Taj Mahal (2005)
Director: Akbar Khan
Movie review
From Time Out London
Set in the Great Mogul period (1592-1666) in India, this familiar tale recounts Emperor Shah Jehan's (Bedi/Syed) dedication to build a fitting 'monument of love' for his beautiful dead wife Mumtaz (Jehan). Purporting to be Bollywood's most expensive film to date, the film has epic aspirations in every frame. But lavish sets, huge battle scenes and costly costumes do not a 'Mughal-e-Azam' make. Some of the rupees should have been spent instead on acting lessons for the large C list cast, and on proper subtitling as theĀ poetic Urdu dialogues get lost in literal translation. Khan adopts his Indian tele-serial approach to filmmaking: the result is an overlong glossy soap. Only Naushad's haunting score successfully recreates the mood of a bygone era.Author: AS
Time Out London Issue 1839: November 16-23 2005
Cast & crew
Director: Akbar Khan
Producer: Akbar Khan
Cast: Zulfikar, Sonya Jehan, Kabir Bedi, Manisha Koirala, Pooja Batra, Arbaaz Ali, Kim Sharma, Melind Gunaji, Vaquar Sheikh, Arbaaz Khan full cast
Duration: 175 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Chicago International Film Festival preview
Mark Ruffalo cons us into liking The Brothers Bloom, plus early tips on films and surviving the fest.
Chain gang
Miranda July's "video chain letters" for women filmmakers get some respect at the Siskel.
Mister nice guy
Greg Kinnear brings his affability to a flawed hero.
Radical visions
British filmmaker Derek Jarman gets a much-deserved reconsideration at the Siskel Film Center.
Toronto International Film Festival
The Wrestler aside, the least-hyped films at Toronto were the most exciting.
Summer school
Six lessons we learned at the multiplex this summer.
Head trip
Fall preview: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is one of the most mind-bending films of the season.



What do you think?
Post your review now