Padmavat ”“ or Khilji?

Review by Devaki Parthasarathy

Padmavat: Well why they got rid of the ”˜I’ is beyond me!!! Why there was any controversy is even farther than that! Especially from the Rajput community! SLB did a colossal job of keeping the Rajput, “aan baan and shaan”!

Firstly, it’s a Bollywood movie”¦ and Bollywood movies are best, when they are farthest from reality! The masala just makes it all worth it! And I am a huge fan of SLB’s sets. He does do an awesome job of it! And Padmavat was no different. The sets, the attires, the jewellery, the whole gamut of shoshabaji”¦ me likey! And Padmavat scored!!!!

Deepika looks lovelier as a princess, sans make up and jewellery that she does as the queen”¦ Plus her beanpole height makes her awkward when trying to be lovey dovey! Though her dialogue delivery was good, she didn’t particularly seem to instil motivation in the women jumping into the fire with her! The whole thing seemed a bit scratchy! Shahid’s kohl ridden eyes and his new hair style and six pack always on exhibition are the only takeaways for him though”¦ His role I felt was not too well articulated and try as he might he was just a stepney.  Much more visible is Jim Sarbh, superbly portraying the role of Malik Kafur, Khilji’s “bitch”! His lustrous look of longing is so palpable you can cut it with a knife! Aditi Rao Hydari, yet again does a superb job of her non-existent role.  And then there was the king’s first wife played by Anupriya Goenka. Gorgeous as she was, she may as well have not been there”¦! Her role ended so abruptly that I came out wondering why was she even needed!

But the movie belonged to Ranveer and only Ranveer. It may as well have been called Khilji! This kid has grown on me over the years and has turned into a seasoned actor, the likes of which Bollywood has never seen. As a student of history, let me tell you that it has been said, that the people in his rule were very happy. There was abundance of food and wealth. But the Khilji we meet is a scarred, unprincipled, barbaric manically-over-the-top brute! And in that role Ranveer is electric!!!! Not once does he try to make us like him”¦ and quite honestly, I liked him even more for that! In one scene he is depicted as a savage biting into mounds of meat and that point exactly I thought I must write in the review that you could liken it to biting into his meaty role with the same gay abandon!!! And the song Khalibali”¦ if I was watching it at home, I would have rewound and watched the song a few times”¦ HE IS AMAZING!!! If you were to watch the movie just for him”¦ I wouldn’t blame you!

But the movie has its flaws”¦ one it is too long! I shudder to think just how much longer it was with the 300 scenes that were cut!!! If the movie had been just two hours long, it would have made a bigger impact! Two, the dialogues are written in the modern perspective. All this talk of neeyat and nazar is a rather modern woman talk, I think. I can’t imagine them being spoken in the 13^th  century! And then just a few minutes later, the queen asks her husband for permission to kill herself! So was she this independent forward thinking woman or was she a submissive sati wife? Three, there was an obscene amount of blood and gore. Four, whoever did the subtitles should be sacked! So bad! I was flanked by my son on one side and an Australian lady on the other and I kept correcting the subtitles  🙂   BTW the Australian lady in her 70s thoroughly enjoyed herself!

All in all”¦ watch it on DVD and only as a Bollywood movie and you will be fine. Don’t judge it. Don’t compare it to real events! It’s a story no one is trying to rewrite history here. Just go with the flow and enjoy it.

DeeScore 3/5