Padmaavat Movie Review: Royal Rumble

The legend of Queen Padmavati and Sultan Alauddin Khilj’s desire for her has been explored in the past on the small screen in historical shows, but when Sanjay Leela Bhansali takes up such a project, one can be guaranteed that the legend will achieve a cult status through sheer grandeur.

After many controversies and delays, Padmaavat is finally ready to release this weekend, but is it worth the wait? Read on...

While on a trip to Sri Lanka to search for precious pearls, Rawal Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) runs into Princess Padmavati and promptly falls in love with her. By the time you help yourself to some popcorn, the wooing bit is done and Ratan has married Padmavati and brought her home to Chittorgarh.

Meanwhile, in distant Afghanistan, an ambitious warlord Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh) embarks on a mission to capture the throne of the Delhi Sultanate after assassinating his own uncle Jalaluddin (Raza Murad).

When Ratan banishes the royal priest for disrespecting him and Padmavati, he lands up in Alauddin’s court and tells him of an unattainable beauty named Padmavati, who will be the key to his destiny as the ‘second Alexander’ setting in motion a bloody campaign to acquire Padmavati through war.

Though the film has three leads, within minutes, it is evident that the film belongs to Ranveer Singh. As the debauched Alauddin Khilji, Ranveer is cheerfully evil and maniacal in his intensity to be as bad as possible. Like Heath Ledger’s Joker from Dark Knight, Ranveer’s Khilji is not just bad, but unabashedly enjoys being the bad boy and it is a sheer delight to watch Singh as a ruthless Sultan, even if he does play to the gallery at times.

Deepika is pretty enough and tries to make her character as feminine and dignified as possible, but she comes across as too dull in quite a few scenes and for some reason, she seems to have moist eyes in almost every scene, irrespective of the situation. Shahid Kapoor as Rawan Ratan Singh shows off his muscled torso, but is no match for Ranveer Sigh’s unflagging energy. Shahid is unable to match up to Ranveer and the clash between them doesn’t seem like that of between equals. Jim Sarbh as Khilji’s slave Malik Kafur, puts in a solid performance as does Aditi Rao Hydari as Alauddin’s long suffering wife.

As for the film, Padmaavat is opulent, larger-than-life, grand and visually appealing like all of Bhansali’s films and the Karni Sena can take a chill pill, because the film goes on and on about Rajput valour and gallantry. The cinematography is worthy of praise as are the special effects and the costumes and other technical departments.

However, on the flip side, it drags on and on and one starts wishing for things to wind up soon. The climactic ‘jauhar’ scene has been stretched enough to test your patience and the combat scene between Khilji and Ratan Singh could have been choreographed better, I feel.

Nevertheless, Padmaavat is one film that should be watched on the big screen and if you are a fan of Ranveer Singh, you simply cannot afford to skip this grand movie.