By: Barnali Bose ( Sr. Associate Editor, ICN-Group)
After tiding over the crosscurrents of controversies that had culminated into oppositions,verbal,physical and legal, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hindi commercial film Padmavati,renamed Padmavat (to appease the sentiments of the so-called sentinels of Rajput quintessential honour and martyrdom )was finally able to see the light of day on the 25th of January.
Bengal,being one of those progressive states where artistic freedom rules the roost unlike some others ( the proof being the hurdle-free screening of the melodramatic distortion of Sarat chandra Chatterjee’s famous novel ‘Devdas’ by the same film director a few years back) Padmavat was released minus hiccups.
Like many others I had grown up reading stories of Rajput valour and sacrifice,of Maharana Pratap and his famous horse Chetak, of Prithviraj Chauhan and Sanyukta, of Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur …… the list seems endless. However the story of Rani Padmini,depicted as Beauty and Brains personified has always been iconic for me.
My first encounter with the famed queen was in the colourful pages of Amar Chitra katha ,the series that I would literally gorge upon as a child.These stories in pictures acquainted me with tales from the pages of History and Mythology. Forgive me, if I tend to digress from what I want to explicitly discuss in this literary endeavour of mine.As a student of English Literature I was made to believe that digressions are commonplace in the art of writing and that a story does have plots and subplots which if woven with finesse makes great reading material.
However, before the reader begins to be confused about what I actually wish to dwell upon,let me clarify that I simply wish to share my personal experience of viewing Padmavati, (sorry the ‘ i ‘needs to be done away with). Somehow the ‘ i’ adds feminity to the nomenclature or so I feel. But as Shakespeare says,’ What’s in a name?’,I,a humble writer therefore would leave it at that.
Like any other cine goer, I had been waiting eagerly to see the film that only the intervention of the highest court of the country could finally save from fading into oblivion.
I sat glued to my seat in the theatre with a pair of 3D glasses resting on the bridge of my nose. What unfolded before me was indubitably a sheer cinematic magical medley of visuals interwoven into a script that centres around Alauddin khilji’s obsession for beautiful women intercepted by subplots of love and dedication, treachery and betrayal,hospitality and chivalry, valour and sacrifice.
Although I was awe-struck by the magnificence of the film I realised the director has placed the Rajputs in general on a pedestal with high sounding dialogues of their valour and hospitality ( most of them delivered in the third person to convey self-pride). I wonder why such a hullabaloo was made by those who have been glorified herein.
The film-maker has depicted the khiljis as barbaric and sadistic ( that can put even Chengiz khan to shame ) besides being demoniac gorging on chunks of meat and lusting for women. Alauddin khilji( enacted by Ranveer Singh) appears savagely hideous,his blood-smeared countenance partially concealed by his unkempt long bushy curls .His character is insanely loud and melodramatic and I felt that Ranveer Singh’s theatre background has been put into good use .That Alauddin lusts for a married woman is condemnable but whether he was bi-sexual,as indicated is questionable.
On the other hand, the Rajput king( enacted by Shahid Kapoor)looks royally pristine. He falls in love with the beautiful Padmavati who he marries and does not bother to even pacify his heart-broken first wife ( in those days Bigamy and polygamy were prevalent among higher caste Hindus). It made me wonder whether he had the virtue of compassion in him.
Deepika Padukone as Padmavati is alluringly royal and expressive.Her eyes speaks volumes.The ‘Ghoomar’ like the ‘Mastani’ dance( in Bajirao Mastani ) is a visual treat. The use of Mewari folk music has added a realistic touch to it .However the uncouth animalistic ‘ Khalibali ‘dance is rather repulsive ( obviously meant to be so) as opposed to the energetic feet-tapping ‘ Malhari ‘in Bajirao Mastani,both the dances having been performed by Ranveer Singh.
That the pleas of Rana Ratansen for help falls on deaf ears, very well brings to light the historical fact that the Rajput kings did not unite for a common purpose. It was their internal rivalry that helped the foreign invaders make inroads into North Western India.
The seeking of approval from Ratansen to burn herself to prove that Rajput women prefer death to dishonour glorifies female subjugation in a patriarchal society. The lengthy concluding scene with the depiction of mass-immolation or Jauhar seemed to condone the regressive social practice rather than condemn it, notwithstanding the disclaimer.
Despite all this,Bhansali has conjured up a film,worth seeing for the sheer fairy tale he has woven of a divinely beautiful queen and an honourable Rajput King who meet their doom with the intrusion of the demon in their lives.
In Greek Mythology I had read the story of Helen of Troy. Helen was believed to be so beautiful that the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe has described her as “ the face that launched a thousand ships” leading to the Trojan War. In Padmavat it is the Khilji king’s lust for the beautiful Queen of Chittor that spells doom for the Mewar kingdom.
