Jodha Akbar - My review

Ria2006 · Feb 18, 2008

Well Yeterday I saw this much hyped movie.

My rating - 3 out of 5

Pros- scenic beauty, Good looking stars, excellent cinematography, great dialogues

Cons - weak storyline, dragging middle half, poor action sequences, not so melodious music.

Detail:

well I want to write this review because I was disappointed by aushotsh Gowarikar. I guess the director slipped profusely after Lagaan and Swades. He could make Shahrukh look so un-commerical in Swades, he almost made us believe the storyline. In Jodha Akbar, he could not find substance to hang on.

I dont know why Indian director cannot go beyond dragging love into everything. I mean He was king who had harem and several queens. whats the point in hiding information everybody knows. And why paint a picture which is not real. People are educated lot.

I personally dont like Ash, hence my personal hatred might affect her review. But she is at best alright , nothing of great sort. Only director who seemed to have got her acting is Sanjay Bhansali. Rest all movies she is at best Ice queen. She was given unnecessarily over importance in movie. You can see this in more scenes of her than of Hrithik. She did look stunning most of the time. But there are occasions where you can see pimples peeking out of heavy make up and age showing up on face.

Hrithik delivered great performance in whatever little his role had to offer. He seemed highly underutilized in movie. While director was trying to please Ash by offering her meaty role, Hrithik was ignored despite being the central character in moive.

Other good performances would that of Todarmal, Badi ammi and Sharifuddin. Actually whoever played Sharifuddin did surpirse me by powerful performance.

Storyline is so weak that at times you will feel like throwing up with overdose of after marriage virtual romance. I mean what the heck this virtual stuff is.. Dont people become real after marriage. And why paint Jodha's image as someone of mercinary sort. while at best she was money grabbing, convenience seeking daugter of a weak king. Last dialogue in movie talks about, people dont rememeber Jodha akbar being great lovers.. I think public is right in forgetting money seekers. What this great Jodha has done for average public. She was as average as any rich princess of her time..so why rememeber average people.

So why epitomise her. I personally felt storyline tried too hard to make a premise of irrational fact. Why fancy something which is not there. A king which had harem full of women and several queens. How can you glorify his love for one of the several woman he had relation with.

Fight sequences seems to fall short. It looked Producer didnot have enough money to hire right kind of animals or backups. All the elephants in movie looked so old that you will feel sorry that they were made to run. There is sequence where Hrithik is taming a mad elephant. But my problem with that scene is elephant looked so old and tame that scene didnt make any sense. whenever they showed wars, it was very ineffective and sparse. I really felt Indian film makers should watch more of hollywood war movies to refine their art. Otherwise they should stay away from topic of epic movies.

Over all movie gets 3 out of five because of Hrithik , dialogue and cinematography.
I personally feel Vidya Balan would have done a better job of being Jodha. Ash really need to sit at home now. I mean enough of Ice looks and bland movies. Time to manage home for her.

Ria

Mythraeyi · Feb 18, 2008

hi,

wow - that is different from reviews I have read online - all of them praise the movie. I was wondering whether to invest 3.5 hrs watching it in the theatre. I too am not an Ash admirer, although i really like Hrithik. guess it may be better to wait for dvd where you can at least ff the boring parts. I agree that Vidya balan may hv been a better choice - she has the classic looks and is definitely a much better actress.

Ria2006 · Feb 18, 2008

Yes very true. I asked myself that question atleast 10 times , why I didnt wait for DVD? And you are are rigth about 3.5 hrs, its actually longer than that. At the end of itm you wonder, what was the reason director had to stretch movie so long. I mean we were better without 45 minutes extra overdose virtually useless and meaningless Indian style romance.

vaidehi · Feb 18, 2008

Hey ria,

Thanks for the reviews, i was thinking of whether to watch the movie or not.

By looking at the glimpses i could sense that there was so much undue importance given to Ash and much hype has been created just coz its her first movie after marriage.

But i had little more expectations from ashutosh and Hrithik.

Cheers
vaidehi

jaanu_2721 · Feb 18, 2008

yup.. thnx for all ur reviews.:hide

srivatsa · Feb 18, 2008

hai ria,

Thanks for the review. My hubby had planned the movie this weekend. We could not make it.Now for sure i will not even go for a DVD, some day i will watch it when i am at home and one of the channels it showing it

Regards
Sri

padmavathi m · Feb 18, 2008

dear ria,

hope you have recovered well after the
knee surgery...................
thats fine........:hiya:hiya

thanks a lot for the reviews.
any how i dont have the patience to watch a 3.5 hrs movie. :spin
you have saved my time and energy. otherwise i would have wasted my precious time. Big Laugh

love
padma

Jananikrithsan · Feb 18, 2008

Dear Ria,
I was planning to go and watch the movie but got a little busy and then the something that held me back was the duration of the film. Whatever the grandoise in costumes and settings the viewer is bound to get bored. My vote would have been anyone execept the Ice maiden Rai. These days she seems to just add to the ornamental effect.
Thanks for the timely review.

Abha · Feb 18, 2008

Just saw Jodha akbar yesterday, well it was painfully long, but the movie's heart was in the right place, i mean whicever century we are in, but hindu muslim gap always remains and creates trouble, so the msg in the movie was good, plus mainly it was more of a love story rather than a historical movie... Aishwarya is beautiful and Hrithik acts really well... on the whole okey okey movie... the movie cud hv been made shorter... that song "azeemo shaan shahenshah" was too long and unnecessary... and aishwarya dancing on the night of their "oneness" was too stupid, i mean earlier she was too shy to even let hrithik touch her, and then when they come together, she starts dancing, i mean gimmi a break yaar...

I like the "talwarbazi" scene between hrithik and aish and the scene when hrithik insists on having food from the same plate as aish was also good...

Aishwarya's jewelery and outfits were soo beautiful, specially those huge round necklaces, i loved it all...

Kamla · Feb 18, 2008

Hey guys.....Don't write off the movie just like that...give it a break yaar)
Well Ria, hope you are fine after the surgery? I am sure your knee must have bothered you sitting through the long movie. It sure was a long movie and is bound to give one a bit of a headache! Wish the very best of health
Ok, I saw the movie yesterday. Like Abha says, my Only grouse was that the movie was very long. Apart from that, go for it gals!
When you see the types of movies that is being churned out these days, I don't see anything wrong with Jodha Akbar.
Also, just go with a thought of entertainment, that's all.
I love Aishwarya, no two ways about it. She is simply beautiful. We need not even discuss Hrithik's looks, he is dashing So, both make a very regal and lovely looking couple. Both have emoted very well. Original Akbar and Jodha will be flattered, is my guess...ha ha ha!
The dances were really different. Got to see some sufi style.
People are coming down strongly upon Gowarikar, I don't get it. He had a vision. He has created the movie with love, it is for all to see. Maybe he got a bit carried away with it...?!
Inspite of everything, the movie has a heart and that is rare these days.
Music from ARR may not be his best, but they keep ringing in your ears, the melody is really haunting.
Ok, so much from me for this movie review.
If you have the time, go watch it...if you do not, get the DVD.....it surely is not worth a skip.

Oh, btw Ria, I paid extra attention to the elephants and horses as I had read your review before going to the movie....how could you say which ones were old and which were young??.......Big Laugh Ok, just kidding, please take it with a pinch of salt!

L, Kamla