It’s a question on every film buff’s mind: with both Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani releasing on the same day, which one will you watch first? The decision would appear to be a non-issue; just watch one before the other at random and get over with it. But reality is that for many die-hard-cinema-obsessed freaks (like us) it’s a matter of life and loyalty.
Let’s get some facts and figures out of the way, to make the decision-making easy.
Dilwale, starring Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhavan and Kriti Sanon (she won the 2015 Filmfare Award for Best Debut in Heropanti) has been directed by Rohit Shetty, who’s infamous for a populist and often nonsensical brand of comedies like the Golmaal series, Bol Bachchan and Chennai Express (for which he won the Filmafe for Best Director in 2014). His films may not make much sense but they have a history of being entertaining. With Shahrukh and Kajol in the lead, Dilwale aims to cash in on the twenty year anniversary of the iconic DDLJ, which is being celebrated this year. The trailers suggest that the film has all the works of a popcorn pleaser: the cast, the exotic locales, the cars and the music.
Bajirao Mastani has an equally strong cast and crew. Starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra in lead roles, it is produced and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and is the historical romance of a Maratha warrior and his true love. We don’t need to remind you that SLB has won numerous awards for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdaas, Black, Guzaarish and Ram Leela. All his films have touched epic proportions in storytelling and cinematography and Bajirao promises to be just as grand. That said, the movie – which is expected to be almost three hours long – does hint at a sense of tedium that one may or may not wish to suffer.
It’s basically between an extended historical romance/saga and a comical/action-packed prance and to be honest, both trailers look equally painful. Bajirao is visually brilliant but it apparently has long drawn battle sequences and the same mode of epic-ishq rona dhona that was witnessed in Devdas. Can we deal with more of that? Will we be able to tolerate another jarring slapstick comedy by Rohit Shetty either? It may interest some of you that while we will get to see Ranveer Singh’s semi-nude, oiled abs in Bajirao (this, for all you Ram Leela enthusiasts) it’s unlikely that you’ll have the same ‘Dard e Disco’ type luck in Dilwale. The fifty-plus Khan is not going to strip for the camera, or so we feel. But Bajirao also runs the risk of becoming too steamy for the censor board and so expect a lot of nips and tucks here and there. Bummer!
We recommend you watch Dilwale first, in cinemas (in allegiance to Shah Rukh Khan if nothing else) and leave Bajirao Mastani for later, ideally waiting for its DVD version to release so that you can at least pause, stop and fast forward when Ranveer Singh’s battles start reminding you of the Mahabharata in slow motion. A quick death is always preferable to slow torture!
