This, however, is followed by a song where the two women dance off in a classic SLB style and another montage where Kashi overhears a sinister plan to kill Mastani and battles with her inner instinct and emotions and eventually confides in Bajirao just in time to save Mastani. There are other notable moments too where Kashi’s character glows: One where Kashi while angry at Mastani, still reaches out to her and gives her peace of mind. The scene in which she comes out of the palace to do the aarti and welcome her newlywed husband and Mastani – she tries better than her best to hold on to her pride and perform her duty as the Peshwin of the household, while making it clear that she does not accept their relationship. As she suffers in silence, Priyanka’s eyes and body language beautifully express a lot of these emotions with hardly any dialogue.
A lot of these feelings are internalised by Kashi, as she does not have anyone to have a heart-to-heart talk with, reflecting the plight of women in those times no matter their social status. One must remember that the time in which the story is set, it was rather common for the royals to have polygamous marriages and if Mastani was a reputed Hindu princess, not much would have been made of it perhaps and she would have been asked to accept it and move on. The end result is that she feels let down, insulted and all alone. While she garners the support of her husband’s family and advisors, she also realises that it has less to do with their love and respect for her but more to do with their disdain for Mastani’s religion. Over time though she realises that their intimacy issue has nothing to do with her but with Bajirao’s newfound fascination for Mastani. When she figures out that Bajirao and Mastani are having an affair right under her nose, she chooses to manipulate her husband by seducing him, on an aesthetically designed moonlit set, in a desperate attempt to save their marriage. Kashi is not a one-dimensional “good” person – she has her own complexes, fears, jealousy and cunning. Amidst this turmoil, Kashi is torn between performing her Peshwai duties and standing up to her husband.Īlso read: How The Battle Scene In Bajirao Mastani Was Shot Bajirao clearly suffers from a heavy dose of masculine ego and wanting to be the saviour to Mastani, who ironically holds her sense of agency pretty well. But then again when she comes to him (in a rather disillusioned daring act of madness, or what we call “ishq” in the Bhansali Universe), he accepts her. The first opportunity he gets, we see him fall for Mastani and also feed her hope even while modestly declining her offer of love, stating that he is married. While Kashi remains a pativrata nari, the pati in question does not return her the favour. But along the way, she finds a voice and place for herself in the story while detaching herself from her husband. Being the demure royal damsel who sincerely carries out her household duties as a wife, daughter-in-law and the Maratha Peshwin, Priyanka Chopra’s character starts off predictably. There are very few characters in movies that have the ability to stand out despite having a short screen time. Kashibai from Bajirao Mastani definitely is one such character that deserves her own storyline.