Ashutosh Gowarikar has painstakingly made a visually
delightful movie that unfortunately, is painfully long.
JA is around three and a half hours of clichéd romance and a
hurried history class. Amitabh Bachchan is our histroy teacher and he narrates
the story of young Jallauddin Mohammed and his journey, as he goes on to become
the legendary Akbar- The Great.
Dear MS ians and others, please do not watch this movie at
all, if you are not planning to watch it in big screen theatres. A DVD/ CD or
TV viewing of this mammoth historical love story will work like a lullaby.
Though politics forms a major part of this movie, love and
romance between the lead couple is what the movie is about. If History and
Geography lessons bore you, don't worry; chapters on Chemistry are also
generously present.
(I loved the sword fighting scene between Mrs Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan and Hrithik and the scene where Jodhabai stares at her hunk of a hubby
Akbar, while he does a Salman Khan act- bare bodied practicing with his sword)
Mrs A R Bachchan is old and unfortunately for her, looks old too, sans her make-up.
Her acting is mediocre as usual. Hrithik was good, he acted well, and was great
during his action scenes but there was something missing. Actually, all of us
have a mental image of ‘Akbar The Great’ since school and somehow it wasn’t easy
for me to fit Hrithik in that image.
Romance otherwise was dull and old. The'Dil Jeetna' thing was
repetitive. I missed the spark, naiveté, charm of the romance in Gowarikar's
Lagaan.
Gowarikar and Rehman could have done better. During the'Khwaja'
song people were singgering - com'on why did the sufis need to wear upturned
clay pots on their heads? And why were they behaving like puppets - every
movement was symmetrical and fake. I think I would have liked the divine song,
if I didn’t hve to watch the visuals. When Hrithik is supposed to be in a
trance after the song, Hrithik’s look said ‘thank God the song is over’.
The'Azeem-o-shaan Shehenshah' song wasn't very impressive
but the aerial shots were brilliant. Though the colorful and massive dance
sequences looked pretty, the dancers in circles reminded me of my school dances
and drill shows.
I found the ‘Off to Mecca’
funny. Why did Akbar send everyone who displeased him, to Mecca? Was this religious journey a
punishment, in those days?
The camera work during the war scenes was mind-blowing. The
fast camera movement made me feel like I was watching a three dimensional movie
or like I was there in the field.
The elephant taming scene, I feel, was unnecessary and that
time could hve been used for something else or better still, left unused.:)
The use of impeccable Urdu and Hindi was fascinating. After
watching JA, I hve learnt so many Urdu words. Did you know Shamsheer means
Talwar(sword) and Ekant equals Takliya(leave us alone)?
The costumes were very regal and opulent, though, I wonder
why, Jodhabai was wearing transparent dupattas? It is 1500 we are talking
about. Agreed, Mughal women did wear transparent clothes but a Rajput woman? In
fact, none of her friends or any other Rajput woman was shown wearing a
transparent dupatta.
However, the jewellery was impressive and the sets were b e
a u t I f u l. It was a pleasure just looking at those beautiful palatial
rooms.
Somehow I can’t help associating Akbar with legendary Birbal
and throughout the movie I kept waiting for Birbal. Why didn’t Ashutosh include
something about him? And he cannot blame ‘lack of time’, thts for sure!
