There is a lot of talk on who Jodhaa actually is !? Is she a wife of Akbar? or Is she the daughter-in-law of Akbar? I watched the movie yesterday and the movie was so appealing that I got tempted to conduct my own secondary research on the subject.
The name Jodhaa Bai is not from the literary manuscripts of those days. This was first used in 19th century by some historian (Tod) in one of his works. Akbar had primarily 4 wives, Ruqayya Sultan Begum, Salimah Sultan Begum, Mariam-uz-Zamani or Maan Kunwar
and Sakinah Banu Begum. He had married some more who were of not much historical significance. Out of these, Mariam-uz-Zamani was the closest that comes to the story of Jodhaa Bai that is shown in the movie. She was a Rajut princess by the name Maan Kunwar who later converted to Islam post-marriage. She was the daughter of the King of Amber (the present day Jaipur). She was the mother of Salim or Jahangir. We dont see the names of the queens in the popular literature like Ain-I-Akbari and Akbar-Nama because it was not appropriate to mention the queens' names as per the Islamic customs. Whatever we know therefore is from other not-so-popular sources.
Historians argue that Jodhaa Bai is in all probability actually the wife of Jahengir. As one of his wives had a distant connection with Jodhpur and thus she earned the nick name Jodhi Bai (not Jodhaa Bai). The Jodhaa-Akbar combination was first made popular with the blockbuster Mughal-E-Azaam. Bollywood is anyday more powerful than Age-Old History Text books and thus the popular belief is that Akbar and Jodha were indeed lovers.
Ashutosh should have actually followed the factual history rather than popular history and call the movie Kunwar-Akbar and not Jodhaa-Akbar. Many of the other facts were indeed represented correctly, for Fathepur-Sikri does have one part which has elements of Hinduism where Kunwar/ Jodhaa might have stayed. The first war sequence shown in the movie when Prince Jalauddin (later Akbar) was 13 years old is the Second Battle of Panipat (between Mughals and King Vikramaditya alias Hemur). Adham Khan (the brother of Akbar, aunt's son) indeed murders the Primeminister and enters the harem where Akbar was staying to assassinate him. He was given the exact death penalty as shown in the movie. Akbar's aunt Maham Anga was indeed shrewd and manipulative and hoped to rule herself by proxy through her son. Akbar indeed abolished the jizya and the pilgrimage taxes with which he became quite popular. The final fight sequence between Akbar and Sharifuddin Hussain (Akbar's Sister's Husband) must be pure Bollywood Masala as I couldnt find much evidence of it anywhere.
And a short note on the movie itself..The sets are grand and I got transported back to 16th century. The sword-fights, hand-to-hand combats, Bow-Arrows , Wild Elephants, Horses, Fantastic Costumes, Armored Suits, Elaborate Dances are some of the elements that will make one want to live in those ages. The love story was subtle and Ash was sporting her best looks..One would fall in love with the songs esp after they watch the movie as the piturization was out of the world. Akbar's tolerance for Hindus and Hindu customs was inspiring and should sure give a lesson or two to all the religious fanatics.
PS: The movie would have been great with English subtitles as half the movie was in Urdu! One has to otherwise put all his human instincts to exertion and interpret the dialogs from emotions of the characters!!
Your friends wont lend you their bike for learning if you dont know bike-riding and You are not allowed to buy one until you learn bike-riding...! This has been an eternal deadlock I been facing all my life...and one needs to break the chain boldly if at all one wants to really own a bike eventually...
So there I was one fine day, boldly asking one of my friends to lend me the bike as I had to go out ...I went to the bike but was unable even to start it ! I realized I needed an unselfish guru who can teach you not minding the prospective damages to his own bike. Thus came along my Guru - Mr. Anil Babu who took the biggest risk of teaching me the Fundamentals of Bike-Riding. It did not take many days for me to learn as I was very comfortable with gearless bikes already... 5 days passed and my guru was relieved to find that his bike was safe and sound with no depreciation in the capital asset.
Then I started venturing out on my own... !
Bike Ride 1: It was a solo act just to test out my prowess in handling the machine without instructions pouring into my ears from behind...I had no destination in mind...All I wanted was to survive the next 20 minutes. I started the bike with some effort (the bike was totally reluctant to move a bit u see... it was more afraid than I) and lo! I was on the road all by myself...The bike stopped exactly after 1 minute of the ride. It said 'Dude,this is too funny! We both gonna die if you drive this sane'. Cant give up on the first ride! I persisted till I eventually managed to reach a petrol station to fuel it up. When I came back to the hostel, I had to count my limbs and fingers and Thank God! they totaled up fine.
Bike Ride 2: I became more adventurous.. This time I claimed to my friend that I am an expert rider. So he allowed me to do the honors and he sat on the pillion seat. It was 12:00 in the midnight. The destination was India Gate - A place where you can reach at 1:00am and still have some good time pass(oh.. that kaala-khatta there !!). The bike stopped once or twice in the middle but we reached the spot :) I did it again. My first successful night travel.
Bike Ride 3: I now thought I am really an expert, so this time I ventured much further and proposed to a dear friend who was another bike-novice that I will take him till Sangam Theatre to buy the first day-midnight show tickets for Jodha Akbar. This I got to admit must be the worst bike-ride ever for anyone !! The bike stopped atleast 20 times at various crucial junctures (surely understating)...A Prado was right at our rear, and the driver started honking as if it was some kind of a honking contest..I felt as if an elephant is just gonna trample upon me. Then again it stopped at every single traffic signal! You stop at a traffic signal and you would get to hear so many beautiful gaalis in so many different native tongues. If one has to see the true diversity of India, it is at the traffic signals. Man! No orchestra can beat the kind of honks and gaalis you get to hear. My confidence got blown into smithereens this time. But mind you, Manugarras of the world are not among those who give up so easily.
Bike Ride 4: This was the first time I took courage to actually offer a girl a ride till Priyas. I knew that if anything like the ride before happened again, my morale as well my reputation as a reliable bike-rider would be put to rest and sent off to the nearest mortuary. I was too cautious not to let the clutch slip off from my hands and surprisingly managed a very safe and successful ride!! She was impressed. May be it was my guardian angel who actually rode the bike this time.
Bike Ride 5: Confidence restored, this time I offered my another friend, a ride till the nearest market. He got flabbergasted when I told him this was my Ride No-5. He seriously suspected something funny would happen and that he would find himself falling off the bike with my stunts. Nothing funny of that sort happened, but this time the bike stopped right in the middle of the road when I was taking a U-turn and an auto-rickshaw had to apply sudden brakes to stop just inches away from me. My heart took a small leap out of its bearings. He started swearing in the names of all the Gods he knew. I just smiled at him.
Its amazing how this world is still such a safe place with expert bike-riders like me loose on the roads.
PS: Commuters Beware! The next time you see a bike approaching wildly at you, do your prayers, it could very well be me ;)
