Jodhaa-Akbar (Hindi: जोधा-अकबर, Urdu: جودھا اکبر) is an Indian epic 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 began shooting at Karjat.

The film centers around the romance between the Muslim Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, played by Hrithik Roshan, and his Hindu wife Jodhabai, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The music is composed by acclaimed music composer A. R. Rahman. The soundtrack of the movie was released on January 19, 2008. The film has won the Audience Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the São Paulo International Film Festival, two awards at the Golden Minbar International Film Festival, seven Star Screen Awards and five Filmfare Awards, in addition to two nominations at the 3rd Asian Film Awards.The Charlotte Observer ranked Jodhaa Akbar at #2 in its list of top ten films released in 2008 from across the world.

Synopsis

Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century love story about a political marriage of convenience that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa.

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, and from the Himalayas to the Narmada 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 their daughters to the Mughals and the ones who did not. But little did Akbar know that when he married Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai 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.

Historical accuracy

The director has admitted that about 70% of the movie is based on his imagination. However, many of the events portrayed in the movie are based on real events. Certain Rajput groups claimed Jodhaa was married to Akbar's son, Jahangir, not Akbar. They also demanded a public apology from Ashutosh Gowariker. The film was not released in 30 cinema theatres in Rajasthan.

Several historians claim that Akbar's Rajput wife was never known as "Jodha Bai" during the Mughal period. According to Professor Shirin Moosvi, a historian of Aligarh Muslim University, Neither the Akbarnama (a biography of Akbar commissioned by Akbar himself), nor any historical text from the period refer to her as Jodha Bai. Moosvi notes that the name "Jodha Bai" was first used to refer to Akbar's wife in the 18th and 19th centuries in historical writings. In Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, she is referred as Mariam Zamani.

According to 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 professional historian. N R Farooqi claims that Jodha Bai was not the name of Akbar's Rajput queen; it was the name of Jahangir's Rajput wife.

Ashutosh Gowarikar's reaction was,
“  While making the film I did my best to go by the book. I consulted the best historians and went through the most rigorous research. And there are different names used for Akbar's wife, Jodhaa being one of them. In fact, there's a disclaimer about the Rajput queen's name at the beginning of the film. But to see that, the protesters have to see the film.     ”

Protests and legal issues

The portrayal of ethnic Rajput people in the movie was criticized by members of the Rajput community as misleading, politically motivated historical revisionism that minimized Rajput history and scapegoated them as evil . The community's protests against the film in some states and it has been banned by the States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand. However, the producer has moved the Supreme Court by challenging it. Later, the Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on screening the film for now in Uttar Pradesh and some towns of Uttarakhand and Haryana. The court scrapped the Uttar Pradesh government ban as well as similar orders by authorities in Dehradun in Uttarkhand and in Ambala, Sonepat and Rewari in Haryana.

Cast

* Hrithik Roshan ... Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar
* Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ... Jodha Bai
* Kulbhushan Kharbanda ... Raja Bharmal
* Sonu Sood ... Rajkumar Sujamal
* Suhasini Mulay ... Rani Padmawati
* Shaji Choudhary…Adham Khan
* Punam S Sinha… Mallika Hamida Banu Begum
* Digvijay Purohit…Rajkumar Bhagwant 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 Ataga Khan
* Ila Arun…Maham Anga
* Pramod Moutho…Raja 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…NiMat
* Raju Pandit…Raja Bhaati
* Bharat Kumar…Raja Chauhan
* Jassi Singh…Raja Bhadra
* Ulhas Barve…Raja Mankeshwar
* Abir Abrar…Bakshi Banu Begum
* Aman Dhaliwal…Rajkumar Ratan Singh
* Shehzor Ali…Raja Hemu
* Sanchita Kaur... Special Appearance
* Amitabh Bachchan... Narrator

Crew

* Story: Haidar Ali
* Screenplay: Haidar Ali & Ashutosh Gowariker
* Dialogues: K.P.Saxena
* Make-up Artist: Jamie Wilson
* Production Design: Nitin Chandrakant Desai
* Visual Effects: Pankaj Khandpur (Tata Elxsi - Visual Computing Labs)
* Chief Assistant Director: Karan Malhotra
* Cinematography: Kiran Deohans

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. Over 80 elephants, 100 horses and 55 camels were used in the movie. Name Of Main Titled “Azeem O Shan, Shahenshah”, the song featured about one thousand dancers in traditional costumes, wielding swords and shields at a grand location in Karjat. The budget was about 37 crore Rupees (approx 7.42 million USD).

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

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

Reception

Box office

The film has received outstanding response at the US and UK box-office. The film has grossed $1.3 million dollars in the first weekend in the North American box office. It went onto gross $3,440,718 in the domestic market in its lifetime.The film had a somewhat weak start at the Indian box office but thanks to good word of mouth publicity, it went on to do a business of Rs. 62 crore and has been declared a superhit;

Critical reception

Film critic Lawrence Toppman of The Charlotte Observer ranked Jodhaa Akbar at #2 in his list of top ten films released in 2008 from across the world.Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 75% rating with 8 fresh and 2 rotten reviews.

Anil Sinanan of The Times gave the film four out of five stars stating, "Oscar-nominated Lagaan director Ashutosh Gowariker’s sumptuous period epic has all the ingredients of a Cecil B. DeMille entertainer [...] The film ends with a passionate plea for tolerance of all religions in India, a resonant message for modern India."Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN also gave the film four out of five stars commenting: "I've never felt this way about any other film, but sitting there in my seat watching Jodhaa Akbar, I felt privileged as a moviegoer. Privileged that such a film had been made, and privileged that it had been made in our times so we can form our own opinions of the film rather than adopt the opinions of previous generations, which we invariably must when looking at older classics."Tajpal Rathore of the BBC gave the film four out of five stars, noting that, "although the 16th-century love story upon which its based might be long forgotten, this endearing treatment sears into the memory through sheer size and scale alone [...] Don't let the running time put you off watching this unashamedly epic tale."

Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film three stars, stating that, "Jodhaa Akbar works only because its heart is in the right place. The film talks about a love that transcends all barriers -- gender, religion, culture -- and dreams of an India where secularism and tolerance are the twin towers that should never ever crumble. And Akbar and Jodhaa are the alluring exponents of this dream." Kazmi also suggests that "if you are willing to shed off all the trappings of history, only then will Jodhaa Akbar work for you." While suggesting that the film is "too long" and that it is "not a history lesson," Rachel Saltz of the The New York Times also notes, "in choosing to tell the tale of this emperor and a Muslim-Hindu love story, Mr. Gowariker makes a clear point. As Akbar says, 'Respect for each other’s religion will enrich Hindustan.' " Khalid Mohammed of the Hindustan Times, gave the film 2 stars. He suggests that, "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."

Awards

Filmfare Awards

* Best Film - Ronnie Screwvala and Ashutosh Gowariker
* Best Director - Ashutosh Gowariker
* Best Actor - Hrithik Roshan
* Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar
* Best Background Score - A. R. Rahman

Star Screen Awards

* Best Film - Ronnie Screwvala and Ashutosh Gowariker
* Best Actor - Hrithik Roshan
* Best Background Music - A. R. Rahman
* Best Choreographer - Raju Khan for "Khwaja Mere Khwaja"
* Best Director - Ashutosh Gowarikar
* Most Popular Actress - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
* Best Actress - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
* Best Action - Ravi Dewan
* Best Actor in a Negative Role - Ila Arun
* Best Art Direction - Nitin Chandrakant Desai
* Best Lyrics - Kashif for "Khwaja Mere Khwaja"
* Best Music - A. R. Rahman
* Best Male Playback Singer - A. R. Rahman for "Khwaja Mere Khwaja"
* Best Special Effects - Pankaj Khandpur

Stardust Awards

* Won, Star of the year - Hrithik Roshan
* Won, Dream director - Ashutosh Gowariker
* Won, The New Menace - Nikitin Dheer

IIFA Awards

* Best Picture
* Best Director
* Best Actor
* Best Music Director
* Best Lyricist
* Best Male Playback
* Best Art Direction
* Best Background Score
* Best Costume Design
* Best Editing
* Best Makeup

V Shantaram Awards

* Won, Best Director Bronze Award - Ashutosh Gowariker
* Won, Best Actress - Aishwarya Rai
* Won, Best Music - A. R. Rahman

International

Golden Minbar International Film Festival of Muslim Cinema (Kazan, Russia)

* Won, Best Film (Grand Prix) - Ashutosh Gowarikar
* Won, Best Actor Award - Hrithik Roshan

32nd São Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil, South America)

* Won, Audience Award for Best Foreign Language Film - Ashutosh Gowarikar

Asia Pacific Screen Awards

* Nominated, Achievement in Cinematography - Kiiran Deohans

3rd Asian Film Awards

* Nominated, Best Production Designer - Nitin Chandrakant Desai
* Nominated, Best Composer - A. R. Rahman