Jodha Akbar to release in January next year

odha Akbar , the much-anticipated film by Ashutosh Gowarikar , has been shifted to January, 2008.

The movie, starring Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan , was initially slated to hit the theatres in October. But now, the film’s production company UTV and director Ashutosh Gowarikar have shifted the release date.


The film will now release worldwide on January 25, 2008, a day before the Indian Republic Day.

It is learnt that the release has been postponed because the movie has an elaborate and extremely demanding post-production work.

The film has mostly been shot at Nitin Desai’s studio in Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Hrithik plays emperor Akbar, while Aishwarya plays the fiery Rajput princess Jodhabai in the movie. Huge and lavish sets were built at ND Studios to recreate the royal ambience of the sixteenth century.

I've done my research for 'Jodha-Akbar': Gowarikar

In the backdrop of the court case filed by a Rajasthani community against his under-production historical film Jodha-Akbar, director Ashutosh Gowarikar said he would not do anything that would hurt the sentiments of any community.

Recently Rajput Sabha filed a petition in a local court saying Jodha Bai was not a daughter of Amer ruler Bharmal.

The Sabha claims that historically there was only one Jodha Bai, who was the daughter of Marwar ruler Udai Singh, and she was married to Akbar's son Jahangir.

"I did my research even when I did Laagan. I have gone through historical books before finalising my script. I have done my research for Jodha-Akbar also and would not do anything wrong and take every precaution to see that sentiments of no community is hurt," Gowarikar said at the second anniversary of ND studios on Wednesday.

He said that animals in the film were used only after obtaining required permission from the authorities.

About the disagreement of the facts by historians, the court said the Censor Board will look into these aspects before certifying the film.

Jodha-Akbar stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai and is produced by UTV.

Often considered as the 'Mozart of Asia,' musician Allah Rakha Rahman has done everything from classical to reggae and now with Shekar Kapur's 'Elizabeth: the Golden Age' awaiting release, where he pairs up with Hollywood actor Craig Armstrong, he is very excited.

"It has been really a wonderful experience working with Craig. We travelled a lot in places like Glasgow...remotely working with the guys in London," says Rahman who was in the capital recently.

The singer-composer has his hands full with a lot of films, the latest being Ashutosh Gowarikers 'Jodha Akbar' starring Hrithik Roshan and Ashwariya Rai Bachchan.

"Jodha Akbar is a romantic story about a king falling in love with a princess and I have tried to keep the music contemporary so that it satisfies both critics and the music lovers," he says.
"The music of the film is very much what is required for the film. We have celebration songs and quawallis," he adds. Rahman, who composed the music of Subhash Ghei's 'Kisna' is once again paring up with the director in his latest flick, 'Yuvraaj'.
"Yuvraaj is a very challenging project. We had a hard time composing the first two songs but now as those have been cracked, we hope we will be able to wrap it up quickly," he says.

"We have a very unlikely combination in this film as we have Gulzar saab, Subhash Ghaiji and me in this venture," he adds. Rahman who was in the city to mark the one year celebration of an FM channel, will be performing live in the capital in November for the first time.

"I was planning to perform in Delhi for the last 10 years and now I have got the chance to perform and I am very excited about it," he says.

Rahman had composed the tracks of 'Shivaji-The Boss,' which struck gold at the box office in India and abroad and now since the film is being dubbed in Hindi, Rahman is a little apprehensive about it.

"After a long time, I have decided to dub my songs in Hindi. I had almost stopped dubbing in Hindi but this time I am convinced that it will do well. The music is ready and will be released soon," he says.

While other music directors of tinsel town have already started cashing on their popularity by joining the small screen and also vying for the big screen, Rahman is unperturbed and says he is a musician and would love to remain so.

"I have enough musical commitments to fulfill and I love to be a musician and would love to continue the good work. And anyways, I am not well versed in acting so it doesn't matter to me," he says.

Jodha Akbar-Cast

Hrithik Roshan - Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar

Aishwarya Rai - Jodha

Sonu Sood - Rajkumar Sujamal

Kulbhushan Kharbanda - Raja Bharmal

Suhasini Mulay - Rani Padmawati

Raza Murad - Shamsuddin Atka Khan

Punam Sinha - Mallika Hamida Banu

Rajesh Vivek - Chugtai Khan

Pramod Muthu - Todar Mal

Ila Arun - Maham Anga

Surendra Pal - Rana Uday Singh

Vishwa S. Badola - Saadir Adaasi

Prathmesh Mehta - Chandrabhan Singh

Shaji Chaudhary - Adham Khan

Manava Naik - Neelakshi

Disha Vakani - Madhavi

Abeer Abrar - Bakshi Banu Begum

Indrajit Sarkar - Maheshdas / Birbal

Aman Dhaliwal - Rajkumar Ratan Singh

Nikitin Dheer - Sharifuddin Hussain

Pradeep Sharma - Sheikh Mubarak

Balraj - Raja Balraj Singh

Sudhanshu Hakku - Raja Shimalgarh

Digvijay Purohit - Rajkumar Bhagwan Das

Dilnaaz Irani - Salima

Shehzor Ali - Raja Hemu

Ulhas Barve - Raja Mankeshwar

Jassi Singh - Raja Bhadra

Rajiv Sehgal - Raja Viraat

Bharat Kumar - Raja Chauhan

Jodha Akbar-review

Jodhaa Akbar is a sixteenth century love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal Emperor, Akbar and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa. Politically, success knew no bounds for Emperor Akbar, After having secured the Hindu Kush, he furthered his realm by conquest until his empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal, and from the Himalayas to the Godhavari River. Through a shrewd blend of tolerence, generosity and force, Akbar won the allegiance of the Rajputs, the most belligerent Hindus. But little did Akbar know that when he married Jodhaa, a fiery Rajput princess, in order to further strengthen his relations with the Rajputs, he would in turn be embarking upon a new journey - the journey of true love. The daughter of King Bharmal of Amer, Jodhaa resented being reduced to a mere political pawn in this marriage of alliance, and Akbar's biggest challenge now did not merely lie in winning battles, but in winning the love of Jodhaa - a love hidden deep below resentment and extreme prejudice. Jodhaa Akbar is their untold love story.