◆◆◆ Bajirao Mastani ◆◆◆ Ranveer Singh- Priyanka - Deepika - Released With Excellent Reports!!

taran adarsh ‏@taran_adarsh
#BajiraoMastani is a cinematic gem that you cannot miss. A triumph for SLB, Ranveer, Deepika, Priyanka. My review: http://bit.ly/1TSRpt6

 

@timesofindia
JUST IN | Pune's theatre cancels three shows of film #BajiraoMastani after protest by BJP

 

Dilwale had a strong opening of around 65% while Bajirao Mastani was slower with a 30% start on average with the clash really only happening in multiplexes of Mumbai and Pune while the rest of the country saw a healthy advantage for Dilwale.



Dilwale had a very big lead in East Punjab, Nizam / Andhra, Mysore and East India while most other areas outside Mumbai and Pune had a good lead. The gap in above circuits was double and even more at some centres. It was certain properties of Mumbai and Pune where both films had similar occupancy. The key area Gujarat also saw Dilwale leading and it will important for Bajirao Mastani to close the gap in the evening if it is to have any chance of competing as without Gujarat the film can't go anywhere.





Despite the strong opening, the screenings of Dilwale are 65% of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo with around 12000 shows per day compared to 18000 plus of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. If the film can get a 20 crore nett plus number up on day one, fair value for that would be close to 30 crore nett.



Bajirao Mastani is depending on word of mouth especially outside the Mumbai Pune belt and it has to make strides quickly preferably by evening or by tomorrow at the latest if it is to have a chance.

 

A comparison of the early morning figures in Noida of recent big films is below. The figures are audience counts for shows conducted before 11.30



Bajrangi Bhaijaan

5576 / 5921 - 94.17%

20 shows



Prem Ratan Dhan Paya

6006 / 6397 - 93.89%

26 shows



Dilwale

15 shows

3539/ 3865 - 91.57%



Bajirao Mastani

12 shows

1767 / 3012 - 58.66%



Dilwale has taken a taken a strong opening but the 15 shows are telling factor which leaves the numbers well below Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo despite opening to near full houses.



Bajirao Mastani managed good figures in just one of the six multiplexes and a third of its shows were at that multiplex, the others were low.

 

itharum kandille????

 

Bajirao Mastani review: This Ranveer, Deepika, Priyanka-starrer is the best film of 2015

You sense you are in the presence of something extraordinarily creative the minute you step into the world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani, a costume drama clothed in the conceit of the times when royal arrogance permitted social injustices as a birthright, and brought to incandescent life by a filmmaker who understands the layered language of opulence better than any contemporary filmmaker.

By now everyone knows Bajirao Mastani is the story of forbidden love between Peshwa Bajirao Ballal and Mastani, the warrior-princess who falls in love after he comes to her kingdom’s rescue. It’s also the story of Kashibai, Bajirao’s gamine-like wife who’s the most interesting character in the tempestuous triangle. The three roles are infused with infinite irradiance by Ranveer, Deepika and Priyanka. They bring to the director’s passionate palate an inner conviction that eventually leave us spellbound and hankering for more.

The magician who uses colours to convey emotions Bhansali conceives the Bajirao-Mastani liaison as a striking fusion of the saffron and green colours. The two colours dominate Bhansali’s palate, spilling over in streams of drama. The spoken words are at once colloquial and royal, so that the audience don’t get isolated from the cascade of rhetorics. Indeed Prakash Kapadia’s dialogues are, in many vital ways, the plot’s backbones. The characters exhale a verbal vitality that never slips into verbosity. We can’t imagine them speaking in any other way.

I specially liked a sequence where Deepika’s Mastani, armed with the confidence of a woman consumed by love no matter how forbidden, barges into the christening ceremony of her lover’s legitimate baby boy. When taunted for tainting the occasion with green Mastani gently reminds the congregation that saffron and green, are at the end of the day, blood brothers used in Hindu and Muslim religious events.

This is a film to view many times, once just for the way colours are used to convey emotions. When Bajirao heads home after a war victory his buoyant wife dances with a gigantic saffron flag unfurling in tandem with her joyous heart. The visual and emotional impact of the moment is so exhilarating , you want to clutch Kashibai’s ecstasy close to your heart.

In another moment when colours talk, we have Bajirao’s wife and mother sharing a bonding based on mutual grief sewing saffron flags, the mother( the brilliant Tanvi Azmi) wryly laughing about Bajirao’s sudden eruption of passion for Mastani and saying, “We might as well be sewing green flags from now on.”

The uncontrollable mutual passion between the Maratha warrior and half-Muslim princess is unleashed so fast and furiously that you sometimes wish the indefatigable narrative would slow down so we can catch our breath. Rajesh Pandey’s editing leaves no room for punctuations in the relationships as they crisscross across the compelling canvas with battle-like urgency.

The war sequences so crucial to the efficacy of the plot, are done with splendid skill. Even here Bhansali focuses more on the emotions underlining the desperate aggression rather than just the grandeur. Whether it is Mastani gazing at Bajirao with an adoration that Madhubala had last shown for Dilip Kumar in Mughal-e-zam or Bajirao the warrior tearing through a field of wounded soldiers, cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee mines the epic canvas for human emotions that lie buried too deep for tears.

The films looks and feels gloriously epic. The songs composed by Bhansali come on very frequently never intruding on the theme of love and war but rather enhancing the theme with sumptuous supreme supplementation.

The Mughal-e-Azam legacy looms large over Bhansal’s narration. It is no coincidence that Ranveer Singh resembles the young Dilip Kumar from K Asif’s film and that Birju Maharaj’s exquisite choreography for Deepika’s Mohe rang do laal dance number echoes Madhubala’s Mohe panghat pe nandalal from the Asif’s war-romance epic. And when Deepika is swathed in chains of captivity she is as much a figure of tragic grandeur as Mahubala singing Beqas pe karam kijiye sakar-e-Madina in Mughal-e-Azam.

Deepika looks downright beautiful and acts with increased poise and skill with every film. Here she is as statuesque as Madhubala, riding horses and destiny with equal grace and dignity. But Deepika could have done more with her part. She is way too subtle and silken, and not steely enough as the firebrand warrior-princess who will love her man, come what may.

She is too much Waheeda Rehman, too little Mumtaz.

Priyanka Chopra, on the other hand, is the better performer of the two in this film. Priyanka’s Kashibai loves her husband to death. Each time Priyanka looks at Ranveer Singh her face lights up like a brightly-lit skyline. When Bajirao falls in love with another woman Kashibai doesn’t surrender to destiny. She is no walkover. She protests. She sneers. She is angry. But finally for the sake of her husband’s happiness and the larger good, she accepts the situation. Kashibai teaches us the most important lesson of this film. Acceptance of injustice is sometimes the opposite of cowardice. Priyanka conveys all these emotions with near-flawless comprehension of her character’s inner world. This is her best to date.

As for Ranveer Singh, forget his habitual flamboyance and over-the-top image. The actor surrenders to his character, building for Bajirao a world that is utterly credible and convincing. Ranveer owns Bajirao’s character in a way very few Indian actors know how to. The way he delivers his dialogues with a tinctured texture of Marathi accent never over-doing it, is a joy to hear. Other very effective performances come from Tanve Azmi’s as Bajirao’s self-willed mother, Yatin Karyekar as a priest outraged by the pure Hindu wrrior’s unstoppable passion for a Muslim girl, and Vaibhav Tatwawdi as Bajiarao’s younger brother.

Bajirao Mastani is a masterpiece that teaches us many important lessons on love and and life. Most of all it shows us that another Mughal-e-Azam is possible in this day and age because there is a filmmaker who possesses the epic vision of K Asif.

If K Asif were alive he would smile at what Sanjay Bhansali has achieved in Bajirao Mastani. This is by far the best film of 2015.

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/bajirao-mastani-review-this-is-the-best-film-of-2015-2550464.html

 

Bajirao Mastani: A historical leap



Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns with another visual spectacle that wilfully takes liberties with the past that it depicts. But it does manage to engage even as it exhausts.
Devdas onwards some elements have been a given in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s filmi universe. Especially, that he will place an intimate love story on a larger-than-life canvas and turn it into a grand, melodramatic spectacle. So he is unapologetic about wallowing in visual excess in his latest outing, Bajirao Mastani, as well. He also makes it amply clear in the disclaimer at the very start that though based on N.S. Inamdar’s Rau, his love triangle — of Peshwa Bajirao I, his first wife Kashi and second wife Mastani — is not a historically accurate narrative but one which takes liberties with the period, the setting and the story. Here Bajirao’s political battles, conquests and courtroom intrigues remain a mere backdrop to the more significant matters of heart.

In the Bhansali tradition, Bajirao Mastani does scream opulence; what with those fountains, chandeliers and drapes, and the headgears and jewellery that seem to weigh the actors down. There are many nods to Raja Ravi Varma kitsch with some scenes seeming straight out of his art. The extravagant setting is backed by a stylised operatic narrative, song ‘n dance set-pieces, declamatory dialogue, and emotions that are forever heightened. Crowds are in perfect geometry even as feelings are carefully choreographed. Notice how well Bajirao’s teardrop is orchestrated in the scene where he blows the lamps off and bids a sad farewell to his betrayed first wife Kashibai. One dramatic confrontation follows another. In fact, the confrontations, the argumentative characters, their high-strung interactions, and emotions are relentless. There is not a moment of silence. Even when there is, the pounding background music takes over.

But Bajirao Mastani gets more ambitious with what it intends to do. There is the Holi song which seems straight out of Pakeezah. There is the obvious nod to Mughal-E-Azam (Deewani Mastani, beautifully staged in the Aina mahal, hall of mirrors, a throwback to Pyaar kiya to darna kya). There are the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon inspired leaps and jumps in the combats and the 300: Rise Of An Empire like battle scenes.

Wish Bhansali had kept the film less protracted and gone a little easy on the excess, especially in the overwrought climax, because there is something in Bajirao Mastani that reaches out and keeps you intensely engaged even as it wears you down. The Hindu-Muslim love angle could have been done with more depth and layer than mere talk of politics of colour — kesariya (saffron) and hara (green) — but is timely and relevant in the way it takes on religion and orthodoxy. The dialogue might be old-worldly (ishq, ibadat …) but the actors mouthing them are in great form. They help the passion and poignancy reach out. Ranveer Singh is charismatic and charming complete with the Marathi inflection in his lingo and those electric moves in Malhari (who cares whether Peshwas danced or not). Vulnerable yet macho, funny and flamboyant, his chemistry with Deepika holds well when they spar passionately. Deepika smoulders and looks radiant, as usual, but it is Priyanka, disappointingly absent from the first half, who is disarmingly warm and dignified in the second.

Some of the more interesting Bhansali tropes add to the film’s impact and appeal. The female bonding over a man in Devdas’s Dola re dola re becomes Pinga here. But it’s the trajectory and transformation of the two women that is worth noting. While Mastani starts all desire and defiance, she eventually turns docile in love. On the other hand, the docile and domesticated Kashibai accepts Mastani on her own terms even as she berates her husband. Her pride and dignity intact, she comes into her own when she loses out on love. While there is a strange passivity in Mastani’s fiery persona, there is strong resolve and cussedness in Kashi’s seeming passivity.

Lastly, it’s interesting how Bhansali is the closest ally women have in Bollywood when it comes to the female gaze. It’s not the coy, bashful one of the Charulata kind but that of the blatant voyeur. Be it the towel-wrapped Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya or the glisteningly-oiled Ranveer Singh, all rippling muscles as he bathes away in a scene here, it’s the male body that is stared at and celebrated through the heroine, and, in turn, the filmmaker’s eye view. We are certainly not complaining.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/bajirao-mastani-a-historical-leap/article8004323.ece

 

SPOILERS ALERT

Maratha history gets the full-on Sanjay Leela Bhansali treatment in Bajirao Mastani.

The overwrought but impressive extravaganza elevates the legendary 18th century warrior-hero determined to establish Hindu rule across the subcontinent to the level of a selfless crusader for love in a climate of hate and bigotry.

Bhansali fictionalizes several of Bajirao's key battles but focuses more on the married Peshwa's passion for Mastani, the beautiful and courageous half Rajput, half-Muslim princess of Bundelkhand.

Every emotion in the film - be it love, longing or valour on the battlefield - is translated into a grand and elaborate song-and-dance routine.

A couple of the musical set pieces do not ring true in a historical epic about a man whose place in history is primarily as an unvanquished general.

These are but minor aberrations in a sweeping love story that is mounted on such a grandiose scale and crafted with such vaulting zeal that eventually the smaller details cease to matter.

Bajirao Mastani is, in many respects, Bhansali's most subversive film to date. Its central message is that all religions preach love but love has no religion.

Love, the film conveys via Irrfan Khan's voice, is a religion by itself and those that swear by its tenets become immortal like Bajirao and Mastani.

Peshwa Bajirao, played with flair by Ranveer Singh, takes on the unbending clergy and his own angry family to uphold Mastani's dignity after she arrives in Pune as his second wife.

To liven up this "love story of a warrior", Bhansali, as is his wont, rustles up a series of spectacular visuals, each as blindingly awash in red, russet and gold and bathed in light and shade as all the others.

Some of the pivotal scenes are well conceived and executed and their impact is enhanced by the impressive performances from the principal cast.

While it is difficult to take one's eyes off the screen, the pace of the narrative, which runs for more than two and a half hours, is not consistent.

Large parts of the first half of Bajirao Mastani appear to serve only one purpose: setting the stage for a more explosive second half.

But the wait is well worth it: the pace of the film quickens considerably after the two women in Bajirao's life come face to face.

The headstrong warrior's wife Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra), mother Radhabai (Tanvi Azmi), brother Chimaji (Vaibhav Tatwawdi) and son Nana Saheb (Ayush Tandon), each in his own way, seek to prevent Mastani from worming her way into the Peshwa fold and the family's abode - Shaniwarwadi.

Mastani (Deepika Padukone) is shunned, humiliated and even brutalized as she refuses to give up her claim on the man she loves.

She equates ishq (love) with ibaadat (worship), and notwithstanding the religious and social resistance from those around Bajirao she stands firm and bears him a son.

Mastani wants her son to be called Krishna but the custodians of faith force her and the boy's father to settle for a less Hindu name, Shamsher Bahadur.

Right at the outset - obviously under mounting pressure from the descendants of Bajirao Peshwa and from some historical purists - the film offers what must surely go down in the annals of Bollywood as the longest-ever disclaimer.

Among other things, the director admits in the introductory rider that he has taken liberties with facts. He need not have bothered.

At no point does Bajirao Mastani look any different from all the fictional tales that Bhansali has spun in his eventful career.

Bajirao Mastani is watchable primarily because of the craft that is on view in the pretty frames lit meticulously by cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee.

The characters allude repeatedly to the sky, to the sun and the moon, to the clouds and to the elements in general in the stodgy first half.

However, except in the competently mounted CGI-aided battles scenes, the sky is rarely seen.
The film instead shows the audience the Valhalla-like grandeur of the sets, the striking costumes designed by Anju Modi and faces lit by fire-torches.

The second half looks and feels markedly different because the visuals open out to take in the sky and the rain and the wind to convey the larger war that Bajirao must fight against his co-religionists.

Bhansali gives us a trio of remarkable women in Bajirao Mastani. Besides the admirable Mastani, a magnificent warrior-princess and a courageous lover, the film has Bajirao's aggrieved but dignified wife Kashibai and his widowed mother.

Deepika is absolutely outstanding as Mastani, a woman in a man's world, a Muslim in a conservative Chitpavan Brahmin setting, and a mother driven by the power of love.

Priyanka has less in terms of footage and hangs around in the backdrop for the most part. But when the drama gets into its stride, she too comes into her own.

Tanvi Azmi as Radhabai, a tonsured lady in white calling the shots and constantly testing the patience of her strong-willed first-born, delivers a power-packed performance.

Bajirao Mastani is Ranveer Singh's film. It has scenes - especially the one in which the male protagonist's presence and voice are pitted against the presence and voice of Raza Murad (in the guise of the Nizam of the Deccan) - in which he comes up a little short.

But there is no missing the enormous hard work that has been done in order to get into the skin of the character.

In one of the early scenes, Ranveer gets the Puneri accent to perfection, but, for an inexplicable reason, does not follow through with it.

Despite its failings, Bajirao Mastani is the work of a director who never shies away from going the whole hog.

Even when Bhansali isn't in full flight, he still manages to soar well above the mundane.

Bajirao Mastani is for those that think history is boring. There isn't a dull moment in this colourful and dramatic film that embraces excess with unabashed abandon.

http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/bajirao-mastani-movie-review-1213