A love story to create history again
By Molly, May 25, 2007 - 08:50 IST
History continues to be re-created at the Nitin Desai Studio in Karjat even as Ashutosh Gowarikar waits for his Jodha (Aishwarya Rai) to return from her honeymoon. Producer-director Ashutosh Gowarikar, the young man who has made various kinds of film like Pehla Nasha, Baazi, Lagaan and Swades, films way far and different from each other is busy shooting the most ambitious film of his career to date, Jodhaa-Akbar a film he calls "a beautiful romantic story born even while history was in the making."
The film, according to reports coming in is the most talked about subject in Rajasthan. It is lately in the news because of the section of certain experts on Muslim history who have taken objections to Gowarikar making light of Mughal history because of his talking about the romance between Jodha and Emperor Akbar. They said it is not right talking about the love story of the Emperor and Jodha Bai who are two of the most respected and revered figures of Muslim history. Ashutosh claims that he has done extensive research on the subject and there is evidence to prove that Emperor Akbar had a very special place for Jodha Bai. He said he is telling the story of Akbar and Jodha between age of 18 and 26, before Salim, the heir to the throne was born. Gowarikar has also made it clear that he had taken certain cinematic liberties without tampering with historical facts. He is making a film about a chapter which could have been a part of history but was not recorded. He has tried his best to make his position clear to the historians and they are coming around.
Gowarikar is also facing trouble from the organisations which are fighting for the prevention of cruelty animals. He is using a number of elephants, camels and horses in his film without whom the ambience of the period he is creating will not be complete. The activists have made him accept certain conditions if he has to continue working with the animal and he has agreed to abide by them.
Gowarikar has been shooting since the last one month. His unit will return only after entire shooting in Rajasthan is over because he can not imagine going back to Rajasthan "with my unit which is like an entire army."
Soon after he completes the shooting in Rajasthan his unit will shift to a sprawling set now coming up in Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai. The well-known art director Nitin Desai has been re-creating the palace of Fatehpur Sikri and even the Red Fort and other historical structures of the period because the government did not give Gowarikar the permission to shoot in the actual location because of security reasons.
Gowarikar had a tough time finding the ideal actors to play the young Akbar and Jodha. It was after a great deal of adjusting and readjusting and thinking that he finally decided to cast Hrithik Roshan as Akbar and Aishwarya Rai has Jodha. Gowarikar knows that he is dealing with history for the first time. He is aware that his film will be compared to some of the historicals made in the past but knows that his love story is a very different and moving story which also played a very important part in the period he is dealing with.
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