छावा

A sweeping historical epic based on Shivaji Sawant's Marathi novel, Chhaava follows Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj — lion-son of Shivaji — as he inherits the Maratha throne and wages a relentless war against the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Filmed with intimate ferocity, the film charts Sambhaji's military genius, the palace conspiracies that nearly break him, his capture at Sangameshwar, and his legendary defiance even in captivity and martyrdom. Released on Valentine's Day 2025, it became a massive box-office phenomenon, inviting audiences to rediscover a warrior-king history had underplayed.

A. R. Rahman composed the entire score and all seven songs for Chhaava, working with lyricists Irshad Kamil and Kshitij Patwardhan. The album weaves Persian, Marathi folk, and contemporary electronic textures to evoke the 17th-century Deccan. The album launch was held at Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai on 12 February 2025.

Chhaava is significant on multiple fronts. Musically, A. R. Rahman's complete score — weaving Persian instrumentation, Marathi folk idiom, and contemporary electronic production — stands as one of his most culturally specific compositions for a historical film, and his most major Bollywood project after a years-long relative absence from mainstream Hindi film music. Cinematically, it became one of Hindi cinema's highest-grossing historical epics, earning approximately ₹797 crore worldwide, and sparked a mainstream rediscovery of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj as a historical figure beyond Shivaji's shadow.

Chhaava became one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of 2025, ranking among the highest-grossing Hindi historical films ever made. A. R. Rahman's album was widely praised for its cultural authenticity and earned strong streaming numbers. Vicky Kaushal's performance as Sambhaji Maharaj was considered his career-defining role. The film sparked a renewed national interest in Maratha history — particularly Sambhaji's martyrdom — and inspired significant social media discourse on historical representation. It remains the benchmark historical epic of mid-2020s Bollywood.