My thoughts on Padmaavat
The introduction scene of Padmavati comes right after the screen fades in on the dazzling image of Mehrunnisa who is having belated second thoughts about the wisdom in marrying her cousin Alauddin Khilji. The Sinhalese Princess is declared by the Siri-like narrator to be the most "nayab" beauty in the whole wide world. There is a scene, much later, where Alauddin threatens the priest- who originally planted in him the idea to conquer Mewar & its uniquely beautiful Queen- of consequences if she did not turn out to be as rare a beauty as he was promised. I was intrigued by the "what if" scenario it offered even though I knew perfectly well that I wouldn't get an answer. But the film more or less quashed my nascent hypotheses with the banality of writing in the Padmavati-Mehrunnisa scene where Mehru gushed, on cue, and showered the other queen with compliments about her beauty despite the life threatening situation that they were in.
Padmavati as a character works best as the astute stateswoman. We first meet her while she hunts a deer in a forest of Singhal where she accidentally injures Maharwal Ratan Singh played by Shahid Kapoor . They romance, get married and are transported to Mewar in a quick succession of scenes where Padmavati proves herself to be far more pragmatic & intelligent than the king every step of the way. Hers is the best developed character among the lead cast. The writers have managed to sneak in just about enough to establish her skills for it to come across as a natural progression when she takes the reins in the King's absence. Deepika too gracefully walks the thin line so that her political maneuverings come across as intelligent and not cunning. Sadly there are very few scenes featuring her. This is most probably done as an attempt to keep her above the basic human depravities so it becomes easier to elevate her to a Goddess figure when the time comes, in which case I'd say it worked. But personally, I wanted to see a lot more of her. Another song at least would not have hurt.
Shahid Kapoor on the other hand gets a lot of screen-time as the not-so-bright Ratan Singh. We have seen a lot of these self-righteous characters on screen. But in most cases, they get divine help for holding on to their "adarsh" & "usool". They somehow triumph over tricks and manipulation and we adore them for all they stand for. Here sadly nothing is saving Ratan Singh from himself. It is implied that he ascended the throne at an young age and for the most part had been a puppet in the hands of the royal priest Raghav Chetan. It is quite clear that he has not developed political acumen which makes him disregard wise advice not only from his wife (which can be attributed to 13th century-or timeless-sexism) but also his general Badal Singh. You reach the end of your patience when he endangers the lives of two women and a band of soldiers who are trying to save his damn life so that his reputation remains untarnished. The naughtiest thing Ratan Singh does is set fire to the enemy camp in the dead of night. I did wonder how this particular action fit into his rigid moral scheme. Still, he gets a Bhishma-esque death, apparently celebrating his steadfast adherence to the right path. Could the actor have saved the character from appearing to be an insufferable fool though? I do not think so.
Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji does, with complete support from writers Bhansali & Kapadia, what we refer to these days as "the most". And it is not always a good thing. Khilji rampages throughout the film. He sneers,jeers, leers non-stop. To the writer's discredit they don't distance his eccentricities enough for them to make proper impact. To the actor's discredit most of the character's madness and rage didn't reach his eyes, at least not in the first half. The only scene from the first half where I really felt a primal energy really radiate through the screen was when his uncle forcibly takes from him the red jewel, his most prized plunder from the Devagiri raid. The performance gets better when Alauddin gets invited to the Chittor fort in an attempt to end the siege. My favorite scene from the whole film had Khilji continuously swapping plates with Ratan Singh in fear of being poisoned. The scenes featuring the two of them are some of the better written and performed ones in the film. From there on Khilji's obsession with Padmavati gets simplified and takes the form of him just wanting one proper glance of her. It was a clever move. The Alauddin that was scattered all over the place concentrated on this single and simple desire. Later an attempt on his life rendered him physically weaker which added the much needed vulnerability to the character.
If there is a performance that stood out and stole the show it is Jim Sarbh as Malik Kafur. He gets one of the best introduction scenes in recent times. He's in equal measures tender and fierce, simultaneously jealous and proud. Thankfully Kafur was given the liberty to express his feelings for Khilji in an unbridled manner. His postures and dialogue delivery are pitch perfect for the film and although he dances on the borderline of camp, never once does he cross over. The way he softly murmurs the first few verses of Binte Dil before breaking into the song is magical. The lyrics serves the dual purpose in expressing Khilji's longing for Padmavati and Kafur's longing for Khilji. Arijit Singh deserves special mention for his astounding vocals.
I really liked that the film is thematically simple. It's basically a good vs. bad story and told almost in a fairy-tale manner where might I add, the CGI ostrich fits in very comfortably. I did feel the need for a strong voice in favor of morally correct actions and compassion in the Khilji camp. I guess Mehrunnisa was supposed to be that voice but because her position in the camp was so precarious that her resistance didn't seem to be representative of a larger populace. Also her parting scene with Khilji seemed hollow to me with Khilji lamenting about the "beintehan mohabbat" he showered upon her in return of which all she gave him was betrayal. Incidentally. there was yet another scene where he asks Kafur whether he has love in his destiny. When did he start caring about love? Those scenes also made me curious about what his idea of love might have been. But the film doesn't stress on that.
There was enough tension in the man-to-man fight between Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji even though we all knew the outcome of it. Also after Bajirao Mastani an elaborate war sequence might have appeared too familiar which is why I was satisfied with the way they dealt with the Khiljis' war on the Mongols.
The Jauhar score is easily the best thing about the movie and the scene itself was the highlight of the film. The moment when a pregnant woman was shown to be marching towards the fire it made me squirm. That particular shot had me rebuke myself for forgetting how agonizing the outcome must have been for those women. I don't know whether the audience of Hindi cinema at large is ready to consider, in proper temporal context, the artistic choice made by the director in deifying the Queen for and through the choice that she made but I must admit that it will remain a memorable cinematic experience for me.
Padmavati as a character works best as the astute stateswoman. We first meet her while she hunts a deer in a forest of Singhal where she accidentally injures Maharwal Ratan Singh played by Shahid Kapoor . They romance, get married and are transported to Mewar in a quick succession of scenes where Padmavati proves herself to be far more pragmatic & intelligent than the king every step of the way. Hers is the best developed character among the lead cast. The writers have managed to sneak in just about enough to establish her skills for it to come across as a natural progression when she takes the reins in the King's absence. Deepika too gracefully walks the thin line so that her political maneuverings come across as intelligent and not cunning. Sadly there are very few scenes featuring her. This is most probably done as an attempt to keep her above the basic human depravities so it becomes easier to elevate her to a Goddess figure when the time comes, in which case I'd say it worked. But personally, I wanted to see a lot more of her. Another song at least would not have hurt.
Shahid Kapoor on the other hand gets a lot of screen-time as the not-so-bright Ratan Singh. We have seen a lot of these self-righteous characters on screen. But in most cases, they get divine help for holding on to their "adarsh" & "usool". They somehow triumph over tricks and manipulation and we adore them for all they stand for. Here sadly nothing is saving Ratan Singh from himself. It is implied that he ascended the throne at an young age and for the most part had been a puppet in the hands of the royal priest Raghav Chetan. It is quite clear that he has not developed political acumen which makes him disregard wise advice not only from his wife (which can be attributed to 13th century-or timeless-sexism) but also his general Badal Singh. You reach the end of your patience when he endangers the lives of two women and a band of soldiers who are trying to save his damn life so that his reputation remains untarnished. The naughtiest thing Ratan Singh does is set fire to the enemy camp in the dead of night. I did wonder how this particular action fit into his rigid moral scheme. Still, he gets a Bhishma-esque death, apparently celebrating his steadfast adherence to the right path. Could the actor have saved the character from appearing to be an insufferable fool though? I do not think so.
Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji does, with complete support from writers Bhansali & Kapadia, what we refer to these days as "the most". And it is not always a good thing. Khilji rampages throughout the film. He sneers,jeers, leers non-stop. To the writer's discredit they don't distance his eccentricities enough for them to make proper impact. To the actor's discredit most of the character's madness and rage didn't reach his eyes, at least not in the first half. The only scene from the first half where I really felt a primal energy really radiate through the screen was when his uncle forcibly takes from him the red jewel, his most prized plunder from the Devagiri raid. The performance gets better when Alauddin gets invited to the Chittor fort in an attempt to end the siege. My favorite scene from the whole film had Khilji continuously swapping plates with Ratan Singh in fear of being poisoned. The scenes featuring the two of them are some of the better written and performed ones in the film. From there on Khilji's obsession with Padmavati gets simplified and takes the form of him just wanting one proper glance of her. It was a clever move. The Alauddin that was scattered all over the place concentrated on this single and simple desire. Later an attempt on his life rendered him physically weaker which added the much needed vulnerability to the character.
If there is a performance that stood out and stole the show it is Jim Sarbh as Malik Kafur. He gets one of the best introduction scenes in recent times. He's in equal measures tender and fierce, simultaneously jealous and proud. Thankfully Kafur was given the liberty to express his feelings for Khilji in an unbridled manner. His postures and dialogue delivery are pitch perfect for the film and although he dances on the borderline of camp, never once does he cross over. The way he softly murmurs the first few verses of Binte Dil before breaking into the song is magical. The lyrics serves the dual purpose in expressing Khilji's longing for Padmavati and Kafur's longing for Khilji. Arijit Singh deserves special mention for his astounding vocals.
I really liked that the film is thematically simple. It's basically a good vs. bad story and told almost in a fairy-tale manner where might I add, the CGI ostrich fits in very comfortably. I did feel the need for a strong voice in favor of morally correct actions and compassion in the Khilji camp. I guess Mehrunnisa was supposed to be that voice but because her position in the camp was so precarious that her resistance didn't seem to be representative of a larger populace. Also her parting scene with Khilji seemed hollow to me with Khilji lamenting about the "beintehan mohabbat" he showered upon her in return of which all she gave him was betrayal. Incidentally. there was yet another scene where he asks Kafur whether he has love in his destiny. When did he start caring about love? Those scenes also made me curious about what his idea of love might have been. But the film doesn't stress on that.
There was enough tension in the man-to-man fight between Ratan Singh and Alauddin Khilji even though we all knew the outcome of it. Also after Bajirao Mastani an elaborate war sequence might have appeared too familiar which is why I was satisfied with the way they dealt with the Khiljis' war on the Mongols.
The Jauhar score is easily the best thing about the movie and the scene itself was the highlight of the film. The moment when a pregnant woman was shown to be marching towards the fire it made me squirm. That particular shot had me rebuke myself for forgetting how agonizing the outcome must have been for those women. I don't know whether the audience of Hindi cinema at large is ready to consider, in proper temporal context, the artistic choice made by the director in deifying the Queen for and through the choice that she made but I must admit that it will remain a memorable cinematic experience for me.
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