Some consumer products are marketed so well, with attractive packaging, that a consumer is tempted to buy them. But, when they actually open the packaging, they are slightly disappointed, as the product they have purchased, doesn’t fulfill  their high expectations. Same is the case with a feature film. Many a times, the trailer of a particular film, is so appealing that the audience is tempted to watch  such a film. But, when they actually watch the film, they are left disenchanted.

This is what happens,  in the case of  new Marathi film ‘Vakratunda Mahakaya’. The film opens up well, with a terrorist group trying to create trouble in city of Mumbai, by planting a bomb in a soft toy Ganapati and leaving the same in a temple complex, with the help of a hired local terrorist ( Vijay Maurya) . But, his plan is foiled, when a little child Altaf ( Naman Jain) flees away with this toy. Director Punarvasu Naik , who has the influence of Bollywood films, being an associate of  many  known directors;  has tried to develop the story of Yogesh Joshi in his own style. He does succeed to a certain extent, to generate a lot of interest in the first half of the film; showing the ‘cat and mouse’ chase.

The director has also very skilfully, shown the soft toy passing from one person to another and finally coming back to the same child. Some of the sequences,  like the soft toy of Ganapati pouring drop by drop milk, through its  trunk and a modern female saint ( a look alike of a present day controversial God Woman) presenting the same toy, to  a minister, as a return gift;  have been presented well, to generate humour. The presence of the character of an elderly woman ( Usha Nadkarni) selling home made food products and coming across the same soft toy on repeated occasions, has also been captured well.  The veteran actress has also played her part well. But, Prarthana Behere is a waste in this film. She has been used as a married woman, having an affair with a youngster living in the neighborhood; and the latter presenting her with this soft toy, found by him on roadside bench.

There are few other popular faces seen in Marathi serials, like Pallavi Patil ( Runji fame), Rutuja Bagwe( Nanda Saukhyabhare‘ fame), Nachiket  Purnapatre (who has just joined the ‘Dil Dosti Duniyadari’ team) ; but except for Nachiket, who plays a roadside thief Paplu offering shelter to the homeless little boy Altaf, others haven’t found much scope.  Drawback of the film is that many of the dialogues in this film are in Hindi, thus losing its Marathi flavor. Director hasn’t been able to build up the other supporting characters, played by Jayant Savarkar, Usha Nadkarni, Prarthana Behere , Pallavi Patil and few others well, so as to connect them well with the happenings in the film. Perhaps, he didn’t have much scope to elaborate , in this 90 minute long film.

Nevertheless, the performance of Naman Jain, the child star, is praiseworthy.

All that the film has tried to convey,  is that Lord Ganapati is there to thwart all the plans of terrorists.  In simple words,  ‘God is Great! Ganapati Bappa Morya! ‘. But, at the end of the film, it makes you think, as to why every citizen shouldn’t be alert, about the happenings around ?.   ‘Vakratunda Mahakaya’ has therefore turned out to be an average entertaining action filled film, with its limited content.

Rating: ★★ ½
Studio/presenter: Channefl U Entertainment
Producer: Aatif, Hemant Anavakar
Director: R. Viraj
Story: Baal – Amol
Screenplay , Dialogues : Baal – Amol
Music: Prafull Karlekar
Director of Photography: Ankush Birajdar
Genres: Comedy
Censor: U/A
Duration: 120 Min.
Cast:  Bhalchandra (Bhau) Kadam, Chinmay Udgirkar, Girija Joshi, Arati Solanki, Sanjay Mohite

Charlie Chaplin once said, “All I need to make a comedy, is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” These were perhaps his requirements, to create situation based comedy films. But, filmmaker R. Viraj , who seems to be inspired by film maker Dada Kondke and his style of presenting the film, needed two friends Yash (Rajesh Bhosale) and Raj (Chinmay Udgirkar) , struggling to make a film, a pretty girl Supriya ( Girija Joshi) and flamboyant rich landlord Bhau Damdar ( Bhau kadam), wanting to make a film, just to flirt with the aspiring actresses.

With coming together of all these characters, the film actually takes off, half an hour after the introduction of all of them, which usually happens with all Marathi comedy films. As the screenplay of this film progresses, we find these two friends, making plans to extract money from the producer , playing all their tricks to fool him. But, when they come to know that he himself wants to play the lead character, they are in real trouble. The girl, whom Raj selects as the leading lady, turns out to be the sister of Yash; thus inviting more problems for them. So, they introduce a lady character, in the form of Chatak Chandani( Aarti Solanki) a professional tamasha artist, to lure the producer.

With this limited content, the film tries to entertain the audience, with the help of some double meaning dialogues; which are inspired by Dada Kondke films and some laughter, through few humor filled scenes. There are few songs in the film, which are just fine enough to meet the requirement of the film. It would have been better, if the last title song, which is a hit song from a video album, was included as part of the film. Best thing about the film, is its clever photography by Ankush Birajdar, who has tried to capture indoor as well as outdoor scenes, skillfully.

Director Viraj, has managed to extract good performance from versatile actor Bhau Kadam , lead actress talented Girija Joshi and other supporting artistes. But, while presenting the character of Chinmay Udgirkar, he has allowed him to imitate the style of Shahrukh Khan, more than required. One expected screenplay to be more appealing and dialogues to be original , to generate spontaneous amusement. Nevertheless, Bhau Kadam with his mere presence on the screen and Girija Joshi, with her glam looks, have tried to invite the attention of the viewers.

All in all, ‘Vaajlach Paahije! Game Ki Shinema’, offers average Entertainment.

Over the years, Marathi films have made tremendous progress in presenting their subjects with good technical support, finest locations and glamorous costumes; almost on par with big banner Hindi films. At the same time, some of our film makers were also influenced by South films and officially attempted remakes of original south films into Marathi. The best examples are, films like ‘Classmates‘, ‘Shutter‘ and ‘Time Bara Vait‘. But, only ‘Classmates’ did very good business, as it was focused on young generation, as target audience.

Now, Filmmaker Sanjay Jadhav’s latest released film ‘Tu Hi Re‘ also falls in this category. Starring Swwapnil Joshi, Sai Tamhankar & Tejaswini Pandit in the lead roles, this film is inspired by 2006 Tamil Film ‘Silunu Oru Kaadhal’. And, this has been officially declared by the filmmaker, in the credits, appearing at the end of the film.

In the beginning of the film, you find a young pretty woman Nandini (Sai Tamhankar) taking bath in a pond with beautiful surrounding . Actually, she is advertising for a popular talcum powder. A good thinking by the filmmaker. And, you soon realise that she is a typical village girl, on the lines of Bollywood films of 60s and 70s. She is more keen on love marriage; but, her parents fix her marriage with a young Engineer Siddharth (Swwapnil Joshi) son of their family friend. Soon, we come to know that it is a marriage against the wish of both these youngsters.

But, soon we see the shift , showing the same couple happily married after eight years and living with their little seven year old daughter Piyu( Mrunal Jadhav) in a posh Mumbai apartment. Looking at their behaviour, you feel as if they are just married. But, one fine day, Nandini receives a courier parcel containing some photos, revealing the past story of her husband and his so called affair with a beautiful girl Bhairavi( Tejaswini Pandit), who is the daughter of a wealthy Parliamentarian ( Dr.Girish Oak) , living in Pune. So, she verifies the facts from Siddharth’s friend( Sushant Shelar) and proceeds to Pune to meet that girl. On her return, she surprises her husband and what transpires, is what you notice in climax of this film.

With this limited story, director Sanjay Jadhav has tried to make this film interesting, with the help of good dialogues, finest locations, wonderful photography by Prasad Bhende, good music provided by the trio Pankaj Padghan, Amitraj and Shashank Powar .Though in the first half, he could not generate much interest in the screenplay, he has cleverly managed to hold his grip on the interesting happenings, which gives a different look, to this so called love triangle. All the three important artistes Swwapnil, Sai and Tejaswini have given their best. But, it is Tejaswini, who steals the show. Perhaps, for the first time, she has been used in such a glam filled role. She has not only impressed the audience with her performance; but, also with her striking looks, with those beautiful designer costumes.

There is a small drawback in this film, as care has not been taken to present the original Tamil story, to suit especially Marathi audience. Our Marathi audience will surely notice it. Nevertheless, ‘Tu Hi Re’ is a technically well presented film, almost on par with any big banner Hindi film, based on such a theme. If you have liked all the love stories of Yash Chopra, don’t miss this film, as the treatment given to the story is the same.

Rating: ★★★ ½
Studio/presenter: Aarbhat production
Producer: Vijay Waman Ganu
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Writer, Screenplay : Girish Pandurang Kulkarni
Music: Amit Trivedi
Director of Photography: Sudhakar Reddy
Editor: Paresh Kamdar
Genres: Road Movie, Drama
Censor: U/A
Duration: 105 Min.
Cast:  Girish Kulkarni, Huma Qureshi, Tisca Chopra, Satish Alekar, Renuka Shahane, Mukta Barve, Sunil Barve, Umesh Jagtap, Kishore Kadam, Nagraj Manjule, Vidyadhar Joshi

Over the years we have seen many ‘Road Movies’ in Hollywood and Bollywood  like ‘Something Wild’, ‘Five Easy Pieces’, Bombay To Goa’, Journey Bombay To Goa’,  ‘Road’, ‘Mr.& Mrs. Iyer’, ‘Jab We Met’, ‘Highway’ to name a few. All these movies were of  different genres.  Generally, in Road movies we expect, Auto race ,chase, adventure, horror , crime or comedy. Through a Marathi Road movie of the past, we saw Film maker Sachin Pilgaonkar presenting a Tourist Bus journey on a pilgrimage. And, it contained all the required happenings for entertaining the audience, during travel on the road.

Now, writer Girish Kulkarni and Director Umesh Kulkarni have offered a different type of entertainment, through their latest Marathi film ‘Highway- Ek Selfie Aarpaar’ which may be called a mix bag of journey. The writer and director have focussed their attention on the attitude and lifestyle of different type of people, from cross section of society; especially when they are travelling via road.

‘Highway’ begins with different people beginning their journey from Mumbai early evening, during daytime, taking different modes of transport and heading towards Pune. Among them is a couple travelling in their own car. Then, there is a TV actress, who is on her way to attend an event of a Political party in a private vehicle hired by an event manager, for the purpose. We also notice one NRI waiting at the airport for his private air conditioned vehicle to be taken to Pune to see his father for the last time. On the way, he is requested, much against his wish, to offer lift to an injured man and his wife.

Then, we also notice a Lavani performer travelling along with her aunt in a regular sharing taxi, with two co passengers. There is also a nagging wife who is a domestic servant, travelling along with her husband, who is jobless. Then, there is a woman belonging to so called high society, picking up a young masseur, to take along with her to Lonavala to massage her body. Likewise, there is a family travelling in a tempo along with their household goods, three suspicious looking people boarding a truck on their way to some unknown destination and a father travelling along with his little son in a State transport A/c bus.

All these people don’t know each other , but some of them meet each other, when the flow of traffic on the highway comes to standstill at Khandala Ghats, due to major mishap ahead. Usually, in a Road Movie, we notice happenings before the journey, during actual journey and at the end of the journey. `But, in this film, we see the film concluding during the journey break itself, as the writer and director wanted to pay attention on different characters. And, they have succeeded to a great extent. The idea of the film maker was clear. He perhaps wanted to brand this film as commercial film and hence two popular actresses from Bollywood were chosen.  They played  the roles of TV actress( Huma Qureshi)  and a rich woman (Tisca Chopra),respectively, to display their actual lifestyle. The youngster played by Shubham accompanying Tisca Chopra was to represent today’s youngsters, willing to do any  job, for good money.

Among the other characters, the character of Lavani performer played by Mukta Barve, was very natural. So, was the couple played by Sunil Barve and Vrishali Kulkarni. Both were perfect representation of a busy company manager and his demanding pregnant housewife. In the role of an event manager accompanying the TV actress, Shrikant Yadav generated  the required humour, through his Hindi mixed with Marathi, while conversing with his guest. Kishore kadam was wasted in this film, as he didn’t have to do much, except for listening to his nagging wife, played by Chaya Kadam, who had more than required scope, in this film.

Girish Kulkarni was very impressive in the role of NRI and he did well to speak Marathi with that typical foreign accent. The director however spent more than required time on Girish conversing with  Renuka Shahane, while her injured husband asleep, after taking a sedative. There is no doubt that the film maker wanted to show their emotions during conversation; but, it lasted a little longer. Instead, he could have had some more scenes, like the family in tempo serving milk less tea to stranded passengers. The film however,  concludes well, unveiling the  mystery of the bag carried by three suspicious passengers in a truck .  Good support also comes from Vidyadhar Joshi, Kishor Chougule, Mayur Khandge & others. There is not much scope for music in this film, except for background music. But, the sound design is good. Photography by Sudhakar Reddy, needs appreciation.

All in all, ‘Highway Ek Selfie Aarpaar’ is a good movie for a change, as besides a different theme in Marathi, tried for the first time, you get to see wonderful performances of all talented artistes.

Rating: ★★★ ½
Studio/presenter: Box Office, Love Production
Producer: Charmi Dinesh Gala
Director: Nishant Devidas Sapkale
Writer, Screenplay : Nishant Devidas Sapkale
Music: Samir Saptiskar, Kashi Richard
Director of Photography:  Udaysingh Mohite
Editor: Devendra Murudeshwar
Genres: Drama
Censor: U/A
Duration: 120 Min.
Cast:   Bhushan Pradhan, Manava Naik, Khursheed Lawyer, Ashwini Ekbote, Resham Tipnis, Jayant Savarkar, Anant Jog, Saksham Kulkarni, Jaywant Wadkar

Feature films are actually a good medium of education. Besides entertaining the audience, it is always better, if the film maker, delivers a social message skillfully, through his script. Marathi films are known for that and there are few Marathi film makers, who have succeeded in passing an effective social message, through their award winning films. Now, young film maker Nishant Sapkale has also made a sincere effort, through his debut Marathi film ‘Dhinchak Enterprise’, released this Friday.

The title of this film sounds funny, indicating that it would be a traditional comedy film. But, it is not so. Director Nishant, who has himself written the story of this film, has presented a sensible theme, inviting the attention of the audience, to cheating and frauds done by some people in the name of social work. The film has focused how the young marketing executives are used by some people involved  into fraudulent activities, for making big money.

Vishal Patil ( Bhushan Pradhan) is a young ambitious salesman, working for a health product company. Soon, he is joined by an equally hardworking fresher Meera Tandel ( Manava Naik), Being MBA (Marketing), she is required to take field training first, from Vishal. as a member of his group. Both fall in love with each other. But, one day, Vishal is sacked from the company, as he misses his important meeting with clients, in the process of helping a middle aged woman, who meets with a road accident. Vishal receives support from Meera and his other close friend Jignesh ( Khursheed Lawyer).

When Vishal, Meera & Khursheed meet at road side tea stall, the same evening, Vishal narrates them an idea of starting a marketing company. They succeed in this business, making huge profit of Rs. 8 Core at the end of first year. But, during one such meeting with a prospective donor, Vishal comes to know that the photograph published by the parent company, is that of a dead child, who has already passed away after succumbing to cancer. This happens on the same day, when Vishal is supposed to visit Meera’s house, to meet her parents, with a marriage proposal.Leaving aside his personal commitments, Vishal goes in search of other beneficiaries, whose photos appear in the folder published for the purpose. During his investigation, he discovers many more things. So, instead of lodging a police complaint, he shuts down his company and finds other way to expose this corruption. How, he does it, is all that the film goes on to show through its gripping screenplay in the second half. The film concludes in a different way, avoiding the predictable climax. And, this is the best part of this film.

Director Nishant, who is only 27 years old, has very skillfully handled this timely issue, delivering a social message. His selection of important characters, is very apt. Bhushan Pradhan has now become a very matured actor and he has proved it through the role of Vishal. He has been able to display his changing emotions very well, at different situations. Manva naik, who is a versatile actress, has played her role, with full responsibility. Khursheed lawyer, has tried his best to display good humour through his role of Vishal’s close and always helpful friend. But, Hindi actress Moon Moon Datta has been used as a show piece for adding glamour. Her limited role goes almost on the lines of Sushmita Sen in ‘Main Hoon Na’.

Good support comes from Meena Naik, who has played Vishal’s mother, Ashwini Ekbote, as Meera’s mother , Resham Tipnis, Jayant Savarkar, Anant Jog, Saksham Kulkarni, Jaywant Wadkar and others through their character roles. There are very few errors noticed in the screenplay; but, looking at the sincere effort of the film maker, they can be ignored. Uday Singh Mohite’s cinematography, Samir Saptiskar & kashi Richard’s music and Madhav Vijay’s most suitable background music, are the other plus points of this film.

‘Dhinchak Enterprise’ is a worth watch film, with a new subject, for all. It will certainly make you think, before donating blindly towards charity. ‘Always cross-check, whether the NGO is really involved in genuine work. Check the credentials. And, don’t just donate, only because, you are getting tax exemption’. is the valuable message this film has successfully passed on, to the intelligent Marathi audience.