Development Sanjay Leela Bhansali had conceived the historical romance about Maratha Peshwa
Bajirao and his second wife Mastani even before he had directed his first feature
Khamoshi: The Musical in 1996. Several other directors such as
Muzaffar Ali,
Manmohan Desai and
Kamal Amrohi had tried to make a film about the two historical figures but they were never made. Bhansali had intended to make
Bajirao Mastani after the release of
Devdas (2002) and had officially announced it in 2003, with filming scheduled to begin in May 2004. The film, however, was shelved indefinitely. Reports about a possible revival had made headlines ever since; Bhansali had planned to revive it every other year but the project never came to fruition. In an interview with
The Telegraph, Bhansali spoke about his intention to make
Bajirao Mastani after finishing every film he made in-between, saying "I kept trying to revive it over and over again, but if there is one thing that filmmaking has taught me, it's that every film has its own destiny. And I strongly believe that the souls of ... Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai wanted us to make this film only now." Bhansali always believed in the project, assuring himself the script was so powerful he had to make it one day. The makers acquired the rights of the novel and worked with historian
Ninad Bedekar. Kapadia said writing the screenplay was a difficult task and a huge responsibility considering the historical context. Khan then tried to suggest his then-girlfriend
Katrina Kaif for the role of Mastani but things did not materialise. When the film was finally announced in 2003, Bhansali had cast Khan and
Kareena Kapoor in the titular roles, with
Rani Mukerji playing Baji Rao's first wife Kashibai. After the film was revived in 2014, reports of
Ajay Devgn and
Deepika Padukone being approached for the film made headlines in February. Devgn dropped out of the film, however, due to differences with Bhansali about several terms of his contract, such as dates and remuneration. Bhansali offered the role to
Sushant Singh Rajput, but he had to turn down the role over scheduling issues. The next month, it was reported that
Ranveer Singh was in talks to play Bajirao. The same month, reports suggested
Priyanka Chopra was cast to play Kashibai, Bajirao's first wife. In July 2014, it was officially confirmed that Singh, Padukone and Chopra were finalised to play the principal roles. Chopra was the first actor to be cast in the film; Bhansali wanted Kashibai to be cast first, only after which he could decide whom to cast for the title roles. Bhansali, who produced Chopra-starrer
Mary Kom (2014), went on to that film's set in
Manali to narrate it with the writer Prakash Kapadia; Bhansali was adamant in his choice of Chopra, who recalled, "The rest of the film hadn't been cast yet. My picture would be there and the pictures for Bajirao and Mastani would keep changing."
Milind Soman joined the cast in the late August 2014. In late September 2014, it was confirmed that
Tanvi Azmi was cast for the role of Bajirao's mother Radhabai;
Shabana Azmi,
Dimple Kapadia, and
Supriya Pathak had also been considered for the role. The following month,
Aditya Pancholi joined the cast as an antagonist. In November 2014, the casting of Bajirao's sisters were finalised; Sukhada Khandkekar was ast as Anubai and
Anuja Gokhale as Bhiubai. The following month,
Mahesh Manjrekar was cast to play Maratha Emperor Chhattrapati Shahu. It was announced in January 2015 that
Vaibhav Tatwawaadi was chosen to play Bajirao's younger brother Chimaji Appa.
Irrfan Khan was cast as the film's narrator. Singh was also required to learn Marathi and shave his head for the part, whereas Padukone had to take
Kathak dance lessons. In preparation for her role of Kashibai, Chopra had 15 days of language training in the Peshwai Marathi dialect spoken during the time of the ascension of the Peshwas to perfect the accent. Azmi shaved her head completely for her role. Singh has described his character as a "true Maratha", saying, "The deeper I get into it the more I realise what a great man he was. It is a great honour to be selected to play this character." He has said he always wanted to transform himself into a character and playing Bajirao gave him that scope, which he said was "draining and tiring in every way". For portraying Bajirao, Singh's preparations required him to isolate himself from his own being and living like Bajirao. He instructed the crew members to address him as Bajirao, which helped him to remain in his character. She was also inspired by her character and found playing the role challenging; it was physically demanding and required a lot of dancing. She described her character as someone who is "heartbroken, a silent sufferer, dignified, resilient, can't take charge of her life, goes with whatever life throws her way. Just grace under fire." Iyengar and Sawant had heard about the film while working on another film, when it was first announced. Having never met Bhansali, they started researching on their own by visiting Pune and
Satara and learnt about Maratha architecture. Bhansali wanted more research on
Mughals; he engaged Dhatrak, who joined Iyengar and Sawant. Pre-production work started as early as February 2014, continued as the shoot progressed and lasted until the filming was complete in October 2015; it lasted nineteen months. The replica of Aina Mahal was constructed in forty days, with more than 30,000 square feet of mirrors. More than 700 design stencils were used to decorate the hall. Modi designed clothes for the three lead characters and Basu designed for the supporting cast. The costumes for extras and war extras were done by Ajay and Chandrakant, respectively. Basu started her research by visiting several ancient monuments such as the
Chowmahalla Palace,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya,
Salar Jung Museum and
Ajanta-
Ellora caves, which gave her some perspective of ancient Maharastrian culture. About 300 costumes were designed for the three leads alone. For making the saris, fabrics such as silk, muslin,
khadi and chanderi worn in that period were designed. Peshwas used to wear
Dhotis,
Jamas and
Angarkhas with a large flare in that period, so it was eminent for Bajirao's character. Chatterjee had done extensive research before starting the film. Later that month, Singh joined the shoot. Most of the film was shot on the highly detailed sets. Padukone joined the cast for two days during late December 2014 and resumed shooting in April 2015 after completing work for her other projects. Outdoor location filming began in February 2015 at
Amer Fort in
Jaipur. Crowd scenes were also filmed there. Singh fell off a horse while filming an action sequence and was rushed to hospital; he was not seriously injured. In May 2015, however, he injured his shoulder and needed surgery; he resumed shooting after break of two months. Chopra resumed filming in the first week of April 2015 for a month. While working on
Bajirao Mastani, Chopra was simultaneously filming the American television series
Quantico in
Montreal, requiring much back-and forth travel. She would act for
Bajirao Mastani at weekends and return to Montreal on weekdays for her series, returning to India in the second week of October to complete the final schedule. Before starting the film, the team discussed which parts of it had to be filmed and which parts needed to be made using visual effects. Sham Kaushal co-ordinated the action sequences for the war scenes. The filming was challenging for Chopra and Padukone; they had to shoot for the dance sequences multiple times whenever the
diyas and torches used to light up the background would snuff. The song was shot at night on an open-air set decorated with diyas and torches, many of which would snuff out while filming the song.
Bajirao Mastani was shot in 217 days between October 2014 and October 2015. The company that worked on the effects was
NY VFXWAALA; this was the biggest projects they had undertaken.
Prasad Sutar was the visual effects supervisor; the effects took eight months and a team of sixty artists to create. Although the film was shot on highly detailed sets, visual effects and
CGI was incorporated in post-production to enhance the imagery for the scenes that were impossible to shoot in live action. The effects included the creation of interior architecture, backgrounds, set extensions and war weapons; changes to lighting and time of day, weather effects and the multiplication of army soldiers. The opening night-time war scene, which had 300 visual effects shots, was
filmed in bright daylight then converted into night. Arrows flying over the battlefield were created using CGI whereas the army, soldiers and horses were multiplied. The war close-up shots were filmed in a studio but were later mixed with the war scenes to form a detailed scene. In some shots, the sky was digitally replaced and CGI forts were added in others. Similarly, the climax sequence, which was shot live in water, was enhanced using CGI horses, arrows and fireballs. The climax scene took around twenty days to complete with fine details. Bhansali wanted a grand opening title design, which the team decided to create using animation. They crafted hand-drawn storyboards and drew a narration of Bajirao and his kingdom, and designed it digitally using animation within a limited timeline. A sequence in which Singh crosses the sea in a boat at night was created using visual effects. Splashing waves, falling rain falling (except for the water falling on Singh and the night sky were created in post production. The scenes that were shot on set and featured outside views, such as views from windows, were completed in post production. For dark, emotional scenes, a low-key background was created, whereas bright, colourful backgrounds were created with effects for light scenes. The film was edited by Rajesh G. Pandey. == Soundtrack ==