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Ashutosh Gowarikar

The relevance of 'Jodhaa Akbar'
09th Jan 2008 13.01 IST
By ApunKaChoice

Director Ashutosh Gowarikar , who is ready with the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Hrithik Roshan starrer Jodhaa Akbar , says he was fascinated by the relationship that the two historical figures must have shared after marriage.

Talking to a news agency, Gowarikar said, "I feel if today we make a story about the past, it must be correlated to the present. And 'Jodhaa Akbar' is as relevant to the present as arranged marriages. Jodhaa and Akbar shared a perfect arranged marriage. I was fascinated by how their relationship must have grown after marriage."

Keeping the young generation in mind, the director has avoided a heavy dose of Urdu.

"As for youngsters, I had one rule of connectivity in my range of vision. Any word or dialogue that I didn't understand in Urdu I kept out. I've no interest in impressing audiences with my knowledge of Urdu, Hindi or even literature."

Not categorizing his film as a period film, but historical, Gowarikar said, “'Jodhaa Akbar' is to me a historical. Anything after 1857 is a period film for me. Anything before that is a historical. 'Jodhaa Akbar' is certainly not a costume drama. It isn't set in a never-never land. I'd call 'Mughal-e-Azam' a historical though its focus was different from mine.”

“I feel if today we make a story about the past, it must be correlated to the present. And 'Jodhaa Akbar' is as relevant to present times as arranged marriages. Jodhaa and Akbar shared a perfect arranged marriage. I was fascinated by how their relationship must have grown after marriage. There was no reference in any books about what happened between them. I've taken extreme care to make sure viewers believe in the relationship.”

On casting contemporary personalities Ash and Hrithik in the title roles, Gowarikar said, “That won't be a problem. The audience will come in and forget everything about Hrithik and Aishwarya. Hrithik-Aishwarya's pairing is incredible. They're extremely charismatic and good-looking. They were a huge success in the contemporary Dhoom 2 . That can only help my film, not harm it.”

“What audiences will see in my film are Jodhaa and Akbar. At least that's what I've tried to ensure through their looks, body language and behaviour. I wanted to make my historical as believable as I'd like to see it being. Every element big or small, from the texture of the clothes to the sets, décor, dialogues and the protocol, even the incidental sounds of birds and animals, they all had to be just right for me. I'm tired of filmmakers wondering where those good old days have gone. I wanted to reclaim those days. It took me two years of pre-production before I got into my first shot.”

'Jodhaa Akbar' is set to hit the marquee February 15. The director is dubbing it in Telugu and Tamil as well.

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