Bajirao Mastani

Bollywood reached its cinematic greatness in Bajirao. The sequence, the camera work and story telling at its best. All the actors' performance were notable. Very well put together. Bajirao Mastani just set new standards in Bollywood industry. Nothing recent comes close.

Nice costumes, great cinematography and good music, lyrics and direction of the movie. Performance-wise: Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra followed by Deepika Padukone. Here are the ratings. Ranveer Singh: A; Priyanka Chopra: A; Deepika Padukone: B+; Overall, a great movie to watch. Ranveer Singh did his career-best performance. That was amazing to watch him prepare for and act as Bajirao. Priyanka Chopra completely eclipsed Deepika Padukone. Bhansali should have switched roles for PC and DP. PC is at her splendid best that showcased her acting brilliance. This was quite evident when the duo danced together. Overall, PC is a much better actor than DP in this movie. Deepika Padukone did whatever she could. Overall, a great movie to watch!!!

Okay, one can expect exactly that with a Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The man sure knows his stuff when it comes to photography and even when something is lacking in the storytelling department, this remains an almost inconsequential detail by the end of the show. This was true for previous Bhansali productions, including Devdas, which was actually a good film in and of itself, while my personal favourite in this regard is probably Saawariya, which was so overwhelmingly stunning I could watch it anytime just for how beautiful it is to look at. Bajirao Mastani is an epic romance, and it definitely works in both story and execution, but it's not a tremendous show as it never really manages to tug at the heartstrings despite its strong story. I wish I could allow myself to get more involved in the story and feel more for the characters and their travails, but it didn't really happen, also probably due to the fact that it's an epic, distant and larger-than-life style of execution, but more because it lacked some depth here and there.

But again, the visuals, oh the visuals - Bhansali is a true craftsman in this regard, and no one can take it from him. The amazing setting, the props, cinematography, the lighting, the extraordinary, impeccable attention to detail, the symmetry, make for a visual treat the kind of which you rarely see. What about the film itself, you ask? Well, it's interesting and captivating, and the music is phenomenal as well. The three leads are really good, particularly Chopra who gets the meatiest part of a woman driven by jealousy, ego, in spite of which she finds room in her heart for compassion and forgiveness. Deepika is stunning, and Ranveer Singh is a good lead whose every expression is clearly carefully thought out before. It also has a phenomenal Tanvi Azmi whose every turn over the past decade has been impressive. At the end of the day, Bajirao Mastani provides viewers with exactly what they want - entertainment and aesthetic delight, and in this regard, the film is a delightful cinematic experience. Pure delight.

Watched Bajirao Mastani. Must say I was disappointed. Not because the movie was bad. By any standard of cinematography and direction, it was tremendously beautiful, but then which SLB's movie isn't? Perhaps I had raised the bar for it in my mind too high?

Here's my gripe with the movie: 1. Editing: very shoddy. Scenes just jumped around with little to no transition. There seem to be two stories told in the movie, the triangle love story and the battles. There was no fluidity in the editing between the two. 2. Bajirao and Mastani: in terms of acting, everyone did a good job. However, I felt like I have seen Deepika as Mastani in other movies as well. She was really good but I wanted to see a phenomenal performance (high expectations). Ranvir's acting is probably his career best but it still falls short in a few scenes. Some of it looks forced and tedious. Coming to the characters of these two, it's hard to like a movie and connect with it when you don't feel empathy for the leading characters. The two love struck characters are clearly shown in grey. It is difficult to feel sorrow for the ailing couple when you know that their affair has caused pain to a loving wife. This made me most uncomfortable. When the narrator proclaimed their love as eternal, it didn't resonate with me as their love was infidelity on Bajirao's part. 3. Unnecessary songs: SLB has a knack for incorporating beautiful, visually stimulating songs into his movies. This one is no exception. However, there are a couple of songs like Pinga and Bajirao and boys' celebratory song which stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of placement in the movie. 4. Rushed ending: don't want to get into details and spoil the ending but it looked like SLB was tired of 12 years of thinking and making the movie and he just ended it. 5. Striking similarity to Devdas and a little bit of Jodhaa Akbar: this one may just be me, partly because Devdas is one of my favorite movies of all time and also because I have watched it more than a dozen times. BM has so many similar themes as Devdas. Take the premise of two women longing for love of their man (I agree this is a pretty common theme), the ethereal dialogues, the widowed mother who seems to be a thorn in B and M's love saga, the choreographed duet song-dance spectacle with Mastani and Kashibai, the eventual fall into intoxication of Bajirao (there's even a scene with him in water very much like Devdas towards the end), war strategy inspired by Jodhaa Akbar, the mirror hall song reminds me of maar dala and kaahe ched, etc.

Having said all the above, I still think it is a good movie, just not SLB's best.

Watch it for Priyanka's brilliant acting as the forgotten Kashibai in a small but significant role. She delivers her lines in full flow, tugs at your heartstrings and makes you feel her pain. Watch it for a beautiful coming together of spectacular costumes and set design, grand music and choreography, larger than life dialogues and theme. Watch it for the movie it is, just don't believe the hype or you're bound to be disappointed. 3/5.

I went to see this film while my wife was at the ballet. I don't watch many Bollywood films, and usually the lighter kind, so I was coming to this film with almost no context. Also, to me, this was a foreign language, subtitled film so I missed any subtleties of language.

I really liked it. It was a true epic, wonderfully staged with seamless CGI and a consistent mellow look and feel to it. The leads (and lots of others) were really handsome/beautiful, and excellent actors. The dancing and singing was great and the story was well told. The costumes were sumptuous - Mughal miniatures come to life.

To an Australian this was of course an exotic film, so although it was slow there was always something to be looking at and wondering about. On the con side, the Hindu / Moslem theme was hammered home rather obviously, the Brahmin priests were one-dimensionally nasty, and (apart from one boatman) everything took place in a idyllic palace bubble - punctuated by a few battles.

However I would recommend this to anyone who wants to enjoy an epic cinematic experience Indian-style.