Samrat Prithviraj is a hindi language historical action drama film directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. Produced by Yash Raj Films. The film is based on Prithviraj Raso, a Braj language epic poem about the life of Prithviraj Chauhan, a Rajput king from the Chahamana dynasty. It features Akshay Kumar as Prithviraj Chauhan, while Manushi Chhillar makes her Hindi film debut playing the role of Sanyogita. This film also stars Sanjay Dutt, Sonu Sood, Manav Vij, Ashutosh Rana and Sakshi Tanwar in supporting roles.
Based on Prithviraj Raso the film tells the storyline of the Rajput warrior and the king Prithviraj Chauhan of Chauhan dynasty, who clashes with Muhammad Ghori, a ruler from the Ghurid dynasty who led the Islamic Conquest of Hindustan.
A film based on the great life of Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan needed a screenplay that celebrated his journey, pride and valour, but the filmmaker choses to go the subtle way with little heroics added to the brave king of India portrayed by Akshay Kumar. Instead of introducing the audience to the characters, the film fast forwards from one sequence to the other in the first half, without focusing much on drama and build up. The film starts off well with a fight sequence between Samrat Prithviraj and a lion, but the narrative dips post that only to pick up during the interval point. The war sequence too doesn’t have the kind of build up that we have seen in several period films before.
Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) and his fight to protect his pride, people and soil from dropping from his hand into Muhammad Ghori of Ghazni’s(Manav) hands. In Samrat Prithviraj, Sonu Sood plays the putative bard. It is ironic that despite emerging as the mass mess off screen, Bollywood still brings in Sonu to sing songs of the real heroic hero on screen — Akshay Kumar. It isn’t a solo act though. A blindfolded Sanjay Dutt as the warrior kaka, no connection to Mahabharata’s Dhritarashtra although he is the father-figure, whose akhand pratigya is to behead anyone who twirls his moustache before the king, also joins in here and there. While Sonu becomes Akshay’s Bran Stark, foreseeing the future in flashes and like a soothsayer, warning all around not to meddle with vidhi ka vidhaan. Sanjay resorts to his Munnabhai ways, which sticks out like a sore thumb.
In terms of performance, Akshay Kumar’s effort to dive deep into this historic character is visible. He carries the tremendous weight of a king on his shoulders with dignity and poise. Manushi Chhillar, who won the Miss World in 2017 makes a confident and fine debut in this film. In a film that revolves around a warrior king and the battlefield dynamics of that era she holds her own and delivers a performance that presents herself as a complete package.
Samrat Prithviraj is a well performed and well directed family drama. It doesn’t have the opulence that we have seen in other historial dramas, but there is enough to keep you invested and also take you back into the pages of our glorious history.
