Lost in translation: Animated web-series Blazing Bajirao is worth a shot, if you overlook the 'Hinglish'

If there is one area in which Bollywood has advanced in leaps and bounds in recent times it is the quality of promotional material. Trailers are now smartly-cut and the stars know how to build curiousity and hype around their projects, and around themselves. They are also gradually emulating Bollywood and building franchises and selling merchandise. Irrespective of the quality of the actual film, trailers and posters rarely fail to grab eyeballs nowadays. Gone are the days of those assembly line posters with merely the actor’s faces pasted on them.

At least visually, Bollywood has really come of age in the last decade.

A new addition to this trend is Blazing Bajirao, an animated web series (or a motion graphic series as they call it) on the life of Bajirao. So, Bollywood is now moving beyond trailers, item songs and “making of” videos and trying out an entirely different medium. In the past we have seen a few franchises releasing comic books, but this series seem to have made a much bigger effort.

So far three short episodes have been released and more are expected leading up to the release of Bajirao Mastani on 18 December. So, what exactly does it offer? Well, it tells small anecdotes about the warrior using animations with a gory colour palette and ominous music. The visuals are violent, there’s no doubt about it.

Limbs are slashed with abandon and blood drops splatter your screen. It is almost as if the makers wanted to make up for all the violence the CBFC will not allow in the actual film.

These short clips generally achieve what they are expected to achieve: Views.

It has been already viewed by a million people, so the buzz seems to be strong and also it established the protagonist as not merely a historical character, but a near-mythical warrior with an aura of invincibility, which will help the film’s commercial prospects by creating a larger-than-life persona for the protagonist.

However, there was a small hitch. The quality of voice-over seems slightly out of place, and the “Hinglish” used just does not go well with the historical theme, thus leaving a somewhat underwhelming aftertaste. Yes, it is the prevalent notion that the youngsters are not comfortable with pure Indian languages and they are not interested in history. But frankly, this a misconception. Bollywood rarely makes good period films to be able to complain about audience apathy.

Also, internet users are no longer limited to the metropolitan cities. If they are bothered about the non-Hindi speaking audience, subtitles would have done the trick.

Anyway, Blazing Bajirao does seem to be an interesting experiment that will likely be replicated by other films in the future.

One of the best #BlazingBajirao episodes ever - The Good Wife : Have you seen it yet ? https://t.co/oNhfihEETU

— Rocky’s Cafe 🌟☕️ (@ranveercafe69) December 4, 2015

#Blazingbajirao looks amazing ! I m so thrilled to see this !! Oh no excitement on peak @priyankachopra 😘 #kashirao pic.twitter.com/UrpUZKBvuY

— Thea (@Thea_sherin) December 6, 2015

Screenshot from #BlazingBajirao ❤❤#BajiraoKashibai #KashiBai
King and the Queen ♕ pic.twitter.com/Ulg715kD7H

— Priyanka Chopra FC (@PriyankaWorlds) December 6, 2015

Watch Blazing Bajirao Mastani Cartoon Animated Series Episode 3 Live Hd Video Streaming… https://t.co/sj6zudBuQE pic.twitter.com/BYl1YGv1OC

— haaknews (@haaknews) November 29, 2015

#DeletedScenes from #BlazingBajirao Ep.4- The Good Wife #BajiraoMastani @priyankachopra art by @Pictorialcinema pic.twitter.com/tRHmvZH8BQ

— Small Town Boys (@SmallTown_Boys) December 4, 2015

Watch the untold story of Bajirao’s 1st wife #Kashibai! #BlazingBajirao "The Good Wife" https://t.co/SeQCvERjQJ pic.twitter.com/E4IfjIzOOO

— Eros Now (@ErosNow) December 4, 2015

Have a look and decide yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9F4FsMpVo0