(Dr Kamalakar Karamcheti)
The Hero is captured by the villain and is being brutally tortured. He is accepting that all with a smile and a salutation to ‘ Maa Jagadamba’. To the utter disappointment of the villain ‘ no screaming’ in pain at all. At home, in the royal palace, his wife Yesubai is also praying to Jagadamba. Like an avid canegrower, bread on Rajamouli kind of commercials, I was waiting for the Hero to pull down the pillars to which he was tied with robust chains and kill Aurangzeb. I forgot for a moment I was watching a historical. Laxman Utekar, the Director, in a poignant 45 minutes, captured on celluloid how bravely, Shambhaji Hosale, the Maratha king, the progeny of Chatrapati Sivaji, denied victory to Aurangzeb, even while he was being cruelly put to Death. These 45 minutes had many moments when the audience went into rapturous all pause, at the patriotic fervor on display, and never before seen histrionics, from Vicky Kaushal, who played Shambhaji Maharaj, the Chaava.
What a movie it is. The success of a movie is nowadays being measured in the crores of collection at the box-office. Sadly so. Movies like ‘Jawan’, ‘Animal’, ‘Pushpa’, might have collected thousands of crores, but can Shahrukh, Ranbir or Arjun even to dare to accept a role like this and also get that thunderous ‘ Jai Bhavani’, ‘Har Har Mahadev ‘ chanting in the Auditorium from the audience.
It is immaterial whether Vicky wins a national award. He is already rewarded with tremendous applause from the audience for his portrayal. Vicky Kaushal is not a Chaava, he is the Lion among the actors in India.
I am not talking about Stars.
A word about the so-called national crush, Rashmika Mandanna, who played Yesubai, Shambhaji’s Sri Sakhi. She looks so respectful in her portrayal, that it looks like her ‘ atonement’ for all her earlier peelings like roles.
Go watch Chaava in a theater and tell me if I am wrong.
(Reviewer is Medical Director at Ramdev Rao Hospitals, Hyderabad)
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