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....

understanding sound

I'm almost impelled to reinvent the term 'choreography'....
Apalling is the way songs are choregraphed in cinema. Barring a few dancers who have developed the rare art of understanding and mastering the slick 'shiamak davar' style of dance, the rest need to understand what choreography really is...

First, its never really about dancing. Sure, dance is one part of it but yes, certainly not the gyrating and pelvic thrusting kind of dance that is passed off as belly dancing.
These are art fors that need to be respected independently...but why must we almost always have the usual attrocious mix of acrobatics and a distorted form of Indian dance which interprets no form?

Dance is actually about being rhythmic... about truly relating to the sound and responding stylishly....its about being in sync with that sound and rhythm.... its about adding something to the song...beautifying it.. moving your body -letting it understand the sound and feel and allowing it to react.... then simply fine tuning that movement into something artistic and graceful. The body while dancing, should give the feel of a fluidity, a sense of liberation, a dignity and poise that can never be trained. When we dance, we surrender to the soul responding to the sound - a love for the sound... unspoken, untouched, raw and divine...
Which is perhaps why Hrithik is always a delight to watch... he takes you to heights unexplored with his grace. No matter how complicated the movements maybe, yet his natural ease and dignity make it graceful and lyrical.
However, choreography is not about dancing always.
Its about depicting an emotion with subtlety. Using different things to interpret the emotion, the mood, about capturing the moment using music and sometimes simply the sounds of nature like the rains, rippling of the water in the river.... the gushing and whistling of the breeze....
things need not be theatrical...they can be sensitive and quiet as well. Soetomes simply the echoing of distant birds in the silence.
Music and choreography is to be used to capture a moment- enhancing it.
'Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga...' from '1942, a love story' is one such piece of choreography or the recent hrithik number 'dhoom again' in Dhoom 2 that is brilliant and artistically done...
Can we have more of such kind please?