Bajirao Mastani : The War of Love

Bajirao Mastani : Movie Review

Period dramas have always been film-makers’ fancy throughout the world. India undoubtedly has a rich lineage of Raja – Maharajas, Peshwas, Baadshahs, Nawabs, etc., with our history books highlighting their valorous tales. Encapsulating these epic encounters on screen has always been challenging & interesting. Further, the audience’s expectations here are higher, since we enjoy watching our ‘text-book heroes’ as ‘superheroes’ on screen!

However, very few Indian directors, K. Asif (Mughal-E-Azam), Kedar Kapoor, (Sikander-E-Azam), Ashutosh Gowariker (Jodhaa Akbar), Sanjay Khan (Tipu Sultan & ‘The Great Maratha’) have been able to do justice, drawing inspiration from popular novels, topped up with ‘believable’ cinematic liberty.

Bajirao Mastani is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s tryst with this genre, in the backdrop of Maratha Empire, during the regime of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. The story touched upon in Bollywood for the first time, has been attempted twice, on Marathi television, the most popular one being from the 90s, where veteran actors Manoj Joshi, Smita Talvalkar & Ashwini Bhave played the leads.

Talking about the film, it begins with Maharaj (Mahesh Manjrekar) looking for a suitable successor to Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, who dies in a recent battle. Peshwa Balaji’s son Bajirao (Ranveer Singh), though quite young for the position, is considered to be among the strongest contenders. He proves his worth by undergoing couple of tests, and succeeds his father to be crowned the next Peshwa. He is married to Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra) who is literally in awe of him.

During one of his joint battles, (along with army of Bundelkhand) against the Mughals, Bajirao bumps into Mastani (daughter of Maharaja Chhatrasal, Rajput king of Bundelkhand and Ruhaani Bai, who was a courtesan in Nizam’s palace of Hyderabad). Mastani practices both Hinduism & Islam. Bajirao is amazed by her multi-faceted personality, she being skilled in horse-riding, spear-throwing, swordsmanship, and also a talented dancer and singer. Mastani too is attracted towards Bajirao’s passionate warriorship. Both fall in love, and decide to take their relationship to the next level. How does the political strata of the then prevailing society react to this ‘unusual of its time’ union is what the story is all about.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali does poetic justice to recreate the era on screen with authenticity, through what he is known best for i.e. his ‘large creative canvas’. He is superbly supported by debutant art director Sriram Iyengar’s marvellous set designs and cinematographer Sudeep Chaterjee, who comes up with outstanding visuals. Having said that, the film does not claim to follow history verbatim, and does include quite a few fictitious elements, to make the story interesting. Most of the experiments do work in keeping up the entertainment quotient high.

In the first half, the narrative moves rapidly, from frame to frame and sets the tone of the film. The second half is equally fast, but tends to get a bit sluggish towards the end. Editing by Rajesh Pandey is quite sharp, but could have been a bit tighter.  However, the performances, and the overall treatment of the film keeps you engaged throughout, all credit to Bhansali for the same. Dialogues by Prakash Kapadia are hard hitting, and add tremendous value to the narrative. The action scenes by Sham Kaushal are well executed, and give you goose-bumps! However, there may be comparisons with ‘Bahubali’ which is unfair.

The music, by Bhansali himself is a revelation. He mixes it up well with all elements, Traditional, Folk (Lavani), Devotional, Classical, Sufi, to supplement his vision. Nevertheless, two amazing songs viz. Pinga and Malhari, which are very well picturised and brilliantly performed by the artists, seem a bit forced in the narrative.

Performance wise, all three leading actors Ranveer, Deepika & Priyanka are brilliant.  Ranveer once again showcases his acting prowess, by imbibing & portraying key traits and nuances of his character viz. leadership skills, authoritative arrogance & passion, like a chameleon with élan and ease. His diction & fluency in colloquial ‘Marathi’ is perfect. Deepika Padukone looks stunning as Mastani, and performs exceptionally well in both the action & romantic scenes. Her chemistry with Ranveer, gels with the underlying theme. Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai comes up with a mature act, completely justifying her part, and bringing in the right emotions at the right time.

Tanvi Azmi as Radha Bai, Bajirao’s orthodox mother is phenomenal. The actress usually known for her lighter roles pleasantly surprises with an amazing revelation!

Milind Soman is first rate. Vaibhav Tatwawadi as Chimaji Rao (Bajirao’s younger sibling) is quite competent. Raza Murad & Aditya Pancholi have a blink-n-miss kind of appearance. Yatin Karyekar excels in a cameo. Mahesh Manjrekar as Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj does well. It’s good to see Benjamin Gilani on screen after a long time.All other actors provide adequate support.

Bajirao Mastani is a great film, but can’t exactly be termed as a TIMELESS CLASSIC like Mughal-e-Azam. However, it comes in at a relevant time, where intolerance is openly being talked about in various forums. The story reinforces the ‘message of the century’ that LOVE has no religion, because it’s a RELIGION in itself.

All in all, an intense and entertaining cinematic experience to be enjoyed with family & friends!

Rating : ***1/2

 

 

It’s a WOMAN’s world as well !

Movie Review : Angry Indian Goddesses

The struggle of women in the Indian society has always been a matter of concern since time immemorial. Under the pretext of patriarchy, lot of standard operating procedures (SOPs) are conveniently dumped on Women Folk in India, from cradle to grave. Even today, in certain sections of the society, women are expected to follow certain set of rules / stay within certain limits or boundaries, failing which they would be judged, ridiculed, subjected to eccentric behaviour & character assassination, at the drop of a hat.

To add to it, few stalwarts also conduct ‘moral’ compliance audits exclusively for women towards ‘Permissibility in Indian Culture & Society’, to ensure reinforcement of their self-made protocols. Over the years, despite having proved their equal competence, or even superiority to men in various fields, their battle for mutual co-existence continues.

There have been cinematic experiments to strongly highlight the above issues, where actresses like Late Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Rekha, Madhuri Dixit, Deepti Naval, Tabu have successfully played unusual yet realistic characters on screen. However, these stints got categorised under ‘off beat or ‘art’ film genre, conveniently restricting them to a specific, and so called, mature audience.

Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddess is a completely main stream & absolutely fresh take on contemporary Indian Women & their thought processes, also touching upon on the problems in the current scenario.

The films begins with Frieda D’Silva (Sarah Jane Dias) inviting her good friends  Nargis (Tannishtha Chatterjee), Madhurita (Anushka Manchanda), Suranjana (Sandhya Mridul),Pavleen Gujral (Pammy) and Amrit Maghera (Joanna) to Goa (her family home) for a brief get-together. Laxmi (Rajshri Deshpande) Frieda’s house-help, who’s grown up with her, also joins the girl gang. All of them hail from varied backgrounds have different perspectives in lives. They are kind of strangers to each other, but are closely connected with Frieda.

The story unfolds slowly, yet steadily, as & when the girls get to know one another, begin to mutually adjust / enjoy each other’s company, and are in for surprises, both pleasant & shocking!

Like most ‘Buddy’ films, the USP of the films lies in its characters. The narrative focuses on effectively bringing out the ‘realness in & the ‘relationship’ among the characters, which makes it a believable affair. Typical human traits viz. emotionality, bitchiness, sarcasm, vulnerability, etc. are aptly depicted, without going overboard.

However, there are instances, where it’s difficult to digest, too many issues being dealt with, at one go, in a 2 hour film. The climax though pretty strong, will have mixed response.

Cinematographer Swapnil Suhas Sonawane captures Goa like never before. There are no clichéd shots of beach volley ball, foreigners sunbathing, etc. etc. Rather, we get to see the ‘KONKANI’ side of the city, which is equally ROCKING!

Music by Ram Sampath is the perfect blend of Indian Folk, Light Music, & Modern Hip Hop! It is bound to strike the right chord among the youth brigade. He is, indeed one of the most under-rated music composers in Indian Cinema.

Dialogues are straight out of real time conversations, which youngsters can relate to. In fact, muting of cuss words at various places, break the flow of the film. Similarly ‘editing’ out key portions abruptly, ‘pixelating’ images, spoils the essence of the narrative.

The certificate appearing in the beginning mentions ‘revised’ in brackets, besides the name of the film, which is disappointing!  It’s high time that the difference between a socially relevant &   run-of-the-mill C grade films, is well defined & understood, before treating them harshly, esp. after having given it an ‘A’ rating.

The entire leading cast viz. Sarah Jane Dias, Anushka Manchanda, Tannishtha Chaterjee, Sandhya Mridul, Pavleen Gujral, Amrit Maghera and Rajshri Deshpande breathe life into their respective roles.  Each one of them, perform naturally & sincerely with élan. It would be difficult or rather unfair to single out few from the entire team. The male actors Arjun Mathur, Adil Hussain under-play themselves well, to adequately support the Gang of Girls!

Overall, Angry Indian Goddesses is a story of today, which deserves to be told & heard. It encapsulates the true spirit of contemporary feminism where India women are not restricted to being shown as ‘Victims of Circumstances’, but Game Changers!

Pan Nalin, his writers and entire cast & crew deserve a huge round of applause for this out-of-the-box fare !

Rating:  ***1/2

Tamasha: Life is a role-play

Movie Review : Tamasha

It is often said that life is as complicated as we tend to make it. Our lifelong pursuit of achieving success & stability before everything else etc. sometimes, puts the real self on the back-foot and we end up becoming identical products emerging from an assembly line.

Esp. from the Indian perspective, the passion versus ‘moolah’ debate, with the involvement of parents, elders and peer pressure, is never ending.

With Tamasha, director Imtiaz Ali tries experimenting by touching upon this element, against the backdrop of yet another typically unusual love story.

The plot begins in Corsica (France) where Ved Vardhan Sahni (Ranbir Kapoor) a happy go lucky Indian youngster, bumps into Tara Maheshwari (Deepika Padukone) who is kind of lost & looking for help. Ved does succeed in bailing her out, and the two come closer. However, they decide to keep their identities hidden from each other, just to avoid a clichéd encounter!  After spending quality fun time for few days, they quietly part ways and continue in each individual paths.

Few years down the line, both of them cross paths once again in New Delhi, where Tara is involved in some official assignments and Ved also has a full time corporate job as a product manager. Both of them are excited to reconnect & start seeing each other, but unfortunately life isn’t as smooth as it could get.  Different perspectives in life and the time gap, does begun to impact their relationship, and present lives. To dwell into further details, one needs to watch the film.

The story starts a bit slowly, and initially focuses on the fun loving moments between the principal characters. However, in due course of time, it gathers momentum, and thereon moves at a decent pace.  The treatment is pretty much fresh and contemporary, but has a bit of art cinema flavour to it.

Use of cinematic liberty at certain places, slightly complicates the narrative as well. This may not appeal to a certain section of audience, expecting pure entertainment. However, the film does succeed in conveying certain key messages to the youth of today, esp. how our childhood is killed!

Editing by Aarti Bajaj, works in parts. Dialogues are quite witty. Cinematography by Ravi Verman is interestingly different, esp. the portions shot in Corsica are visually spectacular.

Music by A R Rahman is good, but not the best. The songs do not elevate the film to a different level like Imtiaz’s Rockstar & Highway. Ditto for the lyrics, by Irshad Kamil.

Performance wise, Deepika does complete justice to her role, esp. when it comes to emoting, but her character could have been stronger.  Vivek Mushran is just brilliant as Ranbir’s boss. He captures the body language of a typical Delhi based manager very well. Jaaved Sheikh and Sushma Seth provide adequate support. Piyush Mishra excels in a cameo.

However, the film belongs to Ranbir Kapoor. The actor in yet another experimental role, plays it with élan and proves his versatility as a perfect successor to the R K clan!

Overall, Tamasha is a good film, which makes you introspect, and inspires you to take charge of your own-self than regret later, being a victim of circumstances. Life is a role-play where every character is distinct & different. One needs to follow his/her true calling, and maintain a work-life balance to be happy.

Rating:  ***