Sanjay Leela Bhansali, thrilled by the thumping response to the first poster of his period drama Padmavation Thursday morning, is apparently ready to tease his audience further with a stupendous motion poster from the film over the weekend.
The filmmaker virtually opens the doors to Mewar opulence with it. Featuring the statuesque Deepika Padukone again, as Rani Padmini, the 11 seconds motion poster has imposing palace gates opening onto a stunning scene.
There is Deepika, in all her majesty, with hands joined in the traditional Mewar khamma-ghani welcome. But with a deep sadness in her eyes, perhaps also some regret tinged with a sense of fierce pride. Behind her hiding in their veiled secrecy are her low caste daasis bearing torches. The scene is heavily poignant because the Queen and her servants are said to be preparing for the big jauhar scene in the film when Rani Padmini leads the mass self-immolation of women to avoid capture and desecration by the plundering Allaudin Khilji of the Sultanate of Delhi.
What lends an out-of-this world experience to the motion poster is the ghostly crying of Rajasthan’s professional wailers known as rudalies. It is soul stirring, it raises goose bumps, and tells of the tragedy that befalls the kingdom because of one man’s lust for the Queen’s beauty. This background wailing is believed to be part of the theme music of Padmavati and is bound to sway audiences.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZYtqAjABan/?taken-by=peepingmoon
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s touch is there in the traditional jewellery from the royal Rajputana family that Deepika is shown wearing and in the bold, striking colours of her outfit. Designers Rimple and Harpreet Narula worked hard at giving her the 14th century royal look keeping in mind that Rani Padmini was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Bhansali is known to make his actresses beautiful on screen but with Deepika, the filmmaker has not just gone the whole nine yards – but he’s gone centuries back to redefine the beauty of the fabled Mewar queen.
Sources from Padmavati producer Viacom Motion Pictures declined to comment on the motion picture or whether Bhansali was coming out with one this weekend. Maintaining the filmmaker’s fanatic demand for secrecy, they said the motion poster was probably a “fan video”. Many such videos are already online. But Peeping Moon.com believes this is the real deal because it smacks of the mystery and grandeur that Bhansali is known to showcase his films with. You take a look and decide!
