Last night, Zafar and Nuzaira Iqbal and I went to see the movie in 3D IMAX Theater. Wajahat Saheb and Razi have expressed their opinions very well. Here are my impressions.
It is a well-made movie, the palace sets are incredible, and even the jungle scene, the falls and the battlefield were all done fairly well. Bahu Bali still leads the pack in extraordinary sets and graphics.
Bhansali has done something no other movie producer has done for Indians, particularly Hindu Indians. When we see Mogul Movies or Roman Movies we walk out impressed with the grandeur of the lifestyle of those kings. Bhansali has filled that vacuum for Hindus of India by making grandeur sets, palaces, and clothes. Modi tried to paint ancient India with Superior surgeries and vimanas that most Indians did not buy, Bhansali has created a positive glorious past for the Hindu Indians in his two movies I have seen.
The movie is a typical formula film set in the historical mix of fact and fiction. It is all about a man chasing a woman. He is obsessed with her beauty and will do anything to get her. It is another Laila Majnu, Shereen Farhad and Rome Juliet story, but one-sided romance. When the king gets the Queen’s arrow in his heart in the beginning, they remove it together and within no time he proposes to marry her and she accepts… there was a gasp in the audience (Desi Kids) and someone made a comment in our row in the theater as unbelievable. But it happens in India, in our youth we easily fell in love with someone in school or college and loved her or vice versa without even talking to the other.
Alauddin’s obsession of Padmavati reminded me of a song line from film Gumraah, ” Kitne diwane thay hum, aap ko pane ke liye” from the song Aap aaye to khayal-e-dil-e nashaad aya.
I did not see it as anti-Muslim at all. In fact, if someone were to be upset, it should be the Brahman community for the role of Brahmachari. He reminded me of Poornayya (Tippu Sultan) and Mir Jaffar. There are three clear instances where he is blamed for the fall of Chittor, and all the chaos he created in revenge. Maya Angelou had said, if you insult someone in public, that person will be obsessed with revenge, in fact most people hold onto grudges of insult and possessed with that.
To the credit of Bhansali, he has evoked reason and logic in many spots. When Padmavati gives a speech to the Dasis about Jauhar, he got a good dialogue in it. She says something to the effect of the conflicts between Ram and Ravana, Kauravas and Pandavas and then Khiljji and Rajputs. He reduced the conflict to like another conflict. He must be lauded for doing that.
There was another dialogue where Alauddin says that the time for expanding the boundaries is paused now, and Padmavati is all he wants. Bhansali could have him recite that Krishna Deva Raya (Vijaynagar empire), the Pallavas, The Guptas, Mauryas and Rajput Kings all expanded their boundaries and I have done my share. Of course, it is his film. Samajne wale zaroor samjehingey, jo na samajh hain, they will always get it what they are set to get.
Another good scene is Padmavati’s call to escape when Alauddin’s army was praying Namaz. Reverse the scenario, the Karni Sena and BJP would have created havoc.
Alauddin asked the colors be applied to him because today is Holi – is a good gesture of respect for the Hindu culture. I don’t know if that touch of a message is enough for people to see it or more needed to be done.
Overall it is a good movie.
Restoring confidence and hope in the new generation of Muslims is still the need of the day. Each one of our kids is capable of doing anything they want, if they set their minds to it.