Filled with style, but little substance
REVIEW: Mehboob Bawa
PADMAAVAT – 3D. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.With Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Ranveer Singh,Aditi Rai Hydari, Jim Sarbh, Raza Murad.At Nu Metro, Canal Walk. ONE can always expect a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film to feature breathtaking locations, sumptuous costume design, spectacular sets, dramatic music and overall brilliant technical aspects.
Once again he doesn’t disappoint on that level and elicits excellent performances from his talented cast as well. All this in the glory of 3D. But alas, his one dimensional characters and screenplay leaves this controversial film filled with much style but very little substance.
Based on a poem written by a 16th century poet, Malik Muhammed Jayasi, Bhansali weaves an epic tale about a barbaric Muslim ruler who sets out to imprison a Rajput King and capture Queen Padmavati, the most beautiful woman in India.
The Muslim ruler, Allaudin Khilji, is portrayed as a monster who will stop at nothing to achieve his aims.
He happily kills family members, plots to take the throne, sleeps with another woman while his bride awaits him on their wedding night and declares war on virtually every country to become a global ruler.
A jilted religious adviser to King Maharawal Ratan Singh of Chittor entices Allaudin to attack the kingdom with stories of Singh’s wife, Queen Padmavati and her renowned beauty. Allaudin sets off with his army, intent on capturing the King and making the Queen his own.
Bhansali is in familiar territory here; in fact it’s his favourite domain of late as can be attested to with films such as the entertaining Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram Leela and brilliant Bajirao Mastani. Earlier he also directed the wonderful period drama Devdas.
Painting stunning images on a huge canvas is Bhansali’s speciality. His Achilles heel though is that he never knows when to stop. Most of his films run for lengthy durations and here it’s no different with a running time of close to three hours.
The difference is that a weak screenplay cannot sustain the pace and the film becomes a drag after a while. Everyone knows how the film will end and there is not enough tension created leading to that dramatic finale. One cannot critique Bhansali’s technical abilities and astute eye for detail. I’m sure he even checks to see if every speck of dust is in place before he calls action.
From a pure cinematic perspective though, I feel it’s time for Bhansali to turn his formidable talents to another genre. He’s milked this one dry with some delightful films and while stylistically there’s lots to make one’s jaw drop here, that mouth may be left open as the leaden pace gives you every reason to catch a snooze at times.