Latest released Marathi film ‘Taath Kanaa’ presents a captivating  biopic on the life of world renowned neuro-spinal surgeon Dr. Premanand Ramani, who believed in himself, since his childhood. His PLIF technique in spinal surgery, made him stand tall in the field of medical innovation. In short, nothing was impossible for this surgeon, who possessed human spirit.

In the film ‘Taath Kana’ versatile actor Umesh Kamat has played the character of Dr. Ramani convincingly, presenting his emotions at every important stage of his life. His looks at different stages in his life and his body language speaks about his involvement into the character. Credit for the same also goes to writer Shrikant Bojewar and director Girish Mohite, for their extra ordinary skills, to make this film entertaining in spite of its serious emotion filled subject, which touches the heart of the audience.

‘Taath Kanaa’ captures the attention of the audience right from the beginning till the end, as it relates to Doctor – patient relationship . Their interactions and the hospital atmosphere have been well exhibited. Writer Bojewar and director Mohite have presented two important operations, namely Ms. Parminder from Haryana and young Narendra from Maharashtra. Emotions of Parminder’s husband and Narendra’s family members and their faith in Dr. Ramani have also been presented very well.

Besides notable performance coming from Umesh Kamat, who stands tall with the central character; good support comes from Deepti Devi who plays Dr. Ramani’s wife Pratima very convincingly. She seems to be a button artist, quickly changing her expressions, according to moving situations in the screenplay. In the role of a young patient Narendra, Suyog Gorhe has done well, while Sayali Sanjeev as his would be wife and Shailesh Datar and Anupama Takmoge as Narendra’s worried parents have performed their respective characters very sensibly.

There are no songs in this film, but Avinash -Vishwajeet make their presence felt in the background score. Good editing by Nilesh Gawand and wonderful cinematography by Krushnakumar Soren make this film more presentable. Certainly, an inspiring film, which can be watched by all age groups.

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The 1990s was truly a golden era- especially for those who grew up in India’s quaint rural heartlands. The slower pace of life, the rustic charm, and the warmth of people from that time, evoke an irresistible longing for the past. And if there’s one season that captures the essence of childhood memories, it’s undoubtedly the summer vacation.

Every child who has grown up in India, holds fond recollections of visiting their maternal relatives, for spending carefree days with cousins and friends, indulging in innocent mischief and endless adventures. Mapuskar Brothers present ‘April May 99′, the latest gem in Marathi cinema, beautifully brings back those cherished memories in a way, which are deeply personal and universally relatable.

Set against the serene backdrop of Shrivardhan (Konkan), the story revolves around three inseparable friends – Prasad (Shreyas Thorat), Siddhesh (Manthan Kanekar), and Krishna (Aaryan Menghji) and a visiting girl, Jaie (Sajiri Joshi), who becomes an unexpected part of their summer story. English is a challenge for the boys, much to the concern of Prasad’s father, who insists that he should go to Mumbai for coaching. But, Prasad has other plans—he wants to enjoy his vacation with his buddies.

When the families discover that Jai is fluent in English, they ask her to train the boys. What unfolds, is an endearing and often hilarious journey of friendship, learning, and self-discovery. In return, the boys promise to give Jai a guided tour of the Konkan region, leading to a delightful blend of language lessons, cultural exchange, and unforgettable escapades.

Director Rohan Mapuskar captures this slice-of-life narrative with a rare sensitivity and sincerity. Through the characters of these four artistes, he subtly comments on themes like growth, companionship, and the joy of embracing life’s simple pleasures.

From storytelling to cinematography (Apoorva Shaligram), acting to music (Rohan Rohan), every element of ‘April May 99’ aligns with precision and passion. The film’s visual palette- highlighting the lush, coastal beauty of Konka- is nothing short of stunning. Every frame exudes a sense of purpose, echoing the efforts of a committed and collaborative team.

While summer vacation-themed films do make their way to the screens, sometimes; it has been a long time since one resonated so deeply. ‘April May 99′ is not just a film; it’s a warm, heartfelt reminder of our roots, our childhood, and the friendship that shape us.

A wholesome, family-friendly entertainer that leaves you with a smile- with a touch of nostalgia.

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Like the T-20 Cricket format scored over One day and Test Cricket, our Marathi short films are getting more attention compared to Marathi web films and feature films. Many sensible Marathi short films with 5 minutes to 30 minutes duration are receiving good response from the social media viewers.

One such Marathi short film ‘Naav Kaay Tuza’ produced by Sandeep and Dhanashree Kulkarni and directed by Bansidhar Kinkar, with little more than 30 minutes duration, can be viewed on youtube. Starring Umesh Kamat, Neha Naik and others, this film revolves around a young girl Manasi Prabhu ( Neha Naik) who after completing her graduation in Computer Engineering comes to Pune from Karad, with a big hope of getting a job in IT park. But, she is not able to find a job without reference or recommendation. Her father who is unable to spend on her expenses, suggests her to return to Karad, in next few days.

When disappointed Manasi is getting ready to return to her native place, life takes a new turn in her life and she finds a chance to visit an IT company, where she interacts with the company Boss (Umesh Kamat), who is in a dilemma over prioritizing ethics over business advantage. What happens next is an interesting situation, which the director has cleverly presented through an appealing screenplay.

Considering his past short films like ‘Shambharava Sthal’ and ‘Ravivaar Sakal’, Bansidhar Kinkar, has done a remarkable job as a director in this short film. He finds good support with best performances from all the artistes. Neha Naik in particular, has done very well.

Certainly a worth watch film.

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‘Behind every successful man there is a woman’, as she is the one who lays a firm foundation with the bricks that others have thrown at her husband. And at the same time, ‘Behind every successful woman there is a man’, as he is the one who believed in his wife, when nobody else did. But, do you know that, ‘Behind every successful working woman there is a housemaid’. To find out the reason, you will have to watch the latest released Marathi film ‘Nach Ga Ghuma’.

Incidentally, Marathi cinema is known for offering some thought provoking subjects, which are targeted at mass audience. Today’s city lifestyle is such that every person in the house is dependent on others. And when you think about a working couple with their school going kid, their dependability is more on a sincere housemaid, who should be able to manage the house and their kid.

‘Nach Ga Ghuma’ directed by Paresh Mokashi presents two such working women who have sweet and sour relationship between them. They are, Rani ( Mukta Barve) and her housemaid – Ashatai ( Namrata Sambherao). In this film, we find a small family comprising of Anand (Sarang Sathye) and his wife Rani busy with their respective jobs. They have a 6 year old school going daughter Sayali alias Chiku ( Myra Vaikul). To manage the house and their little daughter, they hire the services of a housemaid for 12 hours a day. The family is so dependent on Ashatai that even her late arrival on duty by 15-30 mins, upsets their daily schedule. Especially, Rani who has to suffer the most, as she has to face the heat in office from her boss.

Director Paresh Mokashi has presented this interesting subject in an entertaining way in the first half. In the second half he tries to highlight the emotional attachment among all the characters with some interesting happenings, to keep the audience engaged. Though the climax in predictable, the film certainly succeeds in entertaining the audience, with wonderful performances from all the artistes. While Mukta, Sarang, Myra are at their best, the actress who steals the show is Namrata Sambherao. Through this film, she could offer not only comedy in which she is at her best, but also her emotional feelings very well. Sharmistha Raut, Madugandha Kulkarni , Sukanya Kulkarni, Supriya Pathak, Sunil Abhyankar have offered good support through their respective characters, while Swapnil Joshi and Lalit Prabhakar have little to do through their special appearance.

‘Nach Ga Ghuma’ is a well presented film with a good social message, offered by director Paresh Mokashi, who has also extracted the best out of all the artistes. He has received good support from music director Tanmay Bhide, cinematographer Sandeep GN Yadav and Faisal Mahadik with his perfect editing work. It’s a family entertainer. No wonder the film is still drawing good crowds at cinema theatres in the 2nd week. So, Don’t miss it.

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‘Ole Aale (ओले आले)’ is a story of a retired lonely father and an extremely busy son , who cannot spare even a few minutes with his father. Set on the backdrop of an expedition undertaken by the career oriented son Aale ( Siddharth Chandekar) to make his father Ole ( Nana Patekar) happy, under strange circumstances. During their journey they encounter a young lady Kayara alias ‘Kahihi’( Sayali Sanjeev), who joins them to discover the true meaning of life.

The highlight of this beautiful road journey film is that it has been shot at picturesque locations around Haridwar, Chopta and Kedarnath. But, more than that are the series of shocking revelations generated through the gripping screenplay from beginning till end.

Actually, ‘Ole Aale’ is a remake of Super hit Gujarathi film ‘Chaal Jeevi Laiye! ‘ and is directed by the same director Vipul Mehta who had directed the original film. However , the presentation part is simply superb through communicative sequences which are witnessed through the well written crisp dialogues. Perfect editing by Jitendra Shah, appealing cinematography by Gulam Nabi and pleasant music by Sachin-Jigar have added that required backing to this film.

Above all, the performances by the three lead artistes namely Nana Patekar, Siddharth Chandekar & Sayalee Sanjeev and well supported by Makarand Anaspure and Tanvi Azmi make this film more acceptable. Each one of them have put in their heart and soul into their respective characters. In short, after a long time this film has turned out to be a perfect gift for the new year to our Marathi film lovers. A must see film for all.

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 Marathi film ‘Dharmaveer’ which celebrates 50^th  day of its release, is now available on Zee 5 OTT platform. A well presented film by director Pravin Tarde ,‘Dharmaveer‘ focusses more on the ideology of dynamic Shiv Sena leader from Thane Late Anand Dighe and actor Prasad Oak has done full justice to this character of a revolutionary leader, with his wonderful performance. But, more than that director Pravin Tarde has cleverly made this two hours 50 minutes long film interesting, with action filled sequences supported by some attention grabbing emotion filled moments.

The Character of the present chief minister of Maharashtra Mr. Eknath Shinde has lot of prominence in this film, as he is shown as the most trusted man of Anand Dighe. The focus is more on the present day happening where the character of Mr. Eknath Shinde as Minister played by Kshitij Date walks in for the 20^th death anniversary event of his mentor Late Anand Dighe, which is being covered by a female Journalist . She has very little knowledge about Mr. Anand Dighe through Google search and is briefed by a local Auto Rickshaw driver and his narration about Dharmaveer Anand Dighe takes you in flashback.

Technically it is a well made film with perfect editing work by Mayur Hardas and excellent cinematography by Kedar Gaikwad. Many renowned Marathi artistes like Mohan Joshi, Abhijit Khandkekar, Mangesh Desai have appeared in small but important roles in this film. At the same time Kshitij Date, Shruti Marathe, Makarand Padhye, Vijay Nikam, Snehal Tarde and others have supported well through their respective important characters. ‘Dharmaveer’ is certainly a worth watch film, to understand the rise of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra politics with the help of such a dedicated leader  from Thane and his trusted team members.

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Not all the web series these days are a worth watch, if the entire family decide to watch together; especially the Marathi web series.  But, recently released  ‘Pet Puraan (पेट पुराण)’ is an exception. This six episode Marathi Web series  is also available in other regional languages on Sony Liv. A unique subject tried for the first time in Marathi by writer – director Dnyanesh Zoting, the story of this series revolves around a new age working couple Anjali ( Sai Tamhankar) and Atul( Lalit Prabhakar) who do not wish to have children. Instead, they prefer to adopt two pets a Dog ( Vyanku) and a Cat ( Baku).

Their parents are not very happy, but accept their children’s new role as pet parents. As we have seen around what difficulties are usually faced by such pet parents in our society. In this series,  we see perhaps little more than that experience. Writer- director Dnyanesh Zoting has handled this subject very well, crteating many humour filled scenes, faced by the young couple in their day to day life. What is more appreciated is the language of this film which makes it a worth watch for the entire family. Being a subject based on pets, children are more attracted to this series, including little kids. And therefore, the dialogues are well written. And, they should continue with this, if they wish to continue with Season 2.

Thanks to Producer Ranjeet Gugle and writer- director Dnyanesh Zoting for handling this interesting subject. Good performances by all the artistes makes this series presentable,  but there is better scope for the director to create more interesting scenes involving the pets in Season 2. Both Sai and Lalit have given full justice to their respective lead characters, with good support coming from other artistes like Satish Pulekar, Rasika Agashe, Pournima Manohar, Rishi Manohar, Deepti Lele, Aarav Khot, Ninad Gore. Kshitij Date, Sayalee Phatak and others.  Don’t miss it. It’s entertaining for all age groups.

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Every Sardar and every soldier of the Maratha army played an important role in strengthening the power of the Great warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Film maker Digpal Lanjekar who offered us two films namely ‘Farzand’ and ‘Fatteshikast’ were based on the bravery acts of such Sardars and soldiers. The latest film of writer- director Digpal Lanjekar offers the episode of aggressive battle of Pavankhind fought between Maratha Sardar Baji Prabhu Deshpande along with Bandal Army comprising of only 600 soldiers with the mighty 10,000 + army of Adilshah Sultanate led by Siddi Masud.

It was a well planned battle to mislead the enemy and enable Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to reach Vishalgad through safe route. The film highlights the sacrifice of Baji Prabhu Deshpande and the Bandal army, while fighting the enemy in this region. So, the film is a tribute to Baji Prabhu Deshpande and all those soldiers from his army who were severely injured and laid down their lives for the safety of their beloved King.

The film has therefore given enough scope to Ajay Purkar, who has played the important role of Baji Prabhu Deshpande. He seems to be the favourite of the director, as in his earlier films he had played equally important characters of Tanaji Malusare and Motyaji Khalekar. Another artiste who invites all the attention is Harish Dudhade in the role of Bahirji Naik. At present, he is most popular actor on Marathi television. It may be recalled that Harish had played the character of Bahirji Naik very efficiently in Digpal’s previous film ‘Fatteshikast’.

Among others, Chinmay Mandlekar as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mrinal Kulkarni as Rajmata Jijau, Ankit Mohan with his strong physique as Rayaji Bandal and Kshiti Jog as Badi Begum make their presence felt in this multi starrer film, which concludes with the great battle in Maratha history , in which both the sides suffered heavy casualties. And therefore, we notice a lot of bloodshed while watching these action scenes. At the same time, there are many emotion filled scenes reminding about the love and respect every soldier from Maratha army had for their brave King. This film is now available for viewing on Amazon Prime.

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We are all aware  how the corona pandemic affected the lives of people all over the country. At the same time, we are also aware how the lockdown imposed by the government made many people jobless. Last year a Marathi film ‘Punashcha Hari Om (पुन:श्च हरिओम)’ was released with a worldwide premiere, few months ago on Zee Yuva channel.  Produced by Bhavesh Janavlekar, Rohit Mhatre,Sachin Yadav and others, this film which is now available for viewing on Zee 5 app. The film clearly shows how a middle class Marathi family from a village in Konkan suffers due to this lockdown and subsequent storm that devastated their village. But, what is important is that the family fights back to overcome this natural calamity, which inspires the viewers.

Directed by  debutant Vividh Korgaonkar this film is  set on the backdrop of a village in Konkan and revolves around a middle class Maharashtrian family comprising of young couple Ravi Parkar ( Vitthal Kale), Deepali Parkar ( Spruha Joshi) , their little daughter( Kashvi Sawant) and older parents Baba ( Sanjay Kulkarni) and Aai ( Neeta Shende).  Ravi owns a small electrical shop while Deepali works in a Saree shop as a saleswoman. Their little daughter studies in a primary school in the village and is a bright student. Ravi struggles initially in his new business, as he has to repay the loan instalment of his shop. But, the family is happy with what they earn for their living.

The real trouble starts when Corona virus spreads in the village and lockdown is imposed. Ravi has to sit at home and Deepali also loses her job. The family faces crisis, as the financer demands the monthly instalments. He also takes away Ravi’s motorcycle. Ravi tries to find odd jobs and even attempts door to door sales of electric bulbs. At this stage their little daughter suggests something to her mother and both of them attempt something interesting to help the family. Initially, the father is opposed to this idea. But, soon joins them to set an example that there is always a way out to counter the crisis.

Director Vividh has presented a simple story  written by Malti Joshi; but it is sensible and timely,  to inspire the viewers. The screenplay offers some interesting and realistic happenings involving few more characters like Ravi’s close friend and well wisher Harish, the money lender and his associate, a salesman and finally an owner of a masala manufacturing company . Very cleverly, he has avoided showing extra characters on the screen, though their names are mentioned in dialogues. Also proper locations have been identified to meet the requirements of lockdown norms.

In the lead role, Spruha Joshi finds plenty of scope to display her talent through her emotions, which are cleverly captured by cinematographer Kaushal Goswami. She finds very good support from other artistes namely her co star Vitthal Kale ,  Kashvi Sawant, Devendra Gaikwad, Prathamesh Bhatkar, Sanjay Kulkarni,  Neeta Shende and others. All of them have given memorable performances. ‘Punaschha Hari Om (पुन श्च हरिओम)’ is a well presented film, which keeps you engaged from beginning till the end.

Last but not the least Anurag Godbole & Chinmay Hulyalkar have provided suitable music with good sound recording from Nilesh Nikam. Certainly a worth watch film. Thanks to debutant director Vividh Koregaonkar. He has made his presence felt through this film.

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Produced by Archana Borhade and co produced by Zulfi waris ( ABP Studios) ‘Karkhanisanchi Waari (कारखानिसांची वारी)’ is the latest Marathi film released on OTT platform –Sony Live. With script written by Archana Borhade and Mangesh Joshi and directed by ‘Lathe Joshi’ fame director Mangesh Joshi, this film revolves around Karkhanis joint family living in Pune.

After the death of head of this family (Pradeep Velankar), his close relatives after performing his last rites are on a road trip to Pandharpur via their ancestral house to immerse his ashes , as per his last wish. Five of them namely, brothers - Dr. Mohan Agashe, Pradeep Joshi, Ajit Abhyankar , sister- Geetanjali Kulkarni and son – Om ( Amey Wagh) are on their journey, travelling in their Omni- traveller . They are followed on her motor bike by Om’s girlfriend Madhura ( Mrunmayee Deshpande), who wants Om to disclose their relationship to his close relatives, as early as possible.

While this group is on their way to Pandharpur, the widow played by Vandana Gupte has other plans to meet her financial requirements. She takes another route to settle a score with mistress of her late husband, who lives in another town close to Pune. As writers, director and producers both Archana Borhade and Mangesh Joshi have focussed more on highlighting attitude of each important character existing in today’s materialistic world. They have presented this film in a funny way, to make the screenplay interesting. Happening of humour filled events during their journey and simultaneously showing the developments to unfold the mysterious life of the deceased have been captured very well. The interaction between Vandana Gupte and Shubhangi Gokhale has been presented very well.

The highlight of this film are the performances by all the artistes in important roles. They are so natural that sometimes you feel as if you are travelling along with them. Writer- producer Archana Borhade has also done her main job as a cinematographer extremely well while presenting the emotions of each one of the artistes in close up scenes, besides capturing their humour filled sequences in the outdoor. No wonder, this universal subject representing every age group well presented through this film, has invited the attention of film critics from different parts of the world, wherever the film was screened. Above all, this film has bagged one of the five best films’ award at Tokyo International film festival. This itself is a very good news for Marathi cinema.

Certainly a worth watch film for all. Don’t miss it.

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