Bajirao Mastani Movie Review

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: