Padmaavat (2018) [Movie Review]


Dir: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh
Dur: 2 hrs 23 mins
Genre: Drama – Romance
Rating: 2/10

Padmaavat failed to live upto the hype that surrounded it. Of course the craze wasn’t so much about the film per se as much as about the sentiments of certain groups who felt hurt by its content. The film is loosely based on an epic poem entitled ‘Padmavat’, written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in the 16th century. The curious thing is that Rani Padmaavati who is the titular character of the poem and the film is a fictitious character with no historical reference made to her except for the poem. According to the text, she is Rajput princess of royal lineage who was well-known for her beauty. So much so that she attracted the unwanted attention of Sultan Alauddin Khilji, a Muslim warrior-king who laid siege on her kingdom. The whole controversy is basically rooted on religious fundamentalism, besides there were a few feminist voices who took offence at the nature of the story and particularly with its ending. This is all simply fantastic because imaginary tales sparked real, flesh and blood drama. The whole issue is quite embarrassing.

The film is far from entertaining. The pace is awfully slow and the 2 and half hour duration felt like a lifetime. The costumes were appealing but hardly anything else was. The music, build up of the story, action sequences, dance routines and so on were not impressive. The small minded Indians who took inspiration from their small-minded counterparts and who displayed their opposition to the film by not watching it didn’t miss much unfortunately. Despite its success at the box office which must be credited to a large extent to the drama surrounding its release, is a total illusion. It hardly reflects the quality of the film. In my opinion its commercial success tells the story of defiance of the public for the disturbed elements than for the success of the film.  

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