Sunday, December 7, 2008

JODHA AKBAR

In the last one month I have seen many movies , but I got lazy and didnt write anything about them but Yesterday I saw Jodha Akbar and loved almost everything about it.....yeah everything even Aishwarya:)...though there is one scene where any other good actress would have done wonders....like where she watches Hritik exercising, her face doesnt show much, but over all she is very sweet everywhere and Hritik is flawless as usual.
BUT what pained me a lot and made me sad was watching Rajput killing in the beginning, and the character of Bhairon singh..Jodha's father..such a spineless person, Rajput are not like that, and what made it worse was, Kulbhushan Kharbanda..may be if it was played by some other good actor.would have been tolerable. In worst circumstances, Rajput may bow, but they never loose their dignity and here this person was looking like a peon and the same about her mother...Suhasini mulay..i cant imagine a Rajputani suggesting her daughter to cheat--Rajput are known for their AAN BAAN SHAAN, they were grand even in their fall.Can we ever forget Padmini or Rana Pratap?
Then i have a big grouse against the historians who glamourised a Mughal, arent we being too generous to call an invader--AKBAR THE GREAT.Our own people like Rana pratap had to eat the rotis of grass and his children died of hunger and why? because of Akbar.An outsider comes here, rules us and just because he is a little more kind than others and is not very cruel should we support him.Where is our SWARAJYA? Then we shouldnt blame the Britishers even, because some of them were very good and did something good for our country and people. Why do we highlight only Akbar, Tipu,why not Shivaji,Ranapratap,Handa raani, Padmini. I can never forget that Mughals invaded us ,looted our property and women,destroyed our monuments, even On Kutub Minar it is written that it was a hindu structure or something like that converted into a minar.But we never understand..like Pakistan is helping the terrorists against us and our products are being endorsed by Pakistanis...i wud never buy anything they endorse.
BTW I never read any statement by--Shabana Azmi, Amar Singh, Raj Thackerey, Dilip Kumar on Mumbai terrorist strike? May be not important enough for them.
Jodha Akbar is good as a love story between different religions but given historic relevance--though they dont claim to be realist, but once u name them Jodha and Akbar...it gets its history automatically.

21 comments:

Pixie said...

Hmmm.. very relevant!
I didn't like the movie - found it way too long and a bit too artificial.
Even the facts about Akbar are a bit distorted or not clearly shown.
I totally agree with everything you have written! :-)

Stray said...

Dear Renu,

I think its very important we Indians all understand that each of us is a descendant from an immigrant - be it a Jat, a Rajput, an Adivasi, a Dravidian, a Christian, Sikh or Muslim. Merely because someone came into India before another does not make an argument that subsequent arrivals are outsiders.

Yes, the Mughals did "invade" the land across the Indus river. But invasion was a very common thing during those times. And our history tells us that the greatest period ever within the India subcontinent was under the Mughals (the Gupta period paled in comparison on several fronts, including in respect of the quantum of trade and infrastructure brought in by the Mughals).

And we weren't the country India then; this only came into being after the British left and the sundry kingdoms had little choice but to align themselves into a cohesive, single state.

I think Akbar deserves the title of "The Great" because of the level of tolerance and peer prosperity that he infused into his kingdom at that time. The movie itself captures a very interesting aspect of him when he addresses his court saying that this is their land and their people, which is why the people should be taken care of and not burdened in any manner.

Also remember that he was the sole ruler and not an elected representative who feared losing his seat of power, and could have done anything he wanted, yet chose to look after the welfare of his people.

P.S. - Akbar marrying a Rajput princess - her name in itself is immaterial - and some other aspects within the movie have been recorded in history. He decided on marrying her despite protests from within his family and community.

Anonymous said...

I loved JODHA AKBAR
tho thre r flaws n Gowariker has distorted facts..but its a beautiful film

I only like Shabana Azmi for her contribution to AIDS..thts it..and Raj Thackeray is such a fattu..
I'll copy paste a popular sms-

Missing Raj Thackeray: (

A popular SMS doing the rounds in Mumbai. "Don't know where Raj Thackeray is when you need him. We want him to save aamchi Mumbai. Army, NSG commandos are not MARATHI MANOOS...why should they fight or lay down their life for Mumbaikars?"

Amrita said...

i found the reasons making akbar akbar the great to be ridiculous.. and things he did... what was the logic of portrayin everything being driven by his hindu wife!!??
it was a whole lot of lah di lah la to me

DeeplyDip said...

i agree with all you said about invasions and stuff...but the movie - as a piece of fiction - was a brilliant one. I loved the costumes, the love story and of course aishwarya looks very pretty in such clothes...hrithik was hot!

Renu said...

PIXIE: ThANKS Pixie:).yeha, movie a bit longer than preferred:).

STRAY: Good to see u after a long time:).
Even today after a certain period of living in a particular country gets u the citizenship provoided u follow the rule of that place, while here we are talking about INVADERS who wanted to destroy our culture, flouted the norms, didnt respect the citizens.
Just because he was a little better......he was also ambitious, wanted to rule the whole country and so fought with Rajputs who were the resident of this place.

And yes because he chose......he is tolerated, otherwise we had Mughals like--Aurangjeb etc who were extremely cruel.

if we cant forget jalianwala, then so is the Johar of rajasthan unforgivable.

I know that it was a practice in those times to marry like that for the benefit of state, but it was not a laila majnu story, and while one is using historical names,taking liberty with the facts is a blasphemy, then why not make it with fictional names?

SWATS: even my bro got this sms in UP:)
Movie is entertaining but i felt very hurt and sad with the way Rajputs are shown, making a mockery of their valour.
I was thinking during this terror time..that now Amar singh must be asked to go inside and confirm the bonafide......whether there are terrorist inside or minorities being harassed ( the way he said for delhi:), then only poilce must take action.

AMRITA: yeah, it was ridiculous the way they turnwed historic characters into laila majnu.

DEEPLYDIP: actually i cudnt take the movie as a complete fiction as they have used history.But yes costumes were good and Aish always looks pretty and Hritik looks like greek god:)

Salomie said...

Like Deeplydip, even I thought that the movie itself was quite good, Hrithik was superb and even Aishwarya (whom I normally cannot stand at all!) was sincere thanks to Ashutosh Gowariker's direction.

I'm not familiar with that part of history, so I can't offer any comment about it. But yes, I can certainly understand the pain of wrongly portraying someone.

Anonymous said...

I have been wanting to see this movie, and I still want to.. . Am too lazy to pick up a moserbear cd and watch!! Akbar was also involved in creating a lot of social and economic reforms at a massive scale....


Destination Infinity

Balvinder Balli said...

You know Renu, you put a frog in boiling water it will leap out immediately due to the heat of the water, but if you put the same frog in cold water and bring the water to boil gradually, it will get cooked but will never jump out. I think we are like the second frog and have been conditioned over a period to live with the heat.

Renu said...

DESTINATION INFINITY: Whatever reforms he did, but i cant consider him a native and somebody who put our rulers to so much of misery---i can never forget.....so many of Rajput women jumping in the fire, and the little kids of Rana pratap, my heart cries....and these are just two incidents prinyted in my memory, but in reality there will be hundreds of them.

BALVINDER: i felt anguished to see the killings of rajputs and their portrayal and glorification of mughals.

Sandhya said...

I liked 'Jodha Akbar' very much for the grandeur of the palaces and other scenes of Rajasthan. Aish is beautiful in some angles, her profile is not good at all. But she was good for this role. In the scene you mentioned, other actresses would have shown more emotions! I loved the songs and their picturisations. I treated it like just a movie.

If we go deeply into this 'Akbar the great' Mughal kings, I get upset, remembering the sites of Hampi (Karnataka) which was a great kingdom and was destroyed by the Mughal invaders. And the Konark temple. It goes on.

I read Indu Sundaresan's 'Twentieth Wife' which is based on Jehangir-Mehrunnisa love story. Indu had researched well, while writing this story. I haven't read much about the Rajputs. Can you suggest some book about them, which is reasearched properly and written?

And, Renu, it is nice to read your blogs. I get inspired by you, a lot! Thanks.

Renu said...

yes Sandhya...any other actress would have shown desire thru eyes only.
I also never take movies seriously, but here they have taken the names form history, thats what i want tosay..make a love story with fictional character..dont use specific names.

I read about Rajputs in my childhood and syllabus books, and as a child I always wondered how cud we rever both Akabar and Rana pratap as they were rivals.
I wonder how coud we..self respecting citizens could repect those destroyers of our culture. country everything.I dont.
I will see and if i find something about rajputs, i will tell u..and thanks for appreciating me, it means a lot to me.

Mana said...

I liked Jodha-Akbar too.

Ppl in high position can only give written speech when such incidents occur n nothing else..

sansmerci said...

i started watchin jodha akbar but turned it off in 5 minutes.. guess history is not my cup of tea...

anyway where r u now? wen r u in bak in good ol' chennai

Renu said...

manasa: movie was entertaining no doubt.

Salomie said...

You've been awarded!!!

Renu said...

Shalom: Thank U Shalom !

Reflections said...

Oh I loved the movie too....Hritik I thought was awesome & Aishwarya Rai for once tried hard not to overact. Their chemistry showed. The movie was a bit slow but that was part of the charm.

I read the historical part of it with gr8 interest but did not have enoff info on it to confidently comment. So I'm leaving it alone:-D.

Renu said...

REFLECTIONS: Sometimes i feel very sad for our education system where they ask us to cram up everything except what is necessary.
Movie lost a lot of charm for me due to its misrepresentation.

Si_Lee said...

Hi, first time here for me .. and dropped by from serenegurls blog ...
I must admit .. reading your comments and the sheer frankness with which you express them is not only refreshing but also in many ways inspiring to me. Inspiring .. not the idea but the fact that you say it .. and period .. no beating around the bush .. great stuff ..

Sid..

Renu said...

Sanmerci: But swarna JA is not history..its a love story only.
and hey i am back and done ur tag also, where r u?

Descrying the shadows: Thanks Sid ! I started writing blog only for writing what is in my mind without being diplomatic or politically correct.I feel that being a good human being is more important which I can say I am, and I knwo that I will never hurt anybody..so the definition of secularism is unimportant to me, and SWAT is very young girl with ideals in her eyes..just like any other good girl, but i have seen life at close quarters and write vewrything with experience...here is no bookish knowledge:)
Hope to see u here more often !

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