Hirkani

Art work best vfx and sound is excellent and acting is excellent

The film suffers due to shallow execution of the main plot. The real drama starts post interval and ends abruptly. The scenes of climbing down are shot with perfection but the graphics used for animals are poor. The female lead has lived the character of Hirkani but the character of male lead lacks depth.

Hirkani is a very simplistic yet interesting story of a woman who gets stuck within the premises of Shivaji's fort after the gates are locked in the evening. As per law, the gates can only open at dawn and the mother who is desperate to get to her newborn makes a daring attempt to climb down the cliff to reach the village below. This is basic human drama without any political connotations, despite being a chapter from real history.

However what made an inspiring lesson in Marathi textbook isn't quite translated likewise on celluloid. Firstly the film takes a little too long to reach the first act and too much time is spent on the setup. There is an elaborate song on Shivaji's glory soon followed by another love song of Hirkani's romance with her husband. While one expected more interpersonal relationship between Hirkani and her son, here the focus is too much on her bonding with the husband - which essentially isn't much important to the story as the husband leaves on an expedition soon after.

However what bothers more than anything is that while one perceived the story as a brave attempt by a woman to scale great heights in history for her valour, here she is shown as a meek mother all through. While one eagerly looks forward to her journey down the cliff to her home, unfortunately she comes across as a victimized crybaby in the entire escapade who is bruised and battered en route. You don't feel much for her pain because she doesn't come across as a proactive doer but someone who is just adjusting to circumstances. This is the major letdown from the part of the makers.

While there was absolute opportunity to portray this woman as a fearless and brave personality who would go to any extent to get to her child, she comes across as an agonized soap opera character. Also from the start, she is shown as a docile woman who cares for her husband and just follows the male prototype (like getting inspired from him to fight the wolf) without having her own individuality.

The direction also seems dated with some functional performances and in your face drama. I am not even talking about production values, SFX, background score and other technicalities. We could have ingored all of those budget constraints had the storytelling been more persuasive.

While the makers had honest intentions to explore an interesting chapter from history, their interpretation leaves a lot to be desired!

Its a movie that tugs at your heart strings...right out of the school books. A good movie to see and show the kids. And encourage the Marathi film makers. I personally enjoyed even the songs..even though I don't understand Marathi as a mother-tongue. In short, I loved the movie. Sonali was overacting,,,not authentic at all. Bad casting. For someone whose job was to go up and down the hills, she kept fumbling and hamming the fear factor of the steep jumps. And the mishaps was all in a linear expected fashion one after the other...predictable. The director hasn't put enough effort. Special effects were very sad, pathetic and embarrassing. Shows the limited budget/low creative thought. Shivaji Maharaj ...such a revered personality...wasn't represented well. The Raigad fort wasn't shown in all its glory, but I guess that is due to budget limitation. Still, I enjoyed the movie. am sure lots of you will. Just watch with an open mind.

Another example of how the Indian cinema falls short on the technical aspects of filmmaking! The running time of the movie is around 100 min.(which itself is too less for any period film, should have been at least 140 minutes or greater) out of which around 20 minutes are dedicated to Hirkani's legendary descent. This is core of the film and is dismal. Maharashtra has hundreds of accomplished climbers who have trekked across the Sahyadri. They could have helped with guessing and projecting the possibilities of how Hirkani would have descended in a freestyle way but such efforts don't seem to manifest. While Sonalee Kulkarni's makeup and acting is surprisingly good, the other actors fail to make any impression, including Prasad Oak as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Actors utilized for characters of Kavi Bhushan, Bahirji Naik, Pant(now it's unclear if they were taking about Moropant Pingale or Ramchandra Pant Amatya!) and others are unsuitable! There is not a single view(VFX-based) of how majestic fort Raigad would have been in 1670s, moreover, they didn't bother to show how Hirkani Buruj and the western cliffs look today(remember, Raigad was termed as 'Troy of the East'). The music somehow doesn't suit a period film. I will continue to watch and encourage period movies, especially about the Maratha empire but the filmmakers need to raise the bar much higher, put blood and sweat and create technical and historical masterpieces.