Jodhaa Akbar: The Big Budget Making of Mughal-E-Azam
Genre: Drama
Director:Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Storyline: A Mughal Emperor learns love and governance from Hindu Princess Jodhaa
Bottomline: An old-fashioned big-budget prequel to Mughal-E-Azam
An epic, by definition, is all about gravity and magnitude.
No love story has ever made history without a high stakes conflict involving separation and pain or celebration of the power of love.
Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnu, Devdas-Paro or Jack-Rose, they all had their share of soaring highs that plummeted to the lowest of lows.
Admittedly, tragedies, by the nature of their genre, dictate the dramatic direction of the South-bound character graphs and are better equipped to make us feel the angst that love brings with it.
Yes, we do have to take into consideration that Ashutosh Gowariker has chosen to tell us a love-story that has actually worked despite the odds – religious differences – which in today’s context of frequent communal violence, seem quite huge.
At a middle-class level: Yes, surely.
But even today, has religion really posed to be that huge a hurdle in the higher rungs of the society? Ask the ruling Khans of the film industry. The lifestyles of the rich and the famous transcend cultural and religious boundaries. Ask Gauri, Reena, Kareena or Katrina, it is no big deal.
Class has a huge role to play in love stories. The differences between the rich and the poor are so deeply engrained in the psyche of our people that it is difficult for the collective conscious of a society to see the pangs of romance in the lives of a couple brought into matrimony by parental arrangement. Our only interest in the rich and famous is voyeuristic and not necessarily empathetic. We don’t really care.
It’s not like they had an affair or painted the town red with their romance or did anything even remotely scandalous. It’s not like one of them was kidnapped and the other sent on a long never-ending exile. It’s not that it was a love story that caused war or divided people.
Jodhaa-Akbar is a simple story of a married couple reconciling differences in an arranged marriage set-up, that too in a fairytale world, where the two dynasties need each other to flourish. Given that the political context and nature of the romance is not even remotely epic in scale to demand a 40-crore movie, it is commendable that Ashutosh succeeds to the extent he has in delivering a three and a half hour long movie to the multiplex-generation. Even if it reads more like a coffee-table book than one that will make it to the shelf for serious academic reference.
To his credit, Ashutosh and Haider Ali have scripted ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ as an insightful prequel to Mughal-E-Azam… Or what went into the making of Akbar. Now, the making only records incidents, obstacles and hurdles into what went into the production of a classic, it is not always a story that can stand by itself.
Here was an emperor who married a Hindu princess, a woman who still played a vital role in his life – a point illustrated when Jodhaabai (in Asif’s classic) demands of her king that he does not slay her son.
Now, why would a Muslim Emperor who married a Hindu princess not understand his son’s love for a courtesan and go to war with his own son?
Ashutosh and Haider Ali give us a few answers. Akbar did not fall in love with Jodhaa and then marry her. He fell in love after marrying her. Even as a young man, Akbar considered principles higher than family. Sample the scene where he does not object to Jodhaa publicly being asked to taste the food she’s cooked for him first to ensure it is safe. He lets his queen go through the awkwardness as required by the law of the land and then announces he would eat from the same plate as the Queen of Hindustan.
Thus, the legend of Akbar as a righteous king is further endorsed by Ashutosh who does not seem to be interested in detail as much as Asif was. Asif’s Akbar was a much more complex character who was torn between his love for the country, his wife, his son, his principles and the promises he had made.
Ashutosh’s Akbar is the eternal do-gooder, always adorned in shades of white, yellow and the brighter colours of the spectrum and the darker suits and armours are reserved for his cunning brother-in-law Shareefuddin.
Given this black-and-white approach to storytelling, Ashutosh could’ve further gone ahead with his artistic licence and dramatised incidents or created fictional twists to make us see the miracle of love and taken us on the rollercoaster of highs and lows.
For want of a serious conflict and drama (the greatest conflict in the film is a silly misunderstanding that lasts all of the interval block), Jodhaa Akbar ends up too shallow for a love story, the epic proportions purely limited to how Akbar grew up to learn how to love, understand and rule his people, thus setting the stage for Mughal-E-Azam.
Hrithik and Aishwarya do plenty to reprise their Dhoom:2 duels and yet it strangely seems to fit in here than there. Their chemistry and onscreen persona alone make Jodhaa Akbar worth your movie ticket.
Rahman’s background music that usually touches maximum in the Awesome-Meter when he scores for Ashutosh does seem to exaggerate mood quite a bit. It doesn’t help that the lyrics of Khwaja Mere Khwaja go off-sync and that the song picturisation often pales in comparison to the grandeur of the music.
The biggest disappointment of the film is Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s homework in the art department. We’re glad you didn’t label Agra Fort as Agra Qila in Hindi right above the gateway, Mr.Desai.
Kiiran Deohans’ cinematography (if we overlook the visual-effecting war sequences) and Tanishq’s jewellery-range make for a picture perfect glossy on canvas but Ashutosh’s overly romanticised, hyper-indulgent take on Jodhaa-Akbar has its moments of class that more than make up for its lack of depth.
Mithya: Pulp fiction for the multiplex
Genre: Thriller
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Neha Dhupia, Naseeruddin Shah, Vinay Pathak
Storyline: A junior artist who resembles an underworld don finds out that his new role has deadly consequences.
Bottomline: The Ranvir Shorey Show
There’s something about Rajat Kapoor’s storytelling that makes the most bizarre situations seem plausible. Every single stock situation from the cinema of the seventies is reworked on and unabashedly employed with a refreshing coat of realism, a touch of humour and splendidly, almost flawlessly, delivered by the actors… And a dark comic tale unfolds at a leisurely pace and spills across genre classifications.
Mithya (Hindi for fiction) is all about the knots that Indian cinema has been familiar with, but retold for the multiplex audience by a storyteller who doesn’t really care about the commercial trappings of the subject matter.
Here’s a sample of every screenwriter’s favourite knots:
Nature versus nurture: Check. Struggler aspiring to be popular: Check. The Maa connection: Check. Look-alikes of opposite characteristics: Check. The Classic ‘Don’ Switch: Check. Yaadaasht (Memory Loss): Check. Poor boy loves rich girl: Check.
Have you ever seen an indie filmmaker come up with this sort of a checklist and yet stick to his sensibility of storytelling. To convince us that the references to popular plot devices are all intentional, he even names the bad guy’s sidekicks, Ram aur Shyam.
Every author, more so a filmmaker, at some point in the course of writing or making a film is caught in a dilemma: Do I finish it to please the reader/viewer or do I take the story to its logical end?
The thing that differentiates independent cinema from the mainstream is that call the filmmaker takes at that point in time. Mithya is as indie as it gets in India.
It’s only in its attempts to take us deeper into the minds of the characters that it spends a little time away from the overall comic undertone of the film and loses pace.
Rajat allows his characters to breathe and talk the way they would in the real world, no matter how ridiculous the twist in the tale. If good fiction is about generating willing suspension of disbelief, Mithya takes a step more to convince you that it is completely possible for larger than life situations to occur in reality.
A huge part of that credit goes to the actors – all of them, especially, Ranvir Shorey who sinks his teeth into a role like an actor starved for a break. Don’t be surprised at a Best Actor nomination for this finely nuanced actor who gives his “struggling junior artiste forced into a larger role in an unusual situation” role a life of its own – he makes it so human that it’s like you almost know the guy.
An actor’s touch could immortalise even the most uni-dimensional character ever written. But here he’s blessed with a role that lets him dwell in its complexities and gives us a peak into his mind in a way that you not only empathise with a fictional character but also relate to him.
So when a character in the end sums it all up with the closing lines of the film, you are struck by the casualness of the definitive tone of Mithya – for a piece of fiction – very matter of fact.
Lucky Ali/Karthik in Concert @ Saarang 2008
Also see video clip at the bottom of the review.
Maybe it’s a good thing that Lucky Ali left after his part of the concert. Local boy Karthik would’ve given him a hell of a complex. The Open Air Theatre at IIT came alive on its feet with, what the IITians believe is, the biggest crowd ever drawn at Saarang pro-shows.
Good old Lucky couldn’t help saying: “What a great campus, man,” before he warmed up to the junta with his brand of soul, sporting a brown waistcoat over a black tee and cargo-styled denim. Casual and laid-back, just like his approach to music.
Maybe he took it a tad too light with an all-new line-up for a band to play in front of one of the greatest crowds any musician in the world would die for.
“We’re just getting to know each other,” he admitted, introducing his internationally-flavoured band led by his New Zealander brother-in-law, producer and guitarist Michael. “He’s not married yet,” Lucky told the girls as one of them screamed: “Michael is yummy.”
The boys in the crowd, of course, promptly yelled back: “Where’s your wife?”
Lucky got them swaying with an eclectic mix of slow and soul, with those mobile phones glowing in the dark as Lucky exclaimed in awe: “This is one of the best crowds I’ve ever seen. It felt like a thousand stars out there.”
Without a break, Lucky had them hooked for about 80 minutes, with most of his album regulars starting from ‘Anjaane Mein,’ ‘Tumse Milne,’ ‘Yeh Zamana,’ ‘Jaane Kya Doondtha,’ ‘Mujhe Aisa Lagta hai’ (made in Chennai) and ‘O Sanam’ which made the crowd chant: “Once More, Once More.”
“Everybody’s gonna go through this at some stage in life,” he said, introducing ‘Yeh Jawani’. But it was the film music that got the crowd really excited. “Aa Bhi Ja” got them all senti as they joined in the singing.
The finale though was turning out to be a near anti-climax as the band went out of sync for ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ – THE song junta was waiting for.
Lucky stopped to apologise, taking the blame, but only after he first tried blaming it on technology. At IIT?
But then, he began the song from the start again and this time, the crowd was back to loving Lucky.
There was nearly a half hour break before Karthik took stage. The crowd did all possible countdowns as prompted by the Core, went on to do a count-up, recited A to Z and even started singing nursery rhymes and Happy Birthday to Karthik to keep themselves amused.
With the pressure mounting, would the local boy satisfy the full house?
Right from the moment he crooned, ‘Oru Maalai Ila Veyil Neram,’ it was truly one of the best concerts ever. Not only because Karthik is a great singer who had his hand on the pulse of the audience. He had a tight band to back him up. And he knows it.
“You like my band,” he asked excitedly before going on to tell them: “This is a song I really like. It’s from Kaakha Kaakha. We have the director here and I’ve spotted him. Let’s thank him for showing Jyotika so beautifully in this song.”
‘Oru Ooril Azaaghe’ was followed by ‘Therathi Veethiyil Thiruvizha’ as he got off stage and went into the crowd, holding the mike up to the boys to join him in concert.
Kalyani did a fabulous job of keeping them entertained with a medley of ‘Parde Main Rehne Do’ and ‘Dhoom Machale’ before Karthik came back with ‘Unnale Unnale’
“Everything here on stage is being played for you live. No sequencing or programming,” he announced, before breaking into ‘Oh Hum Dum Suniyo Re’ and finishing the song with the Tamil original ‘Endrum Endrum Punnagai’.
Andhraites in IIT had a surprise waiting as Karthik thrust the mike in front of his shy guest from Hyderabad, music director Micky J. Meyer before going on to sing ‘Arey Re Arey Re’ from Happy Days. The crowd erupted in ecstasy, transporting you to Hyderabad instantly as students joined in the singing.
Language seemed to be no barrier. “We will rock you,” he launched his tribute to Queen and the crowd was only too glad to be rocked. Karthik, in spite of proving to be an Energizer Bunny, gave melody the due choosing to sing songs not originally sung by him. And Hariharan would have been pleased to hear the young singer do ‘Nila Kaaykirathu’ (from Indira).
‘Pehla Nasha’ further intoxicated the young before Andhraiites bonded over ‘Oh My Friend’ (also from Happy Days). Karthik returned to his rockish best with ‘Enakku Oru Girlfriend Venumada’ sending fans into a frenzy before his hand lent a nice Elvis-y touch to ‘Baar Baar Dekho,’ a surprise for retro-lovers.
Though what he sings mostly is in the realm of boy-band songs and love ballads, while performing, he does it with the attitude of a rockstar with plenty of scope for audience participation. Yes, it helps that Bennett is quite something with the lead guitar.
Calling the IIT Core members to the stage, he launched into what’s considered an anthem for the youth, ‘Mustafa Mustafa’ for a finale. Sensing they wanted more, he captured the mood with ‘Engeyum Epothum Sangeetham Santhosham’.
And, junta was on Cloud Nine: “ARaaa-raaaa-reee-reeee Yo!
