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Staying alive Jodhaa Akbar turns the pages of history for inspiration

How much of a sense of history do we have? According to Roshan Shetty, a student, “Many of us are unaware of our freedom fighters. We never pay attention in history class or even read the text before the exam. I had a friend who was able to scrape through a class test only because he had watched the movie ‘Gandhi’.”

There are people everywhere who can vouch for the fact they get their history from the movies. Says software engineer Kaveri Krishnaiah, “Watching movies like ‘Rang de Basanti’ and ‘Asoka’ actually taught me much. I remember reading about the emperor Asoka almost 15 years ago, but after the exams were over and done with, it was only the movie that brought back all the history I had studied long before. Come to think of it, I know more about Asoka only because of the movie.”

“Jodhaa Akbar”, which is opening on the Valentine weekend to much hype and hoopla takes another swing at history. “I can’t wait to watch the movie,” exclaims Poonam Tivari, an office assistant.

History major student, Ashish Dev Bhatnagar says, “The trailers show the aesthetic setting of this historical movie that grabs the viewers’ attention in a trice.” He however expresses his disappointment over the so called “historical movies” being “manipulated and edited so as to cater to the interests of the target audience.” Ashish even goes on to say that it is pointless to give the viewers historical stories that are conveniently distorted.

There are enough of people who are eagerly waiting for the movie, not so much as to brush up their knowledge of the great Mughal emperor so much as to feast their eyes on the incandescent lead pair of Hrithik Roshan and the lovely Ms Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

There are some, though, like Communicative English student Sumathi Nagesh who asserts, “One must never follow a historical movie to the exact detail. Movies like ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ should only inspire us to read more about what we have watched in the theatre. History is necessary as it is a take off point for a movie like this.”

Prathibha Shankar, a student of commerce is of the opinion that “we probably understand history better through movies since motion pictures are way more interesting than lectures and text books.

However, one cannot gain all knowledge from a historical movie as most of the content is edited and condensed. After all, one cannot expect to see or know everything in such a short span of time.”

Whether it the boredom that arises from the utterance of the very word “history,” or the willingness to accept anything offered to us, such movies are a boon for filmmakers who can laugh all the way to the bank thanks to those who prefer their daily dose of history from a glitzy, glittery film rather than a tome.

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