Sanjay leela bhansali has always been known for his perseverance in directing his films with so skillfulness. One can never ask him to account for his cast’s dullness and poor performance because his characters are portrayed with keen perceptiveness and the roles that are given to them always pour soulful version of their archetypal image. No matter whether they have been distorted or misrepresented but spectators can always find touch of imagination in his films and they lack realism at every extent. He should also not forget that his making of historical war films will always let reviewers and critics compare distorted historical version with actual historical version printed or written in book. If imagination is one of the techniques of making films then realism is also must because it makes audience peep into their real lives and they will always love to watch if reality is shown with simple and positive way. Bhansali’s love stories have always been like Shakespeare’s tragedy because his heroes are always tragic heroes who fall in love, feel ecstasy of it and reach to its culmination with ideation and lateral thinking destroying caste, religion aside. Bajirao Mastani is ideal love story which also depicts some ambiguities that cannot be accepted if we connect each and every thing with practical side and welfare or balance in accordance with other characters. One of the examples is its title which aptly shows the film that it will revolve around two lovers where ideal wife’s character is marginalized and unison is also lacking with fail of any perfection in harmony or sequence. All of a sudden characters meet, fall in love. Unexplained customs, unrevealed things and negligence disturb extremely. Here I would not type whole characterization of the tragic hero who can be described from various perspectives. Bhansali’s love story at some extent seems to be signaling at Bajirao’s love story; not insisting to have glance at his other side as warrior of Maratha. If the film is judged from the perspective of the nature of love, it is undoubtedly an ideal love story.
But it makes me think that there is a conflict in study of historicism and new historicism because whatever one does, either reads text or watches films , reads news updates or gets acquainted with journalism, it makes everything get conducted in frame of truth! A person experiences objectivity (visibility before eyes, without biases) and subjectivity (occupied version of discernment)!
Some proclaim historical document as "an anecdote". Perhaps new historicism omits everything that has been published on paper as an anecdote. Perhaps because it gives portrayal of documental matters, eyewitness or many live accounts along with the sensibility of lived experience rather than what must have had happened and this is what I know as I have studied New Historicism!
Whatever one does, he or she always deconstructs history because textual representation and its record have always been inspired through deconstruction. Imagination will always remain embellishment if it doesn’t show any hope to make change because one of the purposes of showing imagination is that there could be possibility of transformation. Films consist of Imaginative narration with the hope of a single glimpse of transformation in political or social system.
Such directions make me remind of Deepa Mehta’s book “ Films, Literature and Culture” Elements Trilogy and what it says: “Film is perhaps the youngest of the three components present in the title- Films, literature and culture. One thing common in most art forms is representation! Representation consists of a clear picture of events, situations or anecdotes or it can be distorted where things are found misinterpreted or transformed to indicate possibility. The film through its visual image is a closer proximation of reality. It brings in the question of its historical veracity. Comments could be: This is simply not possible, this can’t happen, historical fact doesn't support it. Representation could be of make belief world. Representation stands like a doorway between writer, director, reader- viewers. It needs demand of imagination of both.”
It can be said that Realism is a late entry into performing arts and it allows recreation of lifelike details which may or may not be real. The real or reality in philosophical terms takes one beyond sense. If something is distorted it becomes imagination but it is rather called imagination that writer or director finds as possibility in desire of the change!
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