Ode to 300 heroes: My quick take on Marathi movie “Pawankhind”
I have grown up hearing /reading stories of valor and supreme sacrifices by fearsome men of swarajya. Narveer Tanhaji and Baji Prabhu Deshpande are a few of the gallant and courageous Maratha warriors who laid down their lives in service of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Even today when I hear or read about these greats, I tend to get goosebumps on how committed and courageous these mavalas were.
The daring account of how Maharaj organized an escape to outwit the Bijapuri forces who had laid siege to Panhalgad and escaped to Vishalgad, and how Baji Prabhu Deshpande, with only 300 soldiers, held off an entire contingent of the enemy at a small mountain pass (GhodKhind), is the storyline in brief. This may sound comparable to King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans holding off a massive Persian army in a similar fight in Zack Snyder's "300." The only difference is that Zack Synder's story is based on a comic book, whereas Pawan Khind is a true story, therefore it had a better chance of appealing to a wider audience.
Pawankhind is the third movie in the series of seven movies planned by Director Dipak Lanjekar. Hence in comparison to his earlier production of this genre (Farzaan and Fatteshikast), the production quality is slightly improved (though it stands nowhere as compared to Zack Snyders 300). I only wish Lanjekar gets the backing of some good producers and VFX studio (someone who did VFX for Om Raut’s Tanhaji) as he moves forward with his next project/s.
The casting of Ajay Purkar, a hulkishly built actor, in the eponymous part is excellent; he has landed a role of a lifetime, and he does not fail us. Overall, the action scenes were a little amateurish, which would have been fine if this had been a tele-series, but I would have preferred more believable action/fight scenes for wide-screen projection. The Battle of GhodKhind is at the heart of the plot; imagine a handful of 300 warriors blocking the path of a mighty Bijapuri army and fighting it out for nearly 6 hours; it's a heroic effort, and it should have been depicted even better, in my opinion.
I also believe that using a superimposition chroma approach (as utilized by Zack Snyder in 300) would have enhanced the product's credibility. However, if one overlooks the film's production quality, which is undoubtedly hampered by the film's budget, this film is worth seeing for its extraordinary story of valor, fortitude, and tremendous sacrifice.
Heroes like Baaji Prabhu were the pillars of our illustrious past, and history would have gone a different path if it hadn't been for their sacrifice.
Jai Bhavani
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