Padmaavat

  • 03 Feb - 09 Feb, 2018
  • Omair Alavi
  • Reviews

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back with a bang, perhaps with his biggest bang of all with Padmavat. Hindus in India are angry that the film depicts a Queen of their faith in a bad way. But trust me, if anyone should be angry, it is the Muslims or descendants of the Khilji clan because Alauddin Khilji is shown as a man with no morals but a high success rate; someone who wants to acquire the best things in life at all costs even if it means the wife of another ruler.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali loves to create a film from nothing or something that was always there and add his own touch to make it into something huge and larger than life. That’s exactly what he has done here with Padmavat. The film is not based on any real-life incident yet people believe it to be just like they believed that Ram-Leela existed in real life and/or Bajirao died at the same time as Mastani!

The story revolves around a Rajkumari who marries the man she loves but has an admirer who wants to be a part of her life anyway. Add bombastic dialogues, larger than life framing and top notch direction and you get a film that you will love to watch again and again.

The film undoubtedly belongs to Ranveer Singh who plays Alauddin Khilji, the Muslim ruler of India and falls for Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) who is married to Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) of Mewar. Ranveer Singh portrays the role of Alauddin as a barbarian whose unpredictable behaviour is what makes the character appear bizarre. He is outstanding in the action sequences as well as dialogue delivery and unlike the rest of the cast, he has a perfect Urdu diction where Khilji is pronounced as Khilji, not Kilji. Deepika Padukone acts with her eyes and is one of the main reasons to watch this flick; her beauty is incomparable but it would have been better had a few extras been beautiful in the film too. One could understand why Shahid Kapoor’s character met his lady love in Sinhala and not in his native city.

However, the man of the moment in Padmavat’s case is Sanjay Leela Bhansali who takes direction to an all new level; the film may fall short in comparison to Bahubali but it is undoubtedly the grandest film produced by Bollywood in a long time. You may not agree with the fashion sense of the late 13th century or the mannerisms but what the screen shows you, is what you will end up believing in. The music department was the weakest link in the film but the choreography, framing and pace of the story grasp you from within, making you realise that films like these are not a common sight anymore. Some fanatics in India may hate Sanjay Leela Bhansali with all their might but cinemagoers all over the world are thankful to him for creating a spectacle that they will not forget for a long time. •

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back with a bang, perhaps with his biggest bang of all with Padmavat; while some fanatics in India may hate him with all their might but cinemagoers all over the world are thankful to him for creating a spectacle that they will not forget for a long time.

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