Maddock Films’ Chhaava (UA) is the story of brave Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It talks about the battles and wars he fought against the Mughals to realise the Swades dream of his father.
The film is based on Shivaji Sawant’s book of the same name. The story has been adapted for the film by Laxman Utekar, Rishi Virmani, Kaustubh Savarkar, Unman Bankar and Omkar Mahajan, all of who have also jointly penned the screenplay. The story about the brave Maratha is both, interesting and inspiring. The screenplay keeps the audience engaged right from the word ‘go’. The drama has plenty of war scenes replete with action and stunts. The introduction sequence of Chhava (Sambhaji Bhosle) is outstanding — not just his entry into the Mughal fort but also his flight to the terrace with the aid of his armymen. Equally brilliant is his action with the lion. The action sequences post-interval are as exciting as those in the first half. The dramatic scenes are fairly nice while the romantic scenes between Chhava and wife Yesubai (Rashmika Mandana) are heartwarming. What the drama lacks in are strong emotions which could have moved the viewers to tears. The action climax is followed by the lengthy dialogues-and-poetry climax, and the fact that the final climax holds the audience’s attention, in spite of being long, underlines the fact that the viewers are enjoying the drama. Rishi Virmani’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Irshad Kamil, are excellent and do prompt rounds of applause at places. The dialogue of Chhava to Aurangzeb, to come on the Maratha side, is a definite clap-trap.
Vicky Kaushal lives the title role and gives his cent per cent to it. He looks the warrior and literally breathes fire into the action and stunt scenes. Rashmika Mandana looks like an ethereal beauty and plays Yesubai with conviction. Akshaye Khanna doesn’t greatly impress as Aurangzeb. Although his acting is fairly nice, his general demeanour gives the impression that he’s not too interested. Another drawback is that he has limited dialogues to mouth. Ashutosh Rana lends superb support as Hambirrao. Vineet Kumar Singh makes a fantastic mark as Kavi Kalash. Divya Dutta has her moments as Soyrabai. Neil Chandramohan Bhoopalam is adequate as Akbar. Diana Penty is so-so in the role of Zeenat. Pradeep Rawat (as Yesaji), Santosh Juvekar (as Rayaji), Kiran Karmarkar (as Annaji), Anil George (as Mukkarab Khan), Sarang Sathaye (as Ganoji), Suvrat Joshi (as Kanhoji), Balaji Manohar (as Mhaloji), Neelkanti Patekar (as Dharau), Ankit Anil Sharma (as Santaji), Ashish Patode (as Antaji), Shubhankar Ekbote (as Dhanaji), Rajiv Kachroo (as Mujtaba), Siraj Mustafa (as Bahadur Khan), Shivraj Walwekar (as Bahirji Naik), Manoj Kolhatkar (as Balaji), Danish Pandor (as Ikhlaas Khan), Rohit Pathak (as Kakkad Khan), Sukhwinder Singh (as Khan Zamaan), Lavi Pajni (as Shahabuddin Firoz Jang), Trishan Singh (as Shehzada Ajjam), Rufy Khan (as Shehzada Maujjam), Rakesh Thareja (as Sarja Khan), Akshay Anand Kohli (as Rahullah Khan), Astad Kale (as Surya), Prince Kanwal (as Hiroji), Oziel Jiwani (as little Sambhaji), Abhinav Salunkhe (as young Sambhaji), Hridansh (as little Shahu Raje), Dhwaj Gaur (as little Ramraje), Varun Buddhadev (as young Ramraje), Anaya Bhati (as little Bhavani), Aarohi (as young Bhavani), Adhya Barote (as little Tara Rani), Sanchita Ugale (as young Tara Rani), Vijay Vikram Singh (as Neelopant), Sakshi Sakpal (as the shepherd girl), Shiv Dev Singh (as Chicha), Abhishek Athalye (as Hasan Ali), Laxman Utekar (as the voice of Shivaji Maharaj), and the others lend decent support.
Laxman Utekar’s direction is praiseworthy. He has given the film a big canvas and a huge scale and has made a spectacular film which keeps the audience engaged. A.R. Rahman’s music is not what it ought to have been. There should’ve been hit songs in the film. But A.R. Rahman’s background music is outstanding and deserves distinction marks. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics and poetry are praiseworthy. Vijay Ganguly gets limited scope as choreographer; his song picturisations, nevertheless, are appealing. Saurabh Goswami’s cinematography is superb. The choreography of action and stunt scenes by Parvez Shaikh and Todor Lazarov is phenomenal. The two action directors deserve full marks. Production designing (by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray) and art direction (by Avijit Ghosh, Dilip Ganpati Rokade and Rajat Pathare) are of a fine standard. Manish Pradhan’s editing is very sharp.
On the whole, Chhaava is a box-office winner. It will do extraordinary business in Bombay and Maharashtra. Business in other circuits will be fair.
Released on 14-2-’25 at Inox (daily 14 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PEN Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity: very good. Opening: extraordinary. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark at many places but fair at some places.
