Padmavati: Don’t Deprive Us Of Good Cinema
A lot has already been said about ‘Padmavati’, which is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ninth film as a director. This man is not new to controversies and has faced backlash several times during his illustrious career. Yet, there is an honesty and earnestness in the way this man makes his movies.
He has always maintained that he doesn’t want to be remembered for a hundred films, but as someone who made an impact with his cinema, his style of film-making. In the age of modern rom-coms, masala money spinners and independent cinema slowly making a mark in the minds of the audience, here’s Sanjay Leela Bhansali who looks to bring alive some of the best literary adaptations or classics alive for the big screen.
As a film-director, it is existential to know every aspect of film-making. And to say Bhansali is just a director would be an understatement. He joins that category of film-makers who just do not contribute behind the camera and work with the best talents. Often, his actors have admitted to him being a taskmaster. He doesn’t shy away from extracting the best from his actors, even if it means toiling out for months. He, like Vishal Bhardwaj, loves music and makes it a point to pay so much attention to detail in his songs.
I can only think of two film directors, Ashutosh Gowariker and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who have portrayed history like never before to audiences. Often, Ashutosh Gowariker has been criticized for his long screen-time. Yet, be it a ‘Lagaan’, a ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Say’ or ‘Mohenjo Daro’, Gowariker hasn’t shied away from telling a convincing story with compelling performances. The box-office success of the two films (leaving Lagaan) is debatable, but these two still find a healthy viewership when it is aired on television. And this is purely because they not just delve into the historical aspects of the story but also delve deep into the look, the music and the characters.
And just like Gowariker, Bhansali too brings alive similar characteristics with his films. For Bhansali, it’s not about ‘grandeur’ alone. Every element in his film is integral to his narrative. Take ‘Devdas’, ‘Goliyon Ka Raasleela Ram-Leela’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and now ‘Padmavati’. All these films bring, in their own way, something unique and unheard element of India’s glorious and rich history. While Devdas and Ram-Leela are adaptations of literary classics, it’s the Bhansali magic that makes the film more appealing. And ‘Bajirao Mastani’, which has been Bhansali’s pet project, gives us a glimpse of history that will never be heard or seen in school textbooks.
‘Padmavati’ marks Bhansali’s ninth film as a director. It is sad that a maverick film-maker like him, despite gaining a worldwide recognition and winning laurels in film-making, hasn’t had the cinematic liberty to make a film that has been close to him. Not many may know that ‘Padmavati’ was staged as an opera in Paris, where no Indian has set his foot before. The musical earned a standing ovation from audiences there.
And here in India, it’s a different story all together.
When Sanjay Leela Bhansali made his debut with ‘Khamoshi-The Musical’, I remember a few people saying how ridiculous it was of him to get Nana Patekar to act as a speech-impaired person, especially when audiences crave to hear his voice. And Seema Biswas, who was known as a power-packed performer. Anyone who has seen ‘Bandit Queen’ can be in awe of her performance in ‘Khamoshi’. But isn’t that the biggest challenge for a director to push his actors? And, in his nine films, there can be no actor who hasn’t said that Bhansali has not made them push their limits. Be it Hrithik Roshan, who only had to act with his face in ‘Guzaarish’, or Ranveer Singh, who is known to be so high on life but had to actually go into isolation to prepare for his role as Alauddin Khilji in ‘Padmavati’.
We as audiences are also to be blamed for Bhansali’s films like ‘Black’, ‘Guzaarish’ and ‘Saawariya’ not succeeding. But these films are a learning in their own ways. The ‘mise-en-scene’ of these films, or for that matter many of Bhansali’s films, the music of these films and their background scores, and the attention-to-detail that the film-maker pays to each scene just brings out how passionate this man is about his movies.
Well, in reality, one goes to watch films for entertainment. But when the same director makes a film to entertain, we don’t let him do that as well. When Ram-Leela was made, when Bajirao Mastani released, so many unnecessary controversies surrounded them. And it continues with Padmavati.
In a nation, which churns out the highest films in a single year, why aren’t directors allowed to use cinematic liberty and tell a tale convincingly? It’s a question that is not just haunting the small independent film-makers, who also struggle to find an audience, but also the biggest of the biggest directors.
Perhaps, we have failed as an audience. We haven’t allowed ourselves to evolve. Once in a way, we appreciate out-of-the-box yet simple narratives but most of the times we fail to acknowledge and appreciate the true beauty of a film. We don’t need to be a film literate to appreciate a film. I wasn’t once upon a time. We just need to have an open mind while watching it. Enjoy it if you like it. And if you don’t, well slam it or be silent about it.
It’s not that we are not getting new stories. It’s about giving the film-makers a chance. A chance to experiment. A chance to have that freedom to tell the story the way he/she wants. And when we as an audience begin to accept this graciously, without resorting to threats of beheading actors or vandalizing sets just because ‘history’ has been tampered with, that’s when we will begin to love our cinema and our stories.
A film like Padmavati deserves to be released. Film-making isn’t just about one man. There are hundreds of people, sometimes even thousands, who work on a film of such huge magnitude. It’s not about producers making money or the actors getting a hefty remuneration. It’s also about the several crew members who stay unpaid for years and wait to see their name on the screen. It’s not just cinema alone but a story of people fulfilling their dreams.
