Movie Review Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior

Movie Review Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior

Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior Movie Review                                                                                                                                                                              RATING: 3/5

|  2020-01-09 | Drama/Historical period drama ‧ 2h 15m

CAST: Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Saif Ali Khan

Director -Om Raut
Producer - Subaskaran Allirajah
Budget: 1.5 billion INR
Music - Ajay-Atul, Sachet–Parampara, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Sandeep Shirodkar

'Tanhaji has such a lot fun recreating a bygone legend and fictionalizing history, authenticity, and spellings, it gets infectious,' feels Sukanya Verma.

Close on the heels of Panipat comes yet one more tale steeped in Maratha pride.

I am now a touch wary of any film (or should I say film) that peddles itself as a conflict between saffron and green flags. there is a batch of Bhagwan fervor and jingoism in Director Om Raut's Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior also, but a penchant for Islamophobia is essentially spared.

A tribute to Maharashtra's martyr, Tanhaji has such a lot of fun recreating a bygone legend and fictionalizing history, authenticity, and spellings, it gets infectious.

Considered Shivaji Maharaj's chief assistant and friend, Tanahji Malasure occupied a useful position because of the leader of his army.

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Meet the important Tanhaji Malusare, war hero

Following the treaty of Purandar, Shivaji (Sharad Kelkar) has lost several forts to the Mughal empire.

His mother Jijabai (Padmavati Rao) is displeased about this development and vows to steer barefeet until Kondana or what we all know as Sinhgad today is back in Maratha charge.

And so Tanhaji (Ajay Devgn) takes leave of wife Savitri (Kajol looking such a lot like Priya Tendulkar) and puts their son's child marriage on the rear burner to duel with Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's (Luke Kenny) trusted trooper, Udaybhan Singh Rathod (Saif Ali Khan) and reclaim the fort of Kondana.

Their dynamic tussle and not some tedious show of patriotism is what engages from start to end.

As does its impressive visual scale in 3D and kinetically choreographed combat sequences strengthened by adrenalin pumping background score that keeps the ardor at its optimum.

More fantasy than historical, Raut creates a cross between magazine aesthetics and mythmaking that's closer to Amar Chitra Katha than any historian's records.

Amar Chitra Katha, because it so happens, is one among Tanhaji's publishing partners, a special remake now has Ajay Devgn and its odd new spelling splashed on the magazine cover.

Bravado like numerology is true up the actor-producer's alley. Devgn's face lights up in excitement as he dives into the 17th-century hero's daredevil missions armed with blades, face covered till eyes, sneaking in and swooping down across narrow ravines, flying and furious sort of a badass Bollywood-themed ninja whose mere nudge is enough to throw a rider off his horse.

Up future is a good formidable villain, Udaybhan.

Saif Ali Khan oozes Gabbar Singh's greasy, gleeful aura and destructive instincts resembling Donald Trump's 'cocked and loaded' eagerness to strike the enemy.

Khan's visible relish in going all-out wicked is infectious despite a needless backstory to elucidate his cruelty. i used to be more fascinated by how vibrantly he had embraced the Mughal culture.

Unleashing creepy smiles, vile wit and smooth barbarism on his abducted, detained or unsuspecting victims or maybe the way he fights, holding his sword the wrong way up , the actor is wonderfully mercurial in his meanness.

It is his caliber that rescues a scene shamelessly designed for reasonable laughs wherein a minion's name may be a deliberate slur to slide in and innuendo.

If Udaybhan has cannons and elephants, another knows tricks of guerrilla warfare.

Weapons and can to trounce the opposite is what they share in common.

While the Hindu morality is signified in poojas, yagyas, saffron, and rangolis, the enemy camp is crammed with sights of roasted crocodiles and spa-like services offering massage and milk baths.

Raut gets it right as long as they're sparring, but his politics doesn't have any complexity or texture. The Rajputs are cunning and cruel. The Marathas are patriotic and valiant. The Mughals are arrogant and entitled.

Dialogue writer Prakash Kapadia (a regular in Sanjay Leela Bhansali period pieces) even throws during a line thereto effect: 'Hum Mughal toh hain hi mauka parast.' If only it had been expressed with sarcasm.

Almost as a security measure, there's a scene involving an honest Muslim and a nasty Muslim. When the bad one tries to harm the great one, the great Hindu steps in and saves the day and temple bells start ringing out of nowhere. How's that for divine intervention?

Amused or not, Luke Kenny is sort of an idiosyncratic choice for Aurangzeb. He plays it just like the hookah-smoking caterpillar of Alice In Wonderland.

Only replace the hookah with a crochet hook.

Others appearing only briefly like Sharad Kelkar, perfectly render Shivaji's stature, power and sympathy, Neha Sharma isn't just named Kamal but seems like one too whereas Kajol's real-life marriage to Devgn gives Tanhaji a readymade emotional connect.

A 300-like artistic palette, a waterfall that leads into a secret cave-like Phantom's and threatening landscapes evoking Lord of the Rings, Tanhaji's technical slickness and rich production values take more inspiration from popular culture than historical accuracy.

A couple of unnecessary, boisterous songs distract Tanhaji from its action-packed course.

Once its back to business, it's all guns blazing.

Give me the edginess and smarts of its bloody and urgent ambushes over Bhagwa boy's patriotic pageantry any day.