The speech scene before Sambhaji's final assault on Aurangzed was not rehearsed. The enthralling war-cry of "Om Namah Parvati Partaye Har Har Mahadev" (Glories to the consort of Goddess Parvati, Mahadev) was an improvisation by Vicky Kaushal. The script only mentioned the chants of "Jai Bhavani and Har Har Mahadev." However, when Kaushal delivered the line, Utekar decided to retain it for it was more raw and natural flowing.
Laxman Utekar was clear that he wanted to stay true to how Sambhaji Maharaj was tortured, as described in the book. As a result, Vicky Kaushal's transformation took four and a half hours of makeup. The makeup team had to do a full-body transformation, working on his chest, back, legs, and arms. The sequences, like salt being put on his wounds, were built up gradually, and no VFX was used. Kaushal would stand, play his playlist, and get into his zone while the team worked on him. This was all standing makeup, with a team of 7-8 people working simultaneously. And the actor, despite having an arm injury which he suffered during the shoot, never flinched or complained about the time it took to get the make-up done. Also, a fake tongue was created for the tongue-cutting scene. A live cast of the actor's tongue was done and then a prosthetic version that fit over his real tongue like a glove was made and used in the scene.
Vicky Kaushal had to gain 25 kg weight for his character.
Akshay Khanna and Vicky Kaushal avoided talking to each other on the sets in order to get into their characters on screen.
Some historical accounts of Sambhaji's life also mention him being skinned alive on refusing to convert, and his head getting chopped along with his partner Kavi Kalash. The movie possibly omits these scenes due to their excessive violent nature.