Ash hears a Boo

Over the last couple of days, I watched two interesting period movies, both approximately in the 16th century.

The first one as this title suggests, stars, the actress I love to hate, Ash. Frankly, I did not want to watch the movie, Jodhaa Akbar; but V wanted to and his friends were waiting for us in the theater. Surprisingly, the movie was not bad at all. This is one of those few where I could bear, Ash's acting. She looked beautiful and sleep-walked through the role. Hritik looked good too. The movie was shot well, the palaces were just beautiful. There is a scene, when Jodhaa comes to her new palace, and she is shown to her room. It was so grand ! She had a room just for changing clothes that was bigger than my whole apartment! The jewelery was gorgeous, in fact, I was surprised at some of the styles, as they resembled the popular costume jewelery of today. I have seen very Bollywood movies with huge war scenes, this was one of the few. It was not fantastic but good for desi style. Watching one of the war scenes, reminded me of a game of chess, complete with soldiers, horsemen and powerful people of elephants. The songs were also good. The only thing bad about the movie was the length, it was too long and tended to just drag. But, looks like it is not very popular at the box office; especially for Ash. Interesting fact I learned during the movie, did you know that Akbar the great was an illiterate? That did not stop him from being one of the greatest rulers though.

The second movie, the other boleyn girl, was also very interesting (spoilers below). The story is based on the rivalry between 2 sisters, Anne and Mary, over King Henry VIII. Mary becomes the King's mistress first and gives birth to a son. Then, her sister has an affair with the King; she drives the King to divorce his wife, Catherine. His marriage is on the rocks because the Queen cannot give birth to a son, so in order to divorce her, he even makes up his own law and goes against the church ! Tut, tut ! Men ! The King then marries Anne Boleyn, she gives birth to a girl. She then succumbs to pressure for giving birth to a son, gets desperate and almost cheats with her brother !! This is seen by the brother's wife, and she reports to the King. Needless to say, the King, who is already unhappy by now and overcome with regret, charges the Queen and her brother. They are both sentenced to death. Phew ! Quite a story, eh? Now, comes the most interesting part, Anne Boleyn's daughter, becomes the greatest Monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth I !! Yes, folks, all this is a part of history.

It was interesting to see both these movies, and the role of women in those days. It seemed to revolve around, giving birth to a male heir; combined with politics, manipulation, power, lies, etc....somethings never change eh?