Padmaavat Review

The ongoing protests and PILs in the Supreme Court have ensured the producers are laughing all the way to the Bank. Sanjay Bhansali’s Period film ‘Padmaavat’ has grossed 231 crores on the 14th day of its release.

The film has lived up to the hype with audiences mesmerised by its scale and poetic story of Rajput honour, valour and Alauddin Khilji’s deceit.

The story is loosely based on Sufi Poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s poem ‘Padmavat’ which was written in 1540 AD almost 224 years after Mughal Emperor Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD) ceased to be the Sultan of Delhi.

The plot is fairly simple. Maharawal Ratan Singh, the King of Chittor banishes one of his courtiers, Raghav Chetan on grounds of unethical behaviour. This man vows revenge and aligns with the Sultan of Delhi so the Rajput prince can be brought to his knees. Raghav provokes Khilji, feeding him stories about the unparalleled beauty of Ratan Singh’s wife Rani Padmavati.

Khilji, the emperor with a massive army declares war on Chittor and deceitfully captures Ratan Singh, making him a prisoner in Delhi. Rani Padmavati with her commandants Gora and Badal free Ratan Singh but the Sultan has still not glimpsed the Queen so he returns to Chittor, this time with a bigger army. Ratan Singh attains martyrdom in the battle and before Khilji can enter the palace, Rani Padmavati performs Jauhar (Self-immolation) with thousands of Rajput women.

Interestingly, I was in Udaipur last month and all these events have been preserved in the form of paintings (refer to the attached pics) in a museum called ‘Maharana Paratap Smarak’ near the Fateh Sagar Lake.

The battle scenes are impressive and at one point when Ratan Singh charges at Alauddin Khilji, one can easily compare the grandeur to big scale Hollywood movies like Brad Pitt’s ‘Troy’.

The songs like all of Bhansali’s past efforts are beautiful and you end up humming them long after the movie is over. The length could have been made effective by trimming the unrelatable song between Khilji and his assistant Malik Gafur. Acting by all the lead actors Ranveer, Deepika, Shahid and Aditi Rao Hydari is commendable.

I would rate the movie a 4 out of 5 stars for the grandeur, moving historical fiction and sheer scale of its scenes. This one is not to be missed by fans of Indian history and cinema. Go Padmaavat!