I have put it in the Title and am going to tell that again. Long live the new K. Asif. I also want to put a disclaimer right here, that I really love Ashutosh Gowariker as a director and have loved Lagaan immensely, Swades is one of my all time favorites and by Jove, Jodha Akbar is now there in that list. This movie works on so many different aspects of cinema that I loved each and every part of it. Please do not go in expecting a History lesson and get your biases stuck there. Go in to see a story, a well woven script and for amazing cinematography, art direction, choreography, music, lyrics and of course the direction. The movie as you might have all guessed by now from the various interviews and promos are about the marriage of convenience between a Rajput Princess and a Mughal Emperor. The story takes off from when Bairam Khan is waging the wars against Hemu and the others for Akbar and helping him regain his empire. The movie ends at a phase in Akbar’s rule with Jodha by his side when there was peace and joy across the empire. Hrithik has so well etched the role of Akbar; you start to get totally involved in the story quite early on. Aishwarya looks extremely regal in the movie and fits the role of Rajput princess to the tee. It’s only in some close-ups that we get to see her age and also her bad acting. She looks groovy in Mid & Long Shots. I shall not tell you the entire story as I expect movie buffs like you to pay the full sum and watch this piece of art in a theater near you. I will rather dwell on each of those aspects that got this movie working for me. As the narrative progresses, we are also shown the lifestyle and upbringing of Jodha, the brave Rajput princess. The marriage of convenience slowly transforms into love as the young couple start to discover each other. These shots are extremely well handled. The only blot on this wonderful landscape was a drunken twat sitting next to me who kept shouting “Dhoom Machale Dhoom Machale Dhoom” every time Hrithik & Aishwarya got together in the frame. Why cannot movie theaters give an electric prod along with your ticket so you can just put such people to sleep? Well, do not want to dwell on that shit. Let me continue with Jodha Akbar. This is a masterpiece in art direction. Each and every shot is so bloody well planned that you gasp in many places. I have always hated SLB (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) since he only concentrates on Art Direction and never on the story (save for Khamoshi, this is my opinion, BTW). In this movie the ambience is just the ambience and not the story. We still get to see a well written story. Kiran Deohans has done a phenomenal job as the DOP (Director of Photography). I had read on the net and in papers that he had taken a long time to light up the sets and this was also a cause for the delay in shooting but all that bullshit aside, he has done a stupendous job in his realm. This movie cries out for all those international awards but will not get it since our dear government will send some really shitty movie instead as the nomination. I do not think this should be a problem as this movie will definitely be discussed even after say 2-3 decades for the things it has bought together. On the other aspects, AR Rehman used to have a wonderful working relationship with Mani Sir but it somehow did not seem to be there in Guru. With Ashutosh, the relationship seems to be growing from strength to strength. The music, in my opinion, is really good and I loved “Khwaja…” “Azeem ho Shaan”, “Kehna ko Jashne…” a lot in the movie. See the end of Khwaja and Hrithik acting in that. I found it to be too good. Javed Saab has given some wonderful lyrics as usual and the team of ARR & JA (Javed Akthar) has worked well again. The dialogues by Saxena are really good and the actors did not ham too much on them, thankfully. This whole team has been held very well by the Captain, Ashutosh Gowariker. Every shot seems to have been planned with a lot of thought and some of the shots are phenomenal. The fighting shots are well planned and the use of VFX does not seem like how it is in other movies. It does not jar. There is that famous shot with Hrithik & the Elephant as shown in the promos. This has been shot and planned really well and it was a treat to watch. The same also applies to the sword fighting scene between Aishwarya & Hrithik. It could have been shorter but it was still nice. Of course his problems with the scissors persist in this film also. There could have been better editing but I did not mind the length of the movie but am sure our Audience will get bored as I saw many people trooping in and out when the scenes were getting a little stretched. This is not really a problem as the narrative required it in both Swades & JA. Overall this is a really good movie and we seem to be having a good year if we get to see movie like Mithya & Jodha Akbar by February itself. Please see it in the theater. Do, I repeat, not see it on pirated DVD as the small chirkoot screen of the TV cannot give justice to the landscape of Jodha Akbar. Cheers & Good Night, Deepak Venkateshan
http://passionforcinema.com/jodha-akbar-log-live-the-new-k-asif-saab/
