One of the beauties of all these reviews is, "They force us to see a different angle in the movie every time".
I am waiting for a review which will completely change the angle and will provide me one more excuse to go to cinemas again. Thanks Gopal, Pravinder. --- In [email protected], Gopal Srinivasan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Jodhaa Akbar: The Big Budget Making of Mughal-E-Azam Jump to Comments Genre: Drama > Director:Ashutosh Gowariker > Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Kulbhushan Kharbanda > Storyline: A Mughal Emperor learns love and governance from Hindu Princess Jodhaa > Bottomline: An old-fashioned big-budget prequel to Mughal-E-Azam > An epic, by definition, is all about gravity and magnitude. > No love story has ever made history without a high stakes conflict > involving separation and pain or celebration of the power of love. > Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnu, Devdas-Paro or Jack-Rose, they all had > their share of soaring highs that plummeted to the lowest of lows. > Admittedly, tragedies, by the nature of their genre, dictate the > dramatic direction of the South-bound character graphs and are better > equipped to make us feel the angst that love brings with it. > Yes, we do have to take into consideration that Ashutosh Gowariker > has chosen to tell us a love-story that has actually worked despite the > odds religious differences which in today's context of frequent > communal violence, seem quite huge. > At a middle-class level: Yes, surely. > But even today, has religion really posed to be that huge a hurdle > in the higher rungs of the society? Ask the ruling Khans of the film > industry. The lifestyles of the rich and the famous transcend cultural > and religious boundaries. Ask Gauri, Reena, Kareena or Katrina, it is > no big deal. > Class has a huge role to play in love stories. The differences > between the rich and the poor are so deeply engrained in the psyche of > our people that it is difficult for the collective conscious of a > society to see the pangs of romance in the lives of a couple brought > into matrimony by parental arrangement. Our only interest in the rich > and famous is voyeuristic and not necessarily empathetic. We don't > really care. > It's not like they had an affair or painted the town red with their > romance or did anything even remotely scandalous. It's not like one of > them was kidnapped and the other sent on a long never-ending exile. > It's not that it was a love story that caused war or divided people. > Jodhaa-Akbar is a simple story of a married couple reconciling > differences in an arranged marriage set-up, that too in a fairytale > world, where the two dynasties need each other to flourish. Given that > the political context and nature of the romance is not even remotely > epic in scale to demand a 40-crore movie, it is commendable that > Ashutosh succeeds to the extent he has in delivering a three and a half > hour long movie to the multiplex-generation. Even if it reads more like > a coffee-table book than one that will make it to the shelf for serious > academic reference. > To his credit, Ashutosh and Haider Ali have scripted `Jodhaa Akbar' > as an insightful prequel to Mughal-E-Azam Or what went into the making > of Akbar. Now, the making only records incidents, obstacles and hurdles > into what went into the production of a classic, it is not always a > story that can stand by itself. > Here was an emperor who married a Hindu princess, a woman who still > played a vital role in his life a point illustrated when Jodhaabai > (in Asif's classic) demands of her king that he does not slay her son. > Now, why would a Muslim Emperor who married a Hindu princess not > understand his son's love for a courtesan and go to war with his own > son? > Ashutosh and Haider Ali give us a few answers. Akbar did not fall in > love with Jodhaa and then marry her. He fell in love after marrying > her. Even as a young man, Akbar considered principles higher than > family. Sample the scene where he does not object to Jodhaa publicly > being asked to taste the food she's cooked for him first to ensure it > is safe. He lets his queen go through the awkwardness as required by > the law of the land and then announces he would eat from the same plate > as the Queen of Hindustan. > Thus, the legend of Akbar as a righteous king is further endorsed by > Ashutosh who does not seem to be interested in detail as much as Asif > was. Asif's Akbar was a much more complex character who was torn > between his love for the country, his wife, his son, his principles and > the promises he had made. > Ashutosh's Akbar is the eternal do-gooder, always adorned in shades > of white, yellow and the brighter colours of the spectrum and the > darker suits and armours are reserved for his cunning brother-in-law > Shareefuddin. > Given this black-and-white approach to storytelling, Ashutosh > could've further gone ahead with his artistic licence and dramatised > incidents or created fictional twists to make us see the miracle of > love and taken us on the rollercoaster of highs and lows. > For want of a serious conflict and drama (the greatest conflict in > the film is a silly misunderstanding that lasts all of the interval > block), Jodhaa Akbar ends up too shallow for a love story, the epic > proportions purely limited to how Akbar grew up to learn how to love, > understand and rule his people, thus setting the stage for > Mughal-E-Azam. > Hrithik and Aishwarya do plenty to reprise their Dhoom:2 duels and > yet it strangely seems to fit in here than there. Their chemistry and > onscreen persona alone make Jodhaa Akbar worth your movie ticket. > Rahman's background music that usually touches maximum in the > Awesome-Meter when he scores for Ashutosh does seem to exaggerate mood > quite a bit. It doesn't help that the lyrics of Khwaja Mere Khwaja go > off-sync and that the song picturisation often pales in comparison to > the grandeur of the music. > The biggest disappointment of the film is Nitin Chandrakant Desai's > homework in the art department. We're glad you didn't label Agra Fort > as Agra Qila in Hindi right above the gateway, Mr.Desai. > Kiiran Deohans' cinematography (if we overlook the visual-effecting > war sequences) and Tanishq's jewellery-range make for a picture perfect > glossy on canvas but Ashutosh's overly romanticised, hyper-indulgent > take on Jodhaa-Akbar has its moments of class that more than make up > for its lack of depth. > > > > http://sudhishkamath.com/2008/02/20/jodhaa-akbar-the-big-budget-making-of-mughal-e-azam/Sudhi >
