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Jodhaa-Akbar (Hindi: जोधा-अकबर, Urdu: جودھا اکبر) is a film released on February 15, 2008. It is directed and produced by Ashutosh Gowariker, the director of the Academy Award-nominated Lagaan (2001). It stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in lead roles. This film also marks the debut of newcomer Abir Abrar. Extensive research went into the making of this film which begun shooting at Karjat.

The film centers around the romance between the Muslim Mughal Emperor Akbar, played by Hrithik Roshan, and his Hindu wife, Jodhabai, played by Aishwarya Bachchan. In reality, as the film itself acknowledges, Akbar's wife may never have been known as Jodhabai. The music is composed by A. R. Rahman. The soundtrack of the movie was released on January 19, 2008.

Synopsis

Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa. Noted Indian historian, Irfan Habib, acknowledges that director of this movie did consult with him but Habib disagreed with pretty much everything the director has put in this film. Claim of extensive research is dubious at best.

There is popular perception that Rajput wife of Akbar, mother of Jahangir, was known as "Jodha Bai". However, Akbar's Rajput wife was never known as "Jodha Bai" during her lifetime.

The name of Akbar's wife was kept out of the Mughal records deliberately because the islamic clergy and the mughal populace could not come to terms with the future mughal emperor being the son of a Hindu woman. In Tujuk-i-Jahangiri she is clearly referred as Mariam Zamani. During the Mughal period, Akbar's Rajput wife was never known as "Jodha Bai". Neither the Akbarnama (a biography of Akbar commissioned by Akbar himself), nor any historical text from the period refer to her as Jodha Bai. Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, the autobiography of Jahangir, doesn't mention Jodha Bai either.

According to Professor Shirin Moosvi, a historian of Aligarh Muslim University, the name "Jodha Bai" was first used to refer to Akbar's wife in the 18th and 19th centuries in historical writings. According to the historian Imtiaz Ahmad, the director of the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library in Patna, the name "Jodha" was used for Akbar's wife for the first time by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, in his book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. According to Ahmad, Tod was not a professinal historian and depended on folk literature of Rajputs. According to the historian Lifaq Ali Khan, the name Jodha Bai seems to have become popular after the film Mughal-e-Azam.

According to N R Farooqi, Jodha Bai was not the name of Akbar's Rajput queen; it was the name of Jahangir's Rajput wife, whose real name was Jagat Gosain. Jagat Gosain was referred to as "Jodha Bai" or "Jodhi Bibi", since she belonged to the royal family of Jodhpur. Jodhi Bibi was the daughter of Udai Singh of Jodhpur, and a wife of Jahangir. She was the mother of Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan).

Political success knew no bounds for Emperor Akbar (Hrithik Roshan). After having secured the Hindu Kush, he furthered his realm by conquest until his empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, from the Himalayas to the Godavari River. Through a shrewd blend of diplomacy, intimidation and brute force, Akbar won the allegiance of the Rajputs. This allegiance was not universal. Maharana Pratap and many other rajputs always considered Akbar as a foreign invader. Maharana Pratap also banned inter marriages between rajputs who had given there daughters to the mughals and the ones who did not. But little did Akbar know that when he married Jodhaa (Aishwarya Bachchan), a fiery Rajput princess, in order to further strengthen his relations with the Rajputs, he would in turn be embarking upon a new journey – the journey of true love.

The daughter of King Bharmal of Amer, Jodhaa resented being reduced to a mere political pawn in this marriage of alliance, and Akbar’s biggest challenge now did not merely lie in winning battles, but in winning the love of Jodhaa – a love hidden deep below resentment and extreme prejudice. Jodhaa Akbar is their untold love story.

Cast

• Hrithik Roshan ... Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar
• Aishwarya Bachchan ... Jodhaa
• Abir Abrar ... Bakshi Banu Begum
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda ... Raja Bharmal
• Sonu Sood ... Rajkumar Sujamal
• Suhasini Mulay ... Rani Padmawati
• Shaji Choudhary … Adham Khan
• Mrs Punam S Sinha … Mallika Hamida Banu
• Digvijay Purohit … Rajkumar Bhagwan das
• Pradeep Sharma … Sheikh Mubarak
• Rajiv Sehgal … Raja Viraat
• Gurmmeet Singh … Raja Shundi
• Balraj … Raja Balraj Singh
• Yuri … Bairam Khan
• Disha Vakani … Madhavi
• Indrajeet Sarkar … Maheshdas/Birbal
• Sudhanshu Singh … Raja Shimalgarh
• Nikitin Dheer … Sharifuddin Hussain
• Rajesh Vivek … Chugtai Khan
• Surendra Pal … Rana Uday Singh
• Raza Murad … Shamsuddin Atka Khan
• Ila Arun … Maham Anga
• Pramod Moutho … Todar Mal
• Pramatesh Mehta … Chandrabhan Singh
• Visswa Badola … Saadir Adaasi
• Manava Naik … Neelakshi
• Sayed Badrul Hasan … Mullah Do Pyaaza
• Dilnaaz Irani … Salima
• Tejpal Singh Rawat … Ni'Mat
• Raju Pandit … Raja Bhaati
• Bharat Kumar … Raja Chauhan
• Jassi Singh … Raja Bhadra
• Ulhas Barve … Raja Mankeshwar
• Aman Dhaliwal…Rajkumar Ratan Singh
• Shehzor Ali … Raja Hemu
• Sanchita Kaur... Special Appearance
• Amitabh Bachchan... Narrator

Crew

• Production Design: Nitin Chandrakant Desai
• Visual Effects: Pankaj Khandpur (Tata Elxsi - Visual Computing Labs)
• Chief Assistant Director: Karan Malhotra

Production

Ashutosh Gowariker hired a research team of historians and scholars from New Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow, Agra and Jaipur to guide him on this film and help him keep things historically accurate. He clarified that the name of the film remains Jodhaa Akbar, and not Akbar Jodhaa as reported by sections of the media. Indian courts have ruled that film is not historically accurate. They have directed Ashutosh Gowariker to mention that it is a work of fiction in a disclaimer. Historical accuracy is not the primary aim of this movie.

Over 80 elephants, 100 horses and 55 camels were used in the movie. The song “Azeem O Shan, Shahenshah” featured about 1000 dancers in traditional costumes, who performed for three hours wielding swords and shields at a grand location in Karjat. The budget was more then 40 crore rupees (over $10 million in US dollars).

The first television promo was aired on 9th December, 2007.

The movie used over 400 kg of gold jewellery made by Tanishq

Music

The official soundtrack contains five songs and two instrumentals. The music was released on January 18th, 2008.

After the soundtrack's release, "Jashn-E-Bahaara" topped music charts throughout India.

Reviews

• Hindustan Times, a leading Indian newspaper gave the move 2 stars. Poonam Sinha, reviewer for the paper calling, "Like it or not Ashutosh Gowariker, who is normally a fine and conscientious director, has miscalculated the technical logistics and emotional content of a period piece. Crucial detailing isn’t the virtue here."

• Oneindia.in (Taran Adsrsh) Ashutosh Gowarikar knows that historicals have to be simplified while narrating on celluloid so that the moviegoer is able to grasp and comprehend the plotline and the sequence of events. Thankfully, Jodhaa Akbar is not in the least difficult to decipher. Gowariker's handling of the subject deserves the highest praise, for it's not everyday that you come across a film like Jodhaa Akbar.

• AOL india (Noyon Jyoti Parasara) gave it four stars, saying " Ashutosh Gowariker has proved that he is one of the best filmmakers we have today. While your heart goes for the love between the two protagonists, the film leaves you at such heights of emotions that you would literally be shaking with excitement! The film also comes at a very right time as Akbar indeed could be a role model for people and rulers today. The king not only had a secular vision, but also a will to know what the common man wanted, apart from being kind hearted and noble."

• MovieWalah.com (Aslam Patel) gave it two and a half stars, saying "the most important thing about making a movie, which was missing here, was the desire to make a truly great movie. It's very disappointing to see that someone who gets hailed as one of the top directors in India can deliver a mediocre product like this. It's bad because Hrithik gave a great performance, hoping this could be his Mughal-e-Azam, but unfortunately it wasn't even close."

References

1. "25th January, 2008". IndiaFM. 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
2. "Aishwarya gets summons by Customs Department". IndiaFM. 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
3. Fact, myth blend in re-look at Akbar-Jodhabai-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India
4. 'Trade, not invasion brought Islam to India'-India-The Times of India
5. "27th December, 2008". JodhaaAkbar.com. 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
6. ^ Atul Sethi (2007-06-24). "'Trade, not invasion brought Islam to India'". The Times of India. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
7. ^ Ashley D'Mello (2005-12-10). "Fact, myth blend in re-look at Akbar-Jodha Bai". The Times of India. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
8. Syed Firdaus Ashraf (2008-02-05). "Did Jodhabai really exist?". Rediff.com. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
9. Jodhaa Akbar :: Official Website
10. Oneindia.in

External links

• Official Website: Jodhaa Akbar
• Jodhaa Akbar at IMDb
• Jodhaa Akbar Review

• 2008 films
• Indian films
• Hindi-language films
• Urdu-language films
• Biographical films
• Films directed by Ashutosh Gowariker