Review of Jodhaa Akbar (2008) by Niteripper D — 19 Jun 2009

Entertaining,great costumes,jewelry and few nice songs.Hrithik did a good job portraying Akbar. Of course it's not historically accurate,I know that is to be expected from an Indian film,but Ash's role is mostly fiction.

Here are the facts about Jodha bai,even though that was not her name during her life. Her birth name was Heera Kunwari,(born October 1,1542) was a Rajput princess, daughter of Raja Bharmal. She became wife of the emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and the mother of next emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir.

Akabar did believe in religious harmony and gave her the choice to maintain her religion,diet and culture. But she actually converted to Islam by choice after studying it. Also,Islamic law does not permit marriage with Hindus without conversion.

She wanted to make sure she was perceived as his real wife by the people and law. Her name after she converted was Mariam-uz-Zamani,it is even recorded in Mughal chronicles as such and why the mosque of this name was constructed in her honor.

BTW,she wasn't forced to marry him, her father was very proud of the opportunity and so was she. Most women would be happy to marry a king. She is now referred to as Jodha Bai,although she was never known as such during her lifetime.

This was mainly due to a mistake later by a British historian who confused her with another Rajput princess married within Moghals who was from Jodhpur. British have a habit of refering to people for their birthplace as if it is their name.

(They do that even now.) Anyway, Akbar did believe in religious tolerance and did allow for Hindu temples to be built within the palace for his workers. He wanted to give importance to all religions. India was very strong, peaceful and financially stable during his time.

His dream was for future Hindus and Muslims to truly get along and trust each other and work together to make India a better place. Unfortunately, it seems like that dream still hasn't come true,even to this day.