Let me understand. Did saffron wielding mobs protest against Jodhaa Akbar because there is a historical debate over the name of the Rajput princess who married Akbar? Or did they pull posters down and force theatre owners to stop screening the film because it is perhaps the first mainstream, commercial, popular Hindi film which portrays a Muslim man marrying a Hindu woman? The second reason is much likely why there was such an outcry against Ashutosh Gowarikar’s magnum opus. Remember Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm or Mani Ratnam’s Bombay? Both films that applauded the union of religions – one monotheistic, the other polytheistic – through marriage. However, both films portrayed the woman as a Muslim, never the man. The notion of intermingling of the bloodline was clearly sidestepped. Jodhaa Akbar did just the opposite. Firstly, Gowarikar picked a story that had a Muslim emperor marrying a Hindu princess. Their co-mingling produced the heir to the Mughal throne. The period of Mughal rule, mind you, is regarded by the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates to be the most ruinous period of Indian history. For the saffron flag-bearers, they are the outsiders who sacked the land of the Hindus. That the Mughals were the only race that made Hindustan its home, that Jalaluddin Mohammad, heir-apparent to Mughal Emperor Humayun was born in the house of a Rajput noble, that he saw friendly alliances, including those of marriage as possible conciliatory ways to overcome the need for wars and bloodshed, that he was the greatest ever ruler to govern Hindustan and was conferred the title of Akbar (Great) by predominantly Hindu subjects does not matter to those who have come the view the world in terms of those who support the so-called Hindu cause and those who do not. The marriage of a Muslim man to a Hindu woman is thus sacrilege of an unpardonable degree. These are tumultuous times, the society at large is moving towards intolerance and bigotry. Gowarikar attempted something that did give him a resounding success at the box office; at the same time, protests for no rhyme or reason marred the release and run of the film.
The narrative per se is flawless, at least historically. References to all events depicted in the film can be traced back to texts. The taming of the wild elephant, Akbar’s spiritual experience during the Sufi song sequence, the rebellion of Sharifuddin and Adham Khan’s killing can be traced back to any authoritative writing on Akbar and his times. In fact, those who know Delhi also know of Adham Khan’s tomb at the entrance to the Mehrauli area. The film, in a subtle manner, dwelt on the secular and syncretic aspects of Akbar’s relationship with his wife Jodhaa whom he had married not out of choice but in order to put an end to the communal strife that had broken out between the Hindus and the Muslims in the Rajputana and Gujarat regions. He viewed the marriage as a gesture of friendship towards his Hindu subjects. Those who watch the film carefully would note that the first offer of marriage is brought to the emperor’s court by Raja Bharmal of Amer, Jodhaa’s father. Akbar did not, in any way, force the princess to enter into this alliance. On the contrary, the princess was free to express her fears and concerns and in doing so she places two conditions that the emperor must fulfil before tying the knot. Her first condition was to do with conversion and the second, unheard of in Mughal courts till then, the construction of a temple in her quarters where she could install her family deity. Akbar nonchalantly agrees to both the conditions, marries the princess, and does not insist on the consummation of the marriage with a non-consenting Jodhaa. He, on the other hand, explains to his new wife, that under the laws of Islam, she is free to annul the marriage if she deems fit. Therefore, those who protest clearly did not even make an attempt to watch the film before falling prey to beguiling rumours.
The Mughal emperor, a practicing Muslim, is also credited with having abolished the pilgrimage tax or the tirth yatra mehsul that had been levied on Hindu pilgrims from time immemorial. Despite flak from court clergy and the nobles, Akbar not only abolished the tax but also refused to accept an argument that claimed that taking the tax off would damage the exchequer. He clearly placed a high degree of importance on the confidence of his subjects, majority Hindu. Further, Akbar put an end to the practice of beheading defeated local kings and allowed them to live as loyal subjects of the Mughal empire—a rather humane gesture in times when bloody wars were commonplace. These instances go to show the extent to which the film adhered to the basic tenets of history. It would not be wrong to say that Jodhaa Akbar is perhaps the most historically accurate film to roll out of the Bollywood assembly line. Mughal-e-Azam, I dare to say, could be termed as a cinematic classic, but it was by all means a historical disaster. The film depicted the saga of love between Prince Salim (later Jahangir) and the exquisitely beautiful courtesan Anarkali. Historians of great repute and authority have recorded that Anarkali was part of Akbar’s harem and even bore him a child. According to them, there was no relationship between Salim and Anarkali. Despite this deep-rooted historical flaw, the film was allowed a safe run across India. It, in fact went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters ever. Why then, this objection to Jodhaa Akbar? The reason, as explained earlier, is the deepening saffronization of the Indian society that has created a rather wide chasm of hatred and mistrust. Pogroms like that in Gujarat have only contributed to deepening this cleavage between communities. There is a hardening of stands on both sides. In times like these, Jodhaa Akbar breaks new ground. It rocks the foundations of the Sangh dictum that Hindus can never co-exist with Muslims. Parallely, it also deconstructs and completely destroys the theory postulated at the time of Partition—that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations. We have borne the burden of that flawed theory ever since.
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