A great conqueror who learnt how to rule when he discovered love.

Ok here it is, the year’s first big release. And when I say big, trust me I mean BIG. The canvas is humongous, specially the first war scenes within the first half hour. Very sleek, never seen before visuals in Bollywood. Think on the lines of TROY. Yes every frame is straight out of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, in terms of visuals. Ah, but before I start my review, let me tell you one thing.. I have a major problem with the length of the film.

Reel Life – The film is a story of India in the 1550s. The time of the Mogul rulers when, kings walked the soil and fought battles to expand their kingdom. In the midst of this, is an Emperor who has been raised to conquer, with the elders around him making all his decisions. Then one fine day when he decides to make his own decisions, he decides to accept a proposal to marry a Rajput princess. No big deal you say, except the man is a Mogul king, a Muslim. Now don’t expect a modern day drama about how this is un-acceptable. Instead what we get here is a nice story about how secularism was so much more evident in that era than it is now. The story resolves around how betrayal and greed, and also a small dose of fanaticism is overcome by love and secularism.

Real Life – ‘And let it be known that every person in my kingdom is free to worship in however way they wish to’ – one of the closing lines of the film, says it all for me. I really wish the world today, after all these centuries, was more secular than it is now. There are so many lessons here, of loyalty, of love, of power, but more importantly it’s about how people’s faith is what is one of the coolest things mankind can keep alive.

Cinematically – The canvas is amazing, very elegant, very lavish and above all very apt for the frame it is set back against. The background score is good. A.R. Rehman’s songs are good too. The cinematography is really exceptional. The sets fabulous, and the special effects as never seen before. The acting is good, but Hrithik is the person who walks away with the cake. It’s a pleasure to see the guy. Finally with the film we see the debut of a certain Mrs Bachchan. She was good in some scenes and just about ok in the rest. On the whole, cinematically all I can say is summed in one word – Take a bow Ashutosh. I don’t know how it will fare at the box-office but yes this is a must watch at the theatre. Finally, the narration of the film is provided by non other than Amitabh Bachchan and all I can say is ‘dada, only you have that voice and the style to narrate something so amazingly’

My name is Tagore Almeida (www.tagorealmeida.com ) and I am a full time IT professional and a part time film-maker/writer(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2291443/). I am the guardian of a humanitarian group called ‘The Uncultured Company’ (www.theunculturedcompany.com). I believe that there is just ‘One World, One Faith and Once Race. We are all one colour called life, and we have merely a different face’.