Overseas – Jodha Akbar had the widest release for a Bollywood movie ever! It was released in 26 countries in about 1500 prints!

United Kingdom (UK) – Jodha Akbar released on 70 prints and grossed 57,000+ pounds on the thursday night preview alone! The opening has been earth shattering and could end up just a tad below Shahrukh Khan’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Om Shanti Om for the weekend, which would mean its the third biggest opening in the UK for a Bollywood movie! Now for a histrocial, its a HUGE achievement!

Unites States (US) – The movie had the biggest release for a Bollywood movie ever and the openning is even bigger opening here.. It has reportedly grossed $374,000 on Friday! SRK’s Om Shanti Om grossed $385,000 on the first day of its release. Jodha Akbar has surpassed all expectations. Never in the widest of dreams would anyone have expected it to open so big.

The poor promotion, delay, negativity around the movie prior to its release; absolutely nothing seemed to have affected the movie. This is by far the biggest opening for a Hrithik Roshan movie overseas. In short, Jodha Akbar looks like a winner all the way, at home and overseas!

Set in the 16th century, the epic love story explores a marriage alliance entered between two cultures and religions for political gain.

When Hindu King Bharmal of Amer decided to give his daughter Jodha’s hand to Mughal emperor Akbar, little did the emperor know that in his efforts to strengthen relations with the Rajputs, he in turn would be embarking on a new journey – that of true love.

Using his imagination and creativity, Gowariker has tried to portray this political alliance as a romantic tale.

From the battlefield where the young Akbar was crowned the emperor, through the conquests that won him the title of ‘Akbar the Great’, to winning the love of the beautiful Jodhaa, the film traces the impressive graph of Akbar and his romance with a defiant princess.

Produced by UTV, the film is made on a budget of Rs.400 million ($10 million). It will have a world premiere and be showcased in more than 115 theatres in the US alone.

It maybe recalled that there has been a debate over the name of Akbar’s queen. Some historians state that she was called Harkhabai, Shai Bai and Man Mati, but Ashutosh Gowariker, reportedly, clarified that he consulted the royal family of Jaipur who gave him a clearance to use the name Jodha.

Vinayak Azad, the regional officer of the Censor Board, said, “We have advised Ashutosh Gowariker to put an additional disclaimer stating that the historical facts shown in the film are just one version of history and there may be another version.”

When asked about the clearance from the Animal Welfare Board as there are a lot of action scenes in the film involving animals like elephants and horses, Azad said, “We have received all the clearances from the Board. We had to issue a U/A certificate because of certain battle scenes which showed elephants crushing people,” he added.

“Initially we started off with just storyboards for every scene in the film and we put up storyboards for about a month. We sat with the production team and Ashutosh Gowariker too joined us” says Ravi Diwan.

“I was training about 15 to 17 actors in Jodhaa Akbar for these fight sequences. I had to teach Hrithik, Ash, Sonu Sood and the main villain Nikitin Dheer both horse riding and sword-fighting. And each of these action sequences took about a month and a half to complete. Firstly I had to train them in horse riding for which we had to book the Mahalaxmi Race Course for about a month. It was a lot of effort but in the end I am sure it will be worth it.”

Apart from horse-riding, Jodhaa Akbar also witnessed Hrithik and Aishwarya learning the art of sword-fighting. Ravi Dewan says, “The training for sword-fighting took place at Mehboob studios and we shot for about 45 days at a stretch. Both actors were very professional about learning sword-fighting.”

Ravi Dewan is one of the oldest action directors in business, who has been around Bollywood for a long time. But it was the first time that he was working with Hrithik Roshan. “Yes, after being around for so many years I worked with Hrithik for the first time. I have worked with the best of the lot right from Raj Kumar to all the Khans. And let me tell you that training Hrithik wasn’t too much of a labour for me. He never threw any tantrums and the same was with Aishwarya as well.”

‘Jodhaa Akbar’ is a sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa.

Political success knew no bounds for Emperor Akbar (Hrithik). After having secured the Hindu Kush, he furthered his realm by conquest until his empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, and from the Himalayas to the Godavari River.

An Interview of Aishwarya Rai about Jodhaa Akbar.

“How will it feel if Aishwarya Rai is shown as Amitabh Bachchan’s wife instead of Abhishek Bachchan’s?” asked Lokendra Singh Kalvi, the patron of the Rajput Karni Sena that has threatened to stall the film’s screening.

Aishwarya stars as the Rajput princess Jodhabai in the film due for release on February 15. Hrithik Roshan stars opposite her as Akbar. “Just because in Mughal-e-Azam, Jodhabai was shown as Akbar’s wife, Gowarikar cannot repeat the same mistake for cheap publicity,” Kalvi said.

The Rajput community claims that Jodha was the daughter of Jodhpur’s Mota Raja Udai Singh and was married to Jehangir in 1586. She was called Jodhabai because she hailed from Jodhpur, they say.

Noted historians maintain that Mughal Emperor Akbar never married anyone named Jodhabai. And that Jodhabai was, in fact, his daughter-in-law, Jehangir’s wife.

“Historical documents, including Akbarnama and Jehangir’s memoirs, say it was not Akbar but Jehangir who got married to the House of Jodhpur. So the princess was later called Jodhabai,” says historian Satish Chandra, author of NCERT History books.

Agrees historian Mohammad Amin. “Akbar forged alliances with Rajput families and he married the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber, who was later titled Maryam Rahmani or the Mother of Rulers of the Universe. But there is no evidence to say that she was called Jodhabai.”

The debate comes ahead of the film’s release next month. Rajput organisations in Rajasthan have threatened to block the release, accusing Gowariker of distorting facts.
When the film was about to go on the floors couple years ago, the Rajput Mahasabha had warned the makers about potential consequences of manipulating history for a political agenda (BJP ruled Rajasthan is due for elections soon as are other BJP states like Madhya Pradesh). Lawsuits were said to be bound to follow for starters with violence following possibly after that.

But since then, apart from the Rajput Mahasabha, a 2nd front, the Karni Sena has stepped forward warning Jodha Akbar also. It has warned the people of Jodha Akbar of physical consequences upon film’s release if they felt an unseemly agenda using coverups and distortion of history was being perpetrated using the cover of this movie. Jodha Akbar has been threatened to be taken off the screens its first weekend itself if that would be the case.

Based on the love story of Mughal emperor Akbar and his Hindu wife Jodhaa, the movie has won appreciation from the royal families of Jaipur and Kishangarh for the extensive research done by the director, Ashutosh Gowarikar.
Although historical epic Jodhaa Akbar is facing trouble, with the Rajput community of Rajasthan threatening to stall the release of the movie in the state.

The community says Gowariker has distorted facts in his magnum opus which is to be released on Feb 15.

Narendra Singh Rajawat, head of the Rajput Sabha, said Gowariker is presenting Jodhabai as Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Akbar’s wife, which is factually incorrect. He also said that Jodhabai was not the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber near Jaipur as shown in the film.

Jodhabai was the daughter of Motaraja Udai Singh of Marwar and was married to Akbar’s son Salim alias Jehangir. And Mughal king Shahjahan was her son, he added.

Rajawat said such distortion of historical facts had hurt the feelings of the Rajput community. He urged the courts to restrain Gowariker from showing Jodhabai as the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber.

He said that the community would boycott the film.

“We are also approaching the high court against this,” informed Rajawat.

The president of the Rajput Karni Sena, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, is also up in arms against the director. He said the Sena had apprehended the distortion of Rajasthan’s historical facts in Jodhaa Akbar , which is based on the Jodhpur royal family.

“The Karni Sena would watch the movie when released and, if required, it would not allow the screening in the state,” said Kalvi.

Mahaveer Singh Sarwadi, a leader of the Shatriya Yuvak Singh, said: “We would oppose the release of the film if it shows the community in bad taste.”

Hrithik is a tremendous actor and can adapt himself physically to a character very well. This I noticed in  “Koi Mil Gaya”, while I was impressed with Aishwarya in  “Chokher Bali” , where she was bereft of any external embellishments,” explains Ashutosh Gowarikar.

What about problems between his the lead pair? “There was no problem between Ash and Hrithik. Once Ash returned to shoot, it was as normal as it had always been. Both my actors were very professional.”

Ashutosh Gowariker express his view on Jodhaa Akbar…

In Akbarnama, Abul Fazal doesn’t mention Jodhaa at all! But we all know that the harem existed, that Jehangir was born out of the alliance. Everything in history is open to interpretation. Some may not agree with the film, but I have tried to be as truthful as possible.

The inevitable comparison is with Mughal-E-Azam … I’m not worrying about this. I just want the audience to accept the film. It cannot be compared with Mughal-E-Azam ; that’s a classic I love, with incredible performances. My focus is different from Mughal-E-Azam , which was about Salim and Anarkali. Here, I have a young Akbar. Mine is a youthful romance, very different.

Hrithik was my first choice for Akbar… Hrithik has the desire to challenge himself. I think he’s a tremendous actor; even in his debut film he did the double role so well. His Rohit in Koi… Mil Gaya amazed me.

I needed a warrior-like actor who looked like he might have come from a Turkish background, with a naturally regal gait. What makes you think he doesn’t? Don’t be so sure!

Aishwarya was also a natural choice… She’s worked very well in different set-ups, from Chokher Bali to Shabd. She has the desire to attempt different roles. And for a film like this, you need a dedicated cast and crew. In this film, she has a great simplicity. We worked to get her look right — she was very pleased at how it turned out.

The film is not four hours long! That’s just a rumour. It’s much less — but it’s as long as the story requires. When you make an epic period drama, it can’t be told in two hours. And I believe duration isn’t as important as content — sometimes a two-hour film can seem four hours long!

Yes, historicals are difficult to attempt… We’ve tried to stick to the period details but the attitude is modern. We’ve stayed on track with the festivals they had then, the court presentation ceremonies. The melodies too have a feel of that era, yet they appeal even today. I just want my film to be liked, for the genre to be successful — only then will more historicals get made, more challenging scripts taken up. We can only do different cinema if everyone tries to be different.

Jodhaa Akbar as an Oscar possibility… Frankly, I don’t make films for festivals or awards — I make it for the audience. If you start looking at awards, they never get made. And if I send Jodhaa Akbar out as a festival entry, it will have to be at the length I make it.

Sources : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/