South Asian Business news and information

For Jodha Akbar, a massive set had been built containing large replicas of various forts and palaces of the Mughals at the N.D Studio owned by famous art director, Nitin Desai. Here are some interesting facts about the lavish set where Jodha Akbar was shot.

The set contains a 60 feet high replica of the Red Fort built over six acres of land. Replicas of Agra and Ajmer Forts were also built. According to Nitin Desai, the replicas were built in such a way that they would survive for fifty years. After the end of the shooting of Jodha Akbarm, they will be open for public viewing. 

To recreate Sheesh Mahal, Nitin Desai used two million mirrors. To build the set of Jodha Akbar he worked 12-18 hours every day. He even designed an artificial Agra Fort in his studio which is 1200 feet long and 50 feet tall. To recreate the Agra Fort in his studio Nitin Desai spent more than a week taking measurements of the real Agra fort. Along with Sheesh Mahal and Agra fort Desai designed the famous Amar Singh darwaza, Diwan-E-Aaam, Diwan-E-Khaas and the residential palace for Akbar and Jodha and a temple where Jodhabai will be performing her pujas in the movie. In 1960, when Mughal-E-Azam was made by K. Asif, he faced problems while shooting the movie in the Sheesh Mahal because of the reflections of the mirrors. Nitin Desai made sure that Ashutosh Gowariker do not face same problem while shooting his movie. 

The over all building cost of the set ranged between Rs. 70-90 million. 

To recreate the effect of Jaipur in Karjat studio, Ashutosh ordered 50tracks of white sand. He did not want to compromise the production standard of his movie. 

As the movie was shot during the summer, it was very troublesome for the actors because they had to wear heavy ornaments and zardozi costumes. To make the actors and actresses comfortable while they were acting, Ashutosh installed six mobile air-conditioners during the outdoor shoot at the N.D. Studio. Every day, the air-conditioners used to run from 9 a.m.- 6 a.m. and it cost Ashutosh a huge amount of money. 

As I have mentioned in my previous post that Nitin designed two cottages for Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, I found two pictures of their cottages. Hrithik’s 1600 sq. feet cottage had a well equipped gymnasium and a small kitchen. Hrithik brought his cook from Mumbai. Hrithik is an early riser and he goes out for walk. For him Nitin even got a snooker table and a private swimming pool.

Nitin used soft colors to paint Aishwarya Bachchan’s cottage. Her cottage was  designed in such a way that she would feel like a princess. In the beginning, Aishwarya did not get her own cook. So, Hrithik allowed his cook to prepare vegetable and flour bread for Aishwarya.