Rating: ★★★★
Studio/presenter: PSJ Entertainment
Producer: Abhay Shevde
Directors: Girish Mohite (Bail), Gajendra Ahire (Dil a nadan), Viju Mane (Ek Hota Kau), Ravi Jadhav (Mitra)
Genres: Drama
Censor: U/A
Duration: 120 Min.
Cast: Mangesh Desai, Smita Tambe, Sagar Karande, Uday Sabnis, Neena Kulkarni, Suhas Palshikar Kushal Badrike, Spruha Joshi, Angad Mhaskar, Sampada Joglekar, Vidyadhar Joshi Mrunmayee Deshpande, Veena Jamkar, Sandeep Khare
We have been hearing the stories about the growth of Marathi cinema. But, we had not seen a collective effort coming from a group of film makers, to give a new dimension to Marathi cinema. Now, that work has been done by four creative film makers in Marathi, namely Gajendra Ahire, Vijau Mane, Girish Mohite and Ravi Jadhav. And, they have received the compliment from none other than the living legend from Bollywood , Mr. Gulzar. The legendary lyricist and film maker has gone one step ahead, to narrate the gist of each one of their creation, in all the four short films, through his poetic words. And, this has given a polished look to the film.
Indeed, the makers of ‘Bioscope’ deserve all the praise , for taking this bold step, of presenting four different stories, inspired by the poems of renowned poets right from Mirza Ghalib to Sandeep Khare. The film opens with a short story ‘Dil E Nadaan’, which is inspired by Mirza Ghalib’s famous Ghazal .It peeps into the life of two former classical music artistes, Singer Padmabhushan Nirmaaladevi Indori ( Neena Kulkarni) and Sarangi player Mianji Saarangiwale (Suhas Palshikar) , who are in live in relationship for past 30 years. Set on the backdrop of Indore city, director Gajendra Ahire succeeds in presenting their emotions and their simple living, by selling the dried almonds. Wonderful performances by both the veteran actors and beautiful music and photography are the plus points of this short. The usage of Hindi with Marathi goes well with the backdrop of Indore.
From Indore, we come to the city of Mumbai, in the 90’s era, where we find a hard working Motor Garage owner Swapnil (Kushal Badrike) in love with beautiful Pakali (Spruha Joshi) living in the neighborhood. Swapnil has inferiority complex, being dark complexioned and unable to express his love. It is a emotive love story, very inventively presented by director Viju Mane, with the help of his team of sound designer, music director and cinematographer. Above all , Soumitra’s poetry on rain, goes very well with this story.
Post interval , we find a very touching tale ‘Baiil’, happening in the present time. It is about the tragedy of an educated farmer Punjabrao (Mangesh Desai) from Amravati. Punjabrao( Mangesh Desai) comes along with his colleague to join the protest march, on behalf of cotton growers association in Amravati. How he lands into trouble later and what forces him to commit suicide, is a tragic story expertly presented by director Girish Mohite. There are other artistes in this short, comprising of Smita Tambe, playing his helpless wife, Sagar karande, his cunning friend and Uday Sabnis as police officer. Loknath Yashwant’s poem on this subject, does leave a strong impact, which is narrated from a Bull’s point of view.
Finally, Ravi Jadhav takes us into the era, little before India’s independence, to show the emotions in the life of a young collegian Sumitra , who is shown as a lesbian. The director has very cleverly shown, how such people are treated at home and why she prefers to come and live in a Women’s hostel of the college. In the role of her roommate Urmi, Mrunmayee Deshpande looks beautiful, even in that black and white photography. In the role of Sumitra’s good friend Vinya, Sandeep Khare makes a good debut in acting . Incidentally, he has written the poetry for this short, which is inspired by Vijay Tendulkar’s story. Good costume design and brilliant performance by Veena Jamkar makes this film more effectual. There is nothing vulgar in this story. In fact, it shows the struggle of such people for their independence, even 67 years after country’s independence.
Now, when it comes to evaluating the presentation of each one of these shorts, they are all unique in their own way. A must watch film for lovers of artistic cinema.