Ashutosh
Gowarikar,
the
man
who
almost
won
India
an
Oscar
with
Lagaan
is
back.
This
time
he
brings
another
classic,
Jodhaa
Akbar.
However,
like
with
most
big
projects,
the
first
formality,
controversies
and
protests
are
welcoming
the
saga
of
the
mighty
Mughal
Emperor
Akbar
(Hrithik
Roshan),
the
rebellious
Rajput
princess
Jodhaa
(Aishwarya
Bachchan)
and
their
love
that
shaped
the
destiny
of
a
subcontinent.
Without
getting
into
the
nitty-gritties
of
the
synthetic
controversy,
Ashutosh
puts
it
plainly
-
In
the
case
of
Jodhaa
Akbar,
things
are
already
entrenched
in
history.
Agra
Fort
exists,
Amer
Palace
exists
and
all
the
milestone
events
in
history
exist.
So
there
is
no
scope
for
fooling
around.
He
also
refers
to
his
thorough
study
of
world
famous
and
well
documented
references
like
Akbarnama
and
Ain-e-Akbari,
by
Abul
Fazal.
He
adds
that
he
personally
went
to
meet
the
Jaipur
Royalty,
who
are
themselves
from
the
Kachchawa
Dynasty,
to
which
Jodhaa
Bai
belonged,
and
shared
the
script
with
them,
much
before
canning
the
first
shot!
In
fact,
as
per
the
feedback,
all
the
protests
and
disruptions
are
in
a
way
hyping
the
movie
more,
and
even
those
who
were
not
inclined
to
see
a
three
hour
plus
historical
have
been
venturing
out
to
the
cinemas
and
checking
out
the
movie!
The
reason
is
obvious.
The
projected
negatives
before
Jodhaa
Akbar's
release
like,
long
duration,
colloquial
Urdu
and
Hindi
etc,
have
all
become
secondary
and
at
the
forefront
is
now
the
curiosity
to
check
out
why
there
have
been
protests
and
disruptions.
One
is
reminded
here
of
two
earlier
examples,
Salman-Katrina's
Maine
Pyaar
Kyun
Kiya
and
Manisha
Koirala's
Kk
Choti
Si
Love
Story,
both
of
which
saw
enhanced
collections
after
protests
and
controversies.
So
is
history
going
to
repeat
itself?
The
answer
is
most
likely
to
be
yes.
The
show
disruptions
have
been
at
places
where
Jodhaa
Akbar
was
not
going
to
make
a
mark
anyway.
In
Rajasthan,
where
the
movie
has
not
seen
a
release,
the
impact
will
be
minimal
as
it
is
just
a
thirty
percent
territory.
In
the
two
biggest
territories,
Bombay
and
Delhi-UP,
the
film
saw
a
good
weekend
run.
Taking
the
all
India
scenario
into
account,
initial
trade
estimations
projects
around
28-30
crore
first
week
from
India.
And
that
is
approximately
what
the
blockbuster
Partner
earned
in
its
opening
week!
Even
the
Overseas
circuit
has
good
news
for
the
makers
and
confirmation
of
that
is
on
way
from
both
US
and
UK.
One
feels
that
the
makers
should
in
a
way
thank
the
protesters
for
all
the
free
publicity
that
their
40
crore
venture
Jodhaa
Akbar
has
got.
We
are
quite
sure
that
if
the
movie
becomes
successful
and
the
makers,
while
laughing
all
the
way
to
the
bank,
will
in
no
uncertain
terms
feel
a
sense
of
gratitude
towards
their
grass-root
level
publicists!
Story first published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 14:08 [IST]