To mark the official launch of Yahoo! India Movies portal, all Y! india employees were sponsored with the movie tickets to watch ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ – historical epic by Ashutosh Gowarikar. Watching such a well publicized movie on the very first day that too at PVR Cinema is certainly a welcome move for all the Yahoos after an eventful and stormy week at work. 
We were given tickets for the movie on friday morning around 11am, we had the choice of opting to watch either 6:10 pm or 10pm show. Both the shows were completely reserved for Yahoos. Most of us were standing in the long Q’s to collect the movie tickets and to register for the transport to reach home back after the movie, you can see the inline pics of the same.
Now, the movie review. Jodha Akbar could alternatively have been titled as a Royal love story. It’s the story of a princess who taught an emperor how to rule the hearts of his subjects. And an emperor, who had to fight his way through uprisings and plots to win the heart of his beloved wife. Jodha Akbar is such an engaging film that only after credit roll appears on the screen you realize that it’s three and a half hours long. During these three and a half hours what you see is mind blowing: grand sets, magnificent war scenes, spectacular sword duets. To add to the irony, one of my colleague told me that she was completely lost in watching the Rajput style of golden ornaments in the movie. Jodha Akbar might not be strictly based on history, it’s comes off rather as a folk-lore. However, the director’s care for details is exemplary. Take this one: Akbar visits the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer. Dargah is shown as a modest and austere place without the grand mosque that stands there today. This mosque was build by Akbar’s grandson Emperor Shah Jahan.
If epic sagas are about spectacular sets, grand fights, duets this one is at par with the greatest in the world. Look at this scene: Jodha’s father Raja Bharmal, visits to meet the Emperor Akbar for the first time and where he finds him: fighting with an elephant. The duet scene was breath-takingly filmed. We’ve seen “heros” reining in rowdy horses, fighting with tigers but this is a fresh royal touch. Though, it looks completely believable but it’s also little funny. Film has a couple of unintended comical moments as well. Look at this one: Emperor is having a darbar where clerics are unhappy at the fact that Jodha has been allowed to set up a temple within the premises of Mughal fort. However, in the middle of the royal court proceedings, we hear the resounding voice of Jodha singing manmohana…and the Emperor as if dumbstruck gets up and starts walking almost in a state of trance to his beloved. His similar walk at Ajmer that ends into swirling and dancing with the sufis again turns out to be little funny.
The film has great production values, magnificent cinematography, soulful music and background score and superb action scenes keep you stunned and immersed in the narrative. Jodha Akbra is a magnificent film for those, who want to see a great piece of period drama but if your expectations are far greater, if you’re looking for the emotional journey of the great emperor, your thirst might be left unquenched. Certainly this movie is a lot different from contemporary bollywood movies. While retuning back to home, we had a sound laughter all the way talking about this movie. This is the third movie sponsored by Yahoo! for me, Casino Royale and Spiderman part 3 were the other movies before this Jodhaa Akbar!
Leave a Reply