Bajirao Mastani

A chancy departmental get-together led me to see the Hindi movie Bajirao Mastani on the first day of its release. With a colleague from Lucknow helpfully translating the dialogues, watching the movie was an indulgent experience.

(image source www.99hdfilms.com)

I am not a 'fan' of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's movies - I don't watch many Hindi movies, anyway - I feel them very pretentious (read 'Black', 'Khamoshi' [Silence]), over the top, hollow (read 'Saawariya' [My love]) and an assault on the senses ('Devdas'). I could barely make through his most celebrated movie, 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' [I have given my heart, darling], and that too was possible because of Ajay Devgan's underplay. Skeptical though as I was and due to the lack of other popular choices, we had to settle for this movie.

The best part of the experience was that unlike his other movies, this was not over the top. True, his signature colourful dances, opulent sets, magnificent settings and the like were there, but it did not mug my eyes. The background music was very adequate and aided the movie, though the same could not be said about the songs - none of them stayed with me after I left the cinema.

The basic premise of the story is the love between Baji Rao Peshwa, a Hindu chieftain of the Martha Dynasty and Mastani, a Muslim princess of Bundelkhand. What happens when a married chieftain falls in love with another woman and that too of another religion and the social acceptance or lack of it is the crux of the movie. The first half had a lot of ingredients going for it whereas I was put off by the complete lack of plot in the second half.

Battle scenes in movies have become increasingly video-game like and with the 300, 300 - The rise of an empire and our own Baahubali setting a benchmark - blood, blood and more blood. Bajirao Mastani starts with battle scenes but the blood is considerably less evident on screen, which is welcome. Perhaps being  a love story has its benefits in not showing much gore on screen. But the cinematography, by Sudeep Chatterjee, is top notch, though certain 'long' shots could have been done better. The romantic scenes are tastefully picturised, with the moon, rain and the twilight playing their roles well.

The performances? Well, the protagonist, Ranveer Singh (as Bajirao) has his shortcomings, but has tried to do a neat job. One of the scenes where he says that he doesn't just lust for Mastani, but is in love with her is standout. Priyanka Chopra as Kashi, the suffering wife of the chieftain has come up with a subtle performance - her tears are also not very melodramatic, which was very welcome, for a change. There is a scene where she tells Bajirao that she would have gladly given her life for him, but not her pride, where she shines. And another, where she says that she waits for him for 8 months in a year to be with him for 4 months, you can visualize the pain in the character. I am a sucker for doe eyes and Deepika Padukone (as Mastani) has them. But if you are able to look beyond those, she just stays there, plain and simple. Sorry, I couldn't feel much sympathy for her - no emotion. Not much to note in terms of emotive performance. However, all the three lead actors have gone through strenuous schedules - whether it is poetic dialogues (I thank my colleague again) dances or sword fights. The dialogues between Bajirao and Mastani seem to be the stuff Hollywood repartees are made of - the first sentence seems to be spoken only to get the repartee! Sample this:

"Our hearts beat together" - Bajirao

"...and they stop together as well" - Mastani

Tanvi Azmi as Radhabai, the mother of Bajirao has come up with a very good job of a person who cannot give up on her ego, though it could come in the way of her son's life. Her rigid non-acceptance of Mastani as a wife of Bajirao stems from the fact that she is a Muslim; she seems to be flaccid to the fact that her son has fallen in love with a woman other than his wife - particularly where the wife is doting and caring of him and whose world only revolves around him - in the first place. There is one scene where she shows sympathy for her (first) daughter-in-law but it is very cursory and seems to be injected suddenly.

However, the movie does not provide an answer as to whether it is a historical film or a romance. Bhansali does provide the mandatory disclaimer that it is not historically accurate at the beginning of the film. As I mentioned before, the plot just goes haywire in the second half - there just seems to be no story at all. This is a movie based on legends and it perhaps stays to true to one of them. I am afraid, it does not live up to the potential it had.

At around 160 minutes, its movie is a tad long but perhaps because of a few unwanted dance sequences. It is not tedious to sit through, through.

But for all the hard work and the pluses cited above, I would recommend a 'one-time' watch.