Cast : Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Saif Ali Khan, Sharad Kelkar, Neha Sharma, Luke Kenny and more.
Music : Ajay – Atul
Cinematography : Keiko Nakahara
Editor : Dharmendra Sharma
Production Design : Sriram Iyengar and Sujeet Sawant
Costume : Nachiket Barve
Budget : 100cr.
“Gadh aala, pan sinmh gela!” The pre climax dialogue will definitely give a pinch of nostalgia to the audience of their school days.
Filmmaker Om Raut’s Bollywood directorial debut may have factual discrepancies, but ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Hero’ is one of the best period war dramas that Bollywood has produced in recent times.
Shot brilliantly with commendable performances by the entire cast, ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Hero’ is based in the 17th century and narrates the story of Maratha warrior Tanhaji Malusare (Ajay Devgn), a trusted aid of Maratha emperor Shivaji Sambhaji Bhonsle ( Sharad Kelkar), who fought the battle of Kondhana (presently known as Sinhgarh) safeguard the fort from Mughal invasion. Shivaji had to give up 23 of his forts to Aurangzeb but four years later, he pledged to take Kondhana back because of its strategic location. Aurangzeb sent his most trusted warrior, a Rajput called Udaybhan (Saif Ali Khan) to capture Kondhana (present-day Singhgarh) with a large army, a mammoth cannon called ‘Nagin’ and lot of artillery.
Director uses a sufficient amount of creative liberty to tell a tale that may not have been taught in school to everyone. While the clashes between Shivaji and Aurangzeb are well known- the story tries to delve deeper and talk of the warriors from both sides who fought on behalf of their kings. Lavish sets, sleek camera work, great stunts, researched properties, detailed costume design, crisp editing and amazing CGI dominate each frame of Tanhaji making the film a visual spectacle. The technical finesse is there for everyone to see and while the film takes you back in time, the film has state of the art CGI making the battle scene especially come alive. Each of the stunts is well performed and the film has been shot keeping in mind the 3d aspect. They are some human errors but they are ignorable.
While the film is technically very sound, it is also propelled by great performances. Ajay Devgn excels in the action sequences the most. Sharad Kelkar, who plays Shivaji Maharaj has limited screen time but leaves a lasting impression. The effervescent Kajol appears only in a handful of scenes as Savitri Bai, Tanhaji’s wife but simply lights up the screen with her presence. Its a delight to watch the real-life couple play the reel couple after so many years.
The star of the film, though, is Saif Ali Khan, who brings a certain amount of mayhem as Udaybhan Rathod. An eccentric who has a cunning smile plastered on his face throughout, Saif makes evil look good. Time and again, Saif has proved that when given a good script, he delivered. And in Om Raut and Prakash Kapadia’s detailed screenplay, the actor got ample scope to showcase his talent.
The scenes near the climax which has Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan pitted against each other are the high points of the film. Script is a mix of Marathi and Urdu laced Hindi.
