The story begins with Alauddin (Ranveer Singh) and his rise to power. To say Alauddin is ambitious would be an understatement; he claims that every beautiful thing in the world belongs to him, which is an attitude that will get him into trouble someday. Still, he rises. He captures an ostrich in order to marry Mehrunissa (Aditi Rao Hydari), the daughter of Jalaludin (Raza Murad.) He helps Jalaludin win the throne of Delhi, gains great renown by successfully fighting off a Mongol invasion, then, with the help of loyal and cheerfully murderous slave Malik Kufar (Jim Sarbh), he murders his father-in-law and seizes the throne for himself.
Meanwhile, Sinhalese princess Padmavati (Deepika Padukone) is doing princess stuff, which in her case mostly means living in the woods and being young and carefree and sure that nothing will ever change. She's one cute animal sidekick short of being a Disney princess. One day while hunting she accidentally shoots Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor), king of Mewar. She nurses him back to health, then accompanies him home as his bride. Everything is wonderful - until the happy couple catch Ratan's guru Raghav Chetan (who isn't credited in the IMDB) spying on them. Padmavati insists that Raghav should be exiled, and so he is. he swears revenge, but goes away.
In short order, Raghav makes his way to Delhi, where he arranges to be discovered by Alauddin. He tells Alauddin of Padmavati's legendary beauty, convincing him that he is destined to rule the world, but only with her at his side. Since Alauddin's philosophy is that every beautiful thing belongs to him anyway, he promptly takes his army to Mewar to claim his prize.
Padmaavat sounds like a historical epic, and I suppose it is, but it plays out more like a fairy tale. The princess is beautiful and noble and spirited and kind, the villain is consumed by greed and wickedness and dresses like heavy metal Dracula, and the handsome prince and his people are Movie Rajputs, pure of heart but completely dedicated to a rigid code of honor. The movie even looks like a fairy tale, with the scenery ranging from pretty to stunning and otherworldly, while still remaining more grounded than the giant statues and impossible cliffs of Baahubali.
It also plays out as a tragedy, and I have mixed feelings about that. I can follow the characters' reasoning and motivation, even though I don't agree with them. I understand that there is cultural significance behind the final act of literal self-sacrifice, and the scene was shot and performed beautifully. It was also a really jarring moment of culture shock for me.
Ultimately this is Ranveer Singh's movie. The other leads are perfectly good and convincing as they stride toward their various noble fates that probably could have been avoided with a little forethought, but from his humble beginnings onward Alauddin is a terrible person, and Singh still manages to make him compelling and believable as he schemes and murders and fights and sneers and swoons and dances. And when he dances, he really, really dances.
No comments:
Post a Comment