In Bollywood

The veteran filmmaker Aashutosh Govarikar is now hitting the headlines of the newspaper once again with his new arrival “Jodha Akbar”.

After films like “Lagaan” and “Swadesh” he took long span to come in the front of the news. Where on one hand people are curious and interested about the arrival of “Jodha Akbar” on the other hand few people are in debate about the name of Jodhabai in the film.

Here we present an excerpt of Aashutosh’s view regarding the story, debate about the film and the future of his film.

Q.: At the beginning we would like to know how is your back-pain?
A.: It’s under control now. I can now sit for twenty minutes at a stretch. I endured worse of the pain during the editing of the film. I have done the most of the editing of this film lying in the bed. But I am really happy as I didn’t have to endure the pain during the shooting.

(Smiling) otherwise I would have to postpone the releasing date of the film once again and you would have come to ask me the reason.

Q.: Why did you choose Aishwarya and Hrithik for the film? Was there any influence of “Dhoom 2” in characterisation?
A.: It’s absolutely wrong to think that I want to cash the famous “Dhoom 2” pair on the screen once again. The reality is that I started my film much earlier than “Krish” and “Dhoom 2”.
While I heard the story I thought only about Hrithik and Aishwarya as they really have that princely touch in their appearance. I spent my childhood with the books like “Amar Chitrakatha” and “Chanda Mama”.

Actually those stories inspired me to think about my own stories. I saw exactly the same image in Aishwarya and Hrithik that I used to see in those characters.

Q.: Don’t you think your Akbar is little skinny?
A.: Before replying to your question I would like to ask you something. Where did you see Akbar? The actuality is that you have seen Prithviraj Kapoor as Akbar in “Mughal E Azam”. In that film you have witnessed the Akbar who is in his sixties and is a father of a young man. But in my film you will get the young look of Akbar.

According to the story I have chosen the middle period of twenty eighth year of his age. Hrithik is fit for the character not only because of his age but also because of his physical structure, mental ability and maturity.

Actually I needed a passionate actor who would equally be dedicated to this movie. I am happy that Hrithik proved his best for the character.

Q.: There are lots of conflicts regarding the release of the film. What’s the reason?
A.: Let me make very clear that there will be no problem releasing the movie on the given date. People are so excited about the film that their interest just grows on and on for the film to get released. It’s really justified taking time to make historical movies.

It’s quite easy to think and make films on paper but filming it requires pure technical knowledge. My film required lot of people to work on. Even filming a small scene I required all the artists. There were many times when few of them were not present in the set and then I used to call them to get their shots.

Everything including location, jewelry, look, make-up, junior artists as well as animals are most important for the movie. Despite all those things I faced many problems filming the movie.

Q.: How did you think about the references for the movie?
A.: In accordance with the story of the film I referred to the Mughal and Rajput history as well as books like “Akbar Nama” and “Ain – E- Akbari”. Apart from them I went through books of Badauni who wrote many things about Akbar’s life.

The most important part of that period’s writing was that people used to write against each other. And in that way I faced many problems deciding the truth. At the end I accepted which I thought might be the truth. Besides, I chose many things from the royal family of Jaipur and information from the Kachchhaya family.

And Bhavani Singh, the king of Jaipur, as well as the queen Padmini also informed me about many things regarding Akbar.

Q.: Were you ready for such controversy?
A.: Yeah, absolutely. Even during the pre-production I knew there will be some controversy regarding the movie. When there are so many controversies in the history itself then there has to be some difference in thought about the movie. I would only say that I have taken the truth only.

Through the media I would like to inform people that I have made the film for general entertainment and there’s little historical theory in it comparing with the creative thoughts.

My prime focus is to show the proximity between two different societies of people that came together hundreds of years ago because of a marriage. I have depicted the traditional collaboration between two completely different strata of people. I appeal to all the people to take “Jodha Akbar” just as a film.

Q.: How are you prepared to face controversies as the film is released?
A.: First thing first that controversy is absolutely baseless. As far as the release of the film is concerned, I think, once the film is released people will love it so much that they will forget to think even about the old controversies.

Q.: We have heard that there were some misunderstanding between Aishwarya and Hrithik during the shooting. Is that true?
A.: (smiling) It’s just a gossip, nothing else. Even I don’t know from where that gossip originated. Both Aishwarya and Hrithik supported each other during the shooting. I am really happy because of their on-screen chemistry.

Q.: Which one is your favourite pair?
A.: As far as films are concerned I like pairs as Hema-Dharmendra, Rekha-Amitabh, Amir-Juhi, and Shahrukh-Kajol. And as far as reality is concerned the pair most close to my heart is that of Laila-Majnoo.

Q.: How do you see your journey from “Pehla Nasha” to “Jodha Akbar”?
A.: I have been very lucky. I never thought of coming to that pinnacle of life. Whether actor or director I started working in both the fields by accident. In both the cases I got chance and I grabbed them. Now you can see me here all because of my readiness to accept things that life offers me. - Rajnee Gupta