Rating: na Producer: Ashish Remo Story: Sai Paranjpe Director: Gautam Joglekar Cast: Nana Patekar, Saksham Kulkarni, Narayani Shastri, Jyoti Subhash… Movie Review by: Pradip Patil

Think of movies for children and I am sure many inane and childish movies will flood your mind. But not any more!

“Pak Pak Pakaak” is the movie that breaks the stereotype associated with children’s movies. This is the movie that will entertain and enlighten the grown ups and kids equally. Pak Pak Pakaak, directed by Gautam Jogalekar and based on stroy created by his mother Sai Paranjape is a refreshing change from the usual marathi movies.

Pak Pak Pakaak has very solid storyline. The plot revolves around a village, a boy (Saksham Kulkarni) living with his grandmother and an outcast (Nana Patekar) living in the forest outside the village. Chiklu is a spoilt brat who lives with his grandmother and derives pleasure from playing pranks on everyone without caring for anybody’s feelings. Even the only two people he cares about can not change him! The whole village seems to be afraid of his pranks. To add to the villager’s woes there are rumors of a ghost called bhutya. It is said that he resides in the forrest and haunts anybody who venture inside the forrest.

One day, Chiklu slips into forrest inadvertently and stumbles upon bhutya. He realises that Bhutya is not a ghost but a normal human being who has decided to outcast himself from the society and protect the forrest. Bhutya and Chiklu soon strike a chord and become best of pals. How they both help each other to overcome the hirdles in their life forms the rest of the story.

When it comes to fine performances, this movie has plenty of them. But it’s the youngest of them all, Sakhsham Kulkarni who steals the show. He portays the innocence and the curiosity of a young mind with such an ease. Very natural performance. Nana Patekar gives very controlled performance. There are moments when you can see why he is considered as one of the best. The way he utilises his hypnotic gaze and his voice to get into the character is simply awesome. The duo has a such chemistry between them. The performances by Jyoti Shubhash(Grandma) and Narayani Shastri(Salu) are very effective.

Music is another strong point of Pak Pak Pakaak. The songs are part of the narrative and help the story move forward instead of being common dance and singing routine. The song picturisation is excellent, especially “Salu ga salu” and “Dhipadi Dhipang”. The movie captures the feel of a village very well. The supporting actors, their getups and dialogues are very natural and authentic. The cinematographer does the job of capturing various shades of the forrest very well.

This movie has social messages in it like “Education is good”, “Protect the Nature” and “Don’t be superstitious”. But instead of preachinbg them, the movie conveys them very subtely and that’s what makes this movie different from the others.

our word is that you should not miss this movie and once you watch this movie, I am sure you will keep coming back for more.