Source: Financial Express
By: Sudipta Datta
Date: February 02, 2008
He has worn many hats — and well. As an actor, Ashutosh Gowarikar left an impression as Abdul in Saaed Mirza’s Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro or as Ranjeet in Ketan Mehta’s Holi, incidentally his first film, or as Imran in Ketan Mehta’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. Then, after a decade of acting in films and TV serials, he switched to the other side of the camera. Though his first two films Pehla Nasha and Baazi saw reasonable success, he truly wowed audiences with his third directorial feature — Lagaan. A period film set in the 19th century during the British Raj, it got an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film. Lagaan marked the arrival of a director who was not averse to taking risks and, most importantly, was a stickler for quality. The narrative had to be simple but striking, the performances amazing, the music great all held together by Gowarikar’s vision. He followed up Lagaan’s success with another critically acclaimed film Swades, where Shah Rukh Khan gave his best performance (Chak De! India came later). Gowarikar is back with another offering — an epic historical romance — which took two-and-a-half years to script. The actor-director speaks to Sudipta Datta on the making of Jodhaa Akbar, which releases on February 15, on Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai’s amazing chemistry on screen and why things couldn’t have been better for Indian cinema. Excerpts:
What prompted you to make a historical romance? Isn’t the Jodhaa Akbar story a myth?
I had never attempted a romantic film before. I wanted to make a pure love story. I began looking for scripts right after Lagaan but contemporary plots weren’t exciting me. When Haider Ali narrated the script of Jodhaa Akbar to me, I just loved it. This alliance, between a Rajput princess and a Muslim emperor, had never been taken into account. And yet there was this amazing arranged alliance and it’s essentially a story about how love evolved after marriage. I realised that this was what I was looking for. I began reading up on details while filming Swades (2004). I knew I would have to do a lot of research. But then, the story is engaging, and if the story is compelling, it can leap across many time zones and appeal to people.
Tell us about the Hrithik-Aishwarya pairing?
You chose them much before Dhoom 2 when they sizzled on screen. Yes, I picked them much before Dhoom 2 or Krrish. Hrithik looks very regal and his persona is princely, so I thought he would be a natural at playing an eamperor. For Jodhaa, I wanted someone who was beautiful and looked simple and innocent. Looks apart, both are hugely talented, persevering actors and are truly committed to the art of cinema. Their chemistry on screen is incredible and they are great co-actors. And yet, it must have been very hard work to bring a period film alive. Oh yes! It started from having to read the script, get the dialogues and delivery right, choose the right costumes, make up, right up to Emperor Akbar’s moustache.
Are you happy with the outcome?
Yes, I am extremely happy. I wouldn’t have released it otherwise. As a director, do you believe in a closed script or do you improvise as you go along? My scripts are just not dialogues. They are full of details like couture design, the positions of actors, camera placements and so forth. For instance, if I want 100 elephants during filming, it will be put forward to the production team a year in advance. It took me two and a half years to get the script right. You have tied up with Javed Akhtar and A R Rehman for the third time. But it must have been quite challenging to write dialogues and score music for an epic historical romance? It was difficult because none of us had done a historical romance before. There are five situations in the film and I wanted A R Rehman to focus on a melody which would give a feeling of the era and yet appeal to today’s generation. As for dialogues, we have kept it simple. There are no tough Urdu words. We want everyone to understand the film.
What may we expect next from a director who’s a risk-taker?
I want to try different things. I want to discover cinema, I want to discover story-telling, I want to try different forms. For instance, I may do a thriller or a horror flick or a zany romantic contemporary film next. Give us a perspective of Bollywood. Are you finding it easy to make films of your choice? Times couldn’t have been better for Indian cinema. Ideally, two kinds of cinema — the traditional and the experimental — must co-exist. Unless there’s traditional cinema, the experimental one like Lagaan cannot be. Who would have thought even five... years ago that we would see a film like Manorama 6ft Under? It’s a great time for Indian cinema....
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Source: Times Now
Date: February 3, 2008
Ashutosh Gowariker's much-awaited 'Jodha Akbar' is a film, which has been making everyone drool over exotic visuals and the sizzling starcast. The film is all set to showcase Ash-Hrithik pair amidst the magnificent sets depicting a sixteenth century tale of true love and war. The Ash Hrithik chemistry is still clearly alive with both the actors looking like picture perfect pieces of history. Commenting on a movie that has been made on an epic scale, the director of the movie -- Ashutosh Gowarkier -- says that 'Jodha Akbar' has been his most challenging film. The movie, has been dogged by controversy from the word go and the director -- Ashutosh Gowarkier -- makes no bones about it. Commenting on the movie, Ashutosh Gowarkier said:"Jodhaa has been my most difficult film till date. In my other films, the characters were my own so I could do what I wanted with them, however, for this movie, I had to do a lot more research." It is clear that 'Jodhaa Akbar' has meticulous attention to detail with the jewellery, the armour needing particular care. Elaborating the importance of jewellery and armoury in the movie 'Jodhaa Akbar', Gowarkier said:"For the first time, importance needed to be given to jewellery as it played a very significant role for Mughuls and Rajputs. During the sixteenth century, many battles were fought so more attention was required for armoury." But in the midst of all the grandeur, the core of the film still revolves around a universal love story. "Jodhaa of course is somebody he gets completely gets besotted by in the first sight of her. His first attraction is not one off a love or lust, it is about her strength of character as an individual," said Hrithik Roshan. Commenting on the relationship between Jodhaa and Akbar, Aishwarya Rai said:"In that era and time, they came together, which purely looked like a political move and alliance, but it was in most beautiful relationship of marriage."