Ashutosh Gowariker fulfills the expectations of the audiences as well as the critics with Jodhaa Akbar. Besides a good cast and soulful music Jodhaa Akbar has more to offer. The characters in the film are so real that only a visionary like Ashutosh Gowariker can dare to do such a movie and pull it off. By viewing the film you are convinced that a film of such magnitude requires lot of patience and courage to shoot such a film and then edit and compile the various scenes.

As for the performances you cannot imagine any other actor playing Akbar. Hrithik portrays the character of Akbar with such elegance. He is simply superb and fabulous. He impresses with every sequence - watch out for Hrithik’s duel with elephant and his sword fight with Aishwarya. His dialogue delivery, expressions where he is betrayed by his stepbrother and also the climax fight sequence with his brother-in-law. This is Hrithik’s best performance since Koi...Mil Gaya. As for Aishwarya Rai she not only looks beautiful but also is perfect as Jodha. She emotes well in sequences where she is humiliated by Akbar’s foster- mother played by Ila Arun. The rest of the cast played by Sonu Sood, Punam S. Sinha, Ila Arun, Kulbushan Karbanda and Raza Murad are all quite apt to their characters and roles.

AR Rahman’s music is soulful,melodious and superb and Kiran Deohans cinematography is absolutely brilliant. KP Saxena’s dialogues are terrific. The costumes make the characters stand out. And Nitin Desai’s art directions is absolutely splendid. To sum up, only Ashutosh Gowariker dared to dream such a big canvas. The way he handles even animals is perfect where the horses falling and elephants rolling are not shown. Hats off to Ashutosh Gowariker for making an epic film like Jodhaa Akbar. He shows that he is at his creative best and peaks with every film made with such passion and convinction. From Lagaan to Swades and now Jodhaa Akbar Ashutosh Gowariker goes into that big league of legendary directors who will be remembered for making such classic films. The only draw back of Jodhaa Akbar is its length but the film engages you right from the word go. JKudos to Ashutosh Gowariker for making such a different and daring movie. The movie deserves a four-star rating from the audiences.

Raghu Chandra Parsa (Secunderabad)