It’s a rarity to watch anything beyond the standard podcast-scape Information diet being an entrepreneurial hack currently. Being a Mumbaikar and a Bollywood buff, it is therapeutic to watch a phillum on the big screen. Chhava, an ode to the historical memory of Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj, was a power packed statement on both history and politics alike as cinema is a political medium.

A brilliant performance by Vicky Kaushal as the Maratha King who bore a gruesome end at the hands of the Mughals, was a point made about the bravery of the Marathas to keep Aurangzeb, who does not have a good memory in the Marathi speaking regions given his stance on Jazia tax, on the non Muslim subjects of this rule, and his cruelty on Hindus apart from an Princeton Historian of note.

Akshaye Khanna as Aurangzeb was outstanding as the aging emperor, Machiavellian and Menacing. The narrative arc moves in action set pieces and flashback which is effective. The war sequences are gladiatorial in grammar, and give the Marathas due credit for its clandestine warfare. The ethic of Hind Swaraj as inclusive with the King in Battle saving a Muslim child in the midst of warfare is a loud metaphor.

The movie speaks to the contemporary politics of Maharashtra and the Cultural Nationalist Zeitgeist of the times. Bollywood has made plenty of films on historical figures which were not popular pre 2014.