Fatteshikast (फत्तेशिकस्त)

"Fatteshikast (फत्तेशिकस्त)".

Watched Marathi movie "Fatteshikast (फत्तेशिकस्त)". 

This movie is directed by Digpal Lanjekar. Written by Digpal Lanjekar. Produced by Almonds Creations. It stars Chinmay Madlekar, Mrunal Kulkarni, Harish Dudhade, Ankit Mohan, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Ruchi Savarn, Mrunmayi Deshpande, Trupti Toradmal, Akshay Waghmare, Ajay Purkar and Anoop Soni. Music by Devdutta Manisha Baji. Cinematography by Reshmi Sarkar. Film runs for about 2 hour and 23 minutes and was released in 2019. I watched it on 15th Jan 2022 on Zee5.

This movie set in the times of Shivaji Maharaj. Shahista Khan has occupied Pune and his atrocities on the citizens are limitless. Shivaji raje implements strategy of defeating his generals. But eventually he has to strike at the heart, at Lal Mahal, at Shahista Khan.

Chinmay plays Shivaji, looks like him. In this movie too he plays contemplative Shivaji, rather than inspirational. Mrunal plays Jijabai and doesn't look like her. Mrunmayi plays an unglamorous role of servant and does really well. Her acting in the scene with Sameer is fabulous. Sanjay Purkar plays Tanaji well. Trupti Todarmal pleasantly surprises in the role of Raibagan. Ankit plays Yesaji and gets opportunity to show his muscles. He also tries to act but struggles with Marathi. Harish Dudhade plays Bahirji convincingly. His changes of attire and bearing of various roles is impeccable. Having indistinct features play to his advantage. Where was he until now? Sameer plays Namdar Khan. His acting drips menace initially, but his character suddenly loses importance. Anoop Soni plays Shahista Khan. He doesn't have to speak Marathi for the role. But he is not really impressive. 

I had written review of movie Farzand in 2019. It was of same director and most of this cast and characters were in that movie too. We can say the director is consistent. Direction is ok. The battle scenes appeared sparsely populated. You should see many more soldiers in any battle. Sets look like sets, not real locations. Often two characters talk in the midst of battle, but nobody attacks them while they are talking. 

Cinematography was good. Even the scenes in dark were clear. The qawwali is good. Choreography in concentric circular formation for the last song was superb.

Positives: Mrunmayi & Harish.

Negatives: Battle scenes.

Watch for the historical value.