A R Rahman's music was both a primal and spiritual
experience with the thrilling Khwaja mere Khwaja, a musical encounter
of a divine kind.
Sumptuous & Spectacular
Wednesday,
02.27.2008, 02:44am (GMT-7)
India Post News Service
LOS ANGELES: The film directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar
of (Lagaan fame) and released by UTV Motion Pictures is what the media
says, an epic release worldwide. Twenty six countries including India,
the US Europe, Asia and the Middle East are showing the film across
1,500 screens worldwide.
This is the biggest release ever for an Indian film.
The much anticipated costume drama film starring the top stars
Aishwarya Rai and Hritihik Roshan is the fabled love story between the
Muslim Emperor Akbar and the Hindu Rajput Princess Jodhaa.
That is one side of the story. On the other side we
have in India, the panning of the critics, the protests, the tearing
down of posters, the vandalism of cinema theaters, and the banning of
the film in Rajasthan. Meanwhile, NRI groups are calling for the
banning of the film and asking for a boycott. There is even a website
boycottjodhaaakbar.
What is going on? Amidst all this panic and anger
about flouting history, I would like to start my review with a note of
frivolity. My experience in the San Fernando Valley in Southern
California. We arrived well in time and stood outside the theater as
the doors were not open, I kept hearing someone say, "Stand in line
against the wall, Stand in line against the wall."
And every time the voice kept coming nearer and
suddenly I found our group was being asked to stand in line against a
wall. Strip search? It was merely one of the distributors of the film
asking us, to line up against a wall cordoned by a velvet rope.
And then it struck me that the poor man must have
been controlling unmanageable Indian crowds, shoving and pushing at
other screenings of many a film and this was his way of maintaining
unruly mobs. We dissolved into laughter.
Anyway, it was time for us to get inside and the
film began. The story is 450 years old. Political intrigues,
conspiracies, loyalty, betrayals, trust, faith, religious conflicts,
all of it culminating into a landscape for the senses. Within the first
few minutes I knew this was going to be a brilliant film and Aishwarya
Rai had not even made an appearance.
The film dazzled from the first shot, as we were
lured into the history of the Rajput kingdoms, and listened to the tale
of a marriage of political alliance by the Muslim ruler with a
beauteous Hindu princess, and how this union brought harmony and peace
between two hostile religious communities.
Akbar had been conquering realm after realm and
wanted to rule over the whole of Hindustan and wisely decided that by
marrying a princess from a Hindu kingdom there would be unity. Apart
from that, there is the untold love story which critics are disputing
about.
They say that Akbar's wife was not Jodhaa, and
Jodhaa was the wife of his son Jehangir, while others insist that Akbar
made an alliance with Jodhpur much later in his reign A research team
from New Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow and Agra worked on the film and, also
according to the director had the blessings of the Royal Rajput family.
Interestingly, in the historical documents, no mention is made of
Akbar's wife but that was the custom of the time.
However the name Jodhaa first appears in the 18th
and 19th historical writings. Three and a half hours long, the film
could definitely have been edited. Technically, the editing was
brilliant. The 10 million dollar film used 80 elephants, 100 horses and
55 camels in the nail biting, spectacular, battle scenes.
A R Rahman's music was both a primal and spiritual
experience with the thrilling Khwaja mere Khwaja, a musical encounter
of a divine kind. Javed Akhtar's lyrics represented myriad musical
traditions. Hrithik Roshan brought intuition, subtlety and a stirring
intimacy into his role transforming the alliance into a tender and
poignant. love story.
His mellifluous Urdu diction made one almost swoon
with delight. The star has a commanding presence, a fiery elegance,
remarkable physical agility and an astonishing athleticism, whether he
is tackling a bellowing elephant with his superb, oiled, muscular body,
or battling an army on the scorching desert sands.
Aishwarya Rai was a wonderful surprise. I can never
get past the Miss World image and the Loreal or is it Revlon products,
but in this film, she came into her own. The glamour quotient is
ignored. Every time she made her presence felt, there was a poetic
lyricism but beneath it she was a woman of great integrity, courage and
unflinching honesty. Akbar and Jodhaa were both deep and powerful
characters as they cast a bewitching spell on each other without
falling prey to clichés.
The story becomes extraordinary with Akbar speaking
Urdu and Jodhaa, Hindi. The other compelling characters were finely
drawn. Sonu Sood as Surajmull turns in a singular performance and Ila
Arun as Akbar's stepmother is quietly menacing. Photography by Kiran
Deohans was a stunning illustrative example of a visionary.
Neeta Lulla's costumes, she designed for the entire
cast, from royalty to the commoner was at the heart of the film.
Billowing, fragile curtains, opulent carpets, splendid lamps, brilliant
colored canopies, bejeweled turbans and exquisite jewelry, made from
rubies, kundan, jade, and gold, celebrated he richness and vitality of
the era.
PREM KISHORE
http://indiapost.com/article/lifestyle/2189/
