Nice Troy (oops...Try)

It is a very very VERY long movie. Making a 3 Hr + long movie is definitely a crime in current time. What makes it a much bigger crime is that it is based on the love story (to most extent, fictional) of one of the greatest Historical character, India has ever seen. Akbar is somebody who is respected irrespective of loyalties and religion. Hence it is very hard to imagine a young Akbar wooing his wife with his sword skills and bare body. All through my life, I have imagined Akbar as a skilled emperor with a great vision. To watch the same Akbar making silly mistakes on the advice of a mysterious character (his badi ammi, fictional character) was quite awkward.

We have very few Historical or medieval movies made in India after the 50s era. Possible reasons behind that are – They do not click at the box office (remember Mangal Pandey, Asoka, etc), the cost incurred in Producing them and lack of juicy and heroic stories. The main reason why I did not like Asoka was the lack of knowledge in history clearly showing in the movie. It showed Karubaki as the lover of Asoka, which is not at all true. I am a fan of anything related to History and I think I know the history of Orissa pretty well. The way History was murdered in Asoka; I just could not accept it. In case of Jodha Akbar too, the director is trying to create an eternal love story out of nothing (I mean you can find such love stories in every goddamned romantic novel). This is a mistake and if you actually do not have much historical facts to boost up the story, then at least the movie should be as good as Mughal-e-Azam in terms of quality. I don’t feel Jodhaa Akbar’s name will be taken in the same breath as Mughal –e-Azam and quite rightly so.

Still I like this movie. Why and what about it? Well then read on. First let me confess one thing. Any movie with Hrithik and Aishwarya will be a treat for me, as they are my most favourite stars. But then I had my share of doubts. How will Hrithik look like in the character of Akbar and can he bring the aura to the floor, which is so much required for such roles? If there is anybody in India who can be a Princess on screen, it has to be Aishwarya. But that is only based upon her looks. What about the acting skills? Similarly, how will 16th Century India look on the big screen? Can the director re-create the magic that he did with ‘Lagaan’? And I liked the movie, because I got most of my answers.

Hrithik with his Greek god looks was the best choice for Akbar and what really impressed me is the way in which looked to be a part of the huge canvas. He looked so assertive and so much persuasive in the role that I can say without any doubt that, even Akbar would have wanted Hrithik to play his character on the celluloid. The only blemish came towards the end, where he was supposed to recreate the magic of a Brad Pitt Vs. Eric Bana duel from Troy and he failed. But that had more to do with the story, or the lack of it at that point, than him.

Aishwarya is the prefect match for Hrithik on screen and she proved it again. She looked beautiful as a Princess and delivered a very satisfactory performance. In the character of Jodhaa, she matched the charisma of Akbar and sometimes overpowered him.

As a director, I feel Ashutosh failed at certain points in the movie. He dragged the movie at times unnecessarily and failed in the War scenes particularly. Also several characters were introduced into the story without thinking about the story or length of the movie, which made the plot complicated at certain points. His idea of creating a historic love story also did not work properly, as ultimately the audience did not have the patience to experience it themselves. Still this a good try and must be applauded. This movie might bring a change in attitude towards historical movies in India and encourage worthy people to try their luck in this genre.

I feel soon my review will be as big as the movie itself and I should stop here. Overall I felt i did not waste my 300 bucks.