Chhaava

The story

"Chhaava" (a Marathi word for a lion's cub) dramatises the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the eldest son of Shivaji and the second ruler of the Maratha Empire. The film opens in the turbulence that follows Shivaji's death in 1680 and follows Sambhaji as he takes the throne, holds off the vastly larger Mughal army of Aurangzeb, and contends with betrayal inside his own court. It is adapted from Shivaji Sawant's celebrated 1979 Marathi novel of the same name.

At its heart the film is a study of defiance. Over roughly nine years of near-continuous warfare, Sambhaji refuses to bow to the Mughal emperor, and the narrative builds toward his capture and brutal execution in 1689 — the moment the film frames as a turning point in the Marathas' long fight for Swaraj (self-rule). Ajay Devgn provides the narration that stitches the sweep of history together.

Making of the film

Directed by Laxman Utekar and produced by Dinesh Vijan under Maddock Films, "Chhaava" was a marked change of register for a filmmaker best known for lighter fare like "Luka Chuppi" and "Mimi." Development began in 2023, with the team researching the 17th-century Maratha period and visiting historical sites across Maharashtra. Principal photography ran from roughly October 2023 into 2024, with a reported budget in the ₹90–130 crore range.

Vicky Kaushal's transformation into Sambhaji became a talking point in itself. He reportedly gained around 25 kg, trained for months in sword, stick and spear combat, and wore battle armour said to weigh close to 17–18 kg. Akshaye Khanna plays a coldly calculating Aurangzeb, Rashmika Mandanna appears as Sambhaji's queen Yesubai, and the ensemble includes Ashutosh Rana as the general Hambirrao Mohite, Divya Dutta as Soyarabai, and Vineet Kumar Singh as the poet-companion Kavi Kalash.

Music

The score and soundtrack were composed by A.R. Rahman, with lyrics by Irshad Kamil and Kshitij Patwardhan. The two lead singles — the tender "Jaane Tu" and the martial anthem "Aaya Re Toofan" — anchored the promotional campaign, and Rahman's thunderous background score became a defining part of the film's battlefield sequences.

The marketing leaned hard on spectacle: visuals for "Aaya Re Toofan" were projected onto London's Palace of Westminster, a first-of-its-kind promotion that reflected the scale the makers were chasing.

Box office

"Chhaava" opened in theatres on 14 February 2025 in standard and IMAX formats and quickly became one of the biggest Indian films of the year. It powered past ₹600 crore net in India — widely reported as the first non-sequel Hindi film to do so — and combined with its overseas run to a worldwide gross most trackers put above ₹800 crore, making it comfortably Vicky Kaushal's biggest commercial success and one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2025.

The film was an especially enormous phenomenon in Maharashtra, where reported collections crossed ₹300 crore. It later premiered on Netflix in April 2025.

Why it matters

Beyond the numbers, "Chhaava" became a genuine cultural event — and a contested one. It renewed mainstream interest in Sambhaji, a figure long revered in Maharashtra but under-served on the national screen, and it fed into wider debates about how Indian history is dramatised on film.

That prominence also drew controversy. Some historians and descendant families disputed the film's depiction of certain figures, and the Central Board of Film Certification asked for modifications, including cuts and an added disclaimer noting it was a dramatised adaptation. The film's charged subject matter also became entangled in political flashpoints in early 2025. The debate itself underscored just how large "Chhaava" loomed in the year's conversation.

Key details