<p>No claims of creative liberty can justify the extent of indoctrination and propaganda infused in every frame of Laxman Utekar’s ‘Chhaava’. Based on a Marathi novel of the same name, it is the story of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and his endeavour to establish ‘Hindavi Swarajya’ against the ‘foreign’ rule of the Mughals. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The problem is not with the celebration of valour, but in the carefully constructed enemy. The Maratha attacks are acts of patriotism, but the Mughal attacks are bloody and atrocious; the Maratha strategies are genius, the Mughal strategies are cunning and evil; the Maratha history is respectful, the Mughal history is deceitful and filthy. The iconography saturating the narrative is provocative, to say the least, with saffron flags and gods constantly being invoked. The horse-riding Hindu hero, flying across the battlefield and saving children, is positioned clearly against the ruthless and loathsome Aurangzeb who is lazy, greedy, and sends his men to loot and pillage the land.</p>.'Dhoom Dhaam' movie review: Comic thriller loses steam midway.<p class="bodytext">Vicky Kaushal as Sambhaji and an unrecognisable Akshaye Khanna as Aurangzeb perform well, but fail to salvage the script. Rashmika Mandanna as Sambhaji’s wife is decent. If one can look past all the jingoism, the film does capture the grandness of the empires and the gory violence of wars quite well. However, the storytelling, with an over-the-top background score and amateur special effects, remains mediocre.</p>
<p>No claims of creative liberty can justify the extent of indoctrination and propaganda infused in every frame of Laxman Utekar’s ‘Chhaava’. Based on a Marathi novel of the same name, it is the story of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and his endeavour to establish ‘Hindavi Swarajya’ against the ‘foreign’ rule of the Mughals. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The problem is not with the celebration of valour, but in the carefully constructed enemy. The Maratha attacks are acts of patriotism, but the Mughal attacks are bloody and atrocious; the Maratha strategies are genius, the Mughal strategies are cunning and evil; the Maratha history is respectful, the Mughal history is deceitful and filthy. The iconography saturating the narrative is provocative, to say the least, with saffron flags and gods constantly being invoked. The horse-riding Hindu hero, flying across the battlefield and saving children, is positioned clearly against the ruthless and loathsome Aurangzeb who is lazy, greedy, and sends his men to loot and pillage the land.</p>.'Dhoom Dhaam' movie review: Comic thriller loses steam midway.<p class="bodytext">Vicky Kaushal as Sambhaji and an unrecognisable Akshaye Khanna as Aurangzeb perform well, but fail to salvage the script. Rashmika Mandanna as Sambhaji’s wife is decent. If one can look past all the jingoism, the film does capture the grandness of the empires and the gory violence of wars quite well. However, the storytelling, with an over-the-top background score and amateur special effects, remains mediocre.</p>