Sprawling historical melodrama; epic in the fullest sense of the term. Gorgeously excessive and operatic, centering on a doomed romance between a prince and a slave in the Mughal empire. Worth every minute of the 3+ hour runtime.
This movie fucking rocks, it’s huge and sprawling and gorgeous and tragic and weird. Any picture that opens and closes with a narration from the entire Indian subcontinent gets my love, what can I say?
You don’t see a lot of historical epics in the musical genre in the US, which is a little odd because you definitely do get a lot of period pieces and a lot of musicals that deal with darker subjects or broader social issues, but usually that’s through the lens of two mostly random characters, not the rulers of a kingdom like this. You don’t normally see one half of the romantic leads try to solve his father’s disapproval by literally declaring war on him, say.
Along the way you’ll get drunk 12 year olds, carpets of pearls, poetry written on a sword, more flowers than you can shake a dick at, and intense family drama. It’s a long movie, but every scene has something wild or beautiful or wildly beautiful going on that you’re never bored. It’s very easy to soak into as pure soap opera.
Cinerarium 
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