Comments on: Jodha Akbar, A mockery of History

By: KungFu

KungFu — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:50:11 +0000

Sweet great Archery write up!

Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:10:30 +0000

then what was it?

By: Ishtiyaq Maniyar

Ishtiyaq Maniyar — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:04:04 +0000

Well, for that matter… Ashutosh Gowarikar never claimed it is a true story..
If you are so particular about history, the name of Akbar’s wife was not Jodhaa bai at all

By: ankuraggarwal

ankuraggarwal — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:41:10 +0000

@tambanka..
thanks for the views. what is Zenana

By: Ranbanka Rathore

Ranbanka Rathore — Sat, 03 May 2008 07:27:08 +0000

I agree to some people as to the importance of not distorting the history too much just for the sake of entertainment. History is not entertainment but a study of events in the past and their influence on people to this day. So history gotta b educative that instills inspiration in the mind of youth, and not pass by like any entertaining (love – knight in shining armour) kinda movie.

Since I am a rajput so i understand the emotional bonding with every inch of rajput history. Any distortions do hurt rajput feelings as it shapes much of our mind even today. We still rever our ancestors after daily prayer so we are still affected by any such distortions of historical facts.

What I feel strongly about Jodha – Akbar is that it was much of a romantic movie than a movie based on true valour of warriors.

Rajputs lost at the Battle of Khanwa not due to might of Babur, but due to a mix of using out dated techniques and plot. Rajputs led by Rana Sanga were on verge of winning the battle despite having no knowledge about use of artillery unlike Babur who came with concept of artillery from Fergana. Secondly in the last moment the mighty Purabiya Rajputs led by Silhaditya backed out during climax of the battle since Silhadi was promised Malwa by Babur after victory.

The most distorted fact of the movie was the apparent dialogue b/w Akbar and Jodhabai, whereas in those days and even in Rural Rajput families today such direct conversations are not customary. The Zenana system was most strong during Mughal times, and in no way cud any Mughal or Man enter a Zenana in a fit to discuss nuptial matters outrightly.

Thanks.

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:10:06 +0000

i agree, we (read I) often have mental blocks and no amount of convincing can ever make me change my stance of certain issues

By: Surabhi Singhal

Surabhi Singhal — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:58:59 +0000

oh…..nthng like that ……he just says not to get involved into strong arguments as no one can ever win an argument…… u really loose an argument when u think u hv won it( as u can never really convince a person to ur way of thinking)……he will always believe that he is right …….u’ll only hurt his ego n self respect in d process of proving him wrong ………so i generally stop an argument when it starts getting hot …….
but i agree that u do hv more experience than me

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:18:11 +0000

he/she rightly says after all.. there is no point in arguing with a fool. he will drag u down to his level and beat u with experience

By: Surabhi Singhal

Surabhi Singhal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:33:49 +0000

i won’t argue nymore as my fav person suggests me not to

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:48:27 +0000

well culture, heritage develops from history… and for a country that takes so much pride in culture and history, its amazing how little we know about our roots.

also otherwise, the history is very important. it helps us understand what mistakes we made in the past and what lessons we should learn from it.

By: Surabhi Singhal

Surabhi Singhal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 10:00:10 +0000

yup but they might not b able to understand d original script n now u can’t even trust the translator:P ……..n here u r – u only said that ppl don’t even know abt their ancestors so temme how is smthng that akbar did hundreds of years back gonna affect them? wat diff does it make ? so let poor ppl(overloaded by tensions) enjoy themselves by watching a movies which lies but entertains them rather than d one which depicts boring ,true history n wins oscars…..

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:53:44 +0000

well Ramayana is a religious book.. so its more likely for indians esp the orthodox ones to read that book than to go into history book and read about Akbar… esp in a country where people cannot trace their family tree beyond 5 generations.

yups its a nice movie to enjoy

By: Surabhi Singhal

Surabhi Singhal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:33:42 +0000

hehe …….well i might agree with u a bit but i feel that any person now will certainly not make an opinion based on a movie …….its just that ppl hvn’t read Ramayana so they think it is d way it is depicted in d serial…….morover Ramayana was a long series which reflected on almost all instances of Ramayana ……it is too much to say that d movie harms our history as it does not claim to tell abt d whole life of akbar ……..it just stresses on d relationship btw jodha n him (which i don’t think nyone is so sure of)……d movie is not meant to tell us all abt akbar n his persona but it is a romantic story btw him n jodha ………..so why not enjoy d movie n leave d facts to d books …….

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:12:03 +0000

don’t tell me.. i have had fallen into several debates where people were quoting out of the TV serial Ramayana … and thinking that it was written by Tulsidas himself.

By: Surabhi Singhal

Surabhi Singhal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:10:13 +0000

I agree that d movie shows sm things which r not true n also neglects many important historical facts ……..but i shud also remind u all that today’s audience is intelligent enough not to consider movies as a true depiction of history……..they watch movies for sm 3 hrs entertainment n i think u all will agree that Jodha-Akbar succeds in that ……n plz b sure no one is dumb enough to think of akbar or historical events as portrayed in the movie…….even foreign audience knows that the best way to know abt akbar is to read abt him frm sm trustable source n not movies …..so plz ppl don’t b worried as it might harm our position a bit but it is certainly not that gr8 a mistake that cannot b rectified

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:14:34 +0000

i agree that it is a great piece of entertainment…
but what i fear is that now the whole world would see history from the eyes of this movie… and by doing this, they are going to distorting history … a mistake that might probably never be rectified.

By: chauhan

chauhan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:40:29 +0000

This is not a history channel movie,but a entertainment. Please give credit to the guy for taking pains to represent the period film in the most beautiful way and giving us a very imaginative story of a very private relationship of Akbar and his wife acted very well by Ashwarya and Ritik .For the background of the story sets were provided where for a change soldiers looked like soldiers,horses and weapons looked realistic,real elegant Jewelery,beautiful sets and the most remarkable part of the film was the effort the producer had taken to study history,which no Indian producer that i know of has ever done in any Indian period film.
I am a lover of history,and the most beautiful thing about history is that there are so many narratives given about the same subject by different writers,historians past and present ,that you have to read a few and form your own view.The producer of Jodha Akbar has done exactly that..To find faults is easy but for me it was heartening to see Hemu getting an arrow in his eye which became the cause of his defeat ,beheading of Hemu by Bairam khan and later sending of Bairam khan to Mecca.Importance which Akbar gave to his Maid who nursed him ,and throwing her son over the wall of the fort twice which is a fact.All these facts the producer had cared to study ,and present them in his imaginative way.

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:46:13 +0000

@pratiksha…
its good to know that you like the movie… I agree it is a good entertainment, but what i did not like was the fact that they misrepresented the facts in a way that the world would now see Akbar from the eyes of the movie for ever

By: Pratiksha Sharma

Pratiksha Sharma — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:05:08 +0000

And I would AGive th filme 10 AOUT OF 10

By: Pratiksha Sharma

Pratiksha Sharma — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:01:46 +0000

I am Only 12 and I whatched the filme I think it was quit a entertaning filme and was interesting. you Mite think I am only a girl but four your information my dad is cwallified to be a indian history Profesor and my dad douse thinke that some of the thinges were not tru but you are just a purson who i think douse not have a lote of nolade and people do not see a fillm to see if that is tru or not they see it for intertanment and i do understand that you can not stand the fillm not saing the haf truth about Indian History but you have lissted too many not tru thinges and i am actuly from Rajastan and Japure. and pleeas reaply

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:29:02 +0000

@souvik…
welcome to ENagar
the question in my mind is that should we classify Jodha Akbar as a period film or just another popular cinema

By: souvik

souvik — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:23:12 +0000

Jodha-Akbar is one of the big budget films released in February, 2008, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar. The big question is whether the film is going to be as successful as period films previously being made like Mughal-i-azam by K. Asif.

By: pr3rna

pr3rna — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:17:23 +0000

Thanks a lot for agreeing Prax

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:37:14 +0000

@rajiv…
Welcome to ENagar. Thanks for your comments, however I would differ in the following points.

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babur#Conquest_of_northern_India
Babar came to India with the matchlock technology. So your claim about fatehpur sekri was false.

2) If you can transport elephants and hemu used and lost several hundred of them, then cannons are also transportable. Can you point me to a link which says that cannons were not used in that battle.

3) somehow I missed spotting cavalry archer in Akbar’s army. Do you remember which scene?

By: Rajiv

Rajiv — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:14:30 +0000

#Marwari language would require subtitles.However there were over 50 dialects too-so best shown in language understood.
#Cavalry Archers were used but they also got close to the main infantry by having a protective ring of soldiers as showwn in J/Akbar.
#Matchlocks came in during Akbars reign but post Fatehpur Sikri.The movie is before that.
What was incorrect was to show so many swords that were ,in those days made of wootz steel,an expensive mix and was thus given to a selct few in the army usually the cavalry.
#Cannons were not used in the battle against Hemu as they could not be carried to the site-they were albeit with the army.
#Correct about tobacco but what was sold was opium and ganja.

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:42:48 +0000

no i read the post only today (after you pointed out)
have a nice week enjoy

By: Prax

Prax — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 07:34:37 +0000

i has commented about the said distortion to ruhi in her jodha post
so did u if i remember right
im goin out of town for almost a week so no posting from me

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:20:44 +0000

whaat about ruhi?

By: Prax

Prax — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:42:39 +0000

well i pointed it out to ruhi
hey i agree with prerna for once

By: Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:36:53 +0000

well it was 4 hours of a very long song but overall it was OK. primarily because it is hard for me to overlook misrepresentation of historical facts

By: pr3rna

pr3rna — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:22:43 +0000

Ankur, watch the film as a ordinary song and dance drama.forget about the directors claims.You will love it.You can understand the Urdu and Hindi language being a North Indian but for any non Hindi speaking person it was difficult to understand.Imagine using Persian and Marwari.We would need subtitles.