Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior

As I completed one of biggest road trip of my life across various regions of Maharasthra, I got introduced to the unspoken history of gallant Maratha warriors when they fought Mughal empire and ruled India until British came and took over the reign from them. In one of episode of Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj, you will come across the name, Tanaji Malusare, who was a popular figure among Marathis and am glad it was perfectly depicted in Ajay Devgn starrer Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior

Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior tells the true story battle of Sinhagard (fort close to Pune) occured on the night of 4 February 1670 between Maratha empire led by the military general of Chatrapati Shivaji, Tanaji Malusare (Ajay Devgn) and the Mughal Sinhagad fortkeeper, Udaybhan Singh Rathore (Saif Ali Khan).

Directed by Om Raut, who is making his Bollywood debut after giving the critically acclaimed Marathi film, Lokmanya: Ek Yug Purush (2015), does a commendable job as he waste no time and immediately let the audience come to point. The first half begins with a bang as Tanaji attacks the Mughal soldiers in a small valley gliding through the ropes and performing the sword fighting action in slow-motion engagement and has been beautifully shot. The intro scene of Saif Ali Khan was good but could have been better as he kills an elephant with a single blow (CGI was bad here). As Sinhagard fort is seiged by the Mughals, the pressure mounts on Maratha to fight back and capture it again. This is where Tanaji was assigned to lead the battle. Hats off to Om Raut and writers and screenplay by Prakash Kapadia (Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani)and Om Raut for doing fabulous job in keeping the balance between entertainment and historical drama.

The second half begins as Udaybhan Singh Rathore successfully transport the gigantic canon at the Sinhagad fort to destroy the Shivaji's palace. Here the main events of battle is depicted where the Marathas took the Mughal troops by surprise. I would like to highlight the best scene of the film when Udaybhan Singh lits the big cannon to targeting Shivaji, Tanaji steps to cut the wire but loses his right hand in the process. The duel fight scene between Tanaji and Udaybhan is well-executed and should be lauded as two actors compliment each other.

While Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior is near to perfect about the events at the battle of Sinhagad, there has been few things which could have been added to make the film even more better. For instance - Sinhagad Fort is situated at the hill top so Maratha warriors had to climb up with the steep cliff with the help of a monitor lizard. Also, Ajay Devgn surrending himself to know the secret passage to the Sinhagad fort was fictional and probbaly added to make it appealing for the audience. The makers have done wonderful job with the CGI but there were places where the visual effects looks unreal. Nevertheless, film turned out to better than the trailer which was released a month back. The camera work Keiko Nakahara along with wonderful art direction by Sriram Iyengar and Sujeet Sawant should be appreciated. Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior does not have much scope for the songs composed by Ajay-Atul but still were enjoyable along with enthralling background score by Sandeep Shirodkar.

Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior belongs to the epitome of talent, Ajay Devgn. He is definitely one actor who has scaled new heights with his choice of films. Be it a comedy, drama or a biopic, Ajay Devgn has always gone one step ahead and entertained the audience. I loved him in the climax scene. Saif Ali Khan is yet another under-rated actor who experiments with his roles. Kajol was just about okay.

On the whole, Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior was a wholesome historical drama which should be lauded for surreal direction, exemplary CGI and commendable performances. Very Good 3.5/5