I saw Padmaavat. I have one too.

I watched Padmaavat. And I have one too.

Opinion. I have an opinion.The movie is average, and perhaps owing to the 70-odd cuts that had to be made to appease protesters, it has an uneven pace and somewhat clunky editing. The best part is the chemistry between Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, which I never imagined would work but it does (though I did sincerely hope that by now Deepika would get better at acting, which she hasn’t). The worst part? Well, the incongruence at not feeling at the end of the movie what the film-maker wanted me to feel.

By now everyone in the world who doesn’t even speak Hindi knows, the movie ends with all women of Chittor committing self-immolation (Jauhar). Now, there’s no point debating whether Jauhar should be shown or not- that was kind of a predictable ending when making a movie on Padmavati. But what is flexible, is the lens through which it is shot,as Swara Bhaskar pointed out. Sanjay Leela Bhansali presented Jauhar as a victory and wanted the audience to leave with a sense of upliftment, marveling at victory through death (clearly stated as such by the narrator, lest you be confused about what you should feel).

Except that death is not victory. It is death. Any person of healthy mind choosing death is only a statement that they ran out of any options that looked even remotely better than death- in this case, than burning themselves alive. It is a comment on their circumstance, on the society and the perpetrator of those circumstances. In any case it is tragic, not uplifting.

A one-line synopsis of Padmaavat would be: Woman troubled by stalker commits suicide. I am sure we have seen many such headlines in the Indian newspaper in recent times. I doubt if any of us would propagate the idea that such a suicide was a victory for the woman.

Where have I heard this idea before, of death being victory? I wondered. And sure enough, it was from Sanjay Leela Bhansali himself. In his movie Guzaarish, though of course in a completely different context. So I got concerned, and started looking more closely at what is going on with Mr.Bhansali.

In recent years, the directorial highlights of Mr.Bhansali are: Devdas, where the hero dies in self-induced alcoholic suffering; Goliyon ki Rasleela, Ramleela, where the hero and heroine kill each other in a romantic, self-congratulatory yet tragic end; Guzaarish, where the protagonist fights for the right to end his life and eventually does amid celebration; Bajirao Mastani, where Mastani dies in captivity and the great warrior Bajirao loses his mind and commits suicide; Padmaavat, where the hero dies and the heroine leads mass-suicide to the sound of victorious musical score.

In debating the accuracy of historical/ poetic representation, of his agenda for or against Rajputs, his feminism or lack of it, and in focusing so hard on his one production Padmaavat, we might be missing the real question: what is really going on with Mr.Bhansali? He is clearly obsessed with the idea of death, even choosing death- often seeing it as an improvement upon the suffering of life. If I were his therapist, I would be at least a little concerned.

For most part, he has been choosing to interpret and remake existing stories. Why does he choose specifically these? Why do these speak to him?

Like many artists, he seems to be a man looking for beauty and to be inspired by a subtle and noble ideal- he finds none in the contemporary ‘real’ world. He has not directed a movie in the last 20 years in a setting that may be described as ‘relatable’. He finds them in parallel imagined or bygone worlds, and even there, it doesn’t take him long to reach the conclusion that eventually it must be destroyed. I don’t know whether he is a Guru Dutt fan or has watched Pyaasa, but if he has, I’m sure you would find him brushing off a tear when Mr.Dutt sings, “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai”. (I am incidentally a Guru Dutt fan, and think it was a huge loss that he ended his own life.)

Any piece of creation or art, is not so much about anything else- history or facts, than it is about the artist. Art is never objective, it is subjective. And with a troubled artist, it goes a step beyond- it is self-indulgent. Most artists- writers, photographers, painters, filmmakers- are often trying in different ways to tell the same story over and over. Releasing a theme caught in their chest.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is no man on a mission like Aamir Khan or astute social commentator like Guru Dutt, carefully curating stories for society. He is an artist, and a troubled one at that. The ever-increasing frequency of black kurtas, punishing assistants by making them face a wall- a punishment he says is ‘out of love’, and then his choice and treatment of movies. Sure enough, a small search showed that shortly after release of Guzaarish, he said in an interview that this movie helped him release many dark demons within him- he spoke of betrayal and being stabbed in the back by those he loved. He spoke of how it is important to ‘express’ the negativity than let it make you sick. Like many artists, his work is not an offering to society, but a personal quest… admittedly, for expression of some of his darkest emotions.

That’s why he loves Ranveer Singh so, and uses him in the extravagant way that he does. Ranveer’s wildness is a bold brushstroke in red on Mr.Bhansali’s canvas. It is his emotional release.

It is we who make the mistake of thinking that Sanjay Leela Bhansali represents or ought to represent the mainstream, the social narrative, the cultural more, a voice of the collective. Perhaps we are fooled by the abnormal amount of money going into his movies, or the casting of clueless mainstream stars, or the awards (national awards, Padma Shri etc.). Imagine him without the money, and the stars, but with his black kurta. Perhaps then it becomes easier to see his existential angst.

PS: If interested to hear something actually awe-inducing and uplifting, here is Dr.Kumar Vishwas reciting Pt.Narendra Mishra’s poem about Rani Padmavati:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuEzpGK-SUA