After the much acclaimed patriotic piece like Lagaan and Swades, Ashutosh Gwariker follows up with a periodic drama with a much larger scale, Jodaa-Akbar- set in the 16th century Hindustan.As the name suggests, it’s about the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad(who was dubbed by his subject as Akbar, meaning the greatest, later when he became a people’s emperor) & Jodhaa Bai, princess of Amer(Jaipur), daughter of King Bharmal.
The director doesn’t claim to be absolutely factual. He says, there are many versions of histories. Some historians say her name was not Jodhaa, some call her Harkha Bai and some others- Hira Kunwar, Jiya Rani, Shaahi Bai etc. But to the common man, she’s known as Jodhaa Bai.
Out of all the versions of histories, none talks about their(Akbar&Jodhaa) relationship as in after their marriage. Historians took it more as a political alliance between the Mughals & Rajputs(Amer). As a matter of fact, it was. Like his father(Humayun) & grandfather(Baber), he too dreamed of a united Hindustan. But unlike his father & grandfather, he knew not only the manjil(destination) but also the raastey(journey, the way). He summoned all the kingdom of the Hindustan to come under one flag(Mughal) or to be ready for the Mughal sword. So, to avoid the bloodshed King Bharmal(Amer) proposed a marriage alliance between the Rajputs & Mughals, asked Jalaluddin Muhammad’s(Akbar) hand for his daughter Jodhaa.
Here the director talks about what-probably-happened(which was ignored by the historians) when two people who are different from each other in every possible way(culture, religion) commit in holy matrimony and the journey of Jodhaa from a Hindu princess to Malika-e-Hindustan.
It looked splendid from start to finish. Can’t recall the last time I had such an experience from a Bollywood film. It was almost exactly what I expected. Hrithik Roshan was surprisingly great(just notice his expression when he learns about the conspiracy of Sharifuddin, the assasination attempt) though one may ask for strong voice like the one of Prithviraj Kapoor for Akbar, and so was Aishwarya. When I recall the scene where Hrithik tames an elephant, I just wonder one thing- "could Akbar even imagine of doing that?"
In another scene where Akbar(Hrithik) dances with Qawali singers, Akbar looked gay(i mean the scene actually). Ok, I get the point that Akbar loved spiritual music and he got spirited by the Qawali number. But surely, it could have been shown differently. Talking about other minor flaws, I really don’t think there’s anything wrong in showing Jodhaa praying for Akbar’s recovery. Come on people, Jodhaa is a 16th century traditional Hindu woman! On another point, one might say, it’s neither a biopic nor a love story. But I think, the director did a fine job in coalescing the love story with the collateral happenings. But I wonder, why the director skipped the fact that Akbar had another hundred wives!
So, as a whole, I would say it was a great experience, a grand one, though there’s not much(usp) for common moviegoers. Strongly recommended to hatke film-lovers.