JODHAA AKBAR WORKS AS A LOVE STORY WITH A HISTORIC BACKGROUND

A movie tat has been in the making for almost 2 years,lot has been talked about the sets of the movie,Hrithiks first movie in 1 and 1/2 years….Aishwarya rai bachan s first movie after marriage….,budget of the movie 40 crore, and above all its directed by Ashutosh gowarikar.

Jodhaa Akbar works,its grand and spectacular, and it works from the word go……THe movie kick starts of with big b ’s sound in background(sutradhar) and takes us directly in to the battle of PANIPAT, where a 13 year oldyoung akbar is shown….under the care of BAiram khan…wins the battle and defeated king HIND is beheaded by bairam khan.

Then we are taken in to another battle field….and here akbar is grown up….and a brilliantly executed old fashioned shelling.[only place where any CG work is seen in war sequences].

20 minutes of political drama…which is a bit slow….but then from there the film picks up speed and also starts to catch the attention[once the marriage btw akbar and jodha has been fixed.

Jodhaa akbar basically works more as a romatic film than being a historical.The romantic scenes really keeps the audience compleately hooked….whether it s the scene just after the song man mohana…where ash speaks to hrithik through eyes….or may be the sword fight scene btw hrithik and ash in the second half.

As far as history is concerned …Jodhaa akbar is more of fiction than history…..it s certainly not a history lesson for the masses……Sujamal ,the character played by sonu sood is one character which is hard to find in any history book…or even in wikipedia….But tat doesnt mean tat the movie s compleately out of history…

Gowarikar has certainly not over glorified Akbar …being a great man…he has stuck to the history by showinghim as a ruthles ruler, who orders to kill his brotherby throwing him upside down twice…

Technically…the film is brilliant . What ever work has been carried out has been done to perfection…I havent seen any indian movie in which a better colour correction work has been carried out, its absolute visual treat.

Lighting effects is again brilliant…in such a grand movie… bad lighting can really spoil the mood…here its fantastic….whether its the war sequences or the brilliantly executed AZZEM O SHAAN SHAHENSHAH song, the camera work is brilliant , fantastic cinematography.

Direction of Ashutosh Gowarikar is very good again,the director should be given full credit to handle such a subjectwith such precision, inspire the crew and actors to come up with their best. HE is spot on with casting of the film..not only the lead is perfect….he couldint have got a better villain….than niketan dheer..one area where the director succeeds is to make his Akbar grow with time …and also not overglorifying him or making him uni dimentional….

PERFORMANCES

Hrithik is at his best with this one….no body else could have played Akbar better than him….he completelylived akbar….his dialouge delivery,mannerism,walk,proudy….all represent tat of a king. then he s as usual stunning in the action sequences…. you hardly find HRITHIK ROSHAN the superstar…….u find emperor Akbar and we unconsciously tend to believe Akbar was like him…..With this film he proves it to his detractors how good an actor he is…..A masterstroke by hrithik choosing to do this film.

Ash…has done a good job the watever she got to do…whether its action sequences or may be romantic scenesor even emotional scenes…over all this she shares a terrific chemishtry with hrithik
sonu sood…as jodhaa s brother is really good..especially in emotional scenes,…..although he lacks the power and fire….ila arun…as maham anga…is particularly good in almost all the scenes
punam sinha…makes a commendable come back.’Again a stand out performance…yet another important character..tat of the villain…..ashutosh couldnt have got a better villain……he’s more taller and broader than hrithik….which adds to the fight scene in the climax. Niketan dheer excells in the role….as a debutant …a terrific performance….

HIGH POINTS IN THE MOVIE

• Old fashioned shelling during hrithiks entry
• Hrithik taming the elephant
• khwaja mere khwaja song picturisation…and hrithik dancing in unconsciosness…gr8…fantastic….a breath taking scene
• Hrithik s barechested swordfight
• Ash speaking to hrithik through eyes (just after manmohana)
• hrithik shouting at adham khan….telling him to use jodhaa s name with respect
• sets shown at Ash s arrival at akbars kingdom
• sword fight between ash and hrithik…one of the best romantic scenes ever on silver scene
• Hrithik ordering to kill adham khan
• Azeem o shan shahenshah song……the baap of all brilliantly picturised song ever in indian cinema
• Akbar telling jodhaa abt his education
• sujamal getting shot with arrows…..brilliant camera work…..
• Final head to head fight between hrithik and niketan dheer

FLAWS

The length is one thing tat went against the film…although i believe this film cannot be shortened less than 3 hrs….althogh there sre certain scenes in 2nd hr which could have been editted.

Also another major problem with the movie is tat Ashutosh basically failed to do something which he actually set out to do….this is my personal feeling tat those air shots for the battle scenes were taken with the idea of duplication using CG …but he went out of budget had to cancel it….

Lot of hardwork and research has gone in to making this film…..so for all those who admires good cinema…and respects hardwork…..this is a 2 times must watch movie and for all others who prefers entertainment….again its a must watch.

RATING

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