A few friends writing phrases like ‘Ashutosh is back’ on social networks in their pre-release reviews gave me hope. But the big hope got completely shattered when even after one hour I was clueless about the uvision PANIPAT was made with and for what kind of audience in particular.
So once again it was the case of strange praises showered upon a film before release which hardly gives you anything as content except revisiting history in a majestic style with an appreciable grandeur. But wonder if a film can work just because of its huge scale and grandeur without any visual flair or an even fairly engaging content.
Based on the third battle of Panipat in 1761 between Marathas and Afghans, PANIPAT majorly focuses on highlighting the valour of Marathas fighting with the mighty Abdali, but remains unable to pump up your blood watching the battle forming a lengthy and underwhelming climax.
Mixing facts with a granted creative license, the film does score in its presentation and costumes, but actually happens to be a poorly written film (by a team of writers) that never grabs your attention in its too long duration of around 3 hours. Progressing with a voice over connecting various sequences it becomes a tough watch right from the beginning missing the much required grip. And then the love angle and below average songs damage it further coming at regular intervals. In fact the songs really make you think that what kind of team approves such energy-less compositions for such a big film.
In short, PANIPAT seems to be a project made by an uninterested team not finding any kind of excitement in its making. Neither the known names in the performances nor the VFX deliver any kind of magic till the end and one really feels sorry watching such a mega venture made in a shocking lackluster style offering almost nothing.
Putting it differently, we often see Hindi filmmakers repeating the statement ‘Cinema is only for Entertainment’ in their interviews and public appearances on TV/Live shows. But wonder what kind of entertainment was there in PANIPAT and for what kind of audience? Was Ashutosh only interested in informing about the epic war in a documentary style or was he really making a commercial film as they call it for the present age audience?
For me confusion was written all over the film and it couldn’t impress anyone out of the 30-40 people sitting in the first show of a single screen theater I was watching it in. The phones screen lights could be seen repeatedly and a few also kept moving in and out of the theater even after 30-40 minutes of the film.
So the decision, time and money is all yours but this is not recommended to be brutally honest. However you should watch it once it gets released on Netflix in the coming months for sure for its informative value. Having said that, do make your own study of the battle as films are often not based on exact history.
Rating : 2 / 5
Tags :
PANIPAT Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, New Hindi films reviews by Bobby Sing, New Bollywood Movies Reviews by Bobby Sing, Hindi films based on History, Historical Hindi films.
