Chhaava — In Honor of Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj
Last year, the cinema hall screened the teaser of Chhaava before the movie Stree 2, both being from the same production house, Maddock. While walking out of the cinema hall after watching Stree 2, I realized that the teaser of Chhaava had created a deeper impact on my mind than anything I watched in Stree 2. The visuals were grand and vibrant, raw yet refined. The manic energy and roar of Vicky Kaushal, who plays the character of Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj in the movie looked natural. It all made me crave more. I watched the teaser many times after that on YouTube.
Yet we watched the movie only after my wife insisted we watch the movie on the big screen due to its glowing reviews and growing popularity. But I was hesitant as I had already heard about the story that it had a sad ending. But we went in for it because we hadn’t watched a movie on the big screen for many months and also because the trailer of the movie was ten times more impressive than the teaser, especially the arousing chants of “Har Har Mahadev” and the fight sequences.
We knew the movie was going to be a good experience but I never expected it to be an impressive and inspiring one. Recently I’ve noticed that cinema-goers are flocking to the theater in large numbers only to watch big-budget mass masala entertainers even when they lack novelty or substance. A substandard movie like Singham Returns recovers its budget while Pushpa 2 breaks box office records despite not being anywhere as good as the previous big budget entertainers such as RRR and KGF-2. What I didn’t realize was that Chhaava wasn’t a typical mass masala entertainer. Hindus across the world who are even remotely familiar with the Maratha empire know the contributions of Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj in protecting and preserving our culture. Chhaava not only benefits from the reverence people have for their Chhatrapati but also because the sincerity and dedication of the makers in making this movie.
The trailer showed the detailed research the makers had done to present to us an authentic experience of that time period of the history of the Maratha empire and particularly their battles with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. This further cements the position of the production house Maddock as a reliable one for making authentic and content-driven movies. This movie also comes as a relief after the disasterous history-based movies, Prithviraj Chauhan and Panipat, particularly due to the lackluster and lazy performances of the lead actors in those movies.
And that brings me to the current sensation of Bollywood, the man who brought alive our Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, Vicky Kaushal. He seems to have aced the skill of being a reliable biopic actor. He surprised everyone with his restrained yet immersive performance in Sardar Udham and repeated his sincere and excellent work in Sam Bahadur such that people remember Manekshaw as Vicky Kaushal’s character in the movie. As Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, he roars on the battlefield, yet becomes a caring leader, a loving family man, and an emotional son off the battlefield. For a man who has spent a major part of his life fighting the invaders and protecting his motherland, you may think our Chhatrapati had anger issues and was egoistic, yet the opposite was true. In quiet and peaceful moments, he longed for the affection of his elders and yearned to hear them affectionately call him “Shambhu”, considering that in the story his father had just passed away. Vicky excels in both aggressive as well as emotional moments, more so in the latter.
I was happy to see many stalwarts in important and supporting roles such as Akshaye Khanna, Ashutosh Rana, Vineet Singh, and Divya Dutta. These actors excel in their roles in every project and deserve more adulation and good roles in movies. Rashmika was superb in Pushpa 2 and made her presence felt in the second half of Animal but in Chhaava her dialogue delivery was borderline irritating. Her dialogue delivery felt like an effort rather than a normal flow of words. My wife recalled the memorable performance of Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai in Bajirao Mastani and how she overshadowed everyone else in the movie by her performance. The production houses should do proper screen tests and cast suitable actors, not popular ones.
The makers kept the most impactful for the last. The tragic capture and torture of Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj in the last half an hour of the movie was diluted to make it palatable for the audience. Yet they succeeded in retaining the essence and sending the right message across. At the beginning of the movie, our Chhatrapati was shown to be stronger than the king of the jungle on the battlefield, yet his true strength is revealed in the moments of brutal torture when he refuses to bow down to Aurangzeb. The Mughal emperor may have captured, tortured, and eventually killed our Chhatrapathi but he lost against the idea of Hindavi swaraj for which every Maratha and other Indians were fighting against the Mughals. He killed thousands of men but couldn’t kill their passion for self-governance as Hindus.
My only issue with the movie is its mediocre music. A. R. Rahman is a good music composer but he should be avoided for war films. The background scores in battle scenes in PS1 and PS2 were mediocre at best, and the same happened in Chhaava. The music lacked the Marathi touch and in some instances the music felt borrowed and tweaked for this movie. Ajay-Atul or Shankar Ehsaan Loy would have been better choices as music director. Only the “Aaya re Toofaan” song is good and has some recall value. I would have liked soaring music as that of KGF or Baahubali and a BGM for our Chhatrapati such as what Anirudh has been creating in the last few years for superstars like Rajnikant, Kamal Hassan, Shah Rukh, and Thalapathi.
Despite a few shortcomings, this movie is an overall good experience in the cinema hall. I was afraid the ending would sadden me, the way the ending of Tanhaji did. But strangely, the ending inspires its audience and instills in them the zeal to excel in life, never bow down to invaders, and protect one’s way of life at all costs. I am happy that the movie is breaking box office records. This will encourage Maddock and other upcoming production houses to invest in making good history-based movies, with sincerity and dedication.
This Vicky Kaushal’s movie still has about a month of free run at the cinema before Salman’s Sikandar takes away all the screens and I’m sure this movie will come close to a 1000 Cr earnings. Yet this movie won’t make Vicky a superstar. It only proves that he is a bankable biopic actor. This will certainly benefit his next project with Maddock on Mahavtar Parshuram. Eagerly waiting.
Chhaava is breaking box office records in a cinema hall near you. Do watch it and pay homage to the protector of dharma, the dharmaveer, Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj.
