Our history books, in their staid tone, have told us that he is the greatest of the nine Maratha peshwas. That he is said to have won all of his 41 battles. That he is responsible for the establishment and consolidation of the Maratha Empire. Yet, we've never quite perceived Bajirao as a pan-Indian hero.
But when we hear the same story through what might be called an animated graphic novel, the great Maratha warrior riding into the sunset with rock music playing in the background, becomes a superhero.
Blazing Bajirao , a new animation series by the makers of the upcoming Bollywood film Bajirao Mastani , depicts the 18th century Maratha peshwa as a cool dude.
“Bajirao is an unsung historical hero,” says Zulfikar Khan, Business Head, Eros Now, the studio behind the new Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, Bajirao Mastani , and the web-series. “There are lesser known aspects of Bajirao’s personality that many of us aren’t aware of. These emerged during the making of the film. We thought it would be a good idea to take them to the younger generation.”
In reality, it is simply a marketing strategy by the studio.
However, instead of proliferating rubbish, the animation series makes an attempt to inform them. It builds the legend of Bajirao, episode by episode, communicating a specific aspect of his character that will enrich the viewer’s experience when they see the movie.
For example, while the first episode tells us about Bajirao’s invincibility in the 41-odd battles he is known to have fought, the second establishes his relationship with his mother Radha Ma. We see how Bajirao learnt his biggest lesson from his mother after he lost a fight as a child. It was to shape his never-say-die spirit. In the third episode, we are told about Bajirao’s friend Malhar Rao’s defeat in Delhi and Bajirao’s counter-attack that eventually snatched victory from the hands of the Mughals.
Element of mysteryBlazing Bajirao may remind many of its targeted youth segment Game of Thrones , a wildly popular show in India. A period fantasy, it has a series of short animated videos that tell us about the “history and lore” of GoT . But instead of the detailed tour of author George RR Martin’s alternative universe, Blazing Bajirao gives us nuggets of history.
“There are bits and pieces, small stories around him… we want to build the mystery around Bajirao. We didn’t want to make a separate movie,” he adds. Bajirao Mastani is based on NS Inamdar’s Marathi historical fiction novel Rau . So, how historically accurate is Blazing Bajirao ? Zulfi tells us that their research involved speaking to historians and academicians.
It also creates art, . the short videos, each an average of 2.5 minutes– look ultra-stylised but at the same time have a home-grown feel. “We usually do a stereotyped kind of animation in India. But here, we wanted it to look global and Indian at the same time. We made use of grungy, lino cut style calendar art realism,” says Zulfikar.
While Bajirao will get six episodes in total, Mastani will have a few of her own. The episodes are available on the Eros Now website.
