Riteish Deshmukh on Raja Shivaji: This isn't just another commercial film

Actor Riteish Deshmukh spoke about the responsibility of bringing a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj story to the big screen. He said the film's response revealed a deeply personal bond across generations.

In Short

• Riteish emphasised his personal connection with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
• The film was made with honesty, not spectacle, said Deshmukh
• Raja Shivaji was released in theatres on May 1

Actor-filmmaker Riteish Deshmukh has said the response to Raja Shivaji has underlined how personal people’s connection with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is. In an exclusive conversation with India Today, he spoke about the emotional and cultural responsibility of bringing a story based on the Maratha ruler to the screen and said the film’s reception and box office success had revealed the many ways in which audiences relate to him.

Deshmukh said the film was made with the intention of telling the story honestly, rather than chasing scale or spectacle.

“Frankly speaking, our attempt was simply to tell a story — and tell it with complete honesty. That was the only intention. The way the film has been received, the way people are reacting to it. One thing I realised is that everyone’s relationship with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is deeply personal and very different,” he said.

Audience response

He said that personal connection had shaped the reaction to the film in different ways. According to Deshmukh, some people feel extremely close to Shivaji Maharaj, some view him from a distance, some are emotionally attached to him, while others see him as a larger-than-life figure.

He added that, because of this, each person’s response to the film had been personal and unique, and that for the first time in his career, he could not generalise the audience’s emotions towards a film.

Deshmukh also spoke about visiting theatres and watching families across generations come together for the film. The actor said, “When I visited theatres, I saw entire families watching the film together — kids, teenagers, couples, grandparents. And then you realise why all of them have come. For children, he is a superhero. For me, for my sons, he is a superhero. For my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, too."

"For a personality to inspire generations across centuries, there has to be something truly extraordinary about him. Even today, we continue to look up to what he stood for and what he still makes us believe in. That’s the emotion I feel people are carrying back from theatres,” he added.

While speaking about the writing process, Deshmukh said he was particularly drawn to the lesser-discussed relationship between Shivaji Maharaj and his elder brother. He said learning that the two brothers, separated in age by eight years, had spent nearly 12 years together before being separated made him wonder what that moment must have meant for them and what emotions they would have carried.

“That became the emotional core of the story for me. Eventually, the climax of the film is rooted in that relationship — in the bond between brothers, in a promise made to a mother. That brotherhood became the focal point and emotional heart of the film,” he said.

Shared responsibility

Deshmukh said the responsibility of a film like this did not rest on him alone, but on every actor involved in it. He said actors joining a film on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj were also agreeing to take responsibility for the historical figures they were portraying, including Abhishek (Bachchan) in the role of Sambhaji Maharaj.

He said the same sense of responsibility applied to others associated with the film. The actor emphasised, “The moment you become part of a film like this, it becomes a collective responsibility. And that’s what I meant when I spoke about people like Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt sir, Salman Khan, Boman Irani, and Mahesh Manjrekar — when all of them come together to portray historical figures, there is a certain responsibility attached to it."

"This is not like any other commercial non-historical film, which is comparatively easier because even if you go slightly left or slightly right, it still works. But with a film like this, you have to land it right," he concluded.

Raja Shivaji was released in theatres on May 1.

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