Raja Shivaji

Haven’t there been enough films made on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the last few years? Yes. Will there be more in the near future? Most probably. Is Raja Shivaji different? Yes and no.

For starters, this Riteish Deshmukh’s directorial traces the story of the warrior king from his birth to a pivotal chapter in Maratha history, the slaying of Afzal Khan. In doing so, it focuses more on the emotions and instances that shaped Shivaji Maharaj’s quest for Swarajya. The trailer shows scenes from some of his conquests where he took the enemy head on and simply put, that has become a requisite for a big screen action film of late. But the gory battle scenes are not the focus in Raja Shivaji. Riteish, along with his writers (Ajit Wadekar and Sandeep Patil) create a story that focuses on the strategic aspects, not on the brute force of a king’s army - something that many films in this genre have done exhaustively before.

Along with this, Riteish brings together a dream cast – Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sachin Khedekar, Bhagyashree, Amole Gupte and more. Even the cameos. that have become a stronghold of Riteish’s Marathi ventures, are noteworthy. Genelia Deshmukh as Saibai Bhosale, Fardeen Khan as Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, Boman Irani as a Sufi saint, Mahesh Manjrekar as Lakhuji Jadhav, Riteish’s sons Rahyl and Riaan, and, of course, Salman Khan as Jiva Mahale – the list is long and impactful. Sanjay Dutt and Vidya Balan are show stealers, while Bhagyashree and Abhishek Bachchan are impactful. Riteish as Shivaji Maharaj is poised and sincere.

This film is the most ambitious project from Riteish yet, and it doesn’t disappoint. Mounted on a grand scale, Raja Shivaji plays on the usual tropes but doesn’t fixate on them. The dialogues by Prajakt Deshmukh are good. The story's progression and how it alternates between different incidents, ably aided by Urvashi Saxena’s editing, deserves a special mention. And then there’s Ajay-Atul's familiar music which, combined with Santosh Sivan’s cinematography, takes every scene a notch higher.

Raja Shivaji has its share of misses too. The VFX, though decent, looks amateurish in some scenes. The slow-motion shots get tiring after a point, especially when used to show the gory and bloody details of combat scenes. The film may also feel rushed, but that’s the cost of trying to fit a lot into a three-hour runtime.

Divided into eight chapters, Raja Shivaji is a good watch for the weekend. It shows you the side of the king that movies on him have seldom explored in the recent past. And it is a film where Riteish the director shines more than Riteish the actor.