Bajirao Mastani

Cast : Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Mahesh Manjrekar, Tanvi Azmi, Sanjay Mishra

Rated : 7/10

History. A bit muddled. But powerful. Grander than grandeur. Overwhelmingly opulent. A love story. Real, somewhat. Intense, totally. Emotional, heavily. A bygone era. Captured immaculately, almost doggedly. Costumes. Rich, royal, detailed. Jewellery, stunning, intricate, priceless. Hues, amazing. A film. Serenading Indian history. Drama. To the last detail. Some truths, some falsities and lots of cinematic liberties. Together, a saga of beauty and visuals.

That’s the self-designed logo of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. That’s Bajirao Mastani — meant to give you historical wings to soar to such great heights of artistry and visual excellence that the overbearing artiness tricks you into not searching for the real, real story behind all the glitz and the glamour of an ancient tale of the early 1700s.

Indeed, it’s a tale that the real contenders would applaud from their graves, despite all those liberties taken here and there. But Bhansali’s Bajirao and Mastani sizzle — more separately than together. Ranveer as that undying eccentric faultless warrior, that be-muscled bare chested Peshwa whose sword did all the talking of those turbulent times. And Deepika, as his heart’s muse — an unmatched beauty, with brains, commitment, style, elegance and the gumption to wield the sword as powerfully as she does her dancing and singing acumen. Nude make-up. Dazzling costumes. Watery eyes with depth of the ocean. Controlled histrionics. The ultimate diva. The ultimate actor. There could be no other Mastani. As there can be no other Bajirao except Ranveer.

Bhansali, who has written, produced and directed this baby of his heart, draws heavily from his earlier ones, be it the dola re dance from Devdas or the shades of Saawariya. He takes enough of rightful history here to seem authentic despite the disclaimer at the beginning.

His art direction, his landscaping of the film, his costume designing, his colouring — all this is way above perfection. What he forgets in crafting all this is that he needed an equally powerful storyline, many more moments with both of Bajirao’s women (Priyanka holds her own as Kashi, Bajirao’s wife even though Deepika’s timeless beauty occupies more screen space) and, perhaps a little bit more of a plot that could stand up to the sheer beauty of the film.

Embedded in all this tapestry of visuals is also Bhansali showing off his women in powerful personae — a wife who is her husband’s friend, one who takes the ultimate betrayal with grace and yet does not really take it all; the paramour who has the courage to withstand scorn and alienation without cringing even once; and a conservative mother who will not give in to an illegal love interest of her showstopper son even if that escorts him to the doorstep of death seeking acceptability for his love.

Back to Ranveer. No one could have done better justice to Bajirao’s personality as Ranveer does. He binds his carefully built screen eccentricity with such brilliant acumen that when he unleashes their power on screen, there’s an explosion that takes in everyone. He is the ultimate Bajirao, capturing every little nuance of this ancient warrior as if he spent some real time with him in a past life that he can still recall.

See it for him, for the women he lives his life with on the screen and for a director who can create magic with his wand. 

Source: The Sunday Pioneer, 20 December, 2015