Rohit’s Weblog

Too late for debates on Slumdog but I thought we were missing the point somewhere. The point of a billion Indians celebrating something. And do we need a reason for that?

It is an American honor ( in this case an oscar) to a song sung by a North Indian Sikh, the lyrics to which were written by a West Indian Muslim and was composed by a South Indian (past:Hindu present:Muslim future:Great) for a movie directed by a British Christian based on a book written by a North Indian Hindu.

Isn’t this reason enough?

Celebrate. Cheer for Good health. And ironically I am getting to say this-” Don’t think too much”

I am a major fan of the Indian cinema and happy endings are by no means a coincidence to me. Sadly enough these happy endings always end in raising ‘the question’ which I spent arguing for and against with my friends hours together.-Are movies= entertainment??? Are tragedies not movies. Than what are they?

‘Movies are a reflection of the society’ was the well known norm before bollywood arrived and then the Tollywood took over. But opinions can be changed and they have. What does it take for that ?? For me atleast it was two movies. Movies in the real sense of the word.

Two movies which are similar in most sense but so different- ‘Micky Boe and me’ &  ’The boy in the striped pyjamas’. Two movies that are set in completely different times and completely different societies but were made with a similar motive.

Micky Boe and Me is the story of two kids who are from two opposing factions in Northern Ireland-the protestants and catholics( strangely enough as if they need  a reason to fight, this time they are fighting to decide whether or not to be a part of UK) Also strangely enough it is the catholics who are protesting this time. These kids have the best time of their life together and actually set out on an adventure to be their childhood heroes. But things are not so smooth and it is not a bollywood movie so tragedy strikes and leaves the feeling of despair at the end of the movie. You just need a solution and you are left asking for it.

Speaking of tragedies ‘The boy in the striped pyjamas‘ is a movie set during the Nazi rule in Germany and is about the friendship between the son of the General who runs the concentration camp and his secret friend from the concentration camp. The way in which the director explores the mind of an eight year old who is still to come to terms to understanding the gruesome happenings in the society. Naturally enough he never understands it till the end of the movie where he sees himself in a situation where everything is laid out for him to understand but it just is not the right time. It will leave you with a long lasting impression of the hostilities imposed by the Nazis on the Jews.

The beauty of these movies lies in sending the message across without actually saying it. And this the directors could get it across by using eight year olds. And realistically enough these kids do not grow up to change anything. It is just there. 

Kudos to the directors for such brilliant works of art. Subtleness rather than abstractness is what we need . I am pretty bad at movie reviews but the only reason I mentioned this was to give these movies some visibility( atleast to the few loyal readers/commenters of my blog). But Hindi cinema also is coming of age. With movies like Aamir and Wednesday cropping up once in a while the change is in process.

Both movies are a must watch and there is no better way to understand what is happening in the world around us that we are /were ignorant of.

Stars,fanfare,associations, fans-shows,copyrights(ya right!!) and family businesses-something very localised to the great Indian time-pass-MOVIES. When it comes to South India it is just another level. Heroes( not actors) are demi-Gods, fans associations are registered, it is ‘politically’ correct to say that a star can make a good administrator. People actually fight over their favourites. Having been a Telugu movie buff all my life and disappointed by the stereotypes which is a commonplace in this industry, I have started watching movies just to see why they are bad. But there is so much talk about our movies. Lost count of the number of discussions which just revolved around the ‘movies’ topic. Of gossips,of copied songs, of ‘treatment’, of background scores, of entertainment and of course about the title ‘Stars’. Strangely as soon as an actor is tagged a star, he becomes just a hero,devoid of all the acting skills that have got him till there. Some of the titles(aliases) of the ‘Telugu stars’

• ‘MegaStar’ Chiranjeevi ( The word mega has become synonymous with him that his fans are called mega fans, his soon to be launched party is being quoted as ‘mega party’, even the blood donation camps are tagged with the word Mega. This is one actor who did brilliant movies in start of his career but no longer has the bandwidth of his fans’ attention span to do meaningful movies.)
• ‘NataRatna’(Gem of an actor) NTR ( HE is a household name in any Telugu family who rose from an actor to a star to a politician to a CM post)
• ‘YuvaRatna’( Young gem) Balakrishan  ( He is the son of NTR and that explains his title . He puts all fantasy hollywood films to shame with his stunts and is lovingly( duh!) called Balayya. Check out the ‘we hate Balayya’ community on Orkut to check out his popularity.)
• ‘NataSamrat’( Emperor of Acting) Akkineni Nageshwar Rao  ( Veteran of the Telugu cinema who has played the most diversified roles in the true sense)
• ‘YuvaSamrat’Nagarjuna   ( No points for guessing. He is the son of ANR. )
• ‘NavaSamrat’ Sumanth   ( oh yeah! same family,the grandson)
• ‘PowerStar’ Pawan Kalyan  ( Brother of the ‘Megastar’. Still don’t get what the power is about, sounds more like a special version of fuel)
• ‘StylishStar’Allu Arjun    ( this guy has surely got some cosmetic styling done to his face. If you watched his first movie you would agree)
• ‘MegaPowerStar’ RamCharan   ( Son of the Megastar. I guess you could draw the connection ! A title given to him even before his first movie released. Wonder if he will ever get a chance to really ‘ACT’)
• ‘Victory’Venkatesh   ( Every time you think he is down and out, he gets back with a sentimental movie just to declare his comeback on the box office.)
• ‘CollectionKing’MohanBabu  ( Was supposed to bring in collections for the producers.. But HOW!????… never understood this thing. Both his sons are ‘heroes’ now. I guess they will be called collection princes or jr. collectors.)
• ‘SuperStar’Krishna ( 300 movies and still counting. Settles for nothing less than the protagonist role. Wonder how bored people are watching him?.. would prefer superstar Rajni to him anyday)
• ‘Prince’ MaheshBabu  ( Son of the Superstar. Deserves an honor but his father surely doesn’t deserve to be the King)
• ‘LoverBoy’ Tarun  (Sadly not being loved by the producers anymore)
• ‘YoungTiger’JrNTR ( Probably his liposuction signifying the receding density of tigers in India)
• ‘UniversalHero’KamalHassan ( Sounds like a beauty pageant winner. But this guy is one helluva actor and there is no sarcasm in this statement!)
• ‘RealStar’ SriHari ( Just another fake star!)

The list goes on and on.I could just remember these Few(:P). If you are wondering how I knew even this much, then you must meet few of my friends with whom I fail to realise sometimes whether they are talking or memorising movie dialogues.:P

If you still think this is some kind of exaggeration, then just do a Google Image Search for Telugu and tell me what catches your eye!.

Staying on my so called ‘Review’ of the movie Dasavatharam as there were widely varied reactions to it. So I thought there can be some research that can go into what was ‘Lost in Translation on to the screen’. I found this really interesting forward which has some postives- some false and some true. But I still stand by my verdict on the movie. Just because there was a message which was never conveyed it doesnt become a good movie. But I would reiterate on the fact that it was a real good story and a horrible movie.

Coming back to the mail, the content in it was as follows

> Too many doubts about correlation of the movie, Chaos
> theory and Butterfly Effect have come into Picture….!!!
>
> The movie clearly states about Chaos Theory and Butterfly
> Effect [Kamal says it in his Speech in the Movie ]
>
> The concept of”CHAOS THEORY” and “BUTTERFLY
> EFFECT”, by itself is a complex concept, which mainly
> highlights the happening of huge unimaginable things
> because of least probable things…!!!!
>
> Dasa although deals with these concept, but does not
> necessarily confuse anyone with it,,,, As i said earlier,
> its mainly “YOU”… that plays a factor in how
> the movie gets along with “YOU”.
>
> You have got to be Case 1 or Case 2 as i have said earlier
> in this entry,,, No use being Half Baked…..!!!!
>
> To just brief about these Concepts,
>
> Q: What is Chaotic System ?
> A: Basically a chaotic system is one wherein long term
> predictions are impossible.Like for example,if I push a
> car, I know that it is going to move and it will continue
> to do so if I go on pushing it on and on.However,in a
> chaotic system,this situation cannot be predicted over a
> long period of time.
> Weather for example is a chaotic system.No matter how good
> your instruments are,you simply cannot predict the weather
> with 100% accuracy over a long term basis and forecast it.
>
> Q: What is the Butterfly Effect ?
> A: It is the most important component of a chaotic
> system.Basically,small perturbations results in
> amplifications which completely destroys the original
> nature of the system and makes prediction impossible.
> If a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa,it could result in
> a cyclone in USA.(Mark the word COULD).A highly dumbed down
> explanation of the butterfly effect is in the film
> Anniyan,where Vikram’s sister dies because a liquor
> shop owner sells liquor on a dry day.
>
>
> Q: OK, how does Dasa incorporate it ?
> A: In essence,Dasa talks about 8 characters who are
> inconsequential as such,but are integrated in a larger
> picture.Without Bush,the plane would have been called
> back.Without Shinghen, Govind would be dead.Without the
> tsunami,the world would have been destroyed.Even
> Krishnaveni Patti plays a very important role.If she had
> not put the vial in the idol,maybe Govind would have
> recovered it then and there and a powerful weapon would
> have been unleashed.The very fact that it went into the
> idol meant that it was being accelerated to its
> destiny.Without Kaifulla Khan, Govind would have never
> escaped;the list simply goes on.
>
> Q:OK,so does the film talk about theism or atheism?
> A:Neither.It talks about how humans drive the destiny of
> the world.
> ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
> The movie does Show ” A Butterfly ” flying
> accross the screen after the Tsunami Attack, clearly
> indicating that the Tsunami is an Outcome of ” The
> Butterfly effect “.
>
> ALSOOOOOOO……..
>
> I said that the butterfly COULD cause a
> hurricane.That’s a huge probability. Would be a
> negligible probability. NOT a huge one. if that were true,
> we would have cyclones on an hourly basis as butterflies
> keep flitting all over Africa and u don’t have so many
> cyclones to account for a HUGE probability.
> Chaos,relativity and quantum mechanics are so damn weird
> that you will think I am talking metaphysics and
> pseudoscience.
>
> Like for example,according to quantum mechanics,there is a
> finite probability that you will fall right through a solid
> chair.And it is a PROBABILITY.
> Even 10 to the power -26 is finite .
>
> But yes, Quantum Mechanics does allow for weird situations.
>
> THE CONNECTION !!!!!

> So in dasavatharam that idol thrown into sea in 12th
> century is the cause for tsunami…. so everything is
> interlinked .The wiki entry also says that chaos could play
> an important role in plate techtonics. Which means even the
> 12th century incident is connected.
>
> The 1st scene is perfectly connected to the climax,
> remember what Kamal says in the 1st scene, that he will not
> say “Om Nama Shivaya” , but Asin tells him to
> chant it , but still Kamal refuses , ( in this kamal in his
> story tries to tell that ) Nambi believes in his god more
> than anything, but Asin feels “Its ok if we change the
> god or chant other god’s name, its life thats most
> important.” Now if u see the climax its JUST
> OPPOSITE…. Kamal doesn’t believe in god much and
> values lives of people the most…. but Asin deeply
> believes in god and that too this dialogue comes when both
> Asin and Kamal’s hand is on the god which came from the
> sea , and it also means that they are getting united from
> the place they departed hundreds of years back ( Kamal and
> Asin).The connection between the 1st scene and the climax
> in the movie shows the generation circle combined with
> supernatural powers of GOD and destiny….!!!
>
> If you watch it closely u can also find another actor who
> has done double action other than Asin and Kamal.
> Asin’s father Sahasranamam [12th Century], in the
> beginning he says to Nambi “Panchatchira manthirathai
> sollitu vaango mappillai” ( Say the mantra) and at the End [After
> tsunami] he says “Avar enna jathiyo inga vaanga paati’”(God knows what caste he is)

There is something in the above explanation that everyone missed out on. But still makes sense. So read on the rest of the mail:

> Okay, this is slightly outside the chaotic system driving
> the film as a whole.From what I could gather he says that
> this story is about ideologies like God,the madness
> surrounding such ideologies and decides to tell the story
> of the Shaivite-Vaishnavite conflict to show how people go
> crazy in the name of God as an example.
>
> As a loose end,it gets tied up in the end,when the
> Ranganathar idol is thrown out of the sea due to the
> tsunami which highlights the cyclic nature of life.Actually
> the Nambi character highlights both Chaos and Karma which I
> explained.That is the brilliance of this film,there is so
> much to see and understand.
>
> Another explanation(and this is slightly far fetched— as
> explained earlier) is that Govind is in fact the
> reincaranation of Nambi. As Nambi he couldn’t protect
> God and died in the name of God.In order to fulfill his
> Karma,he is reincarnated as Govind Ramasamy who ultimately
> saves the world from destruction.The idol in the end
> somewhat hints to this theory; his story began with the
> idol and it ends with the idol.
> As far as the connection with Nambi character and events in
> 12th Century goes…
> The connection is based on the “Butterfly effect
> “.
>
> When Govind and Andal goes to the bury the idol in the
> sands, Andal will stumble on a particular stone couple of
> times…This is the same stone as the one from 12th Century
> hen Kothai rips her Thaali and flings it at Kulothunga
> Chozan…it will end up hanging on the stone. So, the
> implied message here is Andal is Kothai reborn in the 21s
> century.
> During the encounter with Santhana Bharathi in the sand
> quarry, it is repeat of the incident from 12th century.
> Instead of Kulothunga Chozhan, it is the Sand Mafia which
> tries to inflict damage on the land.
> This movie is a brilliant juxtaposition of independent
> characters whose paths cross, if only briefly, which is
> stunning example of Chaos Theory.

I guess this part doesnt make sense and is just a very wierd explanation of the same chaos theory. There is another interestin thing to note which was almost obscure in the movie:

> The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan
> in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being
> developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors
> more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the
> Tsunami. This again is a classic case of Butterfly Effect
> wherein a seemingly inconcsequential event (the drowing of
> the idol) saves Tamil Nadu from being wiped out off the
> face of the earth.
>
> But actually kamal has not left anything for our
> imagination… Explanation struck the right chord, Kamal
> does tell to Asin in a dialogue that idol which gets sunken
> back then gets struck between the tectonic plates under the
> sea and causes tsunami…
> Many people missed this dialogue i guess. Kamal’s
> accent was so very perfect Tamil, that many people missed
> it…. Being perfect Is a Problem by Itself !!!
>
> Although the explanation is a least possible theory, that
> is what “Chaos Theory” And “Butterfly
> Effect” are all about.
> Its not just the statue that caused the tsunami, but it
> just started a large chain of effects which kept
> multiplying exponentially and finally lead to it after 800
> years….!!
> Why just say this concept is perfectly illogical… it is
> possible… thats what i have been explaining all the while
> !!!
>
> The story line is that things going wrong are made to be
> right which involves many people and countries knowingly or
> unknowingly.
>
> Knowingly:
>
> -Bush, Manmohan Singh, Govindh, Fletcher, Balaram Naidu,
> Mallika Sherawath.
>
> Unknowingly:
>
> -Nambi’s drowning to death with the heavy statue causes
> simple changes to the seabed that causes a devastating
> tsunami 800 years later [Acc. to Chaos theor it is
> possible.... although it is least probable... It is
> possible.. so nothing TOTALLY WRONG About it ]
> -Poovaragan(actually saved kamal unknowingly—when
> poovaragan enters kamal and asin were caught by those manal
> kollayargal.There poovaragan distracts the gang helping
> kamal to escape),
> – Avatar Singh(gave way to Fletcher to escape in the
> airport unknowingly),
> – Japanese(saved govind from fletcher,he knows he is saving
> but he doesnt know about the play and was there only for
> revenge),
> – Kallifulla and family(saved govind unknowingly)…….
> -Vincent is a dalit leader of a lower caste( the so called
> ) but saved an Iyengar Girl ……and at the end becomes
> the con of the Iyengar Paati !!
> – If Shingen Narahashi’s sister was not killed,
> Fletcher could have killed govind and used the virus for
> wrong purpose..
>
> This is based on Chaos Theory..!!!!!
>
> It is marvellous that THALAIVAR Kamal has used such a
> device in Abhoorva Saghodhararghal, way back in 1989. To
> kill Delhi Ganesh, for those of you who do not remember…
> yet another Eg. of Chaos Theory And butterfly Effect !
>
> The plot concept of Dasavadhaaram is logically explained by
> a machine used by Him in His own screenplay back then too,
> before 20 Years!! Be it a coincidence, or He possibly had
> that in mind as an inspiration, it amazes me!!

The person who has written this mail is a die-hard Kamal fan which you would have made out by now. And some effort has really gone into understanding something from nothing. This reminds me of something on the lines of Nostradamus predictions which can be interpreted any which way for our convenience. The guy who has written this mail really pushes the same logic to the max in the last part of the mail.Read On:

> One thing we had noticed is why people didn’t get the
> real subtext and reason for the various roles and hence the
> title.
> If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their
> characters you can appreciate the script more.
> Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:
>
> 1. Krishna avatar – Vincent Poovaraghavan
> Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned
> [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated
> and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord
> krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look
> at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is
> about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi.
> Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil
> issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his
> leg. Oh even five of vincent’s men are drugged at P.
> Vasu’s.. sounds familiar???
>
> 2. Balarama avatar – Balarama naidu
> This is an easy given. as the name suggests and the role
> personifies you can easily get it.
>
> 3. Mathsya avatar – Ranagaraja nambi
> nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord
> from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue do
> you want?
>
> 4. Varaha avatar – Krishnaveni paatti
> During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha
> avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for
> a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar
> lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here
> too krishnaveni hides the germs – life form inside the
> statue so as to protect.
>
> 5. Vamana avatar – Kalifulla khan
> remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the
> vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant
> kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.
>
> 6. Parasurama avatar – Christian Fletcher
> Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed
> 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the
> real KILLER… Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He
> comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and
> kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21
> people though.
>
> 7. Narasimha avatar – Shingen Narahashi
> first of all the name itself is a play on the words singam
> [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being
> symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the
> bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he
> shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a
> teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare
> hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?
>
> 8. Rama avatar – Avatar Singh
> Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of
> symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by
> saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants
> to live for her.
>
> 9. Kalki avatar – Govindaraj Ramasamy
> As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the
> Kalki avatar!!!
>
> 10. Koorma avatar – Bush
> This is the most loose adaptation I couldn’t clearly
> comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the
> lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the
> ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This
> essentially creates war among the devas and asuras.
> Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know
> whom… May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a
> bit dumb like the tortoise…

This by far is my longest post and please be sure that I don’t subscribe to any of these ideas written in the mail. This is just an attempt to look at what could have been the good behind such a disaster( I am not talking about Tsunami here ) I am talking about the movie now.

What would be the necessary ingredients for a blockbuster??? A whopping budget of 125 crores, India’s best actor donning ten rules to satisfy his creative ego, a director who has delivered many a commercial success, a story on the lines of the Oscar winning Crash and all the HYPE. All this and more. When I say ‘more’ I am referring to just one aspect of it-The story. Dasavatharam has got all that and the more factor so where did it all go wrong???

A great movie is surely an accident. A conscious effort towards the same more often than not wont yield the same result. Dasavatharam is one such movie. Made with an Oscar fixation, the director loses the track in between when he tries to commercialise the film. How can you commercialise a film??? In this context there can be many ways- Have music composed by the utterly talented Himmesh Reshammiya , get the masala moviemaker K.S.Ravikumar to direct the film and ask Kamal Hasan to chose the roles he wants to play even if there is no necessity. Strangely a movie with a brilliant story which had a hidden message in it( which I guess was never conveyed) was named Dasavatharam( 10 Avatars) just because the protagonist plays 10 different roles just to prove his acting prowess. The story is based on the chaos theory( Some scenes actually have the butterfly on screen just to signify the butterfly effect) ends in utter chaos. Kamal was playing 10 roles!!!! Obviously they have to give each of his 10 avatars enough bandwidth or screen presence. So the director ends up showing some irrelevant characters for a lot of unneccesary time. It comes to a point where every character looked like it was being played by Kamal. And between all this something important is lost-The Plot.

I am sure many people wouldnt agree with me when I say the story actually had some sense. It surely did have some sense but sadly didnt make any. It was a story on the lines of the movie CRASH where many stories converge at the end with some underlying message. this movie too had messages. A lot of them in fact. It spoke about religious divisions, biochemical warfare, divisions inside a religion,caste-ism and many more social topics but never conveyed the message. It just left the audience trying to tie up the plot and make sense of it. It portrays the importance of the message’Everything happens for a reason’ and asks a lot of questions about the existence of God. But I guess a lot changed from when the story was on paper to when it came on print. I guess the producer’s money was something that could alter the way the director looked at a written script.

Kamal Hasan excelled in most of the roles he portrayed. Be it the Iyengar of 12th century or Indian intelligence officer, he looked at utmost ease when doing most of his roles. But overdoing the things which are not necessary can surely spell doom and with respect to this movie it is completely true. Asin did a good job of her part. Mallika Sherawat was as usual useless. There was not much for any other actor as Kamal was too greedy and shared 90% of the screen space. Overall the movie was a disappointment more so because  it could have been a really good movie had the team stuck to the basics and concentrated on the story rather than the characters.Having admired most of Kamal’s work in the past, this surely comes as a major disappointment as it was an utter waste of a promising script.

P.s. Worth a mention- Kamal did a really good job of playing the dumb George Bush

One of the most awaited movies in recent times has finally released as a four hour uncut version in the USA on valentine’s day and a day later in India. Talk about Globalisation!!. A movie about a Mughal king whose ancestors invaded India and looted it getting married to a Rajput princess in the 15th Century now being directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar(director of the “Oscar Nominated” Lagaan) releasing on Valentine’s Day( A day to commemorate St.Valentine who belongs to some other country) in the United states of America before releasing in the country it is made.

So much for it. Gowarikar, the man who was impressive with his more than 3 hr long movies like Lagaan and Swades couldn’t have come up with something shorter. The movie raised quite an uproar even before it released as the self proclaimed historians had different stories to tell. But after all it is just a movie. I would have loved to believe that Lagaan was a true story. Now for the interesting part. The star cast-It has Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bacchan playing the lead roles. I find it strange when people say they have excellent chemistry on screen because frankly I dint find any of that in Dhoom 2. But both of them have the aesthetic appeal that suits the film. The movie starts off with the omnipresent Amithab Bacchan’s narration which brings you back the exciting memories of Lagaan. First half hour of the movie is filled with Akbar’s conquests and his dream of becoming the emperor of unified India. The battle sequences are not as magnanimous as they look in the trailers but atleast had the look and feel of those times. Akbar played by Hrithik is portrayed as the imperious yet benevolent emperor who goes any distance to achieve his ambition. The decision to marry Jodha-the rajput princess comes as one of his political appeasement decisions. The story of Jodha starts of as any Rajput princess’ story in which she is engaged in her childhood and grows up in a very protected environment but is taught all battleship skills by her cousin Sujamal(played by Sonu Sood)who is the heir apparent to her kingdom and has an important role to play in this story. All hell and confusion breaks loose when the King(jodha’s father) decides against making Sujamal the next king. Due to all the internal tensions that follow in the kingdom, the King asks Akbar to marry his daughter Jodha. This is where their story begins..

For a change, this story is about Love after marriage. For the most parts ,the movie focuses on the subtle romantic scenes between the lead pair. The number of people playing antagonists to this relation range from Akbar’s brother-in-law to the royal clergy to the foster mother of Akbar. Overcoming all kinds of misunderstandings and hardships, Love prevails. This is the bottom line of the story.Strangely enough,this is the same Akbar who plays the villain in the love life of his son as depicted in another immortal movie called Mughal-e-azam. There are other scenes which portray Akbar’s initiatives as an emperor to win the hearts of his people which run as sidetrack of the central theme. The director’s research was confined to the habits and lifestyle of people at that time rather than other interesting things about Akbar’s reign. There was no major mention of the ‘Navratnas’ in Akbar’s court. Music is pleasing to the ears. A.R.Rehman is like the Sachin of Indian Music industry who rarely fails to deliver even after the huge burden of expectations. The picturisation of the songs is very aesthetically done. The supporting cast was majorly the same people from Lagaan. Aishwarya palying the independent princess did more justice to her role than Hrithik to his. The length I felt was much longer than the story to be told. I really felt this as it was a second showJ

A must watch movie for its style rather than the substance. I cannot say it is a great movie but certainly not worth the wait. It is an honest attempt by the director to break away from stereotypes but I has the reputation which is difficult to live up to.