in love. Sujamal, Sharifuddin Hussain, and his allies march to attack Amer. After Sujamal overhears Sharifuddin plotting a silent attack on the emperor, he quickly leaves to warn Akbar of this conspiracy. Sharifuddin's army chase Sujamal off, who is received by Bhagwant Das in Akbar's camp. Before dying, he manages to warn the emperor of the attack, who then recognises Sujamal and realises what the past misunderstanding concerning the letter was. Akbar defeats Sharifuddin in hand-to-hand combat, and then spares his life for the sake of his half-sister Bakshi Banu Begum, but not before stripping him of his title of Viceroy of Ajmer and Nagaur. Eventually, Akbar proclaims that Hindustan will be a peaceful and prosperous land if people respect and honour each other's religions. Cast Production Origin and scripting Following the success of Lagaan (2001), its director Ashutosh Gowariker was approached by actor and screenwriter Haidar Ali with the idea of making a film along the lines of K. Asif's historical epic, Mughal-e-Azam (1960). When Gowariker contemplated on whether he should make a sequel to Mughal-e-Azam or remake it, Ali suggested that he can do a prequel to it; Gowariker agreed and decided to create a screenplay that would cover the early years of Akbar's life from 13 to 21 years of age. In an interview with Syed Firdaus Ashraf of Rediff.com, Ali said on his decision to work with Gowariker:Ashutosh is the only director who could do justice to a film of such a level. In Lagaan, he touched on the issue of casteism, the oppressed class, Hindu-Muslim unity, communal harmony, team spirit, management and nationalism. He weaved all this beautifully to make a hit film without preaching or lecturing. In the same way, I told him he could make a beautiful film by touching on such issues without preaching. Gowariker had already finished his script for Swades (2004) when Ali pitched the idea. As a result, he decided to start his work with Ali after completing it. In December 2001, Ali began research on the marriage of princess Jodhabai, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Amer, Bharmal with the Mughal emperor Akbar, and prepared a basic story on the couple. One month after Swades was released, Ali met Gowariker and handed to him the story. Gowariker subsequently announced his next project, terming it "a romantic musical", titled Jodhaa Akbar. In March 2005, Gowariker started work on the