Piya Pyare: Tigers, Cheetahs, and Palace Drama

Is this thing worth the watch?

If you have a soft spot for silent-era theatrics and don't mind when the plot feels like it’s being held together by duct tape, sure. It’s perfect for people who like their drama with a side of historical pageantry. If you need your movies to make sense or have a brisk pace, you’ll probably want to skip this one entirely.

Piya Pyare feels like a fever dream of old royalty. The whole thing starts with Taramati getting the short end of the stick, and honestly, the speed at which she gets condemned for infidelity is almost impressive. It doesn’t waste time on pesky things like evidence.

The middle of this movie is just a parade of weird stuff. A cheetah steals a baby in the first act—I’m not making that up. It’s handled with such a straight face that you have to admire the commitment. It’s a bit like watching The Tiger Man, but with way more elaborate palace hallways and fewer reasons to actually care about the hero.

The Good, The Weird, and The Hunt

• The tiger hunt scenes look like they took up half the budget. They go on forever.
• Bilimoria as the romantic outlaw is just peak swashbuckling energy.
• There is a twin subplot that I am still trying to untangle in my head.

The palace sets are lavish, I guess, but they feel oddly empty most of the time. You can tell they were trying to capture that grand, epic scale you see in movies like The Song of the Flame, but it comes off more like a stage play that forgot to close the curtains. Every time Jaisingh shows up on screen, you just know he’s going to be the villain. He’s not subtle about it.

The whole thing feels like a relic. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in The Radio King where things happen because they have to, not because they’re logical. One moment we are in the court, then suddenly we are in the middle of a hunt, and nobody seems to be bothered by the constant change of scenery. 🐯

Honestly? I enjoyed it for the sheer audacity of the cheetah scene alone. It’s messy, it’s dramatic, and it’s clearly not trying to be a masterpiece. Sometimes that’s enough. Just don't ask me how that baby survived the cheetah encounter. I don't know.

It’s not a movie you watch for the writing. It’s a movie you watch to see what bizarre thing they’ll throw at you next. 👑