'Padmaavat'

(No spoiler alert apart from the quote)

"आसमान में हर तारा चांदी बनना चाहती हैं काफुर, पर नहीं बन सकता!
Every star in the sky wishes to be the moon, Kafur, but can't be so. "
- Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji

When the Poet Malik Muhammad Jaisi wrote the epic 'Padmaavat' around c.1450s CE, he was allegedly inspired by real events during the Siege of Chittor 150 years ago. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is inspired by this work and so renamed the film 'Padmaavat'. We can't debate the actual history and the sequence of events and this is a film - a work of art & fiction at its core.

A grandiose tale on a lavish scale and with meticulous care, the film runs on the trio - Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji, Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Raja Maharawal Ratan Singh. Every history loving person would have tears of joy at the near perfect portrayal of Khilji - he is not just displayed as a menacing marauder & ambitious emperor, but also as a confused romantic exhanging 'Shayaris' with the legendary Amir Khusrau.

The ethos of the Rajputs -  Valour & Courage were prominently highlighted so much so that after watching the film, one is left wondering what were the protests all about?  The settings & the locations - the forts of Rajputana, the haunting and recurring back-ground score - everything was perfect. A few detailed battle scenes could've been better. But, like all Bhansali films before, somewhere you'd feel the burden of conversations and a little 'drag'. Apart from that, enjoy the epic struggle where victory and defeat are the same!

Film - Padmaavat (Hindi) by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.