Jodha Akbar
Ashutosh Gowariker's latest offering, Jodha Akbar, has already seen a lot of fire. It has been talked about, criticized, banned and then the ban has been lifted. Without taking these things into consideration, here is a review of the movie, and only the movie.
Indian cinema has always been said to be lacking when it compares itself to Hollywood, and that is on many fronts. Right from the hackneyed stories to the innumerable clichés, Hollywood has so many chinks in its armor that it would only be a exercise in humor to compare Bollywood and Hollywood. We all know and understand that the journey is long and tiresome, and any benchmark is a welcome change and therefore is Jodha Akbar.
This visually stunning piece of art tells us about a untold story, the story of Jodhabai and Emperor Akbar. The movie acts as a informant about the state of India as regards the political and social life in India at that moment. But of course, the course of the movie is always Emperor Akbar and his wife, Jodhabai.
Hrithik Roshan is the centrifugal force that takes the movie to unparalleled heights. He overshadows almost everyone who shares the frame with him, and one must say, he is the next acting great from India.
Apart from the crisp acting from almost everyone in the movie, what has to lauded is the sets, the attires and the entire atmosphere of an era long forgotten – the Mughal Era. Also, this may be one of the first Indian movies to actually have an authentic looking medieval Indian dresses, not something hooked out from Maganlal Dresswala.
So, go to see the movie for Hrithik, go to see the movie for a chunk from the Mughal Era, but beware, the movie could have made with editing for atleast half an hour.
