Jodhaa Akbar

Work has gotten the better off me over the last few days. Along with the hot political updates too of course. So much of paperwork to sort before a new project kicks off end of the month. Its half past eleven. If you don’t already realise, I’m back to my late night working habbit. which works well for me except the struggle in getting the butt off bed in the mornings...

I watched Jodhaa Akbar two weeks ago with N & S and really enjoyed it. One of the rare occasion that justifies the huge budget spent in bollywood. A 3.5 hours movie that didn't feel draggie at all. mind you, we caught a midnight show that started half twelve and ended 4.15AM. You can see I’m comparing this to Devdas which to date is the most expensive movie in bollywood, yet never left any impact on me. The sets, all those people dressed in nice traditional costumes , big fat elephants etc.

The storyline in a nutshell, is a 16th century love story of a Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar the Great and a hindu Rajput Princess, Jodha. the great Emperor who is tolerant towards a religion and culture which is not just alien to him, but is also the religion of the land he rules. Apart from the romance, there is also Akbar’s humane & considerate nature that even earned him the title. The movie portrays the strategic marriage between the emperor to the reluctant Rajput princess, a classic love-hate relationship with fairytale ending told in the oldern days setting.

The film is a masterpiece by all means, the historical story, acting, music, dialogs, the colours, you name it. The setting were purely an eye-candy, so were the two leads. Hrithik and Aishwarya were so good together that I’m suddenly convinced they have more chemistry than the Abhi-Aish dual i’ve always preferred. to think i was never even a big fan of Hrirthik to start off with surprises me. Can't think of anyone else (ok, maybe SRK) to have carried the role of Akhbar so well. very impressive. He was so natural. The way he spoke, the walk, the expressions, the machoness, the fierry look and the romantic ones (must be those gorgeous eyes!), the proudness.. OK, i've not met an Indian emperor before, but he fits my imagination of one perfectly!

Here are the few of my many fav scenes in the movie..

• When Hrithik catches Ash off guard admiring him practicing his sword
• The guessing game her mum plays on him when he goes to fetch her from Rajput after realising his mistake. the smile on his face when she says he'll need to sleep counting starts if he gets it wrong..
• The sword fight between Hrithik and Ash was one of the sexiest scene i’ve seen. Yah, call me hopeless romantic. Though I would have preferred the scene to end with a kiss, which knowing bollywood and the historical sentiment and all, might have ended the director with a lawsuit for inappropriate scene...
• when he walks toward the music of Jodha praying, and slowly sneaks in from behind watching her.
• Most of the fighting scenes, especially the last one (yah, not very like me..);

Next is the music. since its AR Rahman, goes without saying. Isn’t he great? The "Khwaja.. mere..khwaja”, "Manmohana" the " Jashn e bahara" magnificent choreography. All soooo good! a lot of it are background songs too. One of the many times I wished I understood the language to make out the meanings. But even without, I'm loving it all the same!

The movie only left me hoping bollywood will make more historical, or to be more precise, historical love stories. Well, to me, pure history can be boring. a lot of you will argue on that. I can perfectly understand but to me, a bit of fiction is necessary to blend into the modern. Even the Hollywood hit like Gladiator and Braveheart had some romance aspect to it, though wasn’t the central theme of the films. But they are not Bollywood. So basically if you are looking for a purely historical connection, don’t watch it, or watch but don’t have very high expectations.

The movie was ban in Rajashtan and some other states in India as the remaining of Rajputs there claims the movie was historically inaccurate. Jodhaa apparently wasn’t Akbar’s wife, but daughter in-law and the fictional storyline is a disgrace to their legacy. But lack of prove to confirm that because this is like 400years ago history, the request to totally ban the movie was denied. OK, I respect their hold to the legacy, but does it really matter. I think as long as the story doesn’t miss the actual gist of it. Just like the Troy fued few years ago.
Lets just look at it as a movie with historical attachment. one certainly worth for the big screen!

Damn, looks like I have written an essay here.. okie nite nite