Bajirao Mastani

A movie of epic proportions. Everything about it....... the opulence, the costumes, the battles, the heroism,  the conspiracies, and above all else..... the love.

                        

It's a historical romance based on the real life story of Bajirao, the Maratha Peshwa, and Mastani, the Bundelkhand princess, of half Muslim and half Rajput origin, set in the 1700s. It's a love story that gets to you, searing through you in it's intensity. A love that's wanting to.... and willing 'to be' despite anything that might come in it's way.....like a force unto itself...and it has its own beautiful energy.

The frames just take you over from the moment the movie starts, with the dramatic sequence of Bajirao being crowned Peshwa, and you meet this larger than life character. One who has the focus, the awareness, the intelligence and strength of character to be what he chooses, be it a superb warrior, shrewd strategist, honest husband or a man in love. Everything at a hundred percent kinds.  

When the Peshwa and Mastani first meet, or rather part after they first meet, she says “Tujhe yaad kar liya hai ayat ki tarah, ab zikr hoga tera ibadat ki tarah.” and that's how it plays out.  ( Ayat, is verses from the quran and Ibadat is the penance...I think). That's when he gives her his dagger, and I guess is the defining moment of acknowledgment.

Once back in Pune, Bajirao seems quite happy to be back in his feifdom and with his wife. But Mastani decides otherwise.........she's like 'Mastani, apni taqdeer kudh banaati hai', and she goes after what she wants....the Peshwa. 

The resistance is strong....the mother, brother and the other religious strongholds in his palace....... yet, they prevail. The mother is a stoic and powerful character, played to brilliance by the inimitable Tanvi Azmi, relentless in her belief that Mastani can never be given a space in the Shaniwar Wada home

Priyanka as Kashi, the first wife, is graceful in emoting the hurt, the betrayal, the longing, but to her credit rising above it all to enable what's right for her husbands happiness, and the subtlety with which she brings it out is beautiful. 

While she might still have even accepted Mastani, it's a not to be, as the combined forces of the rest of family and the custodians of religion have a vice like grip on the system, taken to completion by Kashi's son Nanaji.

Deepika is sparkling and intense, not just in how she looks and emotes, but in the panache with which she carries through even the sword fights. Very convincing. And if I haven't said anything about Ranveers' acting..it's because it didn't seem like acting, he just lived the role...it's like ang ang me peshwa hi tha.

It's a powerful movie, and I'd say a thanks to Sanjay Leela Bhansali and team....especially for how he celebrates love beyond structure, system and other opposing forces.

Strong recommendation to watch....the larger the screen the better.

I later had a tryst with Mastani Mahal, the palace built by BajiRao for Mastani...or rather what remains of it.