Source: Mumbai Mirror
Date: January 11, 2008
Here's a lowdown on the music launch party of Jodhaa Akbar
At the music launch of Jodhaa Akbar on Wednesday night, the hosts Ashutosh Gowariker and producer Ronnie Screwvala made every effort to transport us to the Mughal era, complete with a royal throne, palanquin and the Maharani of Jaipur, Padmini. However, Hrithik Roshan left his emperor's dress at home and Aishwarya Rai settled for a heavily embroidered cotton kurti for the 'royal' do. Putting all rumours to rest, the lead pair was seen chatting with each other, and Ash especially, seemed to be extremely delighted in Roshan Junior's company, as father-in-law and Bollywood's first man Amitabh Bachchan and close family friend Amar Singh remained seated in the audience.
Ashutosh Gowariker and the rest of the crew including music maestro AR Rahman, acclaimed lyricist Javed Akhtar, actors Sonu Sood and Poonam Sinha were dressed in their formal best. Ashutosh made a faux pas by saying that the film will release on September 15, and then quickly corrected himself, 'February 15 is when the film is releasing'.
Hrithik and Aishwarya seemed to be more comfortable as they fielded a volley of questions. Hrithik, who is one the fittest actor in the block, admitted that Akbar's armour (in the film) was excruciatingly painful. "It was an excruciatingly painful experience," he said. However, Aishwarya didn't mind getting playful with the real sword on the sets. She said, "I took to sword fighting like a fish to water." She further revealed that she didn't hit the gym while filming for Jodhaa Akbar. Talking bout Jodhaa bai's look she said, "You can't have a Dhoom 2 kind of a body for Jodhaa Akbar. Also, I settled for a no make-up look in major portions of the film." It didn't come as a surprise when she hobnobbed and even exchanged a few bear hugs with Rani Padmini, who is a direct descendant of Jodhaa bai.
While papa Rakesh Roshan was conspicuous by his absence, wifey Sussanne (who is expecting her second child with the actor) and in-laws Sanjay Khan, Zarine and Zayed Khan more than made up for it. Apparently, Aishwarya was missing her hubby Abhishek and when quizzed about it, she said, "This is getting too personal."