Jodhaa Akbar-the review

I saw Jodhaa Akbar on 16th February as a valentine gift. We had a late night show to attend so we took our dinner and walked to the Sky City for the 1950 hour show.

Before going for any critial review I’d like to remember the past few historical Hindi movies in recent past…………….aaahhh can’t recollect.
I was waiting for Jodhaa Akbar ever since Diwali last year. Not because I am a Hrithik or Aish buff-I was just inquisitive about how Ashutosh will handle the hatke (unique) concept of history-a story that is real, controversial and not a huge box office magnet! I read the reviews on net on Friday. The Times of India review (2.5 stars!!)by Nikhat Kazmi was too critical and made me sure indeed watching it over saturday night is going to be a bad idea. The IBN Live review by Rajeev Masand was glorific (read 4.5 stars). I was as confused as a kid at the ice cream parlour.

Well I made up my mind to see the movie on my own and then decide. The movie started with beautiful warfare scene. It was small in length but surely dropped off the hint of the spectacular 213 minutes all of us (some Kiwis included) were about to witness. The look of the movie was just right, the background score-perfect. I simply loved the charater sketches etched out by Ashutosh. The scenes between Hrithik and Aish were simple and stand true even in this century. The arranged marriage done for two kings’ alliance-the insecurity, the religion differences, the rites & customs, the fears of yound bride on first night-they all stand testimony to the fact that no controversy was required whatsoever because even if its fiction-its an imagination far better than some glitzy romance a la Yash Chopra.

The scene where Hrithik does the sword fighting with beads of sweat slipping down his bare torso to impress his wife impress the audience too. And again the scene which impressed is wherein the newly married Akbar is being asked by his courtiers not to allow the hindu Jodhaa to have a temple. The moment wherein all the discussion is going on- one hears Bhajan (hymn) being sung i nthe background. The moment is brilliant as per direction point of view. Then again the scene where Jodhaa Akbar do sword fighting-it simply captures your heart and the little comic dialogues by Hrithik make you smile( yeah does remind of the fact you don’t need an enemy if you’re married!).

Although I do feel few scenes could have been well edited- like the mad elephant taming scene. They just added length to the movie and were little boring.

The music blends with the movie very smoothly. The Khwaja mere khwaja song is mesmerizing. You get soaked into it just like Akbar. The Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah song is beautifully directed and the dancers have done a job very well done. No wonder these two songs now rank in the most played list in the iPOD.

Aishwary looks every bit of royal princess. But I do feel she is not given many dialogues especially any strong ones. The jewellery, costumes, cinematography, war scenes- everything was good. And thing thats the winner is the subtle chemistry between Aish and Hrithik.

But offocurse if you go on ahead and compare it with Troy- you’ll be disheartened (Are you listening you negative critics like Nikhat Kazmi). Few people just can’t get out of their Interntional league and accept that even one step is tremendous in a positive direction. I tell this thing to people who criticize Roshans for giving us our first superhero- Krrish. I personally am not a fan of this movie but still proud of it in my own way (when people criticize Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag- I am more than pleased).

Alright I hear you- the movie is lengthy but then is it so bad to be written away. Its not. I know there are so many of you out there who have predecided in their mind not to watch it because someone told them its long or they read some partial review.

So I ‘d like to request go and watch it with open mind and I am sure you’ll like it. I am proud of it-proud of the team.

I hope we keep churning out more flicks like these unlike factory churn outs like- Yash Chopra (you don’t know how angry I was after watching neal ‘n’ nikki).

Lets hope!

New age Indian Cinema for Children~Taare Zameen Per

Kudoz to Aamir Khan………..Kudoz to you!!! You genuinely deserve a standing ovation for the extraordinanry performance as Director ..as an actor you actually never had anything to do in front of that kid -Darsheel Safary (Ishan)…a gem has been found…The kid deserves Best Actor Award in National Awards category…….not a la Screen Awards Best Child Artist.He shows an entire gamut of emotions-laughter, angst, frustration, humilation,sparkle,separation, joy,solitude et al….

The entire movie kept me fixated…although the year 2007 did manage to have a movie dealing with the similar theme-Apna Aasman starring Anupam Kher and Shobhna. But somehow it couldn’t touch the heart like Taare…did. Its beautifu, pure and transparent. It shows the simplicity glorified in its finest sense.

I also somehow had problems like Ishan in my school days. I was always confused between ‘Lesser than greater sign < or >‘. I could never get it. I knew which number was greater but still don’t know why always put the other sign. Forget that till today I spell one letter backwards while typing like problme(thanks to Spell check you hardly see them here). Analysts say that this is a sign of getting Alzheimer’s disease in old age.

But I did face lot of problem back in school regards to my< or >. 🙂

The treatment of caning is another important aspect which gave me goosebumps.

The title track makes me move. Every word that comes out reminds me that truly-‘Child is the father of the nation.‘ Its simply beautiful, the words are carelessly comparable to every child. Little dreamy eyed angel full of hundreds of questions and with their own interesting answers, their long explanations, their long sequences of whys, their genius discoveries….

The Maa song is beautiful. It belongs to all of us-ain’t it? All kiddies, rebellious teengers, carefree college kids, messy working kids..to those hwo( I am leaving this otherwise who unattended to show I still make my spell mistakes) even have their own kids. We don’t show but we do love our Maa. After all she was indeed our first friend. Miss you Mummaa!

I feel it is brave on part of Aamir Khan to carefully select children as his theme for his very first directorial venture.

Rockford by Nagesh Kukunoor is another gem that falls into the same category.Few years back NDFC did produce few films for children but it also faded away like an old book under dust! NDFC lost its focus but its good to see a mainstream actor choose a subject very well avoided by film makers.

Film makers like Vishal Bhardwaj (Makdee, The Blue Umbrella) have made an earlier attempt and they deserve their fair share of accolades too.

Thank you makers….for enriching the film content for children and why only them for elder ones too. For reminiscing us of our old school day; for making us aware that we are not going to throw our children in the competition or rat race. we are not going to compare them with our relatives or neighbour’s kids and we are not going to make them believe they’re going to be future doctors, engineers, CAs or Managers. They will be what they want to be!

This movie should be straight away made Tax-free and be declared mandatory for all schools………..

Aamir-You did manage to make me teary eyed in the last few scenes……

Will wait for your next venture!!!

All the best! to you Aamir and all future film makers of multiplex movie or crossover trend who dare to think different and make something for children!