Hopeful Gowarikar has a lot riding on Mughal-era epic

In this digital age, few challenges are as daunting as making an authentic historical romance that will work its magic at the box office.

The last person to try it, Akbar Khan, learnt that to his detriment two years ago with Taj Mahal. The following year JP Dutta’s version of Umrao Jaan bit the dust, and in recent times the only title to gain acceptance was the remastered version of K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, a 1960 original that was re-released in 2004 and took many by surprise.

It’s worth remembering that Asif needed 10 years to make that career-defining film. So, has Ashutosh Gowarikar, who took just over a year to complete his magnum opus, been over-ambitious or will Friday’s release, Jodhaa Akbar, buck the trend?

If early indications are anything to go by, the director of Lagaan and Swades has positioned himself to do what no one else has done with any measure of authority for well over three decades — since HS Rawail’s 1974 release Laila Majnu — and that is to resuscitate the genre.

The lead pair, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, are as good as they get. Gowarikar says he had joked with them that they would only have to pitch up on set, as they were “the reincarnation of Akbar and Jodhaa”.

The fact that they clicked in Dhoom 2 played no part in his decision to cast them. His mind was made up five years ago when scriptwriter Haider Ali broached the subject. Convincing them was a breeze: all he said to Aish was, “You’ll be my Jodhaa,” and she leapt at the chance; as for Hrithik, Gowarikar told him, “16th century, the Mughals and Akbar,” and that was that.

Besides the dashing lead pair, Gowarikar had other factors in his favour, including AR Rahman’s music score.

Four choreographers, Raju Khan, Ash Kumar, Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash, were enlisted for the dance sequences. The latter pair took 15 days to complete one song, the stunning Azeem O’Shaan Shahenshah, in which 1000 dancers in traditional costumes and wielding swords and shields took part.

Add Kiran Deohan’s cinematography and Nitin Desai’s sets, and the opulence so essential to a period piece is certainly in place. Attention was paid to the tiniest details. Top designer Neeta Lulla said the challenge of designing the costumes was “too good to refuse”, and specialist jeweller Tanish was appointed to craft specific pieces.

The movie focuses on a relationship that supposedly altered the course of history. It delves into the political conspiracies of the period and tells of the alliance between the Mughal emperor Jallaludin Mohammed Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhaa. Gowarikar des- cribes it as “a perfect arranged marriage”.

Akbar’s proposal was based not so much on his affection for her but on a desire to expand his empire eastward from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, and south from the Himalayas to the Godhavari River. Love developed later.

His strategy to achieve this expansion was to win over the Rajputs, and this marriage with a motive helped him to remove the bitterness and distrust the native Hindus felt towards the invading Mughals, and that, in turn, softened the Mughals’ attitude towards them.

This led to Akbar establishing deen-e-elahi, or the divine faith, to reconcile the sectarian differences that divided his subjects by suggesting that no single reli- gion had a monopoly on the truth.

Jodhaa was not merely a pretty wallflower. A fiery Rajput who was skilled in the art of sword-fighting, she wasn’t an easy conquest and she refused to be a political pawn in Akbar’s designs to capture her land.

Gowarikar enlisted scholars and historians from New Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow, Agra and Jaipur to scrutinise the script, and while he has acknowledged exercising a measure of creative licence, that did not prevent his detractors from voicing their objections.

The Rajput Sabha demanded the right to approve his script, fearing gross distortions. The Sabha contends that Gowarikar is wrong in stating that Jodhaa Bai was the daughter of the ruler of Amer, Bharmal, since historical records show only one Jodhaa Bai, who was the daughter of the ruler of Marwar, Udai Singh, and who was married to Akbar’s son, Jahangir.

The director hopes he’ll get away with it by suggesting that his story is about a chapter that “may” have been a part of history but was not officially recorded.

He maintains there is enough evidence to show that Akbar the Great had a very special attachment to Jodhaa Bai and that the period referred to was when they were between the ages of 18 and 26, and was therefore not documented.

There have been other problems for Gowarikar. An animal anti-cruelty organisation has questioned whether he had the necessary permits to shoot scenes with elephants, camels and horses.

Shooting at some of India’s famous monuments proved another hurdle. India’s Archaeological Society, which maintains these landmarks, imposed so many conditions that Gowarikar had to get his art director, Nitin Desai, to re-create attractions like the palace of Fatehpur Sikri and the Red Fort in Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Courtesy: Thetimes.co.za