I watched the movie on Friday evening but have not had the time to post here. Anyhow, my opinion of the film is that, it is a very good, entertaining film, with some parts brilliantly done and some not so well done. Thus it's no classic but definately a very good effort. The highlight of the film is the picturisation of the song 'Azeem O Shaan'. It is absolutely brilliantly done. Before I had seen the movie, I had wondered how the song would be picturised and had guessed it would probably be in the titles and or as a background song. But ofcourse I don't have the vision that Ashutosh obviously does. As for the other songs, every single song helps the story move along and not one of them feels forced on. What dissapointed me is the war scenes, they are definately not at par with what hollywood has gotten us used to. Also, I couldn't help feel that some of the scenes are very heavily influenced from 'Troy'. Overall I would give the film a solid 4 out of 5. As for the length, personally I did not find the film long. Quite simply if by the end of the film, you are still ready to watch some more, means the film is not too long and such was the case for me and my wife.

I saw viewers take, Ladies, were pro Hrithik, costumes, jewelry lol as usual.

i personally love long films...

btw, the audio cd of Jodha Akbar has been released by Sony-BMG/UTV-Music in India, and is currently available with a free dvd that has the movie trailer in dolby digital 5.1

Guess what, you can totally depend on Indian companies to screw everything up. Forget 5.1 sound, the trailer has no sound at all.

you should get your dvd replaced -- mine has the trailer in glorious 5.1 audible surround sound

Watched the film this morning. It's a mixed bag. Some impressive moments and many lesser ones follow each other. The battles are ok, but not up to the standard of Troy or LOTR or Alexander. The occasional CGI was also amateurish compared to the state of the art. The writing could have been much better. The film is neither as good as Lagaan or Swadesh, but it's certainly not bad. Just disappointing from someone with the status of Gowariker. I was waiting for superior and special moments, but there were very few.
Maybe I'll like it better the second time (when it's released in HD).

if it does? It reminds me of asoka though

Films like this will be released in HD. Maybe not this year but surely within the next 5 years. I hope the HD is already made from the DI.

The film must be doing well at the Box Office. I found no tickets avail for the show that I went for. I don't remember, when was last time for a Hindi film that all tickets sold out, here. Well, I went for another film then (Untraceable; great horrific film). But, before going for that alternate film, I did sneak into Jodha Akbar screening for a few minutes and found the drama high octane (It Akbar arguing/ scolding his commander). After watching this scene and its cinematography, it got me hyped to see the film in full. Hopefully tomorrow.

BTW, when I sneaked into the J A screening, I saw about 10-15 % seats vacant but the theatre refuses to sell all the seats to avoid overcrowding. I like that.

The film, while good and sporadically awe-inspiring, was also wildly inconsistent, staggeringly muddled and unfocused, and ultimately a disappointment. First-rate were Rahman's score(as always), art direction, and costumes. The rest was, well, not so hot. The film's historical recreations were fascinating, to be sure, but inadvertently only further lessened the already-minimal impact of the fairly generic central storyline.

BTW, this film was showing at a local AMC theater and was planned originally for 3 shows dayly. But tickets for all shows were already soldout days in advance. Many people(myself included) who came today unrealizing this fact were quite pissed off, and especially since it was a new long weekend holiday here, most people probably wouldn't have had the second chance of catching it later. Theater management must have taken this into consideration and thus started showing double shows today with a total of 5 shows daily. I can honestly say, having been to this theater numerous times, I don't think I've ever seen it that busy as it was today, and it wasn't for any Hollywood film.

http://indiafm.com/trade/overseas_boxoffice/198.html

Posted: Tue., Feb. 19, 2008, 2:35pm PT
Jodhaa Akbar (Variety film review)
By DEREK ELLEY


After the memorable screen heat they generated in dumb megahit "Dhoom:2," Bollywood marquee thesps Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai go for the slow, slow burn in costume romancer "Jodhaa Akbar," a connoisseur's epic that relies more on character and dialogue than on big battles and teeming extras. A return to form by writer-director Ashutosh Gowariker ("Lagaan") after his sappy "Swades," this cross-cultural big-budgeter about a legendary romance between a Muslim emperor and a feisty Hindu princess opened pretty well in its first frame Feb. 15. In the longer run, it looks to carve rosy, though not spectacular, returns.
Effectively a prequel to the 1960 classic "Mughal-e-azam," centered on a romance between the couple's son and a court dancer, "Jodhaa Akbar" is much more than just a preachy tale about religious tolerance between Muslims and Hindus. Along with scripters Haider Ali and K.P. Saxena, Gowariker has come up with a long-limbed story that is utterly simple in structure, but decorated with enough character interplay and side plots to keep the movie ticking over to a powerful finale.

Clocking in at a mere 205 minutes, compared with the 223-minute "Lagaan," the movie lacks the latter's narrative tautness, and could benefit from trimming in the early stages of part one. But from the first musical interlude a half-hour or so in, there's little downtime, despite the intimate nature of the material.

Solemnly narrated by veteran Amitabh Bachchan, pic's intro sketches the era, starting in the mid-15th century, when the Mughals (supposedly descended from the Mongols) invaded India. After a succinctly staged battle,resistance crumbles a century later and Mughal influence spreads through northern India.

The first Mughal emperor to be born on Indian soil, Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar (Roshan), is a strong but tolerant guy. His arranged marriage to Jodhaa (Rai)is meant to forge links with the Rajputs, the dominant clan of northern India with a strong warrior tradition.

However, Jodhaa has two demands: She doesn't have to convert to Islam, and she can have a Hindu shrine in her quarters at the Mughal palace in Agra. Jalaluddin admires her spunk and agrees; when, on their wedding night, she says she needs more time before sharing a bed, he agrees again.

Next two hours chart Jalaluddin's patient "courting" of Jodhaa in between various attempts by others to destroy the relationship and what it symbolizes. Villains include Jalaluddin's devoted but ambitious wet nurse, Maham Anga (Ila Arun, wonderfully evil), Sharifuddin Hussain (Nikitin Dheer), Jodhaa's relative, who teams up with a snubbed Muslim cleric (Abeer Abrar); and a corrupt governor (Shaji Chaudhary). But aside from a manufactured misunderstanding between Jalaluddin and Jodhaa that provides the pre-intermission climax, their growing bond proves stronger than anything politics can throw at them.

Pic is bookended by well-staged setpieces in which opposing armies face each other on a vast plain. Otherwise, Gowariker avoids military spectacle, concentrating instead on sequences that define the central relationship: the putative lovers dueling in a courtyard; Jalaluddin identifying Jodhaa among a bevy of veiled women; their eventual, elaborately choreographed declaration of love.

As well as managing the story's epic span (and showing a natural feel for framing his characters in widescreen), Gowariker seems to have a liking for classic Hollywood epics. Parallels abound, the most obvious being with "Cleopatra" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire."

No stranger to elegant-cum-spunky costume role, Rai (here billed under her married surname, Rai Bachchan) handles Jodhaa with ease. Biggest surprise is Roshan, who brings a commanding physical presence and vocal heft that he's shown in none of his earlier, standard-Bollyhunk roles.

Production values are lavish, with Neeta Lulla's costumes complemented by richly dressed locations in Rajasthan and northern India. Typically rhythmic, percussive score by A.R. Rahman is stronger in ceremonial setpieces than lyrical ones, though most of the songs are not directly sung onscreen. CGI in the battle sequences is OK.

Reviewed at Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue 5, London, Feb. 18, 2008. Running time: 205 MIN. (I: 118 MIN.; II: 87 MIN.)



Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=stor ... 36245&c=31

From NY Times:

Jodhaa Akbar (2007)
February 16, 2008
A Muslim and a Hindu. Let’s Dance.
By RACHEL SALTZ
Published: February 16, 2008

They may not make ’em like they used to in Hollywood, but sometimes in India they still do. “Jodhaa Akbar,” a historical romance directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, is filmmaking on the grand scale of Cecil B. DeMille, with romance, stirring battles, a cast of thousands and enough elephants and gold to sink the Titanic.

With so much attention focused on Islamic extremism, now seems an apt time for a movie about Akbar, the 16th-century Muslim emperor in India, whose legacy is one of enlightened rule and almost radical religious tolerance. “Jodhaa Akbar” begins before all that, when the young Akbar is still busy expanding the Mughal empire. This gives Mr. Gowariker a chance for some cinematic derring-do — in one spectacular shot the camera rushes back to avoid being trampled by two armies — and to show the seeds of what made Akbar one of history’s good guys. He fights with purpose (to consolidate Hindustan) but not without mercy.

The battles, though, are really a windup to the love story that propels the film. Forging a political alliance, Akbar marries Jodhaa, a Rajput princess (a Hindu), and then sets out to win her heart. These royals are played by Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, two rather astonishing specimens of human beauty. Neither is a great actor, but both know what’s required of a star and seem to the palace born.

Ms. Bachchan makes Jodhaa’s willfulness a sign of character, especially when she lays down the conditions for her marriage: She will remain a Hindu and would like a small temple for her Krishna statue in the Mughal fort. As Akbar, the green-eyed Mr. Roshan, a charter member of the Bollywood six-pack-abs club, has the bearing of a king, yet can seem a little blank when not in motion, fighting enemies or stripped to the waist taming wild elephants (just a hobby).

At — fair warning — three and a half hours, the film is too long. The court intrigues and counterintrigues can seem rote, and Akbar remains a bit of a cipher. Still, even the dramatically slack parts will probably hold your attention. Mr. Gowariker and his cinematographer, Kiiran Deohans, fill their frames with beautiful palaces and scenery, and the film bounces along to a memorable score by A. R. Rahman. (I’m still humming the songs.)

Mr. Gowariker’s “Lagaan” (2001), a classic root-for-the-underdog story, was one of the rare Bollywood movies to attract a non-South-Asian audience. “Jodhaa” may lack that film’s populist appeal but it shares its sense of national purpose and could just as easily have borne its subtitle: “Once Upon a Time in India.”

“Jodhaa Akbar” is not a history lesson: where, for example, are Akbar’s 199 other wives, or the painters and poets who made his court a fabled one? But 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.”


JODHAA AKBAR

Opened on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker; written (in Hindi, with English subtitles) by Haidar Ali, Mr. Gowariker and K. P. Saxena, based on a story by Mr. Ali; director of photography, Kiiran Deohans; edited by Ballu Saluja; music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Javed Akhtar; production designer, Nitin Chandrakant Desai; choreography by Chinni Prakash, Rekha Prakash and Raju Khan; produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Mr. Gowariker; released by UTV Motion Pictures. Running time: 3 hours 33 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Hrithik Roshan (Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Jodhaa), Kulbhushan Kharbanda (Raja Bharmal), Suhasini Mulay (Rani Padmawati), Mrs. Punan S. Sinha (Mallika Hamida Banu) and Ila Arun (Maham Anga).

around 4 hours of footage as film, with no real story is commendable achievement for Gwarikar!

With all its grandiose it lacks intensity of old classics like MA, ANARKALI, TAJ MAHAL.

It had its moments, no doubt! for me it was picturization of azim u shan, but again it was turned cheesy with Mayan guys, sher , punjabi balle balle etc.

Hrithik Roshan did well, as cheesy, sissy, love lorn jalal, nevertheless, his dialogs delivery, dialogs, screen play sucked big time.

Rehman's back ground, was occasionally good!

Music was just ok imho.Any day even some thing ordinary by Rehman is MANY NOTCHES above from the rest, so just that fact might place this one in good category! Imho, Rehman since Meenaxi and Neta JI, has not come up with a WHOLESOME soundtrack, just only here and happening .
He was given the chance to do INTERNATIONAL/CHINESE film to score and there imho, he spoiled the broth using INDIAN CLASSICAL. While in YODA AKBAR, he seeks salvation in MIDDLE EAST rather going INDIAN CLASSICAL> I wont classify this in CLASS ACT from his standards!

QAWALI was totally unnecessary with those Greeks, Moroccan( I don't know what kinda mulla singing) and that sucked big time, was Sissy shodha!Akbar engaging in dance towards the end.

A couple other sequences were simply worth laughing e.g after dropping bad guy from the fort, Hrithik asks if he is dead? Soldier's say ..NO, He orders, """ Ek Daffa phir la kar ooper se phenko" that gave me real laughs!!!!!as corny as it could be.

Battle scenes definitely needed work! Supporting cast was simply FORGETTABLE!
Aish was there for a reason.

Over all, watch, this CHEESY LOVE LORN Sissy AKBAR's historically abysmal cheesy tale for a few good moments and modern touch, if you have patience for 4 hours..2.5 hours would have worked better though.

It is not as bad as MANGAL PANDEY though. oh yes! Costumes/Set designs and jewelery as most women viewers said online was no doubt good!

Watch once! Imho, Swades and Lagan even becoming boring for extensive length had story and their pluses!

One more note to cheesy dialogs! " shahenshah ji, ammi ji, abba ji, wazir ji, mullah ji, badi ami ji

darn! that dialoge writer should be hanged or sangsar!

My views, after watching this film in theatre, are just about the same as zoran009 reviewed.

Tech:

End credits had both DD and DTS logos. Theatre sound was fantastic but was mostly front channel only. Only on two or three occasions I noticed faint side/ surround/ rear speakers activity. Can't fault the print or the theatre as rear speaker was distict and clear at least on two occasions. May be just that much surround they put in into Bollywood films ?? I expected much more for this kind of film.
Bass was fantastic and with the Gun blasts, you could feel it hitting into your chest.

CC showed 5825 m that should be 3 hrs and 32.5 min. My screening was just under 210 min. Of this, more than 10 min was in credits etc.

-------------------
Again, I was a few min late into the show. They were showing Race trailer when I got in. Race trailer sure had fantastic bass and unmistakenly aggressive surround. I wonder whether this aggressive bass and surround is maintained in the actual film as well, or is it just for the publicity ?? In the past, my experience has shown this aggressive bass and surround in the trailer, missing in the final Bollywood products.