…the film belongs to Ranveer Singh whose delicious performance is its biggest strength. The actor keeps you invested in the film even when it plods on for over two-and-a-half hours. I’m going with three out of five for the film and another half for his extraordinary performance, making it three-and-a-half out of five for Padmaavat.

If there’s one thing that keeps us from brooding too much, it is Ranveer Singh. Not once does he try to make us like him, and that makes us like him even more. As Bhansali’s Khilji, he is electric.

The problem lies not in Padmaavat being a costume drama, but in the fact that there is too much costume, too little drama. In the film’s opening scene, we see a king chewing roughly on a piece of poultry. This is a surprisingly small, tandoori-sized handful of bird, nothing compared to the way we have, in international film and television, watched vikings gnaw at giant animal legs the size of motorcycles. Therein lies the problem. There’s not nearly enough meat.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 13th century epic would be infinitely poorer if not for Ranveer Singh’s electric performance that ends up exposing the blandness of the others around him…

I’m an admirer of Sanjay’s passion and rigour, of his operatic sensibility and his commitment to creating epics. He isn’t subtle but he always plays for broke. To steal a line from the poet Robert Browning – Sanjay’s reach always exceeds his grasp. That’s what a heaven’s for. This time he doesn’t quite get there.

I’m an admirer of Sanjay’s passion and rigour, of his operatic sensibility and his commitment to creating epics. He isn’t subtle but he always plays for broke. To steal a line from the poet Robert Browning – Sanjay’s reach always exceeds his grasp. That’s what a heaven’s for. This time he doesn’t quite get there.

Padmaavat is sparkling, extravagant, dazzling, magnificent and wonderful. It’s a feast for the eyes. It leaves you craving for something more meaningful than a mere re-telling of Jayasi’s poem. But it has enough to bedazzle you, so go for the sheen and Ranveer Singh’s lunacy. After all, Padmaavat has passed so many hurdles to reach you.

Padmaavat is offensively chauvinistic, blatantly right-wing, and quite unabashedly anti-Muslim.

It’s pretty and partly absorbing but not quite exhilarating…This Bhansali magnum opus is the kind of film that tries too hard to get your attention in the runtime of almost three hours.

You want a story. You want good dialogue, not the corny words you are hearing.

You want an emotional connect. You want a tighter film.

Sadly, with Padmaavat, that’s not what you get.

Granted, it could do with a tauter screenplay and shorter run-time but ‘Padmaavat’ is an entertaining, large canvas experience, brought to life with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s stroke of visual brilliance.

Padmaavat is definitely worth a watch, for its scale, story-telling and stellar performances from the lead.

Watch Padmaavat for its grandiose, beauty and Ranveer Singh! This is once in a lifetime kind of film which shouldn’t be missed in theaters. A personal note for Ranveer fans, you’re in for the best treat of your life.

Without the policing and the comprises, Padmavati would’ve been a lot better film. But Padmaavat isn’t anything less. This film is rich in detail, still tells a compelling story with grit and gumption. Sure, the verdict over the jauhar bit will always be open, but the build up to that moment is all class. For a film that doesn’t have a surprise for its ending, Padmaavat still manages to create a lot of thrill. It’s a must watch!

Padmaavat is  a work of illimitable splendor. The 3D format seems quite an unnecessary grandeur-enhancement device. When we  already have  so much to savour and imbibe why hanker for  more? This is a film so inured in irradiance and so steeped in splendor you will come away from  the experience exhilarated and satiated.

This is  a movie so epic in proportion it stands tall among the great  films of all time about love and war  . In Bhansali, we have  our own David Lean.Padmavati proves it.

I’m not sure whether to feel bad for or be critical of Bhansali. But here’s the thing (hello Karni Sena, I am talking to you): your disappointment and disapproval of a film can coexist with the film itself. You can watch a film, and disagree with it, but still not hold a country to ransom. Just a thought.

Padmaavat is a surefire hit and has all the trappings of a blockbuster. If the film is allowed to be screened peacefully all over India, it has the potential to smash box-office records. But opposition by Rajputs and failure of government machinery in various parts of the country, prompting many exhibitors to refrain from screening the film for fear of damage to the cinemas, will definitely take its toll on the film’s business unless corrective action is taken soon. The 3D conversion (by Prime Focus) is very well done and that will be an added attraction for the audience as the grand sets look grander in 3D.

The story of a beautiful, faithful queen and a lustful invader who will stop at nothing is told in three very long hours. The costume drama is beautiful and Rajasthan is a great setting for this tale of Rajput valor. But the talk of pride and glory is so endless, it makes you want to run into your sword out of sheer boredom. But Ranveer Singh makes a brilliant hammy villain, and Deepika is luminous.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film is a visual delight and thoroughly entertaining fare, courtesy the epic performance by Ranveer Singh. It talks about Rajput pride and there is nothing that will offend anyone. At least, I couldn’t find anything that can be termed offensive in anyway. And there is no dream sequence between Khilji and Padmavati.

The only lessons worth taking from Padmaavat are sartorial, but this thin epic is likely to be parsed for meaning by millions in the coming weeks. When none emerges, we’ll likely do what we’ve always done—fall back on tradition.

Padmaavat has raised the bars in terms of cinematography, music and production design, the film has authentically registered the richness of Rajput Kingdom, the lifestyle of Khiljis and their practices. Though the film’s runtime is 163 minutes, it engages you from the start to the end. Special mention to the team who is in charge for the Tamil dubbing, they have done a brilliant job and in fact, we slowly begin to feel as if we are watching a direct Tamil film.

And that feeling of deflation you experience is what makes Padmaavat an inessential film-going exercise. While you applaud the effort, support the artists, uphold freedom of speech and expression, and turn a blind eye to the movie’s glorification of jauhar, you are left with the sentiment that there was more that could have been done with lesser, and that Bhansali’s shtick might be running its course.

The colours, costumes and jewellery scream luxury and weigh the actors down but very strangely I also felt the glitzy spectacle getting dwarfed in 3D IMAX. The opulence doesn’t seem as awe-inspiring, the special effects, especially in some of the battle scenes, are plain tacky and the actors seem like cardboard dolls of themselves in the long shots, acquiring a human visage only in extreme closeups, which is when Deepika Padukone (and Aditi Rao Hydari too) looks extremely regal and radiant, which she anyhow always does.

Sadly, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has made a very feeble and spineless film in Padmaavat, perhaps out of the fear of Karni Sena and the Rajput community. One can only wonder what this movie would have been had Bhansali got the right to fully exercise his creative freedom?

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s latest offering may be titled Padmaavat but it’s Ranveer Singh’s show all the way. He plunges deep into the sea of evilness to bring the ‘monster’ to life for ‘ek jung husn ke naam’. It may be a doomed love-story for him in the film but Ranveer, you are truly ‘Sultan-E-Hind’ when it comes to capturing our hearts with your bravura performance

This film is a true tribute to the Rajput pride, their values are princely and though Alauddin Khilji wins the battle by betrayal, he loses the war of his life. Because at the end, the dignified Rajput valour shines brightly. Give it a thorough watch for the stellar performance from the entire cast. 

But lock, stock, barrel and more, the film belongs to that powerhouse actor, Ranveer Singh. He OWNS the film on-screen as much as Bhansali does behind the screen. You loathe his essay of Khilji, look at him with renewed respect as an actor who is less than eight years around but has the rare capacity to bring to life such a deeply evil character. Eyes, body language, smiles or tenor, he proves that dedicated actors can go beyond the vision of a script or even of a passionate director.