- At the outset, I am relieved that in Gowarikar’s version of 16th century Indian history, Rajputana women did not giggle every five minutes.
- The fact that this story is mostly fiction is very evident. While Gowarikar’s statement of disclosure makes it clear that this is not the only version that he came across while researching the subject, it’s a pity that people in India are mostly stupid.
- At the rate at which Akbar forced his opponents to make a trip to Mecca, wasn’t there a danger that all these people might run into each other and plot his downfall over mutton biryani and a nice strong hookah?
- And was poor Birbal edited out of the movie? What about Tansen? Todarmall hogs screen space!
- Akbar’s mother left him for 15 years (in her own words) in the care of a wet nurse while she traveled across the kingdom/world. But her political acumen is never in view. Maybe her core competence was external affairs, but she mostly plays a standard issue movie mom.
- It seems ridiculous that a statesman such as Akbar would bet his kingdom on a one on one RAW type death match with an admittedly stronger opponent when he had a better chance to win army to army. This sounds like one of the facets of this movie that is based more on fiction than fact.
- Is “arzoo… joostjoo” the Javed Akthar equivalent of Gulzar’s “khosaa… bhosaa” rhyme?
- There is at least one bit song (which appears in two different points in the movie) that will soon be the talk of all the Rahman forums.
- I am not too impressed with the Khwaja Mere Khwaja number. The use of Rahman’s voice for all three singers in the number is jarring, especially because all three are in the same frame most of the time. The gold standard shall still be Meenaxi’s Noor un ala Noor.
- Sonu Nigam rocks. Period.
- I think I am more of a Shah Rukh fan than I can ever admit or even stand myself. Hearing “haar” and “jeet” in the same line at multiple points in the movie did manage to keep Baazigar fresh in my mind. Damn you B!
- Amitabh Bachchan hovers over the movie as the narrator (like with Lagaan) and also in the form of Sonu Sood, whose resemblance to a young 1970s Amitabh is striking.
- Aishwarya does one of her standard ice maiden roles. Half frozen expressions with a hint of a smile have served her well so far and it does this time too. As mentioned earlier, the subject does not present an opportunity to let loose a giggle or two and this makes her presence fairly tolerable . And thankfully she does not have to use words like “like”.
- I can’t imagine who, apart from Hrithik Roshan, in current day Bollywood could have pulled off this role. Hrithik does look royal effortlessly.
- I have come to the conclusion that I can watch a Hrithik starrer without reservations, as long as he does not flail those rubber limbs of his on screen. Or if Prabhu Deva can be convinced to choreograph every single one of Hrithik’s dance numbers.
- It appears that Hrithik Roshan has finally made peace with the fact that his extra thumb is just not going to disappear.
- The said thumb is conspicuous, Freddy Savage’s mole in Gold Member. And distracting, especially when you see it hog real estate on screen, just when Hrithik’s Jalaluddin gets past Jodha Bhai’s three hour long on-screen KLPD, while Sonu Nigam does his thing with the soundtrack.
- Speaking of which, would any historical account of the age corroborate Akbar saying “Jodhaa, nee soadhaa”, when she was forcing him to take all those cold showers.
Thoughts after watching Jodha Akbar
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