Chhatrapati Sambhaji (2024 film)

Chhatrapati Sambhaji is an Indian Marathi-language historical drama film traces the real life story of Sambhaji, the second chatrapati of the Maratha Empire. The film is directed by Rakesh Subesingh Dulgaj starring Shashank Udapurkar in the title role, and Pramod Pawar, Rajit Kapur, Mrinal Kulkarni in the other principal roles.

The film originally titled "Sambhaji 1689" and was announced back in 2014. It took over nine years to make the film, and it was facing challenges in releasing the theatres. The film was theatrically released on 2 February 2024 in five languages.

Plot
The film is based on the real life of Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji Maharaj. Because his mother died when he was still a little child, Sambhaji never experienced motherly love. Shivaji shielded him from him, keeping him safe. For this reason, as Sambhaji grew older, he became hostile. However, he shown great bravery. Over the course of his nine years in power, he triumphed in every conflict. This was his final conflict with Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor.

Cast

 * Shashank Udapurkar as Sambhaji
 * Pramod Pawar as Shivaji
 * Rajit Kapur as Aurangzeb
 * Mrunal Kulkarni as Soyarabai
 * Mohan Joshi as Annaji
 * Bharat Dabholkar as Hambirrao Mohite
 * Lokesh Gupte as Kavi Kalash
 * Dalip Tahil as Muqarrab Khan
 * Bal Dhuri as Balaji Pant
 * Deepak Shirke as Diler Khan
 * Amit Deshmukh as Iklas Khan
 * Anand Abhyankar as Moropant
 * Mohini Potdar as Yesubai
 * Priya Gamare as Housa
 * Sameer as Ganoji Shirke

Release
The film was theatrically released on 2 February 2024 in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English languages. The film was earlier scheduled to release on 17 January 2014, postponed to 25 July 2014. In 2024, makers announced that the film is released on 26 January 2024, but the Central Board of Film Certification had asked the makers of the film to provide evidence against Aurangzeb. After completing all the process of submission of proofs and approval of the board, the film received the UA certificate and released in a next month.

Critical response
Anub George of The Times of India rated 2.0 out 5 stars and wrote "the hope was that this film would surface some of the less known facts and events from his life. But it doesn't. Poor execution and technical slip-ups ruin a story for the ages."

Soundtrack
Avinash Vishwajit, Guru Sharma and Aarav have composed the music for the film, while Amar-Amit Desai has scored the background score.