BEFORE I begin penning (or rather keyboarding) down this article, I would like to inform all my esteemed readers that the views presented below are my own and do not represent the opinion of the general public in anyway. Now before I start sounding like a hapless movie director trying to defend his creation by citing a few lines just before the titles, I would come straight to the point.

 

Though I am not much of a history buff (I thought it to be one of the dullest subjects during my school days), I have always been keen to learn about it by reading books or watching movies. So, ever since the day I came across a promo of Jodhaa Akbar few of my friends and I went to watch, the desire to see the movie had been with me all along. Sunday seemed to be the perfect time to realise my dream and fearing the dearth of tickets, I made an advance booking on Saturday. The ticket cost me Rs 155 (now you know why I choose the title).

 

The show was to start at 6:50 and there I stood along with what seemed like millions of other people who had come to watch the larger than life drama (at least, it looked like that in the promos). After grabbing a large bucket of steamy hot popcorns, I rushed toward my seat and planted myself in.

 

A patient wait of a couple of advertisements and there it was. The movie starts with the heavy voice of Big B (Amitabh Bachchan) quickly narrating past events for the benefit of the lesser known (like me). The special effects during the initial war scene sure catch one’s attention as missiles being fired and armies of people with thundering noise take you for a ride through history.

 

A promising start, however, shortly turns into a dragging affair as the director trying to strike a balance between various facets of the emperor’s life looses control of the plot and the audience is left miserably looking at their watches, impatiently waiting for the intermission, which never seems to turn up.

 

The title of the movie makes it look like a romantic story, however, those acquaint with history must know that it was just a tiny part of the emperor’s life and that it had much more to it than just this, upon which no movie can ever be made. It is there that the makers made a mistake as they tried to pack too much in too small a package and ended up making a tedious and unexciting movie.

 

With Akbar trying to woo his lady while at the same time defy the dirty political games happening around, the saas-bahu kitchen drama taking place between the king’s mother (Maha Manga) and wife Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai) and the battle scenes that suddenly come up from nowhere have all added up to a concoction that can be summed up as better avoided.