Whew! Hrithik’s drop dead handsome looks havent sunk in as yet. so i’ll
attempt to do justice to the other aspects of the movie too. Far from
looking like a fat Turk with an ugly wart on his nose, Hrithik
absolutely manages to mesmerise with his green(i think) eyes, bringing
out all his emotions - fascination, joy, anger, power, elation, I could
go on and on. Ok, now, a little about the movie and back to discussing
Hrithik. A movie with an Ashutosh Gowariker trade-mark, not only the
length, but the eye for detail, and the streak of patriotism, which he
manages to squeeze in even in an epic love story like this. Love story,
he should have left it at that, instead of adding a typical climax,
with the hero finishing off the bad guy, maybe saving about an hour and
a half of history and politics, making it look more like a weekly TV-
serial. . That, and the speed of the narrative apart, the movie is a
visual treat, with the cinematography, the massive armies clashing, the
majestic emperor in all his glory, the delicate, but bold Rajput
princess, not to mention the entire royal ambience.
The main
storyline is about Akbar, the Mughal emperor, and his wife Jodhaa, who
embark on a marriage of alliance between the Rajput kingdom of Amer,
and Akbar’s. The defiant and self-respecting princess refuses to be a
pawn in the political drama, but she has no choice, and accepts what
comes to her, as a Hindu bride would do; for she refuses to walk out of
the relationship, even when Akbar tells her she is free to do so,
saying that the bond of a husband and wife is that of seven lives. And
so, an epic romance begins to blossom, culminating finally into true
love, which overcomes all obstacles and crosses all hurdles. Their
intimate moments are depicted with so much tenderness, which, maybe few
other directors can bring out. Intertwined are family and court
politics, which blend into the story, but without which, the movie
would have run with more subtlety. The plot is downright loose,
considering that the length had been reduced by more than half of the
original, and so the movie finally ends up looking like a jigsaw puzzle
fitted with the wrong pieces. Hrithik and Aish give you the sole reason
to sit through the entire length.
From the way he walks, to the way
he throws his chin up as the almighty ruler of Hindustan, and then
switches to looking like an innocent school boy in love, Hrithik steals
the show. The delightful surprise in his eyes, when he learns that his
wife has cooked his meal, the elation when she comes back to him,
telling him that he has won her heart, and the pure happiness, when his
name is the first thing she learns to write in Urdu, the power in his
voice, the authority, and his anger upon learning that the princess has
set conditions for him, the
Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah, are nothing short of wonderful. I knew
Hrithik was a good actor, but now, I look at him with renewed respect.
Aishwarya too, complementing him beautifully, as Jodhaa, looking
splendid, deserves a mention. The rich design and costumes, which show
all the hard work of the designers, also lend a hand in carrying off
the show. And of course, the maestro, Rahman, living upto high
expectations, with each song picturised perfectly, that the overall
effect is simply superb.
There’s one thing I’d really like to ask
Gowariker. Why Jodhaa and Akbar? The actor doesn’t look a tad like the
Akbar in our textbooks(I don’t really know about Jodhaa). Neither was
the emperor so flexible, nor did he treat his wife as the Empress of
India, nor did he respect her wishes of not changing her religion. Why?
To mentally prepare the viewer of the magnanimity of the personas he
portrays? When he is very much capable of portraying an emperor and his
empress, pretty well, why manipulate history and evoke contoversies?
Apart
from the gruelling three-hour-twenty-minute length, and a few
unnecessary digressions to the plot, Jodhaa Akbar would have been a
cinematic masterpiece, had Gowariker given it a proper plot, with a
little more attention. Definitely worth watching. For Hrithik.