Bajirao Mastani

A project Bhansali had been building for years without managing to shoot it; it finally arrived in 2015. The eighteenth century, the Maratha empire. Peshwa Bajirao is a masterly commander, and married. On campaign he meets Mastani, daughter of the ruler of Bundelkhand, who is both a warrior and a Muslim. He marries her and the court will not accept it. The conflict is not on the battlefield but inside the house: his first wife Kashibai, his mother, and the state. Bhansali's visual language is at its peak here. The mirrored hall, the passages where the two women dance separately in the same courtyard, and the use of colour in the battle scenes carry the film. Ranveer Singh plays Bajirao, Deepika Padukone plays Mastani and Priyanka Chopra plays Kashibai, which is unarguably the best-played part in it. Who it is for: viewers who want melodrama at epic scale, dance and visual excess. Who it is not for: anyone looking for history. Bhansali uses his sources freely and the film's accuracy was argued over in India. It also runs close to three hours.