BAJIRAO MASTANI: In the League of Potential Classics! [4/5]

It is not 1960. Films don’t get tagged as ‘classics’ these days anymore. They are either judged by the sound of money they made at the box-office or the number of award-logos they managed to put in the opening graphic-slides before the actual film starts. Watching a 197-min long MUGHAL-E-AZAM, today in theatres, can in fact destroy the very idea of a ‘classic’ for a regular guy who’s not much into cinema, and has come out only to please his grandparents. In times of the shorter, darker and more realistic indie films, Sanjay Leela Bhansali shows the guts to bless Indian screens with the legacy that believed in telling stories from the historical past in the most decorous manner. Classics are made like that only. And to the expectations, Bhansali doesn’t falter in any of the art-forms used while making this motion-picture. Magnum-opus BAJIRAO MASTANI is mesmeric in every frame, mind-blowing in every performance and miraculously magical in depicting Bhansali’s perfectly designed yet tortured world of love chained in pain, angst and grief.

The great Maratha Warrior Peshwa Bajirao [Ranveer Singh] is rising as an invincible threat to the Mughal Empire and its supporting forces. He’s a rare and unbeatable combination of power, passion and mental strength. In his mission to build ‘Akhand Bharat’, he lends his help to his neighboring state Bundelkhand and the victory brings him close to the daughter of its king Chhatrasal. Fearless Mastani [Deepika Padukone] being half-Rajput, half-Muslim girl, is now destined to face the extreme dislike, heavy rejections and sharp protests from everyone around Peshwa. If Bajirao’s first wife Kashibai [Priyanka Chopra] uses her silence against the injustice to her love and loyalty, the religious bodies declare it in full vocal. Bajirao may have the honor to never taste a defeat in any of the battles he appears in but this conflict between love, loyalty, religion and political establishments will definitely put him on the spot. Despite being a 3-century old political love-story, BAJIRAO MASTANI speaks on various grounds that are still much in fashion. In one of the few ‘in your face’ scenes, Mastani encounters one religion-protector with, “religions might have chosen one particular color dedicated to represent them. But the colors never go for any religion.” The social elimination of second marriage and love outside marriage gets thrashed heartlessly despite the Peshwa himself being in it.

With BAJIRAO MASTANI, Sanjay Leela Bhansali pays his homage to MUGHAL-E-AZAM and it shows upfront. The plot-development itself vouches for the same. You don’t need a hint to find a reference in Mohe Panghat Pe Nandlal for Shreya Ghoshal’s Mohe Rang Do Lal. Bhansali also doesn’t hesitate to repeat himself in Pinga where both the leading actresses join the stage to recreate Madhuri-Aishwarya’s sensational faceoff in DEVDAS. Albela Sajan from HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM also gets a harmonious mention. Film’s extremely melodic numbers establish Bhansali’s another talent to look for [He’s the sole composer for the film]. The canvas of the film is richly done in visual effects, especially the battle-sequences and it succeeds in creating the era, setting and sight the story finds its root in. The excellence in camerawork, art-design and costumes make every frame a reason to celebrate the spirit of cinema.

On the performances, BAJIRAO MASTANI wholly rests and rises on Ranveer Singh’s prolific shoulders. Who can think of a regular looking guy in BAND BAAJA BARAAT taking on one of the most powerful characters in Indian history? And with such finesse? He is graceful, glorious and gifted. Deepika is another talent who’s constantly making fresh impressions with one electrifying performance after other. Her Mastani is tremendously bold, brave and bright. As devoted wife with pastoral looks and approach, Priyanka Chopra is in her finest form. Though her character-graph doesn’t allow her to go overboard beyond a point, she excels in her restricted skin. Tanvi Azmi as the mother and Milind Soman in a supporting role manage to hold your attention and admiration.

At the end, BAJIRAO MASTANI is not a classic. Not now. May be after a decade but not yet. It is 2 hr 38 min long. Most of us will find it dragged. Most of us will consider it outdated. But it successfully holds the fort of being in the league of films that have plenty potential to be referred as a ‘classic’. This is how one should dream his films and film his dreams. The master is at his best! [4/5]

BOBBY JASOOS: Vidya overpowers this less-Jasoosi thriller! [3/5]

Hyderabad has not been the backdrop of many Bollywood films but a few very relevant ones like Sagar Sarhadi’s BAZAAR; so when promos of BOBBY JASOOS made a suggestion of it being positioned completely in the same city of its own flavors, an apprehension got fixed in my head. Will the typical Hyderabadi lingo and the lehza work or else it would be just another laughing stock stuck in its stereotype treatment? Now that I have seen it, I can say my doubts didn’t get proper ground to prosper. Debutante director Samar Shaikh’s BOBBY JASOOS belongs to two, one being Hyderabad itself and the second is Vidya Balan, often pronounced as the HERO of her films. BOBBY JASOOS in fact, is a complete shocker mostly not because it is a thriller but as an emotional Indian drama that asks important questions about our male-ruled society. Why can a profession like private investigation not picked up by a girl? Why Kitty always has to a dumb assistant and not a smart challenger to Karamchand in her own way?

Coming from a middle class Hyderabadi Muslim family where father [Rajendra Gupta] arrogantly announces that he doesn’t need his daughter’s money to run the house, Bilquis aka Bobby [Vidya] dares to chase her dream of being a popular private detective. Flooded with petty cases of gathering information about people’s personal affairs, Bobby is waiting to hit the jackpot with something big and it comes to her as Anees Khan [Veteran Kiran Kumar] - a rich man in search of a missing girl with least information to follow. Stunned in the flashes of money involved, little she remembers the basics of the profession. Get your hands clean on the client first!

BOBBY JASOOS beautifully and in its most authentic manner captures the core of middle class houses. The extended families with father’s sister [Tanve Azmi in one such] and her daughters live and breathe with ease, ‘Sehri’ and ‘Iftaar’ being performed together since it is a Ramadan month, father being the dominating force and kids hardly can put their view-points! The best part is you are never bombarded with forced Hyderabadi dialect but it is well-crafted in the story and subtly performed. Even in their shortest of time on screen, actors like Rajendra Gupta as the controlling father, Supriya Pathak Kapoor as Bobby’s Mother, Tanve Azmi as the Kausar Khaala who’s kind of a marriage counselor to everybody and anybody comes across, Arjan Bajwa, Zarina Wahab, Akash Dahiya and Kiran Kumar in his comeback sort leave the demanded and deserving impact. Ali Fazal is a revelation. He has done well in a couple of movies after 3 IDIOTS but this one establishes him as a charming performer. Spare me for saying it but his dialogue delivery at places reminds me of Naseer saab’s.

And now, the Vidya Balan! Vidya has always been targeting scripts and roles that ascertains full just to her acting potential. The writing here sure can’t be judged at par her earlier selections but still, she manages to pull it out brilliantly. There is no way you complain a scene Vidya is in. Don’t fool yourself by expecting a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ thriller out of it, but this first Bollywood woman detective sure shows flare of emotions you’ll feel connected to. Watch it for Vidya! [3/5]