My Take on Jodhaa-Akbar

I was quite pleased to watch Jodhaa-Akbar on the very first day of its release. I really liked the sets, while the picturization was quite outstanding. The war scenes, especially those involving cannon balls, were really mind blowing. Though I'd certainly not call the movie in the same breath of Lagaan or Swades, still I must say that Ashutosh Gowariker has done a great job.

It's very hard for anyone to believe that there was any kind of love between Jodhaa and Akbar as theirs was just a political union. But Ashutosh has successfully implanted some "love" components and that too quite seamlessly in the story, which show his class. Some examples include showing Akbar's respect towards Jodhaa's feelings and faith, and Jodhaa's boldness and beauty true to the character of a Rajput Pricess. Both Hrithik and Aishwarya have been excellent in their respective roles.

Ashutosh Gowariker's brilliance is seen in the melodious song "Khwaja Khwaja" where he has shown that Akbar is so overwhelmed by the praise of Khwaja Moinuddin and the beats of the song that he forces himself to dance with the other performers.

The picturization of another song "Azeem-o-shan.." is truly superb. The performance of the artists is very organized and well directed.

So far so good but there are few points I'd like to raise which seem hard to digest.

1. It's been shown that Akbar's sister was not pleased with the concept of the "muslim" Akbar marrying the "hindu" Jodhaa. We all know that the Mughals invaded India with their huge armies, and they had no business bringing women with them all the way from Persia, Afghanistan etc. So in most of the cases the only option, which they enjoyed a lot, was to marry hindu girls (I strongly believe that this was precisely the reason why people used to marry off their daughters at the age of as low as 10-11). So the concern expressed by Akbar's sister in the movie, and in general, doesn't make sense.

2. By no stretch of imagination one could think that the prayers sung by Jodhaa in the janaankhana were louder enough to be heard in the durbar of Akbar.

3. Akbar's dialogue "Hum Hindustan ko galat hathon me nahi jaane dengey", just before a war, seems devoid of logic. Just the fact that Akbar was born in a Rajput Fortress doesn't make him a Hindustani, as we all know that the Mughals were invaders.

Overall this movie is certainly worth watching. I've always been an admirer of Ashutosh Gowariker. I consider his "Swades" above anything else produced during the last decade.

I'd love to see a grand movie on Chhatrapati Shivaji from the same director.