jd n' akbar

i recently went in to see jodha akbar. (which is bollywoods latest shot at an epic, for the uninitiated.) while i went in with no expectations, it turned out to be surprisingly good. you get the feeling that you're watching history in the making. mostly because it takes so long. akbar's reign over india lasted nearly 50 years, the movie runs slightly longer. even the actors get frustrated. akbar orders the execution of his step brother by throwing him off the palace balcony. the ham playing his brother messes this up by not dying. sitting in the audience you feel every bit of akbar's pain at the time everything takes. (mainly in your bladder.)the production values are uniformly excellent, with great sets and costumes. but the problem with such a long movie is that it gives you time to think completely messing up the suspension of disbelief.for instance, the costumes and jewllery - though beautiful, jodha and akbar seem to live in them. the only part where akbar seemed to have less than about 3,000 carats on him was when he was playing tag with an elephant. now, the one thought screaming in my head as they took a shot at wedded bliss (about four hours into the movie) - doing with all that kit on? there will be blood!
all in all, i don't regret going - mainly because i had excellent company to laugh with.
but then, i came back with one big peeve - where the f*** is birbal?!