Movie Review: 'Chhaava' is a loud, gory and tedious tale

Khaleej Times

14-02-2025

Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Rashmika Mandanna, Ashutosh Rana, Akshaye Khanna
Rating: 2 stars
There are some lessons that Bollywood filmmakers who embark on creating period movies seem to have forgotten. That even historicals can be nuanced. That larger-than-life characters, be they the protagonist or antagonist, can be human, layered and — for the lack of a better word — real. That history can have more shades than blacker-than-black evil and white-than-white pure. And that loud background score is no replacement for good storytelling.
After watching Chhaava, Bollywood's Valentine's Day release starring Vicky Kaushal, one wishes the makers behind this massively mounted project had been taught the simple lessons. Perhaps we would have got a more finely made epic (which it was trying to be) than a violent scream fest (which it has turned out to be).
This film seems to have been put together by a bunch of stunt directors and action choreographers more than any real writer or director. There are plenty of action set pieces, each featuring a lot of hand-to-hand combat between heavily armoured soldiers, set to AR Rahman's headache-inducing BGM but none of them makes your spirits soar. In between, there are loud calls to swarajya, a bit of strategy and war planning, betrayal from within and tyrannical villains, in this case, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The dialogues are bombastic and overwrought (makes you wonder if our ancestors ever had normal, everyday conversations), the music can awaken a dead person and the violence makes you retch. The result: a tedious melodrama that fails to evoke any emotion in you, the viewer.
Chhaava, as has been well promoted, is a biopic of the inspiring Maratha king, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj who put up a tough fight against the mighty Mughal empire led by Aurangzeb. Son of the legendary warrior and king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha kingdom, Sambhaji is a chip of the old block and just like his father, bravely fights the Mughals until his painful death. This David vs Goliath battle is a fascinating chapter of how a small band of determined soldiers led by a charismatic leader disrupted the march of a much bigger and powerful dynasty and it deserved a compelling chronicle rather than a one-note eulogy.
A cursory glance at a Wikipedia page on Sambhaji reveals interesting and complex details of a time where war, palace intrigues, family relations and ambitions changed the destiny of a nation but to expect Bollywood to narrate a multi-coloured tale with depth, maturity and balance is like expecting Bianca Censori to dress sensibly. Director Laxman Utekar and his co-writers Rishi Virmani and Kaustubh Savarkar, basing their film off Shivaji Sawant's Marathi novel Chhava, fill the screenplay with hyperbole and grandiloquence that dilute the intended impact.
Every sequence, battle and moment is crafted to drill Sambhaji's greatness. His entry in some scenes is accompanied by a dramatic score of Aaaya hai sambhaji announcing his swag. When he is caught yet fights hundreds of soldiers trying to pin him down, an impressed courtier asks, 'Why aren't thousands of men able to control one man?' ' Yeh raja jungle ke raja se bhi khunkhar hai ' (this king is more dangerous than the king of the jungle). The evidence of this observation is served in one of the opening scenes where Vicky's Sambhaji tears open the jaw of a CGI lion.
By strict contrast is the predictably dark, devilish portrayal of the Mughals. Aurangzeb was a known tyrant but here he and his cohorts are painted in even more repulsive, bloodthirsty shades to shine the spotlight on the Marathas' bravery, patriotism and glorious values. Despite Sambhaji's capture and the visceral torture preceding his execution, the screenplay assures us that it is Aurangzeb who has lost the moral war. 'He has died in joy while we continue to live like death,' mutters Aurangzeb's daughter Zeenat (played by an expressionless Diana Penty) or something to that effect. And in the end, even Aurangzeb wishes he had a son like Sambhaji.
Visually, Chhaava is quite impressive with the frames captured beautifully in earthy tones. Some of the battle scenes are gripping, especially the one in which Maratha soldiers employ guerilla warfare to catch the enemy off guard. They spring from unexpected locations from under the ground, atop trees and from under water, making the sequences quite arresting despite the blaring background sound.
Historical dramas hold no intrigue because we already know the story and its end. What matters is how it's being told and how good the performances are, especially when the leads are revered or feared figures from a distant past. While Chhaava fails in the former department, the latter salvages it to some extent. Kaushal, playing the titular role, is buff and embodies the physicality of a warrior well. He is effective but it's disappointing to see his character reduced to a lot of screaming. Supporting cast members like his devious stepmother Soyarabai, (Divya Dutta), loyal general Hambirrao (Ashutosh Rana), Kavi Kalash (Vineet Singh) and Aurangzeb's estranged son Akbar (Neil Bhoopalam) are in fine form but none of their characters are fleshed out well enough to linger in your memory. The weakest link is Sambhaji's wife Yesubhai (Rashmika Mandana) who looks pretty but is let down by her stilted dialogue delivery.
The strongest link? Ironically, it's the man the story wants you to hate the most, Aurangzeb played by the ever-reliable Akshaye Khanna. Great prosthetics make him pitch perfect for the part but despite the cardboard role Akshaye adds the necessary quiet menace that makes his performance stand out.
Wish there were more of the mind games played between an ageing but powerful emperor and a passionate king determined to protect his kingdom at all costs. Wish the story explored more aspects of this period (an interesting part shows Sambhaji converse fluently in English with a Britisher). Wish the great men and women of this story had more depth. And wish Bollywood knew how to make a good historical film.