The last 30-odd minutes of the latest Vicky Kaushal starrer Chhaava, directed by Laxman Utekar, have the actor carrying the over-the-top aura of the real-life king in a completely absorbing manner. The sheer screen presence and confidence of Vicky in that portion were enough to ensure that the target audience of this movie would get the kind of high they were looking for. Chhaava is a film that tries to celebrate its hero by choosing the glorious chapters in his life. With that wannabe Bhansali movie texture evident in every frame, this historical biopic is watchable mostly because of an incredible Vicky Kaushal.
The film here is the biopic of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, who was the son of the first Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. After the demise of Shivaji, the Mughal empire led by Aurangzeb thought that it would be easy for them to control the Deccan region. But the ferocious Sambhaji gave a tough time for them. The numerous battles fought between the Marathas and Mughals during this time are what we see in Chhaava.
Like any other biopic that chooses only the bright patches in the life of its hero, Chhaava also prefers to stay away from the grey shades of the character. Laxman Utekar’s take on Sambhaji’s life has that hyper-nationalistic tone that still sells in our country, and it is your typical clean and gold-hearted king versus barbaric and evil king kind of story. Like how Sardar Uddham creates an emotional impact with its flashback moments, Chhaava ultimately works for you because of how it presents the last moments of Sambhaji. But to get there, the film is going through a series of events that aren’t cinematically appealing.
The first three-quarters of this movie has the tricky task of showcasing all the important events in the life of Sambhaji. And it is like a highlights reel of his personal and professional achievements and setbacks. You can make a biopic trying to please the audience who are fans of the character or for an audience who might get to know the character through the biopic. The writing of Chhaava is done in a way that it feels like they just want to cash in on the sentiments of people who already have a sense of respect towards that character. Hence, when you look at the way the war sequences and even the personal moments of the king are portrayed, it has that derivative feel. And in many areas, the final output feels like a beta version of something we have seen in the Bhansali films.
Laxman Utekar and his team of writers have a lot of faith in their actors as one can see the movie having this dialogue-heavy feel in every beat. Every scene has this jugalbandi of dialogues happening between the characters in the scene. In the initial patches of the movie, this obsession with lines makes the movie look like a wannabe war film. But in the penultimate moment, in scenes featuring Vicky Kaushal and Vineeth Kumar Singh, the lines were having that desired impact. The war sequences in the movie are sort of integral to the plot as Sambhaji has a record of not losing over a hundred wars. But unfortunately, the tight frames and the excessive cuts break the flow of action. There were many well-imagined action blocks that ultimately ended up looking like a usual action sequence due to sloppy cuts. AR Rahman followed an atypical style and orchestration for the songs.
Masaan was released in 2015, and I must say that the acting journey of Vicky Kaushal from being that naive, sensitive boy in that film to playing a king whom an army of soldiers couldn’t stop is as good as a cinema. For a movie like Chhaava, which largely acts as a visual documentation of events in Sambhaji Maharaj’s life, Vicky’s performance adds a significant amount of boost. A convincing portrayal of the roar and fearlessness of the central character and his charming persona was essential for the film’s final act to work, and Vicky Kaushal embodies all those traits in his performance to make that character easily one of his best.
Rashmika Mandana as Yesubai was effective, and the dubbing was surprisingly good. Akshaye Khanna as Aurangzeb, the aged barbaric villain, gets this one-note character with all those prosthetic wrinkles. Ashutosh Rana was fine in his character. Vineeth Kumar Singh, as the close friend Kavi Kalash, did a really solid job, especially in that climax bit. Diana Penty as Zinat-un-Nissa Begum gets hardly any lines in this film.
Chhaava is a film that has the support of some phenomenal performances, starting from the main man, Vicky Kaushal. The writing of the film and the way it structures the path to reach the most dramatic event in Sambhaji’s life is quite middling, and Laxman Utekar uses the ongoing chest-thumping patriotism trope to cover up the lack of creative gist in those portions. Because of a towering Vicky Kaushal owning the last quarter of the movie, Chhaava manages to make you do some research about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
Because of a towering Vicky Kaushal owning the last quarter of the movie, Chhaava manages to make you do some research about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
