Everything that Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) seeks to possess, he does so by any means necessary, whether it's viciously killing his way to becoming sultan or conquering kingdoms just to snatch up all of their jewels and princesses. His latest whim of greed is the kingdom of Mewar, whose heavily fortified capital city of Chittor contains Queen Padmavati (Deepika Padukone), the exquisitely beautiful and intelligent wife of King Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor). PADMAAVAT suffered through a sea of controversy and violence in its native land just to be released, only for the film to end up being an an adequately entertaining epic with one hell of a great performance. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali presents the film as a mixture of old and new interpretations of the cinematic epic. In more simpler terms, this movie is what you get if you blend the 2002 take of DEVDAS with the aesthetics of Game of Thrones. The film is unbelievably gorgeous in all of its details, from the delectable costume design to the marvelous sets to the expansive cinematography that captures it all. Story wise, however, it suffers from often being too hokey and by-the-numbers for the modern taste. All of the betrayals, sacrifices, and tears hit their respective marks to ho-hum effect and I had to keep reminding myself that this isn't The Illiad despite its many allusions to it and even to the bad 2004 film TROY. One of the few saving graces in this department is the inclusion of Malik Kafur, a personal slave/assassin to Alauddin that brings a sexual charge to the picture that is sorely lacking in the main romance. If there is one reason to sit through this near three hour film, it is to watch Ranveer Singh. He is an unstoppable force of nature as the temperamental and conniving tyrant. The rest of the cast do an amiable job but can't keep up with Singh save for Jim Sarbh as Malik Kafur. This goes double for Padukone, who's sadly a bit dialed back as the titular heroine who can outwit anyone who challenges her. And that goes triple for Kapoor, who's a boring corpse of an actor that thinks that blue-steeling everyone and delivering his lines in a low tone makes him a charismatic leader. As for the music, the dance sequences are well shot and choreographed yet only the song "Ghoomar" proved to be memorable. And the less said about the CGI animals and the suited-for-3D shots, the better. PADMAAVAT is nowhere near as sacrilegious as some idiotic pundits and conservative thinkers believed it to be but it only checks enough boxes to be a serviceable epic.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
No comments:
Post a Comment