Andhra Pradesh

Anything but a masterpiece

ROYAL COUPLE: Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in ‘Jodhaa Akbar’.

Film: Jodhaa Akbar

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai

Direction: Ashutosh Gowariker

No man is a chessboard. In each one of us greys abound. Unless of course one is watching Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Jodhaa Akbar’. Here Akbar, arguably the great Mughal emperor, is a paragon of perfection! He does not lose a battle and towers above the rest with his moral stature. Sorry, Akbar needs no brownie points from posterity Gowariker is a poor student of history. Worse, he is wilfully poor. The film is so glaringly deficient in the most obvious of thin gs that you wonder if the director was trying to mock at history. Or is it a deliberate subversion of the truth?

Agreed, there has been a debate, largely avoidable though, whether Jodhaa was Akbar’s wife or daughter-in-law.

A common cinemagoer can leave it to historians to thrash it out but where Gowariker fails miserably is in attention to elementary details. Relating the untapped romance of the Mughal Emperor and his Rajput wife, the film lacks integrity. And Aishwarya Rai, the wonderfully plastic doll, shows neither depth or width in her portrayal of a princess caught in the crossfire of men’s ego: she is given away as a bride for political convenience by her father; she is accepted as such by her husband.

The only time Gowariker cares to talk of history is in the long sequences of their respective religions: he is a Muslim, so he goes to Khwaja’s abode. She is a Hindu, so she settles for Krishna bhakti. Shades of ‘Mughal-e-Azam’? In concept only.

Gowariker takes too many liberties with history in the name of artistic licence. His devout souls at the dargah are all carefully clean shaven, like those ads for men’s lotions! And his emperor even does a little jig at the end of a song! Then walks the garden path with the lady love in another sequence.

Yes, Akbar is exposed for being unlettered but in the climax even the fig leaf of royalty is taken away in the physical duel he is made to have with his arch enemy, Sharifuddin. So many negatives!

Yes, but like life, here too there is a little silver lining. Hrithik Roshan may not fit the stereotypes of Akbar but he is fine in action.

He is a decent actor who manages to look good simply because his counterpart Aishwarya Rai refuses to do even the bare minimum. She is vapid all through, making Hrithik look almost outstanding in comparison. Unfortunately, Gowariker does not invest his hero with too much detail. He comes across as a man who could do no wrong. And we never get to see the human side of the redoubtable man.

But there are other characters which hold interest. Sonu Sood as Rai’s brother is more than passably good. And the likes of Poonam Sinha, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Raza Murad leave a mark too. Also, historically ignored characters like Maham Anaga, Adham Khan and Bairam Khan get their moments.

Watch ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ as a masala entertainer, and you may not be too disappointed despite its poor editing, resulting in an inordinate length. The big canvas will appeal to some, the cinematography to others as would the song ‘Jashn-e-bahara hai’. Looking for a masterpiece of history with the past throbbing with life? You might have to wait till eternity. This one thrills neither the historians nor connoisseurs.

ZIYA US SALAM

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