Jodhaa Akbar'

Overall Impressions:
My expectations were high -- judging by the last two films from this director, one of which was even nominated for an Oscar back in 2001 (Lagaan). His next was though not a commercial success, was certainly a critic favourite which got Shah Rukh Khan yet another Best Actor award in 2004. This time he was taking on Hrithik Roshan into the role of an emperor that all Indians have heard of. The history of this emperor, the young audience would perhaps be 'less' familar with.

With these high expectations, I then saw the trailer for the flick back in December and my expectations were dampened somewhat. I felt this may be yet another visually stunning film with little else going for it. Having now seen the film, I'd say it's as visually stunning as expected with amazing costumes & jewelery from the era as well as spectacular cinematography especially with the war scenes. It's a pretty looking film.

Fortunately, I was wrong about this being it's only strength. Don't be surprised if this ends up being India's entry to the Oscars for next year. (Taare Zameen Par being a strong contender too), Even with this praise given, it has to be said, it's not flawless. The biggest impact on the negative side has to be the duration. I mean sure, the having an intermission helps, but it really could have done with some more snipping at the editing stage. I certainly wouldn't want to be handed that task though, for on the flip-side, I wouldn't know what to remove. I'd be tempted to remove some of the scenes between the main pair, but that sort of defeats the object of it I guess.

Now that I've had a little moan about it being too long I'll add what I thought was missing. What little I do recall from what I learnt about the emperor as a child was firstly that he had an extremely bright and creative advisor by the name of Birbal -- who was supposedly one of the villagers in the film, but for a blink and miss it duration, but this has to be forgiven merely because it would have deflected the audience from the relationship between the emperor & his wife.

The narration by the Big B was a good opener taking us straight into the history of how the Mughals had arrived at this juncture, beginning with Akbar's childhood. As we moved onto the grown man we sort of forgot about the narrator, but this is no flaw.

The first half was about the growth of the emperor from a child to a responsible man. Following his marriage it became about the integration of multiple religions being respected and honoured under the Mughal empire. Naturally this wasn't met with all-smiles from his people and the politics became a hindrance to their relationship. Overcoming this to become a family and a 'better' leader of the people is what the latter half led us to.

So another thing I found a little odd was that the people that had thought of the emperor as a savage and greedy man seemed too easily convinced in the latter half of his goodwill. We, the viewer knew his heart was in the right place, but the people had only witnessed this one good deed. This was definitely a good place for a 'montage'.

When it came to the climax I have to admit, I was surprised at how the time had passed. Especially looking back now, the content is pretty simple to explain, yet I didn't find myself getting bored during the duration. Well, that's a sign of good film-making I suppose.

As for the writing, they had to keep to dialogue of the era, it was good to see they were kept simple enough to understand though true to the era. Also, the language differences with the Rajput (Hindus) speaking Hindi while the Mughals (Muslims) spoke in Urdu felt authentic.

The performances by both Hrithik and Aishwarya were totally flawless. I can not applaud them enough. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan, but credit where it's deserved, they totally nailed the roles here.

Historically accurate? No idea. Glamorous and inspiring? Most certainly. If you can stick out the duration (being it's main flaw), it'll certainly leave an impact.