Posted:
I am desperately hoping that the show will not turn into a saga focusing on Kashi and the Bhat family versus Baji and Mastani. The creative supervisor of the show mentioned at the launch that the love stories would be just one aspect of the show, not the primary focus. Will they be allowed to continue with their plan of showing all aspects of Baji's life, including politics? I hope so. But already, I have a sinking feeling that the show might end up going the melodramatic route, what with Radhabai being changed, and Kashi being portrayed like this...They have mixed up and sped through the timeline of events and skipped over a lot of important history by making Balaji the Peshwa so quickly, and we won't even get to see all of his impressive political and military tactics against Tararani Saheb. Now we can only hope that Baji's accomplishments will be shown properly.
I know that initially, older actresses were being considered for the role of Radhabai, and they had zeroed in on Prachi Shah first. Then Anuja was shortlisted and finalized towards the end of September. It seems like she went from an impressive audition to mock shoots with Manishji to being finalized very, very quickly, and there was no looking back! She keeps emphasizing that she was always signed on to play Radhabai until the leap. She seems very attached to the show, and she really understood Radhabai so well, in a way that reflects just how important family is to her. She had some fascinating comments about Tanvi Azmi's portrayal of Radhabai in Bajirao Mastani, which I agree with. As for this show, from the vibes we've been getting, Radhabai's mentality will evolve -or devolve?- more, I'm sure, after the leap and Balaji's death...Until now, I've felt subtle changes that were understandable to me. But I'm dreading the possibility of her changing drastically and being entirely unrelatable after the leap. If that happens, it will be like the Radhabai I know and love has died along with Balaji...
I'm so amused that the happy coincidence of Saurabh being cast in this show actually happened! In a sense, he's always going to be the son of Manishji's Balaji and Anuja's Radhabai anyway, even though they won't be with him onscreen, haha! Honestly, besides Chimna, all of the other members of the new ensemble cast are not the ones I would have preferred. There have been auditions for Shahuji, Abaji, Venkatrao, and Bikaji already...It looks like we'll have to wait and see who will be finalized. So much suspense! I'm just glad that we got to see more of the original cast while all of this was happening behind the scenes! I do wish the Peshwa Bajirao team luck - hopefully they will be given the time and space to actually show ALL of Bajirao's life, along with the lives of his family.
Anupamaa
