Rau (novel)

{{short description|1972 novel by Nagnath S. Inamdar}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Rau

| translator = Vikrant Pande,
Bharatiya Jnanpith

| image = Front cover - Rau (marathi novel) 1972.jpg

| caption = Front cover of the novel

| author = Nagnath S. Inamdar

| cover_artist =

| country = India

| genre = Historical fiction
Romance

| publisher = Continental Prakashan

| release_date = 1972

| pages = 418

| isbn =

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

Rau (also referred to as Rauu) is a 1972 Marathi historical fiction novel by N S Inamdar. The story revolves around the fictionalized romance between real-life historical characters of the Maratha General Peshwa Baji Rao I and his second wife Mastani (born of a Hindu father and Muslim mother). The novel revolves around the outrage caused by the relationship among Baji Rao's family members and the orthodox priests.{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/article/774506/how-bajirao-and-mastani-became-a-byword-for-doomed-romance|title=How Bajirao and Mastani became a byword for doomed romance|last=Chari|first=Mridula|work=Scroll.in|access-date=2017-12-02}}

Rau was adapted into a feature film in 2015 as Bajirao Mastani, it was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starred Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra in lead roles.{{cite news|title=6 Epic Films That Took Forever To Make|url=https://www.filmcompanion.in/article/6-epic-films-took-forever-make|last=Ghosh|first=Shingita|publisher=Film Companion|date=6 December 2016|accessdate=30 August 2017|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830201250/http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/6-epic-films-took-forever-make|archivedate=30 August 2017|df=dmy-all}} The novel has also been used as a basis for several other films and TV series in both Hindi and Marathi since its publication.