‘They don’t make these kind of movies anymore’ -
'Bajirao Mastani' Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'
There was a time when our Hindi film directors used to make films with full passion and madness. They used to put their heart and soul in their films without compromising at any given point. Most of these movies used to be magnum opus films like ‘Mughal-E-Azam’, ‘Guide’, ‘Mera Naam Joker’, ‘Ganga Jamuna’, ‘Khuda Gawah’, ‘Lagaan’, ‘Devdas’ and more. Few of these films took years and years in its making and some of them extracted the single last penny of its filmmaker. Every such film has its unique tale to narrate related to its making and the mad obsession of the filmmaker. Sadly, in today’s time such mad obsession is seen only in few directors out of which Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one such mad genius who loves to present his films in total grand style made with full energy, hard work and high level of passion. For more than one and a half decade, this maverick filmmaker has been planning to make a film based on the epic love saga of the Maratha warrior Bajirao and the love of his life Mastani. Very few know that Sanjay had originally planned this film with Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee. Sadly, things did not work out until the success of his last film ‘Ram Leela’, after which his lead pair (Ranveer Singh & Deepika Padukone) agreed to be a part of this dream project of Mr. Bhansali. In the times where films are made as fast as possible, the team of ‘Bajirao Mastani’ took almost a year to make it with full involvement of its lead actors. Looking at the promo the movie promises to be a magnum opus film made on a high scale packed with powerful performances by its main protagonists.
‘Bajirao Mastani’ is a story of the Maratha Peshwa – Bajirao (Ranveer Singh), who won plenty of battles for his king Chhattrapati Shahu Maharaj (Mahesh Manjrekar). After fighting one such battle, he is approached by Mastani (Deepika Padukone) to save her father’s kingdom. Bajirao helps Mastani and in return loses his heart to her. He returns back to his provinces and his wife Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra). Mastani follows him to Poona where she is rejected by Bajirao’s mother (Tanvi Azmi). Mastani does not give up her love nor does Bajirao and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.
The story is inspired from the book ‘Rau’ by N.S.Inamdar which portrayed the historical life and happenings of the warrior and his lady love. Though, the writers have taken many cinematic liberties in order to make the movie appealing and engaging. The first half is flawless and has many fantastic moments attached to it. Right from the first scene featuring the selection of Ranveer Singh followed by breath taking credit titles, Ranveer’s first meet with Deepika, the whole battle of Bundelkhand, Ranveer meeting Deepika in her chamber, Ranveer firing Aditya Pancholi, Ranveer accepting Deepika’s love, Ranveer – Raza Murad war meet, Priyanka Chopra’s meet with Deepika followed by her closure with Ranveer Singh and many more, the movie keeps you glued to your seat. The second half though tends to be more of an Ekta Kapoor style of drama, featuring the house politics and stuff related to it. Tanvi Azmi tries hard to give a performance like what Illa Arun did in ‘Jodha Akbar’, but fails at some point. The screenplay tends to be repetitive in the second half, followed by weak and non-connective climax. Barring these minor glitches ‘Bajirao Mastani’ excels in every aspect of film-making. The dialogues are power punched followed by breathtaking visuals. There are many such moments where you will clap for the lead actors due to their flawless performances.
Music by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is good and goes well with the mood and flow of the film. ‘Mohe Rang Do Laal’, ‘Pinga’, ‘Deewani Mastani’ and ‘Malhari’ are a cinematic treat for the film lovers. These songs adds as an additional screenplay and ends as one of the key elements of this film. The diehard passion and efforts of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is highly visible in the movie as he presents a grand film to us, in a grand style and with a grand content. He succeeds in capturing the sizzling chemistry of Ranveer and Deepika followed by high octane dramatic scenes featuring Ranveer, Priyanka and Tanvi Azmi. Every single frame of the film portrays the love of this director for his cinema. Though, there are a few times where he overdoes it to make this movie look epic. Nevertheless, it’s a proud moment for people like us to witness the mad obsession of this ace director on the silver screen.
Ranveer Singh as Bajirao is fantastic. His accent, body mannerism, grace on his face, energetic performance takes the movie to another level. Deepika Padukone looks stunningly beautiful and enhances her acting skills. Together, they set the screen on fire with their blazing chemistry. Priyanka Chopra is outstanding in her small role, wished she had more screen length as her scenes in the second half are among the main highlights of the film. Tanvi Azmi does a great job, but her character seemed like replica of Illa Arun from ‘Jodha Akbar’. Milind Gunaji and Vaibbhav Tatwadi lend good support. Mahesh Manjrekar, Aaditya Pancholi, Yatin Karyekar, Benjamin Gilani and Raza Murad are wasted. Narration by Irrfan is welcomed.
On an overall basis, ‘Bajirao Mastani’ is a fine piece of classic cinema, which gets mildly diluted, due to its less appealing climax. Nevertheless, the movie is a cinematic experience as there are plenty of good reasons for you to not miss this great film as they don’t make these kind of movies anymore.
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