~^~^~^~^~^~ War & Love ~^~^~^~^~^~. Review on Jodhaa Akbar

Jodhaa Akbar bought me memories of my history lessons in my school days.   The new rules set by Akbar used to assure me few marks in the exams.   Akbar's name remains in my mind as the greatest of the Indian rulers and I can only remember the name of Sivaji to equal him, otherwise he was the best ruler India witnessed.

To rule a country well, the king should win the people's mind.  To make a marriage successful, the partners should win respect from the other.

Young Akbar becomes the youngest Mughal emperor upon his father's death.   Mughals fought and conquered a lot of areas under the grown Akbar (Hrithik Roshan).  He was good in his behaviour and approach to others, including the opponents.  Even after his repeated attempts, Rajput kingdom Amer remained untouchable for Mughals.  Rajput were famous for their bravery and when King of Amer (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) offered his daughters hand to the young Mughal emperor to save their country from an outside attack, Akbar opted for a yes, considering the importance of the state.   Princess Jodhaa, daughter of King of Amer was in dilemma where her marriage was fixed with another prince from childhood and is officially announced few days before by her own father in public.   The king asked her to accept the offer not for him or her, but to save the thousands of people who will be suffering if she refuses.  The young princess put two difficult conditions for marriage, which Akbar agreed.  Despite his willingness to accept her conditions, the emperor could not win her heart.   Jodhaa Akbar is the story of the relation between Jodhaa and young Akbar, the rule by Akbar and his success over his enemies.

For the beginning, Jodhaa Akbar is a huge film which visualized in big canvas.   It is different from many other releases we have week after week.   More than a love story or a war movie, the film is recommended for its technical brilliance and affects the makers bought on-screen.

The Director Ashuthosh Gowarikar did a very good job in giving life to an old story which was forgotten and sleeping in history books.  The technical brilliance, huge sets & amount of manpower bought into making the film need special mention.   He also extracted good efforts from the cast and crew.   However, the length of the movie is a bit extra, 3 hrs 20 minutes.   Easily it could be trimmed to 3 hrs to keep the grip.   These extra 20 minutes in the film which nearly tries the patience of the audience.  The scenes after the bit boring episodes are however good enough to brought back the audience to the film.

Scripting could have been much tighter.  The movie though based on Jodha Akbar failed to give importance to the character of Jodhaa, but concentrated on glorifying Akbar.  Scenes where the writers could do magic with the character simply thrown awayand Jodhaa end up as an ordinary one where Akbar takes all the glory.  The continued refusals by Jodhaa to Akbar nearly bring laughter from the audience.   The writers gave detailed reasons for various fights where fail to emote the central character to the audience.  Writing department has to improve their writing skills to suite the film format.  We don't need to tell the complete Mughal story for a film.

Hrithik Roshan is good and delivers what we can expect from him and did it in style.  He is good when he is in action scenes. Simply awesome!  Aishwarya Rai is good and keeps her charm.  However, despite being the central character the writers let her down and she had to finish with an average performance.   Sonu Sood was good , but could have been better.  Ila Arun was excellent in her small role.  Poonam Sinha as mother of Akbar was impressive.  Nikitin Dheer made his presence felt with a small role.  Way to go!  Rest of the cast all did justice to their roles and no complaints.

Cinematography of the movie is of the top class quality and any praise will be less.   Even with the bright light and colours the camera captured marvelous landscapes and excellent interiors beautifully.  The cinematographer mesmerize us with his brilliant shots in more than one occasion.  See to believe it.  Kiran Deohans worth all applauds.   (The pace of camera was superb in places!) 

Choreography is pretty average in most parts, but one song 'Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah' is an experiencefor its massive sets, the number of people in it and the creativity.   You have to see it in big screen to enjoy it in full.  The much acclaimed 'Kwaja song' however doesn't impress me much, except the end scenes.

AR Rahman's presence added value to the movie and his music is still young and good.   I enjoyed the Krishna song better.  It was typical south Indian music but sweet!  The sufi song was ok, 'Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah' is flawless and brilliant, but I think I missed the music in most parts where the choreography hijacked me.

There are several scenes which seem irrelevant and many scenes unwanted.  Editing is not up to mark. Action scenes are superb, the fights between Hrithik and an elephant (keep your breath), Hrithik and Aishwarya (turning romantic), Hrithik with Nikithink Dheer (Do or die).  War scenes look half professional and half amateurish, could have been better.  Then, it is difficult to make perfection when there are nearly thousands fight for a scene with its takes and retakes.   Costumes and Jewels need special mentiontoo.

There are films which have to enjoy with heart, there are films which will tickle our bones and there are films we have to enjoy like a beautiful flower.  This is a movie we have to watch it with our eyes and ears than our heart or brain.   It is a visual experience and a good hearing experience.  Don't expect much emotional scenes or scenes where you have to throw heart or brain.  Simply go for an entertainment and even with its length the movie keep our interest and astonish in places!