ASHUTOSH GOWARIKER’S fictional Jodhaa-Akbar love plot has become a ‘worst nightmare’ for him. Inspired from India’s greatest epic Mughal-e-Azam, which got awesome response during 1960s, Gowariker’s movie, Jodhaa Akbar, is in news for all the wrong reasons.

 

Jodhaa Akbar is facing protests in many cities of north and central India, and has been banned from screening in several theatres. Due to these protests, the distributors of the film are losing huge revenue and are looking in trouble. Of course, Gowariker has changed the historic facts, but we should not forget that there is no similarity between real life and reel life. Protest against Jodhaa Akbar is a big threat to cinema, which is one of the major art forms of our country.

 

Our country, India, is known the world over for its rich art and culture. One can get a glimpse of Indian culture through music, dance, plays and cinema as well. Since its invention, cinema has remained one of the most promising media to showcase various aspects of society and our daily affairs as well. From silent to talkie, from single screen to multiplexes, cinema has witnessed a series of changes, but the essence has always been the same. In fact, due to the limits of human brain, which is unable to differentiate more than 24 frames within a second, cinema’s fixed frames appear moving.

 

Despite the fact that the plots shown on the screen are fictional, we feel that the things happenings are real. With the stories portrayed through the cinema, we try to relate our common life. We cry, we shout, we giggle or do other types of activities while seeing cinema. Like other technologies, cinema also faced criticism from the experts and cine-goers. Sadly, to mimic the characters portrayed in the plots, some people also lost their lives in the past. But, if we leave such unfortunate happenings behind, in general, the impact of cinema always remains positive. Cinema motivates us to excel in our life, to love others, do good things for the welfare of people, and it also works as a stress buster.

 

Usually, periodic films bring important historic events before us and we get a better understanding of the bygone era. Sometimes, due to less research or giving the historic facts an interesting visual form or other reasons, the original plot gets slightly changed by the scriptwriter. The slight changes in the facts by the writer or director create huge hue and cry among the people.

 

This time, inspired from Mughal-e-Azam, the Lagaan fame director came with the new plot of Akbar and Jodhaa’s love story. But Gowariker’s magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar, which is loosely based on the love story of Mughal emperor, Akbar, and his princess, Jodhaa Bai, is facing protests from various parts of the country. The movie was banned from screening in Rajasthan following the unhappiness of Rajput community over historical facts. Later, the film faced protests in the states of Patna, Lucknow and some parts of Haryana. Most importantly, on the guidelines of the censor board, the film director has put a disclaimer about the plot that it doesn’t have any resemblance to the established facts. However, the disclaimer did not make any difference and the agitation across the country is continuing.

 

Earlier, Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ faced major protests from the religious outfits due to its controversial plot and later, the movie was shot in Sri Lanka. Yash Chopra’s ‘Aaja Nachle’ was banned in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states for a caste-based remark in the title song of the film. Later, the ban was lifted as the controversial line of the song was removed. Aamir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’ was banned from screening in Gujarat due to personal grudge of the ruling government. Rahul Dholakia’s Parzaania, which was based on Gujarat riots, also faced the similar situation.

 

 Is the protest against the movie Jodhaa Akbar or other such movies fair? From a common cinema lover perspective, I would say it is not fair to compare fiction with reality. Cinema is the medium to entertain the common people. When we accept the fictional love stories, comedy or other plots presented in movies, then why we oppose the historic plots? The truth is that the films do not distort the historic facts - those remain the same. It depends totally on us how we perceive the things; if we take the facts shown in the films as true, it is our fault.