Perhaps you recall with some degree of fondness the embrace of epic in Hollywood's last decade of the millennium. You went and saw war dramas like Braveheart, and tragic romances like Titanic. Greatness still seemed a bit more tangible, a bit more reachable.
Bajirao Mastani brings back this style of film-making. Expressing a natural patriotism, the film tells the story of Bajirao I (Ranveer Singh), a celebrated Indian general who helped to unify the Hindu peoples in the Maratha Empire, ending Muslim Mughal rule in the 18th century.
Yet despite his service and excellence, Bajirao comes into confrontation with his society when takes Mastani (Deepika Padukone), the daughter of an allied Persian-Muslim faction, as his second wife. His family and the Brahmin class refuse to accept her as a wife, and unscrupulously do everything in their power to ruin the mighty couple.
This film is remarkable for how it manages to transcend mere political polemics and stakes out a truly majestic vision of heroism and virtue. Bajirao, a brave and heroic national figure, is idealized without apology, portrayed with a form of admiration we have forgotten in the self-loathing West. Yet this isn't mere self-congratulation. The society, its religion, and its caste system are severely criticized as regressive and even malevolent. In this film, we see both a national hero and national ignominy on open display.
Americans are decidedly incapable of making such subtle distinctions in their own viewpoints and thought processes. Here, you are either critical of the nation and all its traditions (a capital L Liberal), or you accept them all without reservation and believe that George Washington never told a lie.
This is why we don't see films like this in the United States anymore. The idea of a hero could only serve to promote some kind of political agenda, which will enrage a large portion of the personally offended populace. Nobody can distinguish between abstract, eternal virtuous qualities and what's currently trending on Twitter, so it's better to avoid the problem of heroic qualities, and keep making movies with Kevin James.
Meanwhile, in India, which shares a border with Pakistan, they can and do make a film about a Hindu prince and his love of a half-Muslim princess. Surely, this film offended many people.
But that's alright, because no culture or country paralyzed at the thought of offending people can still be called worthy of epic.
Final Word: Unapologetic, Heroic, Majestic...
Final Word: Unapologetic, Heroic, Majestic...
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