Bajirao Mastani - Marvelous Visual Classic - Worth Watching

 “Bajirao ” is a magnificently unique “Romantic Historic”  film.  Moreover, Bajirao is the definitive historic film of all time. It is hard to imagine that circumstances will ever again combine to make a more spectacular, expensive, and -- yes -- splendid movie. Bansali continues his reputation to deliver what is called “Frame Excellence.” Besides all of this, the only negative point of the movie is second half a little slow, and you may feel this could have been little different.

It is easy enough to praise director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his thundering battle scenes, or his delicate love scenes, or the quality of his actors. However, these were almost to be expected. What is extraordinary about "Bajirao Mastani is that Bhansali was able to take the enormous bulk of  Marathi Novel named “Rau” and somehow transform it into this great portion of the film without losing control along the way. The trouble with a lot of long history films is that the makers cannot keep everything in hand, and film lose the hold on the audience. The movie focuses more on the BajirRao’s passion for Mastani, the beautiful and courageous half Rajput, and half-Muslim princess of Bundelkhand. 

The movie's opening sequence is as graphic as any war footage I've ever seen. The beauty of the screenplay is that writer is able to bring his epic events down to understandable scale without losing his sense to create an entertaining drama. Also, he delivers magnificent dialogues to portray how men with power behave and oppose the love of Bajirao and due to religion. It is possible to express even the most thoughtful ideas in the simplest words and actions, and that is what writer of Bajirao Mastani does. The film is doubly effective because every character communicates his ideas in feelings, not words. Consider dialogues when Bajirao names his second son as “Shamsher ” or even when he says, “ Bajirao ne Mastani se Mohabbat kiye hai, aiayshi nahi” All these dialogues are thoughtfully written which defiantly needs a lot of depth in understanding of history and thought the process of characters. Another impressive part is the use of “Rain”  and “Sky” to display the intensity of the situation and Bajirao’s inner battle and fight against his co-religionists.

My love for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's attention to detail is never-ending, and I am sure that you will never, ever, going to see anything to equal it. The scenes of battles, where all soldiers are in the same uniform, where it is “Brahmin Bhoj” or Classic Shanivarvada, Director and his cinematographer delivers the best.

All of the actors playing the men under Bajirao are effective, partly because director resists the temptation to make them crazy "characters" and makes them deliberately ordinary. If you want to make hero extraordinary then makes other characters ordinary then hero looks far taller. The performances are interesting throughout. All of the actors look a little larger and more heroic than life.  

About Mastani, she smiles. She is radiant. She is kind, gentle and sexy as well. Bajirao and Mastani are shown as characters in heat always. While she is performing, she displays the love and vibes, and he cares for her and smiles and offers her a meeting after that. They are in full view, but nobody ever seems to see them. They make each other very happy whenever they talk. Chemistry seems to the unconditional love of as Bajirao and Mastani, and it makes them unique and lovable.

Bhansali made happy choice of an actress of Deepika and Priyanka when he cast them.  Audiences applaud applauds both of them during “Pinga Dance”.  Deepika and Priyanka delivers a flawless performance in line with the script. Although, sometimes you may feel Priyanka has been able to steal the show in few lines even though she is not the lead. Forgive me, for my affection for Priyanka Chopra.!

All characters in the movie are strong presences, but for me, the key performance in the movie is by Bajirao mothers and that of “Nana” as the frightened little interpreters. Both of these is our entry into the reality because both of these sees it clearly that the marriage is not possible due to religion and their love for Kashibai. One major thing that needs to be applauded is that Bajirao stood for his love against the entire world, and such courage is very rare.

Despite its length, the movie is not too long. It is as spectacular as a movie can be, and yet it has a human fullness. Considering its cost and the vast effort that went into its making, such a film can be made only once in our time. The wonder, indeed, is that it was made at all.