Saturday, February 23, 2008

Jodhaa Akbar Review

Jodha aakbar_poster Ashutosh being one of my favorite directors. Hritik, one of my favorite actors and an intriguing subject like Jodhaa Akbar. Perfect ingredients for a feast. Top it up with rave reviews from your preferred movie critics and buffs and not so good ones by those critics you abhor. Jodhaa Akbar was like a fine dine course which couldn't go wrong......except a bowl full of expectations. And probably that bowl felt more of a burden as soon as I entered the theatre.

Set in one of the glorious era of Moguls, its a story of brute force, dark ambitions, unyielding power and more importantly about how love conquers them all. Jodhaa Akbar is essentially a love story between one of the most revered Indian kings Akbar and mystical (or should I say mythical?) Jodha bai. Hritik as Akbar is surreal. He delivers the job with such mental and physical accuracy that I quite forgot Hritik the person. For me he was just Akbar. No one could have done justice to this role (of course, after the great Prithvi Raj Kapoor). Aishwarya is magical. She delivers a top notch performance - most of the time letting her eyes speak.

But the cake belongs to Ashutosh. He is the dreamer here and also the one who realizes that dream - almost completely. The scale of the movie is grand. Every shot has a tint of perfection. Sets, Costumes, Choreography and the overall canvass of the movie is a treat to watch. The grandiose screen rendition of "Azeem-o-Shaan Shehenshah" leaves you with mixed feelings. While it just enchants your heart, mind boggles with a question of how they managed this!!!!!!!

Stating Rehman as a genius is a gross understatement. This man just can't stop amazing me. Not only he belts out great tunes and music but he has matured in to a fine singer. He renders a masterpiece in the spiritual "Khwaja Mere Khawaja". The Music as well as the background score does full justice and only adds to the splendor of the film.

Saying all this, I have to verrrrrry sheepishly admit that the movie is not engaging enough. The main culprit being the length which takes its heavy toll. Its time Ashutosh gets an editor. Also, owing to the grand expectations it built, the movie fell a bit short.

Ending Note: The movie is worth a watch and strictly on a large screen. This will do justice to the vision of the makers and efforts of all involved. And ,again, realizing - Love conquers all.

smiles,
Neo

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Old Songs

I generally have fancy for new songs. I am all ears (pun intended) to new music and always in look out for new songs. Songs which enthrall me. Songs which catch my attention. Songs which move me. Songs which convey much more than what's written. Songs which I like to stay with. Probably forever..... only if could stop new songs from releasing.

But the beauty of music is that it is eternal. No matter how speedily I cling to new songs, I never seem to forget old ones. They are not on top of my mind, but its there stacked in some gray cell of mine. And with that song, is stacked a memory. Memory of the times when I stayed with that song. The phase of my life which got stamped with that song. Probably that's why they build an iPod with enough space to carry your music and an interesting play mode called shuffle. So now when the random play mode picks up a song ,which got buried in my mental music treasure, lost faint memories are flashed back. Memories are dusted off and a vivid picture of old times is painted across. Is it what they call Nostalgia? I think so.....

Sometimes you stay with songs. Most of the times, songs stay with you.

listening,
Neo