https://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2015/07/24/the-decade-long-journey-of-bajirao-mastani-to-the-big-screen/2/
The Decade-Long Journey Of 'Bajirao Mastani' To The Big Screen
While attending the superb Indian film Baahubali: The Beginning earlier this week, I saw the trailers for a half-dozen upcoming Indian movies that will release in Los Angeles area cinemas later this year. One of the trailers stood out for me, both for its stunning visuals and for the powerful sweep of the story it promises, the true-to-life tale of an 18th century Indian general who is said to have fought 41 battles and never lost one. That story is called Bajirao Mastani.
As I watched the trailer I was struck with an odd sense of destiny unfolding, and I determined then and there both to see Bajirao Mastani when it releases on December 18th, and to research the film right away. What I learned surprised and intrigued me, and it may do the same for you.
My first surprise came when I saw an internet photo of the film's writer-director-composer, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I put the name and face together and realized that I had met him years earlier, during a meeting with Bollywood producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra (PK, 3 Idiots) in Mumbai. Chopra introduced me to a genial fellow he called Sanjay, and I shook Sanjay's hand, thinking I had just met an assistant or underling.
After I absorbed the initial surprise of this odd coincidence, I looked up Sanjay's credits and had an even bigger shock: Sanjay was the director of Devdas, my all-time favorite Indian film. Had I known this when I was shaking his hand I might not have let go, at least not until I extracted a promise that he would put me to work on his next film.
Further investigation revealed that Bajirao Mastani was apparently a consuming passion for Bhansali, because he had been working to set up the picture since 2003. Back then he announced his intention to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead romantic roles, but that plan crashed to an end after Khan and Rai's highly publicized break-up.
Bhansali set Bajirao Mastani aside and went on to direct several more films, including the highly acclaimed Black (2005) and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013) before finally reviving Bajirao and starting production on the film in September, 2014, with Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra in the leading roles.
Now, for Bhansali to have stuck with a story for more than a decade to ensure its' telling, there must have been something quite compelling about it. And indeed, as I continued my research I learned that the title character, Bajirao I, was an extraordinary fellow who is more than worthy of an epic film portrayal. At the tender age of 20, upon the occasion of his father's death, Bajirao was named Peshwa (Prime Minister) to emperor Shahu of Maratha. As author R.C Majumdar relates in his book "The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Maratha supremacy":
"Legend has it that, standing tall, poised and confident before Shahu Maharaj and his court, the young new Peshwa Bajirao is said to have thundered:
Let us transcend the barren Deccan and conquer central India. The Mughals have become weak indolent womanizers and opium-addicts. The accumulated wealth of centuries in the vaults of the north can be ours. It is time to drive from the holy land of Bharatvarsha the outcaste and the barbarian. Let us throw them back over the Himalayas, back to where they came from. The Maratha flag must fly from the Krishna to the Indus. Hindustan is ours..'"
Wow! Let any of us speak just one stirring speech like that and we can go down in history, like Shakespeare's Henry V with his enduring St. Crispin's Day Speech. But Bajirao was just getting started. Through numerous successful battle campaigns he went on to create the kingdoms of Scindias, Gwalior, and Baroda, to win the Elephant War with the Siddis, the Clash with Nizam ul Mulk, to plunder the countryside during the Sacking of Delhi.
This sounds like the stuff of three or four movies to me. I plan to be first in line on December 18th, fully expecting that the wait will be worth it.
Anupamaa
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