Jodhaa Akbar: Almost Magical

Before starting off with the analysis, I want to clarify this to all readers that I believe that making a movie based on historical facts is the biggest test that a Director can face. Many great directors have fallen into this trap.
In an age when popular audience has become more and more demanding, many directors have claimed their understanding of modern cinema. Inspite of all their bullshit fundas, their movies have failed to impress the audience. But there is a league of directors who dont speak, they just perform. For me, Ashutosh Gowariker belongs to this league.

Unfortunately, before its fate could be decided, his Jodhaa Akbar has met with a lot of distraction. Keeping those controversies aside, I consider JA as a piece of fiction.

The movie starts off in Ashutosh's signature style powered by a voice-over by Amitabh Bachchan. It nicely takes you through the most important events of Akbar's childhood and Jodhaa's upbringing. In his journey to accompolish his father's dream of ruling entire India, Akbar makes a lot of enemies in Rajputs and also within his own empire. His political marriage with Princess of Amer, Jodhaa is not appreciated by many people. Amidst all this, love blossoms between two strangers who belong to different cultures. Director successfully deals with the translation of their mutual respect into love.
The story later deals with Akbar’s transformation into a ruler of masses caused by Jodhaa. Unlike Lagaan and Swades, Ashutosh slips this time as Akbar’s transformation fails to leave you with the same feeling of happiness. Of course, there are some twists and turns in the story, most of which do not actually give any new dimension to the storyline.
The climax might remind you of Troy like setting, but we can forgive the director for that.

What the film succeeds is in maintaining its soul, which is the love story between Jodhaa and Akbar. This is the best thing about the entire movie. The length of the movie could have been controlled without getting into too many aspects of Akbar’s life. But kudos to Ashutosh for intelligently dealing with some interesting details about Akbar like his inability to read and write.
Performances from the lead actors are power-packed. Hrithik truly impresses you as the Mughal Emperor. His sincerity with every role that he dons is clearly evident on screen. You will see him hitting the home-run in most of the scenes, be it the elephant-taming scene, or be-it the scene when he listens to Jodhaa’s demands before marriage. One small criticism on his performance could be his inconsistent voice modulation; in some scenes you feel like he apes Prithviraj Kapoor’s voice.
Aishwarya comes up with a good performance, but she ruins some of her important solo scenes by showing signs of influence from Ekta Kapoor serials. Its only her chemistry with Hrithik that saves her performance.
Ashutosh must be applauded for his splendid effort. He is successful in maintaining the focus of the film throughout those four hours. But he could have dealt with Akbar’s transformation in a much better way so that it could have left an impression in the viewer’s mind. But nevertheless, he has done justice to the script written by Hyder Ali.
Cinematography by Kiran Deohans blends with the narration excellently.
A.R.Rahman’s Music enriched by Javed Saab’s lyrics is blissful and has been superbly picturised on screen.
This movie will not be recorded in the history books of Hindi films, but it will surely prompt few more directors to come up with heavy-budget scripts and thereby make producers poorer.
Overall, it is a worthy watch because the director keeps his promise.

Rating: *** (Good)

Cheers to Cinema !