Bajirao, already with a wife, also falls to the many charms of Mastani—and how! Bajirao's taking in of a Muslim wife causes a major rift in the orthodox Hindu society of Pune, the center of the Maratha Empire. It also pits Bajirao against his own family who never accept Mastani as his wife, always referring to her as Bajirao's mistress—old story, but all so true this time. Sanjay Leela Bhansali does a brilliant job of bringing this epic love story to the large screen.It is no easy task to adapt written history for a mainstream movie. The most famous recent films that were supposedly based on history—from Santosh Sivan's Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Aśoka' (2001) to Wolfgang Petersen's 'Troy' (2004) with Brad Pitt in the lead—took considerable liberty with historical facts so as to make them digestible to mass audience. But even if these films had been based on fiction, they were poor works of arts. Not so Bhansali's 'Bajirao Mastani.'
Bhansali stays close to available historical facts about Bajirao and Mastani, taking a little liberty, of necessity, to tie up loose ends at the end. The film is brilliantly directed, too. All three of the main characters—Ranveer Singh (Bajirao), Deepika Padukone (Mastani) and Priyanka Chopra (Kashibhai, Bajirao's first wife)—by and large do justice to their roles.
Singh is at times a little too loud; Padukone, the sword-wielding fighter-lover, sometimes struggles to pull off tough fight scenes; and the underdeveloped character of Chopra in places appears forcefully tacked to the main storyline.
But these are quibbles more than complaints. 'Bajirao Mastani' is your opportunity to learn more than a little about an important period in Indian history—and have some fun along the way. The film's not perfect. But neither is written Indian history.
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