Watched Bajirao Mastani. Must say I was disappointed. Not because the movie was bad. By any standard of cinematography and direction, it was tremendously beautiful, but then which SLB's movie isn't? Perhaps I had raised the bar for it in my mind too high?
Here's my gripe with the movie: 1. Editing: very shoddy. Scenes just jumped around with little to no transition. There seem to be two stories told in the movie, the triangle love story and the battles. There was no fluidity in the editing between the two. 2. Bajirao and Mastani: in terms of acting, everyone did a good job. However, I felt like I have seen Deepika as Mastani in other movies as well. She was really good but I wanted to see a phenomenal performance (high expectations). Ranvir's acting is probably his career best but it still falls short in a few scenes. Some of it looks forced and tedious. Coming to the characters of these two, it's hard to like a movie and connect with it when you don't feel empathy for the leading characters. The two love struck characters are clearly shown in grey. It is difficult to feel sorrow for the ailing couple when you know that their affair has caused pain to a loving wife. This made me most uncomfortable. When the narrator proclaimed their love as eternal, it didn't resonate with me as their love was infidelity on Bajirao's part. 3. Unnecessary songs: SLB has a knack for incorporating beautiful, visually stimulating songs into his movies. This one is no exception. However, there are a couple of songs like Pinga and Bajirao and boys' celebratory song which stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of placement in the movie. 4. Rushed ending: don't want to get into details and spoil the ending but it looked like SLB was tired of 12 years of thinking and making the movie and he just ended it. 5. Striking similarity to Devdas and a little bit of Jodhaa Akbar: this one may just be me, partly because Devdas is one of my favorite movies of all time and also because I have watched it more than a dozen times. BM has so many similar themes as Devdas. Take the premise of two women longing for love of their man (I agree this is a pretty common theme), the ethereal dialogues, the widowed mother who seems to be a thorn in B and M's love saga, the choreographed duet song-dance spectacle with Mastani and Kashibai, the eventual fall into intoxication of Bajirao (there's even a scene with him in water very much like Devdas towards the end), war strategy inspired by Jodhaa Akbar, the mirror hall song reminds me of maar dala and kaahe ched, etc.
Having said all the above, I still think it is a good movie, just not SLB's best.
Watch it for Priyanka's brilliant acting as the forgotten Kashibai in a small but significant role. She delivers her lines in full flow, tugs at your heartstrings and makes you feel her pain. Watch it for a beautiful coming together of spectacular costumes and set design, grand music and choreography, larger than life dialogues and theme. Watch it for the movie it is, just don't believe the hype or you're bound to be disappointed. 3/5.
Here's my gripe with the movie: 1. Editing: very shoddy. Scenes just jumped around with little to no transition. There seem to be two stories told in the movie, the triangle love story and the battles. There was no fluidity in the editing between the two. 2. Bajirao and Mastani: in terms of acting, everyone did a good job. However, I felt like I have seen Deepika as Mastani in other movies as well. She was really good but I wanted to see a phenomenal performance (high expectations). Ranvir's acting is probably his career best but it still falls short in a few scenes. Some of it looks forced and tedious. Coming to the characters of these two, it's hard to like a movie and connect with it when you don't feel empathy for the leading characters. The two love struck characters are clearly shown in grey. It is difficult to feel sorrow for the ailing couple when you know that their affair has caused pain to a loving wife. This made me most uncomfortable. When the narrator proclaimed their love as eternal, it didn't resonate with me as their love was infidelity on Bajirao's part. 3. Unnecessary songs: SLB has a knack for incorporating beautiful, visually stimulating songs into his movies. This one is no exception. However, there are a couple of songs like Pinga and Bajirao and boys' celebratory song which stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of placement in the movie. 4. Rushed ending: don't want to get into details and spoil the ending but it looked like SLB was tired of 12 years of thinking and making the movie and he just ended it. 5. Striking similarity to Devdas and a little bit of Jodhaa Akbar: this one may just be me, partly because Devdas is one of my favorite movies of all time and also because I have watched it more than a dozen times. BM has so many similar themes as Devdas. Take the premise of two women longing for love of their man (I agree this is a pretty common theme), the ethereal dialogues, the widowed mother who seems to be a thorn in B and M's love saga, the choreographed duet song-dance spectacle with Mastani and Kashibai, the eventual fall into intoxication of Bajirao (there's even a scene with him in water very much like Devdas towards the end), war strategy inspired by Jodhaa Akbar, the mirror hall song reminds me of maar dala and kaahe ched, etc.
Having said all the above, I still think it is a good movie, just not SLB's best.
Watch it for Priyanka's brilliant acting as the forgotten Kashibai in a small but significant role. She delivers her lines in full flow, tugs at your heartstrings and makes you feel her pain. Watch it for a beautiful coming together of spectacular costumes and set design, grand music and choreography, larger than life dialogues and theme. Watch it for the movie it is, just don't believe the hype or you're bound to be disappointed. 3/5.