No, not mine…my kids – and they relished all 3 1/2 hours of it (spread over 2 evenings).  I underestimated the endless learning opportunities a film like Jodhaa Akbar presents – however “fictitious” of an historical film it is.  But for 2 evenings, we were transported to 16th century Mughal India – to a time when, to the bewilderment of my kids, there were no cars or trains, telephones or electricity.  They got glimpses of elephant transport, palanquins and of glorious Indian palaces.  Although my 3-year-old daughter was most interested in the colours of Princess Jodhaa’s outfits and in categorizing each character as either “good” or “bad,” my older son delved into the story.

Here are some vocabulary words we learned from our weekend Bollywood-fest:

Akbar (and the fact that he was a Muslim Mughal Emperor)
Rajputana (and where the current Rajasthan is on the map)
War (though we fast forwarded through the 2 battle scenes to avoid the violence, we did discuss what a “war” is)
Allah (as in this is who Muslims pray to)
Tax (as in the Pilgrim Tax on the Hindus, which Akbar reportedly abolished)
Duel (as in the one between Akbar and Sharifuddin)
Howdah (Princess Jodhaa’s mode of transportation)
Greed
Sufi Saints

And so my kids begin their Bollywood journey.  They’ve already asked me for a next movie…I’ll have to give this some thought.

5 Responses to “My First Bollywood Movie”

1. Pavithra Says:
   December 6th, 2011 at 5:15 am

   My son and I watched Lagaan. A great movie with no violence, great songs and was a great way to introduce him to Cricket!!! It was a great experience.

2. Mom With a Dot Says:
   December 6th, 2011 at 7:28 pm

   I began replying to your post that graduated to becoming my next post LOL !! Here it is

   http://momwithadot.blogspot.com/2011/12/introducing-bollywood-to-kids-in-usa.html

3. Aruna Says:
   December 7th, 2011 at 9:16 am

   Funny – I was thinking about Lagaan to put on the list – thanks for the endorsement!
   And thanks for the reviews about the other movies, Mom-With-a-Dot – glad to inspire a post!

4. psicologos en rosario Says:
   February 7th, 2012 at 10:42 am

   psicologos en rosario…

   [...]My First Bollywood Movie[...]…

5. Palzmasti Says:
   April 21st, 2012 at 11:08 am

   Palzmasti…

   [...]My First Bollywood Movie[...]…

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