Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his larger-than-life films and Bajirao Mastani is his most ambitious film to date. It’s a film that he visualised 15 years ago with Salman Khan playing Bajirao and Aishwarya Rai enacting the role of Mastani. He fulfils his dream with Ranveer Singh playing the Maratha warrior, Deepika Padukone as Mastani, the love of Bajirao’s life. The same actors who excelled in ‘Ram Leela’. Does Bajirao Mastani live upto the immensely high expectations? Is the film good enough to take on Dilwale at the box office? Let’s find out.
Review: First things first, comparisons are inevitable, but Bajirao Mastani is no Baahubali. So if you walk in expecting to be blown away by a epic historical that matches the insanely high standards set by the S.S. Rajamouli film, you will be disappointed. While the storyline was the strongest point of Baahubali, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani relies more on top notch performances, grandeur and scale of the film.
At its core, Bajirao Mastani is nothing more than a intense love story that has been made on a larger-than-life canvas, with real life historical characters and plenty of cinematic liberties – which, in other words, means the film is not historically accurate. Visually, Bajirao Mastani transports you into the world of the Maratha warrior and everything from the costumes, sets and visual effects enhances the experience of watching a period love story on the big screen. The attention to detail is terrific here and the effort that Bhansali has taken to transform his vision into a film like Bajirao Mastani is visible in every scene. There are subtle social messages too, about love being greater than religion, a relevant message for today’s audience.
The pacing is perfect in the first half and the story is convincing for most part, but it’s the ending that came as the biggest disappointment. It’s abrupt and all the momentum gathered throughout the film, drops quite considerably towards the end. Also, when you walk out of the cinema hall, you end up feeling more for Kashibai than the other two characters.
The dialogues of Bajirao Mastani are well-written, some of them applause-worthy even. The editing is fine. A lot of money has been spent on costumes, the investment is well worth it. The camera work is good. The music doesn’t match upto the high standards that Bhansali set in Ram Leela, but it’s good nonetheless.
Acting: Ranveer Singh delivers the performance of his life in Bajirao Mastani. Credit to Bhansali for extracting a fabulous performance out of an actor who has tremendous potential and a bright future. An award-deserving performance from Ranveer. Priyanka Chopra is flawless, words can’t describe how well she has performed in the film. Deepika Padukone does well too, she looks ethereal as Mastani. The rest of the cast enact their parts well.
Overall, Bajirao Mastani is a visually captivating larger-than-life love story that had the potential to be a masterpiece if not for the ending. It has award-worthy performances from the lead cast and a heart-wrenching story. Worth the price of your ticket, go for it.
Positives:
- Ranveer Singh delivers career-best performance and Priyanka Chopra is terrific, the movie belongs to these two.
- Deepika Padukone is impressive too and manages to look beautiful in every scene
- Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s direction
- Costumes and larger-than-life sets
- The story has a soul and mostly works
- You feel for the characters in the film
Negatives:
- Pace dips in the second half
- Ending is abrupt and not very satisfying
Rating: 
good review Indicine. Very well written.
I said when revising the BM trailer that Priyanka shine in even with one dialogue “Aap humse hamari zindagi mang lete, him khushi-2 de dete, but aapne humse humara guroor hi cheen liya”. What a dialogue and the way Priyanka said that was very Heart touching for me while watching trailer.
it bound to happen that PC will be applaud for her performance so is Ranveer. Dark house of Bollywood.
@babaji, What would you expect coming from the guy who gave HNY a 4 stars out of 5 stars?!!!
We can easily predict ur ratings for shahrukh movies and other movies..like hny-4, fan-4.5 ,raees-4,srk next with aalia-4…for others if exceptional-3.5 or bad-2
Seriously 3.5??Indicine stop being biased….. Bajirao mastani deserve more than 3(SMh)!
Dilwale is a family entertainer, liked both first and second half of the movie . Being a SRK fan i still would like to say srk to igonre these drama type movies and do content . Even salman has taken a step and done bb.
Hahh 3.5??Bajirao Mastani is a beautiful movie and Yes, PC outshines Deepika. It’s a 4/5 for me
you are right indicine my friend watched it and ask me to skip this bm..so we plan to watch dilwale on sunday..also the word of mouth is extremely positive for dilwale
@babaji calm down .. Don’t have so much of hatred for Dilwale. Remember Airlift is coming in January. It won’t take much effort for us to spread negativity about Airlift, don’t force us to do that. Relax !
All the bots/fake ID’s commenting negativity about Dilwale.
@shaggy what are you doing here ? You were supposed to leave of PRDP didn’t cross 400 cr. Get lost coward.
Surprisingly people who watch movies on torrent are claiming they have watched Bhajipao in theatres. Then why is Bhajipao running to empty houses ? ?2 people.
@Zeeshan: Don’t even dare try to threaten me..it won’t work! Do whatever you want to do at the time of airlift,you are free..
You wrote rubbish about BM without even watching it,calling it horrible and saying it would collect 4crs..That’s called negativity.
Here I am only questioning indicine’s review,they give 4 stars to crap Khan films like hny,prdp,dhoom3.
These SRK fans are the most double standard people one can ever see.These people were spreading so much negativity for Bang bang when it was against Haider calling it “crap” and saying they only watch classy films like Haider.
2 weeks after that they were supporting a crap like HNY.
At the time of Krrish 3,these insecure SRKtards trended #Krrish3Scam on twitter just bcoz it surpassed Chennai Express even though Hrithik n SRK are very good friends and their fans also hardly fight on twitter.But still insecurity got the better of them.
And then these are the same SRKtards who keep boasting 45crs as the opening day collection of HNY..Hypocrites!
Now,right from the first day these SRKtards are bad mouthing BM but if someone writes anything against Dilwale,they start crying like babies.
@ zeeshan if u want to bash Akki Sir u can bash film , but why u using cheap word like bhajipav . If u are using cheap word don’t forget I will bash ur God & warrior . And all srkians don’t use cheap word .
Just like award shows D’s reviews r becoming farce day by day…..credibility authenticity be damned…dz film guys r becoming smarter…dey know audience also waits for review before deciding to watch so bombard dem WD 4 star reviews….but if u can read bw d lines of reviews u will still come to know to some extent ..is it good bad or avg….sm blame lies WD d fans too coz dey badmouth d reviewers ,site when Dr fav star movie is poorly rated….all of dz is hampering our growth in cinema…..wat I fail to understand is a gud movie will b entertaining and a satisfying watch watevr b d genre…..surely mk big masala flicks ..but innovate in DAT format….alas
PS – hvnt seen dilwale or bm…just trend I m noticing from sm tym so commented….will watch bm in coming weekend….srk masala flicks r not my cup of tea
All india occupancy :- Dilwale 70%+ , 22cr -24cr First day expecation, Bajirao – 30% – first day below 10cr….
A much Much much better film than dilwale
@babaji .. Few months back you were calling Bhai fans as double standards. Today you are name calling Srkians.
& I’m not threatening you .. I’m openly letting you know .. Its ‘doom’ for Airlift now .. Wait and watch !
You are acting like a butthurt when you shouldn’t be.
@indicine plz dont break trust of the visitors ur site
u gve 4 stars to hny,dilwale,prdp n 3.5 stars to pK,Bm n BB
u really think hny,dilwale n prdp r betr than bb n pk?
may b bb n pk deserved only 3.5 stars but then by no means Hny,prdp n diwale deservd more than 2.5 stars
@rajesh Kulkarni .. Akki is my 2nd fav after SRK, but your colleagues like Babaji are forcing me to do this. I have openly supported Akki during Holiday and Baby, Gabbar etc when Bhaitards were bashing those movies, but some double standard people like Babaji don’t deserve the support.
Any more negative comments from Babaji about Dilwale and I promise I’ll ruin the comments page during Airlift and so will my fellow Srkians.
Dilwale got avergae review its more or less certain but Bajirao Mastani got same review as Dilwale means Rohit Shetty film is liked more than SLB films by critics Surprised
@ Indicine,
YOU SAID Dilwale is a film that is designed to please every section of the audience SO 4/5
& BM is not BAHUBALI so 3.5/5
After giving such stupid REVIEWS,
YOU CAN MAKE SOME STARS FAN BASE HAPPY,
BUT CINELOVERS will lose their faith from your REVIEWS.
BTW I must say
You r BRILLIANTLY promoting ‘DILWALE’ KEEP IT UP.
@ Babaji ka thullu,
3:14
Very well SAID.
Mark my words THEY WILL CHANGE their COLORS NEXT YEAR.
NEXT YEAR When Sultan will clash with RAEES,
They will say ‘SULTAN’is Masala movie while RAEES is Classy.
So we should support good movies i.e. RAEES.& not masala movies.
Weak john BM reviews by public and critics are Much more positive than dulwale.
@ babaji i always stand with you , u never lie u always speak truth . All the best Srkians from Akkians . Both films should do well .
Both movies gets same reviews average to very good. But hasnot get excellent reviews overall. But if we see the gener dilwale gets away more better reviews comper to bajirao mastani. For movie like bm the reviews should be excellent which its fail. So i think it will be flop at b.o.
Dilwale Movie Review: A Timepass Movie, One Time Watchable
By Anand_The Original
Just finished watching Dilwale as a SRKian provided us free tickets.
First of all, the story has nothing new. It is a usual Bollywood story of Children from two rival gangs falling in love with each other.
Vinod Khanna played a gang leader and his rival is Kabir Bedi. SRK is an adopted son of Vinod Khanna, while Varun is his real son.
And Kajor and Kriti played the daughters of Kabir Bedi.
SRK and Kajor fell in love. However, Kabir Bedi decieved Vinod Khanna after inviting him to his house for the marriage talks of SRK Kajol.
In the gang figting broke out while Vinodand SRK go to Kabir and Kajol’s house, Kabir and Vinod killed each other.. However, Kajol mistook SRK of killing her father and she shot at SRK.
However, SRK didnt die but SRK and Kajol become estranged and parted ways. And they left the underworld and devoted their lives to take care of their respective siblings..
And Varun and Kriti met up as they grew up and fall in love with each other. But Kajol and SRK didnt agree because of their past lives…Some drama followed.
At the end, Varun and Kriti.. and SRK and Kajol would marry each other..
It’s a typical Bollywood and Rohit Shetty film. Its not as bad as HNY but not as good as CE. A strictly one-time watch…
Action scenes were kick-ass, comic moments sometimes really clicked and sometimes it didnt work.
Varun over-acted. SRK and Kajol Chemistry worked really well.
However, many romantic scenes beween them give de-javu moments of DDLJ. It would be better off for them if they had directly cut the scenes from DDLJ and pasted in the film.
Gerua and Janam Janam songs are awesome and suited the scenarios in the film very well.
The film drags and loses tempo in the 2nd half. It becomes really boring sometimes.
If you go into theatres expecting a mastepiece, you will surely disappoint. Go to the theatre thinking it will be a typical Rohit Shetty film.
Excellent reviews are coming in for Bajirao Mastani. I will review it after watching the film.
Meanwhile, my rating of Dilwale: 2**/5*****
As I said yesterday, ranveer singh performance will be applauded the most nd it iz getting most appreciation . He deserves all d awards this year . No salman no akshay.
BM is a love story of a warrior…its diffrnt frm bahubali
OUTSTANDING REPORTS COMING FROM UAE!!!!
COLLECTIONS @ UAE OF DILWALE R 60% higher thn STAR WARS ND 400% higher thn bajirao mastani.
Few of my friends have seen it and they say it is a much better movie than they had expected , not of the same quality & standard as baahubali but still a very good movie by Bollywood’s standards, would watch it on sat or sunday.
Dear haklutards your rani haklia can never ever dream of making a historical epic classic movie like BM even in his wildest of dreams, u illiterate retarded dumb useless brainless haklutards rightly deserve the cheap filthy craps like bra.1, jthj, chillar express, haklu’s new year & now this ‘torturewale’ , keep enjoying these cheap filthy craps u anyway don’t deserve these kind of classics.
Saw BM….first day first show……in Jabalpur ……as Dilwale was being protested by Yuva Morcha Group……
First half – Good (slow at times)
Second Half – Excellent
Overall – Very Good 3.5/5……it would have gotten 4.5 from me if this movie does not had so many unnecessary songs……Plus I didn’t get the idea behind Mastani love for Bajirao (not shown so well in Movie)….
Top Performance…..
1. By Ranveer Singh (he has exceptionally lived the life like a Maratha Warrior…..Oh Man U killed it….)
2. Priyanka Chopra (she is a gem of actress/played the role of his first wife with such ease)
3. Deepika Padukone (good but not exceptional…..smiling at times when not needed)
Others equally Good…….
Film is not for masala-popcorn type movies lovers…….It’s a real story and It’s Shown onscreen very well as we are seeing the modern Era Mugle-Azam….
Will watch Dilwale when the protest is over…..thank you…..
Movie is too slow and lacks that entertainment quiotent. Acting by lead actors are fantastic. Script should have been more powerful in such big budget movies that too clash with SRK.