Movie: Ringan Rating: ★★★1/2 Genres: Drama Censor: U/A Duration: 130 min. Studio: A Landmarc Films Presentation, My Role Motion Pictures Producer(s): Vitthal Patil, Ganesh Phuke, Mahesh Yewale, Yogesh Nikam, Makarand Mane, Vidhi Kasliwal Writer, Director: Makarand Mane Cinematography (DOP):  Abhijit D. Abde Cast: : Shashank Shende, Sahil Joshi, Suhas Sirsat, Kalyani Mulay, Vijay Salve, Umesh Jagtap, Ketan Pawar, Shantanu Gangane, Abhay Mahajan, Vitthal Patil Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

There have been many Marathi films during the past 10-15 years, set on the backdrop of farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra. And, most of these films have only shown the helplessness of farmers, which forced them to commit suicides and thereafter the difficult time faced by their family members, waiting for the government compensation. Through most of these films, we only saw the film makers blaming the Government. But, the latest released Marathi film ‘Ringan‘ instead of highlighting the routine problems, shows the way to all such helpless farmers, through the story of a typical modern day farmer Arjun Magar ( Shashank Shende) who is a widower and his only little son Abhimanyu( Sahil Joshi).

What writer director Makarand Mane has tried to show through his lead character  Arjun is that though on the verge of losing his land due to heavy debt amounting to Rs. 1 lakh, he decides to repay the loan amount to the sensible money lender, who not only waives one year’s interest, but gives him one year’s time period. With his little beloved son, he proceeds to nearby holy town of Pandharpur. He really works hard there to make his little son happy, but cannot meet his regular demand of bringing back his departed mother.
In the first session, the film ‘Ringan‘ moves very slow, with not many interesting happenings, except for the struggle of father and son to settle down in the new township. But, in the post interval session, we find many well wishers coming forward to understand their difficulty.  Very skilfully, the director has incorporated some humour filled happenings, as well as emotion filled scenes to give a different look to this film. No wonder, the film has won national award for best Marathi film in 2015. Luckily, the film has also found a distributor, which has enabled the film makers to reach out their subject to the masses with their timely message.

Through his excellent cinematography Abhijit Abde was able to give proper visual impression to the sensible tale of a farmer and his son. The sound design is also impressive and the audience get the initial feel of it in the opening scene of the film. In the lead  role of Arjun, Shashank Shende is at his best, displaying the perfect body language and expressions throughout the film, in every important situation. His acting in the most important scene of confession, speaks a lot about his potential. In the role of Abhimanyu , debutant Sahil Joshi has been handled very well by the director. Good support comes from  character artistes like Suhas Shirsat, Umesh Jagtap, Ketan Pawar and others.

Overall, the film ‘Ringan‘ is good, but should have been made more interesting in the first half. Certainly a worth watch, for those love to watch sensible artistic films and inspiring for all those helpless farmers and their families.