Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra: Review: Must Watch

Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra is a riveting film that successfully captures one of the most celebrated event of the Maratha warrior king’s life on screen, notes Ishaan Zore.

Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra: A king who didn’t cower

Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra (loosely translates to ‘Victor of battlefields’ Shivaji Maharaj’s Agra visit) is a historical Marathi film based on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s daring escape from Agra, from under the nose of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who had kept him under house arrest.

While the film traces the key phases of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s strategic military campaigns, political manoeuvering, brilliant planning and execution and the great escape from Agra when the situation gets life-threatening, Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra‘s heart lies in one of the most dramatic and celebrated episodes in the Maratha warrior’s life — his escape from Agra, highlighting Shivaji’s rule as that of a king who didn’t lose his presence of mind or cower even under life-threatening circumstances.

Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra becomes riveting when Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj roars in Aurangzeb’s court for insulting him by treating him as a mere rebel who had come to surrender at his darbar.

Heartbeats further increase when the Maratha king plans his clever escape from house arrest under the nose of Aurangzeb’s formidable general Faulad Khan.

The scene where Shivaji, along with his eight-year-old son Sambhaji, escapes from Agra, from amid a tight ring of armed soldiers feels like escaping a crocodile’s strong jaws just in time.

It feels like you almost missed your breath.                                                                                                                                      Ranapati Shivray: Swari Agra: Review * * * *