Panipat

More than a period film, a costume drama, a Bollywood musical, a war memorial, a battle-field actioner, Panipat is essentially a lesson in history that might have occupied at best a page in your NCERT/school text.

This Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon starrer ticks all the boxes but struggles to conceptualise out of the box sequences

Ashutosh Gowariker's latest has its moments. It is spectacular historical fiction riding some good performances, and likeable for the way it salutes valour. The impact could have been stronger with more imaginative storytelling.

Rewriting historical defeats with patriotic fervour...

Panipat, a film about Maratha warrior Sadashiv Rao Bhau who staves off Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, disappoints only because of a linear screenplay that fails to rouse dramatic emotions so important to historicals.

Ashutosh Gowariker may not be able to do grandeur like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, but he can do war. Yet, a lacklustre cinematography and terrible CGI mars this solid attempt. It would have worked 10 years ago.

Panipat has clearly taken liberties to gloss over aspects such as travelling heavy and with pilgrims and women that are considered as reasons for the failure of the Maratha attack. It also leaves the reason why Abdali might never have returned to Hindustan out and makes his victory letter a eulogy to the great warrior that Sadashiv was.

Panipat is shorn of Padmaavat and Kesari's insidious intent, but it is not exactly an innocent, truthful chronicler of Indian history. Add to that its lack of polish and spark, and for all its positives, it ends up as just an average affair.

Reckless, lacklustre and shoddy CGI and action choreography result in the climax failing to live up to the expectations and leaves the audience high and dry.  Ultimately, when the character of Arjun Kapoor meets his valiant end, one can only sigh of relief and pity the fall of a director, who was once considered a flag-bearer of progressive cinema. I give this film one and a half stars out of five.

'Panipat' gives a sense of history falling into place...

Panipat is an honest attempt at recreating the war that we only read in history books until now. It's a tribute to the Maratha community in its truest form and even it was shorter by an hour, it could have had the same impact.

The over-reliance on cacophonic background score to propel the drama reveals serious narrative insecurity. Some of the transitions in the film are hastily done: I spotted at least two that appeared to have been borrowed from a Powerpoint presentation.

Gowariker finds the emotional connect in the scenes between Kapoor and Sanon, but there's a been-there-seen-that feel to the battle scenes and the drama of the royal court. This is an interesting chapter of history to revisit, because the winners were not the real heroes of the Third Battle of Panipat.

Sticks to the tried-and-tested format, but falls short of its ambition