Raja Shivaji

This “biopic” feels less like a tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and more like a group project where nobody understood the assignment but everyone still showed up for attendance.

Riteish Deshmukh as Shivaji? That’s not casting, that’s wishful thinking. He walks through the film like he’s attending his own fan meet, not portraying one of the greatest warriors in Indian history. Instead of intensity, you get “look at me, I’m famous in Maharashtra” energy stretched across two hours.

Genelia D’Souza sounds like she downloaded a “Marathi Accent Pack v1.0” five minutes before shooting. You can see the effort, but effort alone doesn’t build authenticity—it just makes the struggle louder.

Sanjay Dutt? Same voice, same expressions, same “I’ve done this in 20 other movies” vibe. At this point, he’s not acting—he’s just copy-pasting himself into different costumes.

And then there’s Abhishek Bachchan… you keep waiting for a reason why he’s there. Spoiler: there isn’t one. His presence feels like someone accidentally forwarded the wrong casting email and nobody corrected it.

The cameo by Salman Khan isn’t even a cameo—it’s a scheduled appearance everyone saw coming from miles away. When a “surprise” entry has less mystery than a daily soap twist, you know it’s just there to bait ticket sales.

Overall, the film screams “industry friends reunion” more than “historical storytelling.” It’s less about Shivaji Maharaj’s legacy and more about who owes whom a favor in the film industry. Depth? Missing. Emotion? Optional. Historical weight? Replaced with slow-motion entries and background hype.

The only thing that actually understands the assignment is the music by Ajay–Atul. The background score tries its absolute best to inject soul into scenes that otherwise feel hollow—basically carrying the film on its back like a real MVP.

End result: not a biopic, not a tribute—just a glossy, overconfident, undercooked mess pretending to be something meaningful.