The duration of the movie forced producer-director Ashutosh Gowariker to delete the character of Birbal, who wins over the emperor with his wit and humor, from 'Jodhaa Akbar'.
MUMBAI: The duration of the movie, which had already exceeded three hours, forced producer-director Ashutosh Gowariker to delete the character of Birbal, who wins over the emperor with his wit and humor, from 'Jodhaa Akbar'.
The scenes were one in which Mahesh Das, later known as Birbal, and Akbar interact during the latter's hunting expedition and the sequence in which Birbal is invited to join the court, that was later christened 'navratna darbar'.
These two were among the deleted scenes from the final version which made it to the theatres in February this year.
If all the deleted scenes were to be included, the film would have been 3 hours 40 minutes long.
On the occasion of the film completing 100 days recently, Ashutosh Gowariker organised a get-together last night.
Gowariker said he plans to package the edited scenes which would be telecast when the film is premiered on television. "I could not include Birbal's part it as was ten minutes long. It broke my heart literally," he added.
Indrajeet Sarkar has played the character of Birbal.
Speaking about the film, he said the completion of 100 days was a special achievement. "Jodhaa Akbar" had four aspects going against it since the day it was released.
"The film was an historical one, which is not a popular genre, the duration-three hours and 20 minutes, controversy over the name of Akbar's Rajput wife and the fact that due to the long duration, there were only three shows daily instead of four," he added.
Gowariker said as producers he and Ronnie Screwvala of UTV had to forgo nearly one fourth of the revenue through box office collections due to the length of the movie.
Regarding his next project, Gowariker said 'What's your Raashee?' starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja is a romantic comedy which will go on floors in November this year.
"Shooting this film will be a refreshing break for me as well because after movies like 'Lagaan', 'Swades' and 'Jodhaa Akbar', I will start filming the comedy film for which I require no research," the Oscar nominated filmmaker said.
He said "What is your Rashee?" is an adaptation from a novel called "Kimball Ravenswood" by Madhu Rye.
"Romantic comedy is a genre that I have always loved, my most favourites being 'Roman Holiday', 'When Harry Met Sally', all films of Frank Capra amongst several others. I am also a great fan of 'Chupke Chupke' and all the romantic comedies of Hrishikesh Mukherji and Basu Chaterji. It is genre that I had always wanted to attempt and now I have got the opportunity to do so through 'What's your Raashee?' ", he added.
The filmmaker said 'What's your Raashee?' is presented by UTV Motion Pictures and Ashutosh Gowariker Productions and will be jointly produced by Ronnnie Screwvala and his wife Sunita A Gowariker.
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