In recent years, Hindi cinema has made a cottage industry out of historical fiction. These are films whose plots are mined from history books but which readily sacrifice accuracy at the altar of creative liberty. More often than not, filmmakers adopt this route of fictionalising the past to suit the present narrative evoking an irrefutable sense of national pride. But in the last one year, this tendency has acquired a dangerous additive. Nationalism is no longer a collective ideal. Now, Hindi films are routinely rewriting pages of history to manufacture a record of Hindu pride.
If last year, Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat revolving around a queen whose existence is disputed valorised the Rajputs as protectors of the motherland, then this year, Kangana Ranaut and Radha Krishna Jagarlamudis Manikarnika, a biopic on Rani Laxmibai, primes her as an unfailing spokesperson for Hindutva values. A viral scene from Manikarnika has Laxmibai save a calf from being killed perfect evidence of a subplot being fashioned in a period film to serve the ruling governments aggressive cow vigilantism.
This week, Ashutosh Gowarikers Panipat continues tradition: In here, the Marathas are unabashedly mythologised as the model of Indian heroism. Its interesting to note that these are films that essentially chronicle tales of defeat. Yet, the revisionary approach of their onscreen adaptations interpret the defeat of its Hindu protagonists not as losses but as sacrifices. They demand not only the average Indian viewers sympathy but also their unfaltering allegiance.
The narrative is disjointed a host of subplots and plot twists crop up with alarming frequency and Gowariker isnt adept at keeping track of most of them. The screenplay (Panipat is written by Chandrashekhar Dhavlikar, Ranjeet Bahadur, Aditya Rawal, and Gowariker) is lacklustre and the battle sequences are terribly unimaginative, failing predominantly to translate the heat of the moment. Characters wait for each other to fire instead of immediately attacking; hand-to-hand combat scenes dont have the smarts to sustain ones interest, and Gowariker skims through the battle so haphazardly that you have very little idea of its ebb and flow.
Moreover, the story of a Maratha sacrificing his life to protect India from invaders despite obstacles, loses its steam soon, considering Gowariker stays away from any moral conflict by absolving Sadashiv of all responsibility. That, as per history, Sadashivs unfamiliarity with the politics of North India and his inability to form alliances with the neighbouring kings were the prime reason for the disastrous defeat is all but ignored. Theres only so much you can write home about a bloated three-hour-long battle epic whose protagonists always seem supremely surprised at either being betrayed or being attacked by their rivals.
Theres also the fact that everyone in the film gives a washed out, budget performance of an already existing performance. Dutt attempts to channel the unhinged energy of Ranveer Singhs Alauddin Khilji from Padmavaat but instead conjures up a caricature. The severely limited Kapoor tries mimicking Singhs restraint as Bajirao from Bajirao Mastani but falls flat on his face, in part due to his robotic body language. In what comes as a surprise to no one, the actor glare-walks through the entire film, perennially contorting his cheeks to express a range of emotions from rage to romance. Kriti Sanon on the other hand, continues playing an iteration of every Kriti Sanon performance a happy-go-lucky girl who cant stop falling in love with men who either die or break her heart. Even the supporting acts (Mohnish Behl, Zeenat Aman) are so ineptly miscast that they make Panipats sacrificial tone an even harder sell.
In this insistence to play by the usual beats of the us v them battle epic, Gowariker forgoes any pertinent commentary on the syncretic politics of the 18th century. Panipat also gives in to some of the unseemly impulses of a Hindi period film, which end up obscuring the full picture of the past. For one, the film is littered with overt Hindu iconography it includes two songs (Mard Maratha and Mann Me Shiva) that exalt the Marathas as ideal men and eulogise the sacrifices of Shivaji. The Shiva ling is a recurring motif as well. And in the same vein as Padmavaat, Panipat portrays Muslims as barbaric meat-eating antagonists. Dutts face is kohl-eyed and blood-streaked, he pounces on food instead of eating it, his men make animal-like growls during battle and Abdalis den and religion is introduced with the camera training its gaze on plates of chicken..Theres barely any time spent in allowing the Muslim invaders to boast of any character arcs. Their inner motivations remain a mystery even as the film has Sadashiv repeat his devotion to his motherland. Not even once does the director put any of the Marathas under any scrutiny, reducing Panipat to an emotionally vacant exercise of glorification.
The only silver lining in this current climate of period epics which are only too happy to toe the anti-national tone reserved for Muslims is Gowarikers hesitance to distrust Indian Muslims. Sadashivs army includes a Muslim man whose character is afforded grace notes (Sadashiv is given a line that reminds the Marathas that even Shivajis army had Muslims) even though the film makes a big deal of the fact that the kings who chose to side with Abdali were all Muslims. Theres also a surprising absence of displays of hyper-patriotism even when Panipat fusses over Hindu bravery; for instance, the words desh and Hindostan are not uttered more than two times in Panipat.
Even then, Panipat reinforces the dangers of a Hindi period epic with its insistence to sugarcoat failure as martyrdom. These films remain least bothered about the consequences of history. Instead they pander to virtues. Panipat isnt the kind of film that underlines Sadashivs blunders as a probable cause for the loss. Instead, it takes refuge in reminding you that Sadashiv, a loyal Hindu, died to protect the country from Afghan invaders. Like its predecessors, Panipat goes to town about the nobility of a loss it allows the Marathas to claim moral superiority over the Afghans even in the face of loss and gets Abdali to admire the undying spirit of his defeated, dead opponent. In doing so, Gowariker plays into the ultimate Bollywood period film myth: Hindus are the saviours of Hindustan.
Poulomi Das
This article was originally published on Arre