Jodha Akbar

UTV motion pictures presents Jodha Akbar. Well they should have put it as UTV “slow” motion pictures presents Jodha Akbar. After the ruffle and scuffle amongst the distributors and the multiplexes Jodha Akbar hit the screens on Saturday in most of the places. The movie can be easily put into the romance genre. For it is the story of love between the hindu Rajput princess Jodha and the Mughal emperor Akbar.

 

Will not disclose the story out here since I never believe that is a good thing to do. But I can assure you that it has a solid story line. The first half of the movie lasts for ages. I could see the audience getting really frustrated with the pace of the movie. There are not too many characters which would require such a detailed introduction too. Adding to the woe, comes the song “Khwajaji”. It is a great qawwali from Rahman, but honestly even a die hard rahmaniac like me did not enjoy watching the song.

 

The viewer almost waits for the moments when Hrithik comes on the screen. And when he does, he would have all the eyes fixed on to him firmly. Hrithik carries the whole movie on his shoulders with impeccable acting and amazingly unique reactions. Watch out for the tussle with the elephant that Hrithik has. Truly well shot. And Aishwarya looks beautiful again after long time in this movie, thanks to some awesome costume designing by Neeta Lulla. Most of the movies she would appear in red sarees. And for a change she has acted well too. She always does a good job with good directors. The chemistry between both is also good. Especially in the scene where they have a sword fight.

 

But it was very unlike a Ashuthosh Gowarikar movie. Intelligent dialogues is what one usally associate with his movies. Couldn’t find much of that in Jodha Akbar. Also the fact that most of the movie has heavy content of Urdu, it would be really difficult for a viewer to understand the dialogues. And there were so many unnecessary scenes in the movie. For example the scene where Akbar shows of his body to Jodha did not make any sense whatsoever. And the casting of the Rajput emperors could have been much better. I am sure they would have been much more majestic than what was shown.

 

Well, if you can sit through the first half with a bit of difficulty, you sure will enjoy the second half which was crisp and lovely. Rahman does his part with the Background scores but surely nothing close to Lagaan or Swades BGMs. The Azeem o shaan shehensha song has been picturised superbly. And the song itself is yet another gem from Rahman. If Akbar himself would have heard it, I am sure he would have given a chain or two to Rahman. A special mention about Javed Akhtar for the amazing lyrics. Nitin Desai’s art direction is astounding. If a few scenes were chopped off from the first half, it would have been another cult classic from Gowarikar. But it was not to be.

 

Star of the movie: Hrithik Roshan.

Point Table: 3/5

Reco: Watchable once.