SAMRAT PRITHVIRAJ is the story of a brave king. In the late 12th century, Prithviraj Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) is the king of Ajmer. He's known for his bravery and kindness. One day, Mir Hussein (Anshuman Singh) arrives at his doorstep and asks for his help. He is the brother of Mohammed Ghori (Manav Vij), the ruthless king of Ghazni. Mir Hussein fell in love with Chitralekha (Radha Bhatt), the mistress of Mohammed Ghori and eloped with her. Mohammed Ghori now wants to kill Mir Hussein. Hence Mir Hussein asks for Prithviraj Chauhan's help. Prithviraj Chauhan decides to help him, even if that means facing Mohammed Ghori on the battlefield. The war takes place at Tarain where Prithviraj Chauhan emerges victorious. Mohammed Ghori is caught but Prithviraj Chauhan sets him free. Meanwhile, Prithviraj Chauhan falls in love with Sanyogita (Manushi Chhillar), the princess of Kannauj. She too falls for him though both have never met each other. However, they write letters and send gifts to each other and that's where love happens. Sanyogita's father, Jaichand (Ashutosh Rana) is jealous of Prithviraj Chauhan. He feels he's the rightful heir to the throne of Delhi. However, Prithviraj Chauhan is elected to sit on the throne. Jaichand then organizes a yagna and Sanyogita's swayamvar. The invitation is given to all the kings but not to Prithviraj Chauhan. Yet, Prithviraj Chauhan arrives at Kannauj and he elopes with Sanyogita. A humiliated Jaichand decides to seek revenge. He sends an invitation to Mohammed Ghori and asks him to help him defeat Prithviraj Chauhan. What happens next forms the rest of the film. SAMRAT PRITHVIRAJ is based on Prithviraj Raso, written by Chand Vardai. The story is powerful and inspiring. Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's screenplay is decent. He has incorporated some very entertaining and dramatic scenes. Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's dialogues are weak. Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's direction is fine. He has handled the grandeur very well and a few scenes are executed exceptionally. It is evident that he has given his all to this project. However, a few developments give a déjà vu of films like BAJIRAO MASTANI [2015], PADMAAVAT [2018], PANIPAT [2019] etc. The pacing is neat but, in a few places, the narrative moves quite swiftly. This is especially in the second half, where the second battle of Tarain is just not shown and it hampers the impact. SAMRAT PRITHVIRAJ starts on an intriguing note. The entry of Akshay Kumar will leave you stunned. The first battle of Tarain is clapworthy. The film then drops and picks up beautifully during the intermission point. In the second half, the sequence where Prithviraj Chauhan asks Sanyogita to sit next to her in the durbar is arresting. The climax is truly applause worthy. Akshay Kumar looks quite dashing and his performance in the Ghazni portions is great. In the rest of the scenes, his performance is subdued yet impactful. Manushi Chhillar makes a confident debut. She looks stunning and delivers a decent performance. Sonu Sood (Chand Vardai) is excellent in a supporting role. Sanjay Dutt (Kaka) gets to play an interesting character but it turns out to be a caricature. Manav Vij is superb as the antagonist. Ashutosh Rana is dependable. Sakshi Tanwar (Jaichand’s wife) is okay. Manoj Joshi leaves a mark in a cameo. Anshuman Singh and Radha Bhatt get no scope. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music fails to entice. Also, there are far too many songs in the movie. 'Hari Har' is the only song that stands out. It adds to the exhilaration and is quite catchy. 'Hadd Kar De' and 'Yoddha' have been shot very well. 'Makhmali' is nothing special. Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara's background score has a cinematic feel. Manushnandan's cinematography is top-class. Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray's production design is detailed and realistic. Franz Spillhaus and Parvez Sheikh's action is sans any gore and contributes to the entertainment factor. Sanjeev Rajsingh Parmar's costumes are royal and authentic. yfx's VFX matches global standards. Aarif Sheikh's editing is neat but too quick in the second half. On the whole, SAMRAT PRITHVIRAJ is an inspiring and entertaining saga of one of the greatest kings of Indian history. At the box office, its business will escalate from Day 2 onwards and has the potential to put up impressive numbers.Read more

The best part about narrating a story in an engaging manner is to set its tone from the word go. And what better than a dramatic action sequence for a story that puts the spotlight on a righteous warrior king, Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) and his fight to protect his pride, people and soil from slipping into Muhammad Ghori of Ghazni’s (Manav Vij) hands. Post that, the narrative takes you into the king’s journey as a human being, and what led him to really take on Ghori in the battlefield. The action pieces in the film are choreographed and shot well, but given that the film centres on a war that had an impact on our history, you’d probably expect more war-time in this drama. The dialogues, while they give the narrative a dramatic impact, at times, suffer from a tad bit of inconsistency. As a director and the writer of this film, Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi does a fine job in keeping the narrative clean and focussed, without many digressions. However, post-interval, the focus dwindles a bit in the woman-power sub-plot more than it needed to. It momentarily takes away from the primary story of the film. Also, none of the characters have been given a particular leheza or an accent to speak in, which is good and bad in parts. Good because it’s easier to follow for the mass audience, and bad, because it doesn’t sound as authentic as it could have. Samrat Prithviraj, despite its scale of canvas, doesn’t become overly opulent - something we are accustomed to watching in our films from the same genre over the years. The production design and costumes work in tandem with that. Even though the subject in hand is complex and layered, it’s been fairly simplified for the audience to understand and engage with. None of the songs in the album (composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy) really stay with you. The title track, which plays out in the film a few times, gets a tad jarring. The honeymoon-song sequence and the last song-and-dance sequence, if done away with, would have probably given more space and time to war, action and dramatic scenes. There are several visually-striking scenes but the VFX could have been used more skillfully. In terms of performance, Akshay Kumar’s effort to dive deep into this historic character is visible. He carries the tremendous weight of a king on his shoulders with dignity and poise. Sonu Sood and Sanjay Dutt, as Chand Vardai and Kaka Kanha, respectively, add a lot of weight to the narrative as the drama unfolds. Sanjay, in fact, breaks the serious tonality of the film at various points with humour. Sonu’s character as the king’s die-hard loyalist is the one with a lot of ‘thehrav’ and maturity, which stands out. Manushi Chhillar, who won the Miss World pageant in 2017, makes a confident and fine debut in this film. In a film that revolves around a warrior king and the battlefield dynamics of that era, she holds her own and delivers a performance that presents her as a complete package. On the other hand, senior artistes like Manoj Joshi, Ashutosh Rana and Sakshi Tanwar have been fairly underutilised in extremely small roles. It would have helped the narrative a lot if one had a chance to see a little more drama featuring these actors along with the central characters of the story. Overall, Samrat Prithviraj is a well-performed and well-directed family drama. It doesn’t have the opulence that we have seen in other historial dramas, but there is enough to keep you invested and also take you back into the pages of our glorious history.Read more