Raja Shivaji Review: Riteish Deshmukh Shoulders History with Sincerity
Rating: 4/5 Director: Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Sachin Khedekar, Sanjay Dutt, Genelia Deshmukh, Bhagyashree
Raja Shivaji is not the kind of film you watch purely as cinema. It is the kind you feel. Riteish Deshmukh’s passion project chronicling the rise of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a stirring, emotionally grounded historical epic that earns its emotional weight through sincerity rather than spectacle.
What It’s About
Set in the early 1600s, Raja Shivaji traces the journey of Shivaji Maharaj from a young king with a dream of Swarajya — self-rule for his people — to the mighty Maratha warrior who reshaped history. The film covers his battles against the Mughals, the Nizams, and the Adilshahi Sultanate, while weaving in the personal bonds that shaped him: his fierce mother Jijabai, his father Shahaji Raje, his brother Sambhaji, and his wife Saibai. The narrative builds steadily toward the iconic confrontation with Afzal Khan, where strategy triumphs over brute power in one of history’s most celebrated chapters.
What Works
The film’s greatest strength is its emotional honesty. Riteish approaches the material with visible reverence and restraint, never allowing the spectacle to crowd out the sentiment. The storytelling feels rooted and purposeful in a way that historical epics often aren’t.
Ajay-Atul’s background score is exceptional. Every time “Jai Bhavani” and “Har Har Mahadev” ring through the theatre, the impact is visceral. The production design and costumes do the hard work of transporting you convincingly to the 1600s, and the screenplay keeps the audience invested without leaning on forced patriotism.
What stands out most is the film’s generosity toward its supporting characters. Shahaji Raje, Sambhaji, Jijabai, Saibai — none of them are reduced to backdrop. Each is given room to breathe, making the world around Shivaji richer and the emotional stakes higher.
What Doesn’t Work
The visual effects are the film’s most visible weakness. By the standards audiences are accustomed to in 2026, some VFX sequences feel average and occasionally pull you out of an otherwise immersive experience. It is the one area where the film’s ambitions outrun its execution.
The Performances
Riteish Deshmukh delivers the performance of his career. His portrayal of Shivaji is built on restraint, intelligence, and quiet strength — an understanding that real power often lies in strategy and silence rather than loud heroism. There are moments where you genuinely stop seeing Riteish and start seeing Maharaj, which is the highest compliment you can pay.
Abhishek Bachchan is a beautiful surprise as Sambhaji Raje. His chemistry with Riteish is warm and layered, and their sibling dynamic becomes one of the film’s most effective emotional threads. Once again, Abhishek demonstrates his ability to disappear entirely into a role.
Sachin Khedekar brings quiet dignity and emotional restraint to Shahaji Raje. Bhagyashree as Jijabai is quietly powerful — she embodies the spirit of the mother who shaped warriors without ever overplaying it. Genelia Deshmukh as Saibai provides gentle warmth and strength in equal measure. And Sanjay Dutt as Afzal Khan is exactly what the role demands — commanding, menacing, and impossible to ignore whenever he appears on screen.
The Verdict
Raja Shivaji is a sincere, stirring historical epic that honors its subject without losing its humanity. The weak VFX aside, everything else — the performances, the score, the production design, the screenplay — works in service of a story that deserves to be told well. Watch it in Marathi if you can; some emotions simply lose depth in translation.
Certain films remind you why stories about the past still matter. Raja Shivaji is one of them.