Starring Hritik as Akbar and Aish as Jodha, this film tries to cover too much ground and unfortunatly inspite of 3.5hours , it does not get to cover even one aspect of Akbar’s life. Supposed to be a love story between Akbar and a Rajput princess Jodha, there is very little love and more of many other things including palace intrigue involving Akbar’s brother and brother-in-law and numerous other relatives. Aish does have a big role and a meaty one too, but given her acting skills even after putting quite some efforts she does not evoke the response or emotions which one should expect from the role of Jodha.
Story starts off with how Jodha a Rajput princess is forced into marriage with Akbar and the pains of Akbar in trying to get her to accept him. This is the part which is mostly poorly scripted, Jodha peeking in when Akbar is displaying his fighting skills in a traditioal attire (which means the shirt is off) and this being a point where she seems to change her opinion about Akbar is very odd indeed.
That apart the film also tries to cover certain other aspects of Akbar’s life including some tax reforms he brings in(again presented in a shoddy way). There is also a war picturization between Akbar and his brother-in-law, this one too a silly one. The two armies come to fight each other but Akbar proposes a hand-fight and the opponent agrees and obviously Akbar wins after some ‘tense’ moments.
The nice part of the whole movie is that though the whole seems so badly made, the parts in themselves keeps you rivited and that saves the day. The huge sets and some what authentic looking jewellary and the nice songs all ensure that you are not feeling either bored or cheated into buying the tickets.
Hrikit obviously is the highlight of the movie, Aish is ok except for some frames where she looks stunning. Music by A.R.Rehman is good. On the whole a good timepass, but nothing great.
