Jodha Akhbar Review

Jodha Akbar (2008)

This movie was released on 15th Feb 2008, just a day after a valentine's day. Firstly, what we can expect from a period film, is the action...that is war, in other words energy. But even the war scenes in the movie didn't give me that energy. But after watching the movie, i realized, that, its not about war, but just about Jodha and Akbar, and their love story, which for some reasons, still unknown, history could not mark it. (may be i had not seen the trailers properly ! :) ) And this is exactly, the last note of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, who, tells us the story in his mind blowing voice, in the movie, just as he had done in the movie Laggan. Ashutosh Gowariker has tried his best i must say, to mark this love story and reveal it to people, which "history could not do it!" (... i think this is also what he did for laggan, story of a village, which fights back against the british empire's tyrannical rule, by playing cricket! ... he he he ! ...but this doesn't mean that their was no love between, Jodha and Akhbar, may be its like,...the big wigs as always, want to keep their love life away from public attention, whether its a king, or a present day polictian, a sportsman, an actor ....etc.,)

Observations:- (... i can't help it... i try my best to be not technical as far as possible, but being a technical person, i like to use such words like "Observations" ... :) ... therefore apologies !)
1) Sets, .... marvellous sets.
2) Costumes and jewellery. Believe me, but the characters in the movie, actually look like the roles they play, majorily because, of the costumes and the jwellery they have used in the movie. For example, we have seen the Mughal paintings in our history books ... the characters look very much like that, especially Aishwarya Rai's costume, the colours, the necklace etc., Ashutosh and his crew, has really made very nice effort, on this aspect, of the film.
3) Sir Amitabh Bachchan's voice, as he tells us the parts of the story that cannot be actually picturized or it was quiet logical to dictate the story rather than portray it.
4) Characters other than, Jodha and Akhbar, are really good ! ... i mean ... i think they are just fit for the role, whether the role is of "Sujamal Singh" or the "Maula" who goes against the "Jahan-panah".
5) Illa-Arun, has given justice to her role. Hats off to her!
6) Moderate use of Urdu, and pure hindi, in this movie, actually made me, as an audience, a bit comfortable to watch this film. Before watching this film, i thought, urdu will be extensively used and will go bouncer for me. But thanks to the dialouge writer ! :)
7) Hrthik Roshan, has acted very well, ... but ONLY compared to Jodha that is Aishwarya Rai. I actually don't think he is fit for this role. Firstly, his voice, ... i donno but, as an audience, i am expecting a heavy, CONFIDENT voice from an Emperor...especially when he has ruled the entire nation. Action scenes not so nicely picturised involving Hrithik. For example, when you watch movies like Gladiator, 300, Troy, ... the viewer wants to actually stick back to his/her sit and go through all the action. They don't want to miss it. But here in the movie, i yawn over the action scenes. I will say, he has tried his best and made a honest attempt as far as possible, to give justice to his role.
8) Aishwarya Rai ... only good thing about her contribution to the movie is ... her BEAUTY ! thats it ! ... long back i have stopped expecting, any acting from her. Only acting that she can perform is raise her eyebrows, smile, or cry ! (...and that too very predictable!). In some scenes, she looks pail, loosing brightness on her face. I donno if that was a part of the cinematography or what .....but, it just didn't appeal to me as an audience.
9) Songs are excellent. A.R. Rehman has given his 100% to music. But i must make a point here, in some scenes in the background the, music played is bit primitive, especially in scenes like for e.g. when akbar sees jodha meeting sujamal singh secretly at night outside the fort. the music is like some horn blowing wildly...very primitive !
10) Before the movie starts, the film expresses its gratitude, to many people...notable amongst them is Mr. Shatruanha Sinha ... now look at the comedy, in the entire movie, he does not make his appearance at all ! Then why thank him ? .... it was only after watching the entire movie, i realized that, the word "Khamosh" (... proprietary dialouge of our Billu Badshah) used in the movie. lolz ! ... :) ... or may be he is thanked for not acting in the film! .....ha ha ha ! ...just kidding!
11) In other words, the movie is a typical Hindi Bollywood movie, with its story wrapped around the Mughal Period. I say this, because, as the story proceeds, me as an audience can predict what will happen next! For example, Akbar takes a procession inAgra Bazzaar, to celebrate his popularity and love for his masses. Taking this opportunity, an archer from the villan's side take his aim to assasin Akbar. He is hit by an arrow ... ONE ARROW ! thats it !!! ... ONE ARROW and that too on his chest near the shoulder. He falls sick, the fakirs and royal doctors try their best to save him. Queen Jodha, is also worried ... at least this is what she TRIES to act; act like a typical bollywood heroine who crys when her hero gets shot by villan. When she sees, that the efforts of the royal doctors, are not helping much, she seeks help of the God ... yes ....very predictable and typical too ! She rushes to the small temple in her room, and prays in front of lord Krishna, to save her husband. ... and Lo ! Her husband is saved ! ... what a miracle ! ... in such situations i imagine the royal doctors murmuring and giving bad words , " What the F@#k! kya Faltu giri hai ....aggar upar wala sab kuch kar sakta hai ! ...to hum log kya HAJAM hai kya idhar ?....Chayla !". And lastly, in the end, Sujamal who initially wanted a war against Akbar, gets back to his senses, and wants to help Akbar, but he is shot in the back several times, with arrows.... NOT ONE ARROW....but MANY ARROWS ! however, he manages to reach up to the akbar and inform him about the plot planned against him. He also gets time to talk to jodha, his sister when in fact he was hit by MORE THAN ONE ARROW ! Now that makes him more brave than Akbar, and yet i never heard of him...not even in my history text book, until i saw this movie. Don't you think all such scenes make this a TYPICAL BOLLYWOOD hindi movie ?


To summarize, i was expecting a lot from this film at least in terms of energy. I was waiting for this energy to come out. But i was left waiting even after the end of the movie. For example, let us compare the movies like Gladiator, Troy, 300 ....these are period films too. These films explore the parts in history that many people don't know! For instance, how many of you knew, about General Maximus or King Leonidas ? I was not knowing, about them, until i saw these movies. However, i wanted to watch these entire movies right till the end, may be because of the energy, the star cast, the screen play, music, action, effects, etc., Similarly, how many of us knew the real love saga between Jodha and Akbar. The movie could have been made interesting, but it was like power point slide show, telling the audience, ok .... first this thing happened, then this and later this etc., All i enjoyed was the sets, costume, music .... and "KHAMOSH!" ...he he he !

I would rate the movie 2.5 / 5. ... and out of 2.5 ....1.5 goes just to the music and the production. If you are a fan of the Huge sets, beauty, and there is more of aesthetic sense and less of logical sense then this is a must watch ....but if you are serious movie fan looking for some serious interesting story told by serious acting then .... forget it! You won't get that in this movie. May be we will have to wait for Ashutosh's next movie. I say this because, he is good director, producer and actor too...after seeing his previous movies . Out of all the movies Ashutosh has made i would rate Swades at the top, then Laggan and then ... Jodha Akbar !


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About This blog

Hello friends,
So what is this blog about ? ... Its about your views and opinions on the movie that you have seen recently. Consider, this blog as your paper to voice your opinion on, whats good or bad in a particular film. To make this blog, readable, we will post over reviews film by film. It means, we will take one particular film as one post and give our criticism on the film in that post, ... and once we are done with that, we will take the next film, as the next post and put our comments. So one film, per post. In this way, readers get to know all that, they want to know about, a particular film in just ONE SINGLE post.

We will start with the first movie :- Jodha Akhbar.