Ashutosh Gowarikar hits a Sixer with Jodha Akbhar

Lagaan’s director Ashutosh Gowarikar surely knows how to blend in the east with the west, and by striking the right chords, he surely knows what he wants. He once again hits it well, with a hat trick, in Jodha Akbar. A fine crafts man ship is once again shown by the director.

Jodha Akbar is a historic saga of the Mugal ruler (Akbar) and his hindu wife (Jodha). As always in Ashutosh’s movie, here too there’s a social message involved, and that is to promote unity between the Hindu and the Muslim. The movie has a lot more to offer than just that. The most highlighting point in the movie is the cinematography. The battle where Akbar is crowned as the king, was beautifully shot. Followed by the songs: Azeem - o - Shaan Shensha, and the Sufi melody - Khwaja Mere Khwaja. The back ground scores add the perfect touch to the scenes. The sets seem quite real, and the difference between in the Rajput and Mugal Palaces and their ambience is very well portrayed. Scenes like Akbar’s encounter with the elephant, Jodha’s pre marriage agreements, Jodha’s secret meeting with her brother, Akbar disowning Jodha, Akbar and Jodha’s sword fight, are sure to capture your hearts. Haider Ali and Ashutosh’s screen play is quite crisp, though the movie seems dragged towards mid way, but soon takes on the pace post interval. The songs of the movie are quite situational, but Jodha and Akbar’s song where they confess their love, could have been scrapped off to save time. Kehne Ko Jashne Bahara Hain, is sure to make you smile, while Khwaja mere Khwaja leaves you spell bounded.

Hrithik and Ashwariya do complete justice to the characters. Though Hrithik brings in a modern touch with the romantic scenes, specially when Akbar goes to bring Jodha back, his action scenes are sure to take your breathe away. Ashwariya blends in the perfect touch of attitude and grace. Big B re creates magic with his voice over. Ila Arun’s negative shades are very well highlighted. Sonu Sood delivers a brilliant performance as well.

Leaving apart the historical loop holes, over all Jodhaa Akbar is a movie with flawless technicalities and a breathe taking cinematography. Though the movie might work 50-50 in the international markets due to the time frame, but the movie’s a must watch to know what the real India was all about.

'Jodhaa Akbar' screening disrupted in Gurgaon multiplex

A group of over 150 people tried to disrupt the screening of Ashutosh Gowariker's just released epic romance 'Jodhaa Akbar' at a multiplex here, shouting slogans against the film and tearing down posters.

The protesters gathered outside the PVR multiplex in Gurgaon's Metropolitan Mall, demanding that screening be halted.

The theatre stopped screening the movie for 5-10 minutes when the unruly crowd tried to get into the hall, said Satish Balan, deputy commissioner of police (Gurgaon East).

'They gathered around the mall at about 1 p.m. and wanted to stop the screening of the film. They resorted to slogan shouting. We persuaded them to go back and the screening was later resumed,' Balan told IANS.

'There was no need of any arrests. The situation was amicably handled,' he said, adding that security has been beefed up around PVR after the protests.

The police said the protesters, mainly from the Kshatriya (Rajput) community, were against the film because they feel Gowariker has distorted historical facts.

Starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, the three-hour, 20 minute movie was released in 26 countries Friday, but banned in Rajasthan. The Karni Sena there has been spearheading a campaign against the film for quite sometime.

The community says Gowariker is presenting Jodha Bai as Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Akbar's wife, which is factually incorrect.

According to them, Jodha Bai was not the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber as shown in the film. The princess was the daughter of Motaraja Udai Singh of Marwar and she was married to Akbar's son Salim alias Jehangir. And Mughal king Shahjahan was her son.

The Rs.400 million movie, produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Gowariker, sparked protests in Patna and Ahmedabad too.

While Pratap Sena, a small Rajput organisation, vandalised a theatre in Ahmedabad, Kshatriya Sena activists protested the screening of the film and pulled out posters at Ashok cinema hall in Patna.

Besides, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal are also up in arms against 'Jodhaa Akbar' as they feel it has 'objectionable dialogues' that hurt Hindu sentiments. They have threatened to launch a nation-wide agitation against the movie if these scenes are not removed.

The controversy notwithstanding, the film's box office performance is satisfactory, says Ashish Saxena of PVR Cinemas.

'Lot of clarity about the film's performance will come tomorrow, but the weekend was fantastic,' Saxena said

Much-awaited 'Jodhaa Akbar' gets lukewarm response in Mumbai

Director Ashutosh Gowariker's much-awaited epic drama 'Jodhaa Akbar' opened to a lukewarm response at the box office here Friday.

Despite the media hype and large-scale promos, the initial box-office collections in Mumbai stood between 75 percent and 80 percent - not a handsome percentage for a film made on a whopping Rs.400 million budget and starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai.

Set in the 16th century, the epic love story explores a marriage alliance between two cultures and religions for political gain. Gowariker has tried to portray this political alliance as a romantic tale.

Younger audiences reacted unfavourably to the movie, primarily because it was a historical and many felt Akbar's role did not suit Hrithik.

Vinita, a college student, said she couldn't reconcile to Hrithik playing Emperor Akbar, at least at this stage of his career.

The usually bankable A.R. Rehman's music also proved to be a letdown as none of the songs will stay with the audience, unlike some of his memorable tunes in 'Bombay' or 'Lagaan', said trade analyst Amod Mehra.

The fact that 'Jodhaa Akbar' has not been released at many city multiplexes, except the PVR chain, could be another reason for its discouraging box office performance.

The film has already run into trouble with the Rajput community of Rajasthan, which felt Gowariker has distorted facts. Rajput organisations said Gowariker has presented Jodhabai as Akbar's wife, which is they claimed was factually incorrect.

According to them, Jodhabai was not the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber as shown in the film. The princess was the daughter of Motaraja Udai Singh of Marwar and she was married to Akbar's son Salim alias Jehangir. And Mughal king Shahjahan was her son, they say.

However, Maharani Padmini, the direct descendant of Jodha Bai, not only attended the music release function of the film held here, also showered praises on Gowariker for keeping historical facts intact and doing justice in portraying the relationship between Akbar and Jodha Bai.

Gowariker is also said to have consulted several eminent historians for the film.

If the first day's collections are any indication, the movie will find it difficult to set the cash registers ringing in the coming days. Mehra also felt that barring grandeur, the film has very little to offer to the audiences by way of entertainment.

Some also complained that the movie was a bit long - 200 minutes - especially for youngsters and for what is essentially history retold.

Jodha Akbar's music will satisfy all sections: Rahman

Often considered as the 'Mozart of Asia,' musician Allah Rakha Rahman has done everything from classical to reggae and now with Shekar Kapur's 'Elizabeth: the Golden Age' awaiting release, where he pairs up with Hollywood actor Craig Armstrong, he is very excited.

"It has been really a wonderful experience working with Craig. We travelled a lot in places like Glasgow...remotely working with the guys in London," says Rahman who was in the capital recently.

The singer-composer has his hands full with a lot of films, the latest being Ashutosh Gowarikers 'Jodha Akbar' starring Hrithik Roshan and Ashwariya Rai Bachchan.

"Jodha Akbar is a romantic story about a king falling in love with a princess and I have tried to keep the music contemporary so that it satisfies both critics and the music lovers," he says.

"The music of the film is very much what is required for the film. We have celebration songs and quawallis," he adds. Rahman, who composed the music of Subhash Ghei's 'Kisna' is once again paring up with the director in his latest flick, 'Yuvraaj'.

"Yuvraaj is a very challenging project. We had a hard time composing the first two songs but now as those have been cracked, we hope we will be able to wrap it up quickly," he says.

"We have a very unlikely combination in this film as we have Gulzar saab, Subhash Ghaiji and me in this venture," he adds. Rahman who was in the city to mark the one year celebration of an FM channel, will be performing live in the capital in November for the first time.

"I was planning to perform in Delhi for the last 10 years and now I have got the chance to perform and I am very excited about it," he says.

Rahman had composed the tracks of 'Shivaji-The Boss,' which struck gold at the box office in India and abroad and now since the film is being dubbed in Hindi, Rahman is a little apprehensive about it.

"After a long time, I have decided to dub my songs in Hindi. I had almost stopped dubbing in Hindi but this time I am convinced that it will do well. The music is ready and will be released soon," he says.

While other music directors of tinsel town have already started cashing on their popularity by joining the small screen and also vying for the big screen, Rahman is unperturbed and says he is a musician and would love to remain so.

"I have enough musical commitments to fulfill and I love to be a musician and would love to continue the good work. And anyways, I am not well versed in acting so it doesn't matter to me," he says.

I've done my research for 'Jodha-Akbar': Gowarikar

In the backdrop of the court case filed by a Rajasthani community against his under-production historical film Jodha-Akbar, director Ashutosh Gowarikar said he would not do anything that would hurt the sentiments of any community.

Recently Rajput Sabha filed a petition in a local court saying Jodha Bai was not a daughter of Amer ruler Bharmal.

The Sabha claims that historically there was only one Jodha Bai, who was the daughter of Marwar ruler Udai Singh, and she was married to Akbar's son Jahangir.

"I did my research even when I did Laagan. I have gone through historical books before finalising my script. I have done my research for Jodha-Akbar also and would not do anything wrong and take every precaution to see that sentiments of no community is hurt," Gowarikar said at the second anniversary of ND studios on Wednesday.

He said that animals in the film were used only after obtaining required permission from the authorities.

About the disagreement of the facts by historians, the court said the Censor Board will look into these aspects before certifying the film.

Jodha-Akbar stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai and is produced by UTV.

Amitabh in Jodhaa Akbar!

If you think Jodhaa Akbar just belongs to the Bachchan bahu and Hrithik you are wrong! The film also has reel life Jodhaa's real life father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan in it!

You will not see him but hear him in the film as he is all set to give a voice-over to the film, the way he did for Ashu's Oscar nominated Lagaan .

"Ashu included me in the cast and crew of Jodhaa in his speech. This is a little unfair for others as I am just giving a voice-over to the film. My association with Ashu goes back to Lagaan where I did the same. Lagaan did very well and I am sure Jodhaa Akbar will repeat its success. My work in Jodhaa hasn't started as yet", said Amitabh.

We are sure Ashu now definitely has BIG hopes from Jodhaa Akbar now that Big B is in it!

Rahman works his magic again in ‘Jodhaa-Akbar’

This man works wonders, album after album, and never fails to disappoint listeners. Music maestro A.R. Rahman has done it again. He returns after “Guru” to compose the soundtrack of “Jodhaa-Akbar” that has already been showered with praises.

Packed with two instrumental numbers and five tracks, “Jodhaa-Akbar” has the makings of a hit.

Elaborate arrangements include the trumpets and the drums in “Azeem O Shaan Shehenshah”. It is a wonderful composition and Mohammad Aslam and Bonnie Chakraborty, who have sung it, have done justice to the song. Lyrics by Javed Akhtar are up to the mark.

Sonu Nigam and Madhushree render a romantic piece titled “In lamhon ke daaman mein” that initially seems like any other track until it picks up pace. Javed Akhtar pens noteworthy lyrics while Rahman’s music keeps the standard you expect from the maestro himself.

“Jashn e bahaare”, sung by Javed Ali, comes next. The soft, serene and romantic piece displays an ideal fusion of Ali’s vocals with string music. There’s also a “Jashn e bahaare (instrumental)”, which gives the flute a key position in the track.

Rahman finally makes his presence felt in areas other than compositions by singing “Khwaja mere Khwaja”. His rendition coupled with the harmonium, tabla (percussion) and claps make for marvellous music. One begins to wonder how a qawaali could impress to this extent that it ensures immediate gratification to everyone. “Khwaja mere Khwaja” (instrumental) is as good as the previous instrumental number belted out.

“Mann Mohana” comes in the end as an average number. This track, rendered by Bela Shende, is not too bad but after listening to the other numbers in the album, one would prefer placing it at the bottom of the six.

Rahman has once again proved that what he composes is of a completely different genre, standard and calibre. He stands in a place where there can be no competitors; his is a level that cannot be matched.