhtar.
Both Hrithik and Ash give excellent performances. The other characters in the movie, Kulbushan Karbanda, Raza Murad and Punam Sinha had decent performances too. Ila Arun as Maham Anga has a powerful role and Sonu Sood as Rajkumar Sujamal seemed to make an impression. But Suhasini Mulay who played Rani Padmavati had strange expressions, where one couldn’t figure if she was laughing or crying!
Finally one contemplates where Gowarikar went wrong! The editing and screenplay of course should have been crisper. Gowarikar in the making of the movie probably lost control over his love story, subplots, history lessons, and the long buildup of the protagonists. It looked like, he fell in love with every scene so much, that a masterpiece escaped him!
The movie, irrespective of its ingredients of a masterpiece, is not one. It still lacks something in spite of the long 3 and ½ hrs! When you walk out of the theater you know it was a good movie, but not the spectacular movie you expected it to be!
