There is a lot of talk on who Jodhaa
actually is!? Is she a wife of Akbar? or Is she the daughter-in-law of
Akbar? I watched the movie yesterday and the movie was so appealing
that I got tempted to conduct my own secondary research on the subject.
The
name Jodhaa Bai is not from the literary manuscripts of those days.
This was first used in 19th century by some historian(Tod) in one of
his works. Akbar had primarily 4 wives, Ruqayya Sultan Begum, Salimah
Sultan Begum, Mariam-uz-Zamani or Maan Kunwar
and Sakinah Banu
Begum. He had married some more who were of not much historical
significance. Out of these, Mariam-uz-Zamani was the closest that comes
to the story of Jodhaa Bai that is shown in the movie. She was a Rajut
princess by the name Maan Kunwar who later converted to Islam
post-marriage. She was the daughter of the King of Amber(the present
day Jaipur). She was the mother of Salim or Jahangir. We dont see the
names of the queens in the popular literature like Ain-I-Akbari and
Akbar-Nama because it was not appropriate to mention the queens’ names
as per the Islamic customs. Whatever we know therefore is from other
not-so-popular sources.
Historians argue that Jodhaa Bai is in
all probability actually the wife of Jahengir. As one of his wives had
a distant connection with Jodhpur and thus she earned the nick name
Jodhi Bai(not Jodhaa Bai). The Jodhaa-Akbar combination was first made
popular with the blockbuster Mughal-E-Azaam. Bollywood is anyday more
powerful than Age-Old History Text books and thus the popular belief is
that Akbar and Jodha were indeed lovers.
Ashutosh should have
actually followed the factual history rather than popular history and
call the movie Kunwar-Akbar and not Jodhaa-Akbar. Many of the other
facts were indeed represented correctly, for Fathepur-Sikri does have
one part which has elements of Hinduism where Kunwar/ Jodhaa might have
stayed. The first war sequence shown in the movie when Prince Jalauddin
(later Akbar) was 13 years old is the Second Battle of Panipat(between
Mughals and King Vikramaditya alias Hemur). Adham Khan(the brother of
Akbar, aunt’s son) indeed murders the Primeminister and enters the
harem where Akbar was staying to assassinate him. He was given the
exact death penalty as shown in the movie. Akbar’s aunt Maham Anga was
indeed shrewd and manipulative and hoped to rule herself by proxy
through her son. Akbar indeed abolished the jizya and the pilgrimage
taxes with which he became quite popular. The final fight sequence
between Akbar and Sharifuddin Hussain(Akbar’s Sister’s Husband) must
be pure Bollywood Masala as I couldnt find much evidence of it anywhere.
And
a short note on the movie itself.The sets are grand and I got
transported back to 16th century. The sword-fights, hand-to-hand
combats, Bow-Arrows, Wild Elephants, Horses, Fantastic Costumes,
Armored Suits, Elaborate Dances are some of the elements that will make
one want to live in those ages. The love story was subtle and Ash was
sporting her best looks(what jewellery!).One would fall in love with the songs esp
after they watch the movie as the picturization was out of the world.
Akbar’s tolerance for Hindus and Hindu customs was inspiring and should
sure give a lesson or two to all the religious fanatics.
PS:
The movie would have been great with English subtitles as half the
movie was in Urdu! One has to otherwise put all his human instincts to
exertion and interpret the dialogues from emotions of the characters!