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Cast:
Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Sonu Sood,
Punam, |
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Raza Murad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, |
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Suhasini Mulay, Ila Arun, Rajesh Vivek |
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Music:
A.R. Rahman |
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Lyrics: Javed Akhtar |
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Banner:
Ashutosh Gowariker Productions |
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Dialogue
Writer:
Anurag Kashyap |
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Sound
Designer:
Stephen Gomes |
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Producer:
Ronnie Screwvala, Ashutosh Gowariker |
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Executive
Producer: Sunita A. Gowariker |
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Direction:
Ashutosh Gowariker |
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several reshuffling of dates and over 2 years in the making,
UTV and Ashutosh Gowarikar bring to you Jodhaa-Akbar a
complete epic in itself. Any comparisons with Mughal-E-Azam
or Ashutosh’s previous piece of work should be strictly
avoided. |
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Besides a good star cast and soulful music, Jodhaa
Akbar has much more to offer. Set in the sixteenth
century, JODHAA AKBAR is a love story about a
marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love
between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput
princess, Jodhaa. Little did Akbar [Hrithik Roshan]
know that when he married Jodhaa [Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan], he would be embarking upon a new journey
- the journey of true love. |
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The
daughter of King Bharmal of Amer [Kulbhushan Kharbanda],
Jodhaa resented being reduced to a mere political pawn in
this marriage of alliance, and Akbar's biggest challenge now
did not merely lie in winning battles, but in winning the
love of this defiant princess. Firstly Jodhaa Akbar isn’t
too complex a film to understand, the script and screenplay
is simple and above all the language is simple with a mix of
Hindi and Urdu. |
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The characters in the film are so real and leave a
heavy impact on you. Only a visionary such as
Ashutosh Gowarikar can dare to do such a film. When
Ashutosh kept justifying the shuffling of the
release date, one thought it was all humbug. But on
viewing the film, you are more than convinced that a
film of such magnitude indeed requires a lot of
courage and patience to firstly shoot it and then
edit and compile the various scenes. |
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so obvious on screen the amount of effort put in and the
care taken to craft a film such as this. Just observe the
casting of the film, besides the prime faces we know of,
Ashu brings to you such tremendous talent that fits the bill
even with their slightest of roles in the film. For example,
take a look at the Villain in the film-Niketan Dheer, he is
much taller and built than Hrithik which makes it so
believable in the fight sequences that Hrithik is bound to
fall when he collides against him. Also take a look at the
various kings, the common men depicted in the film, the
warriors etc. It’s just apt.
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On the performance graph, no one could have
possibly played Akbar with such elegance as
Hrithik. Hrithik is simply fabulous. It’s
not just his body and looks that impress but
it is the way Hrithik carries himself
throughout the film. He impresses in almost
every sequence. Watch out for Hrithik’s duel
with the elephant, his sword fight with
Aishwariya , his dialogue delivery and
expressiveness when he is betrayed by his
step-brother. Also the climax fight sequence
has some great dialogue delivery from
Hrithik |
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Aishwariya stands perfect as Jodhaa. Many would state that
after Hum Dil Chuke Sanam , Ash is simply at her best in
Jodhaa-Akbar. The sequence where she sets her demands before
Akbar are impressive. She emotes well in sequences where she
is humiliated by Akbar’s step mother played by Ila Arun. She
also does well in bringing out that romance and is smooth
with the sword sequences. |
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Sonu Sood is yet another character to watch out for
as he portrays Sujamal, Jodhaa’s step-brother with
ease. He impresses with both his dialogue delivery
and sword handling. Poonam Sinha returns with a
terrific guest appearance. Ila Arun freaks you out
and watch out for her dialogue delivery with Ash as
she expresses how possessive she is of her son Akbar.
Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Raza Murad and Rajesh Vivek
are all so apt and add to this epic. |
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Defintely the credit for this magnum opus goes to
Ashutosh whose dares to dream big. But, without a
skillfull team of technicians this would still be
just a dream. Firstly, A.R.Rehman’s music is simply
soulful and the right mix for a film such as this.
The songs just grow on you and the background score
is simply terrific. On leaving the theatre you are
sure to hum either the ‘Jashne Bahar’ or
‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ track. The choregraphy
and picturisation of ‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ is
splendid.The song that was shot in 12 days is rich
in colour , choreography, camera movments- you name
it, it carries all. It’s been a while since the
Indian Audiences have ever seen something like this. |
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Kiiran Deohans brings in topnotch cinematography.
You are simply floored by the way the camera tracks
out from low below the horse’s legs and various
other sequences show you simply how brilliant the
D.O.P is. Take a look at even simple sequences where
Ash’s brings in a curtain to separate Hrithik from
her and the conversation between the two is shot
with great style. |
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Haider Ali teams up with Ashu to bring a screenplay
that is highly researched, interesting and very
impressive. The length of the film is indeed 3hrs 20
mins but , Haider and Ashu can’t be fully blamed for
it.Haider does a cameo in the film , he is seen in
the ‘Khwaja Mere Khwaja’ track. K.P.Saxena’s
dialogues are terrific. They are simple and carry
the aura that an epic such as this requires. Take a
look at the dialogue when Akbar takes on Jodhaa in a
swordfight .The costumes by Neeta Lulla are so rich
, apt and terrific. The costumes just make the
characters stand out. |
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To sum it up Ashutosh has taken great care and pain
in bringing us an epic. Even the animals in the film
have been dealt with great care and surprisingly you
don’t have a single scene where horses are made to
fall , elephants rolling etc unlike those done in
epics before. Ashu simply proves that he is a master
of crowd sequences right from Lagaan to Jodhaa-Akbar,
just take a look at the number of people that fill
the screen.
The only drawback of the film is it’s heavy length
which can’t really be dealt with as Ashu attempts to
compress years of history and bring it to the masses
in just 3hrs 20 Mins. Kudos Ashu! |
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