Jodhaa Akbar

Up until Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar was released, the defining film on the Mughals was K.Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam (1960) – the passionate tale of a lowly courtesan Anarkali (Madhubala) threatening to become the queen and a son (Dilip Kumar) rising in revolt against his emperor father, Jaluddin Mohammed Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor in a towering performance). One suspects that however much Ashutosh Gowariker cites secondary research material as basis for his film, Jodha Akbar, it is K.Asif’s majestic work that underpins his latest picture.

Both street protestors and academics alike are harping on how no biography of Akbar, including the official one, Akbarnama mentions Jodha Bai as his wife. Second, it may not be wholly correct that the Mughal king who is known for his secular politics was equally liberal with his wife following Hindu customs (it was Akbar who banned the marriage for Mughal girls), not forgetting the Akbar’s several other wives and members of his harem that find no mention in either of the two films. It might just be that Gowariker is deriving legitimacy of his work from Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam and what he really wishes is to explore is how ‘Prithviraaj Kapoor’ went about romancing Jodha in his young days before he became the stiff patriarch and the powerful emperor of Hindostan (it is perhaps fitting that Hrithik Roshan ages into Prithvirraaj Kapoor, but Aishwarya into Durga Khote!).

The furor over the film is unnecessary. The cry, I feel, is less due to historical inaccuracy than an expression of a certain embarrassment by a section of people. For them the marriage of a Rajput Hindu princess to a Muslim ruler in order to avoid a confrontation was a compromise and they do not warrant mention by posterity. However, it is really desirable even warranted that we investigate the formative years of one of the most important kings in human history (notwithstanding how the idea originated).

Jodha Akbar then does well by picking some very interesting elements from the life of the Mughal emperor. The growth and transformation of the emperor as he moves out of the tutelage of Bairam Khan and Maham Anga, his decision to make India his permanent home and the institution of secular politics within a very conservative Islamic setup (his marriage to a Hindu princess was only one of the strategies) constitute noteworthy aspects of the Ashutosh Gowariker’s film. Also, the political intrigues surrounding the young emperor where the military commander, the foster mother, the mullahs, and the cousins, all with their personal agendas vie for influence, are well thought out and executed. That these intrigues were not limited to the Mughal court is established through the Raja Bharmal- Sujamal sub-plot.

However, the central plot of Akbar’s marriage to Jodhabai that otherwise had great potential for drama and intrigue, fails to really kick off. To reiterate, the reasons and repercussions of the Rajput-Mughal political alliance are reasonably worthy subjects for a film. And Jodha Akbar does take up some of the related issue like the inheritance feud within Bharmal’s family or the orthodox displeasure and distrust of Akbar’s alliance with a Hindu. But in its effort to turn a political alliance into an idealized love story and also (I suspect) to avoid ‘hurting sentiments’, the director dilutes it into a drama on communal harmony. The result is that the relationship between the protagonists is all nice, sweet, and very boring.

What one misses are the ‘details’ of the relationship. Incidents like Akbar’s impromptu dance on the Sufi song or his orders to throw his cousin down to his death from the parapet, not once but twice add dimensions to his character. Several more such finer points were needed to add lush and growth to the lead pair and their romance in this close to 3-hour film (indeed, necessitating that Gowariker took more liberties with the historical ‘facts’). Instead we see some finely executed (if broad-brushed) scenes of a Rajput princess who’s being given away against her wishes actually putting conditions to the Mughal emperor that she be allowed to retain her Hindu name and traditions but also to have a temple in full public knowledge. From here on, the romance between the king and his consort stays limited to his trying to live up to his promises to Jodha while the wife weighs her options to accept Akbar in her bed. Her naaz-nakhra continues well after the intermission and for a moment it appears that the end credits might include a plate that reads, ‘The Hindu princess, Jodha Bai not only retained her Hindu name and traditions, was allowed a temple in full public knowledge, but also remained a VIRGIN throughout her life’.

The other thing that mars the film is its inconsistency. Jodha Akbar constantly fluctuates from being very good and original to being tedious and even hackneyed. For example, on one hand there are well executed scenes like the Akbar-Bairam Khan confrontation or the climactic duel between Akbar and his brother-in-law, and, on the other hand, there are scenes like Akbar’s disguised foray in public market or the murder of the prime minister, that look straight out of ‘dada-dadi ki kahaniyan’. And then there are scenes that are good but could have done much better with tighter editing, like the one where Akbar fights the elephant. The locations and sets similarly vary between very grand to very run down. It is the film’s inconsistency that proscribes it from making all elements of the film fall together and take an explicit position over several political and personal aspects as the Mughal emperor came of age.

Gowarikar and Nitin Desai have worked hard on the production and it shows, especially in the war scenes, though the song hailing Akbar (azeem-o-shaan shehenshah) reminds one of the multi-starrer 70s films with skirt-wearing royal heroes and songs shot in stadiums. The director deserves praise for controlling his actors, especially Aishwarya Rai into giving reasonably good performances. This tactics (if there indeed was one) has not worked for Hrithik Roshan. I may be in minority here but Roshan’s Akbar is a tad too measured performance as if he is always on a tight leash watching himself lest he falls short of the expectations. Of the supporting cast, noticeable are the performances by Sonu Sood (plays Sujamal) and Ila Arun (Maham Anga) and indeed Punam Sinha who puts up a fine, dignified performace as Akbar’s mother and the empress (possibly being at the side of Bollywood’s Shotgun Sinha had her in preparation for this role for decades now). A. R. Rahman’s music is easy on the ears and could grow on you. The khwaja mere khwaja song carries the almost ethereal Sufi magic.

A final word – it is not uncommon that film making often constitutes executing one’s childhood fantasies (for those who can afford it); one wishes Ashutosh Gowariker had followed his heart more and gone all the way to bring a fully personalized Jodha Akbar story. For now Akbar and Jodha would continue to live in popular memory as K.Asif had whimsically designed them close to 50 years ago.

(First appeared at http://passionforcinema.com/author/padmaja/)