Padmavat review: A fitting tribute or an epic fail?

New Delhi - The movie stands tall among the great films of all time about love and war.

For my money there is no contemporary filmmaker with the vision and velocity of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The man makes every frame in his cinema seem like a wondrous timeless work of art.

As in all his films there are visuals in Padmaavat that will be remembered for all times to come. And this is as opportune a time as any to salute Bhansali's cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee who is a magician, visionary par excellence who can put on screen images that poets and painters put into their creations when at the acme of inspiration.

Almost every moment in the story that Bhansali tells of the royal Queen Padmavati and the invader who lusts after her, is pure magic.

Padmaavat

Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Aditi Rao, Jim Sarbh

Palace intrigue is always a high-point in Bhansali's operatic dramas. In Bajirao Mastani we saw Deepika Padukone as the royal queen who ends up being the second wife of a neighbouring empire. A similar fate awaits Deepika in Padmaavat.