South Asian Business news and information

While Aishwarya Rai was shooting for Provoked in London, Ashutosh Gowariker sent her an SMS which says, "WILL U B MY JODHA?" Aishwarya Bachchan agreed to do the role and the deal was finalized in Mumbai. 

The production cost of Jodha Akbar was three hundred seventy million rupees. In another report, it was mentioned that the production cost was three hundred ninety million rupees. 

Ashutosh Gowariker said that he got the idea of the movie from his actor friend, Hyder Ali. To make the movie, Ashutosh Gowariker read whatever books he could get his hands on. He read the “Akbarnama.” It is a biography written by Abul Fazal, one of the nine most respected personalities at Akbar’s court known as “Navaratnas.” He also consulted with Irfan Habib, a renowned Indian Historian, from Aligarh Muslim University and the historians of Jamia Milia University. The incident of the movie took place before Akbar became twenty seven years old, before the birth of Prince Selim. The main problem Ashutosh faced was that literary texts provided contradictory facts about Jodhabai. For further research on the subject, Ashutosh even visited Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. He found out that the Maharaja and Maharani of Jaipur are the descendants of Jodhabai.

Famous South Indian music director,A. R. Rahman, said that he will not compose music for any period movies. Jodha Akbar will be his last period film. Rahman has composed 12 songs for the movie.

I have already mentioned in my earlier post that Rajput community alleged Ashutosh Gowariker for distorting the history. According to Narendra Singh Rajawat, secretary of the Rajput Sabha, the movie distorted the historical facts. He said that Jodha Bai was not actually the daughter of the King of Amber, Raja Bharmal but his wife’s maid servant, Heera Kunwar. Raja Bharmal did not marry his daughter to Emperor Akbar. Narendra Singh even went to the shooting location to meet Ashutosh but he could not find him there.

Aishwarya Bachchan has great respect for Hrithik Roshan. She said, “I’ve done a world tour with him. He’s such a focused, dedicated and passionate actor. Working with him would definitely be an enriching experience. With every film I hope to evolve as an actor. With someone like Hrithik for a co-star that process of growth becomes even easier.”    

For the script writer of Jodha Akbar, K.P. Saxena, it was a major challenge. He had to write dialogues in chaste Urdu used during the Mughal era and Hindi language of that time. It required lot of concentration and hard work for the old script writer but he accepted the challenge because this would help him prove his mastery over Urdu language.