JODHA AKBAR

Ashutosh Gowarikar has maintained the consistency of directing films laoded with great casting,soulful music and great performances by the cast, especially hrithik, who stuns you with his flawless diction and persona as does the ever graceful and dignified aishwarya rai...
however, apart from the length and pace of the film which tends to drag at times, its neeta lulla who has marred the otherwise simply yet stylishly created film...

her outfits for jodha are pathetic... they are as ordinarily done as a balaji set-up would have.. the colors were resticted to orange, and yellow mainly ... as a rajput princess, they would have done well to show her in typical rajasthani work, in a myriad of colors,bright fuschias and mauves, reds and blues and creams....sadly, her make-up too made her look pale and washed out.... the costumes in general were a let-down.... if compared to a PAHELI, in which each junior artiste was also very correctly dressed, right down to the right embellishment... which is what makes the film watchable- vivid colors, brightness,transporting one to the era rightaway.

Even the sets, were totally lack lustre.... the mughal architecture and feel were missing... there was no art of that era, no pots or urns or wall murals that are so typically mughal.... poor lighting mars half the visuals and whoever heard of a meeting betwwen kings of several states seated on a simple yellow rug ... the least they could have done was to decorate the tent with lamps and engraved poles and mirrors...however nowhere was there any evidence... it isnt just the language.. which is where sanjay leela bhansali scores depite a weak script. His films create a visual that is easily one that makes you believe in the story...
sometimes its just a certain scenery, a shot with even a bejwelled hand feeding a pigeon that can say a lot about the story....
in case of a historical, no amount of research can make up for the staid sets and costumes....
neeta lulla needs to give up designing , especially for the gorgeous Ash ..she makes her look shabby and unnecessarily made up...
akbars' mother, essayed by mrs.poonam sinha was dismal to say the least. The lady was expressionless.

All in all, a visual disappointment...
mr.gowarikar could have focussed more on the intricacies of the relationship between jodha and akbar... a few more scenes involving their own private moments....

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aaja nach le

yashraj has done it again- delivered another half baked attempt at filmmaking..
AAJA NACH LE was a film i looked forward to since dance as a theme is intriguing and madhuri dixit the only one who could possibly communicate through the medium as she 'understands' it completely.
If only yashraj films could have understood a fact as simple as one that attempting to convey a medium as sensitive as dance is not everyones; cup of tea..
Jaideep sahni seems to have begun taking the acccolades coming his way pretty seriously. Its evident that he has not a clue about art-about dance and music.... its the one thing that cannot be attempted by a logical, analytical mind...

The movie doesnt touch a chord at all... the most important thing...the music...its more suited to a regular run of the mill film... the music in this case should be soulful and gut wrenching which it isnt.

Dance at a purely physical levelmay be exercise for most but at an emotional level it gives a person a reason to be... improving the self esteem and in most cases connecting one with the unknown, the divine...
group dancing helps pepole bond socially, help cope with stress, anger, loss and in motivating...heps in reaching out to the world, to life and is extremely calming...

for one to be so committed to the form and to the guru that she drops everything to rush to fulfil his dream of resurrecting the dance theater in the town is wonderful but one cant see a shred of exhilaration, joy or sensitivity.. or a oneness with the divine anywhere...
most dancers are strangely calm, peaceful and passionate...there is love and compassion flowing through their body language and expressions and thats what diferentiates madhuri from the rest of actresses...s he truly 'dance; ...her movements are enchanting and you know that the fluidity, the perfection stems from pure unadulterated love, the grace that creates poetry comes from a devotional sense as opposed to what the others do- exercise...

where in the film did we see anysuch emotion....the girl seems more like a crusader...
after having done a show and igniting the love for dance in many hearts, walks away.. why not show her as a committed woman who stays on for a while, ensuring that the passion, appreciation for art does not die with just one show...

the lady seemd too much in control, too stiff and too sharp...lacking in softness, in sensitivity and tranquility...

the songs wree out of place and forgettable..
someone who has gone though the 'guru-shishya parampara' for years as they hve shown... is more likely to sing and dance to a blend of the traditional and contemporaary...
the opening piece of the guru teaching his shishyas should have been soul searching and a raga would have been more appropriate...
the film was devoid of any warmth and there was absoutely no emphasis on the importance of dance...
the relationship the heroine had with dance might have been explored a little...
it seemed as if it was simply her commitment to the guru- a kind of payback that had to be done...
there was absolutely no need to show that she had eloped with a foreigner... what might have been more appropriate had she defied her parents and gone abroad to pursue the finer nuances of dance.... that would have established the seriousness towards her mission to restore the theater in her home town..

the relationship with the guru too was strangely not explored enough....strange as this was the crux of the whole darned exercise, wasnt it?

being a dancer myself, let me asssure you, there is a uniqueness to the art... it fills you with great love and compassion, pateience and understanding of divine love...
why else is music and dance used as therapy?.. obviuosly because it can heal and evolve in ways unimaginable....but does that sureness, that feeling comes across in the commitment that brought the lady all the way down to india?

no wonder it was such ia flop....
a suggestion- do not attempt things that you are not at one with...
no amount of research on such a subject can ever work...
its time big production houses and star writers realized it and spared us the mockery ...

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