Rating: na Presentor: Shree Sankalp Film Production Producer: Sharad Shelar Director: Nagesh Bhosale Screenplay, Dialogues: Arvind Jagtap Music: Shailendra Barve Camera: Suresh Survarna Cast: Girija Oak, Subodh Bhave, Nagesh Bhosale, Smita Talwalkar, Uday Tikekar, Sandeep Mehta Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

The true story of Sandra Laing – a black girl born to white parents in South africa sometime in 50s did make a news all over the world. Those days, Sandra was refused admission in schools for being black. Her father fought a battle in court and won the same in Supreme Court, after he proved that she was born to white parents. This story was later made into a book, “When She Was White” by Judith Stone, and a British film ‘Skin’ was made in 2009, starring Sophie Okonedo and Sam Neill.

Now, a new Marathi film ‘Adgula Madgula’ deals with a similar kind of theme (not the complete story of the dark girl) but, just showing a dark child born to a fair Kokanastha Brahmin couple. Shounak Pendse belonging to a rich family living in a huge bunglow, marries a fair girl Anuja , well suited to him. Anuja is working in an ad agency with Mr. Lalit ( Nagesh Bhosale) as her boss. After marriage the happy couple have all sorts of fun and live with a cheerful family comprising of Father,mother, sister and Grandfather.

Girija Oak, Subodh BHave Everything goes well, till Anuja delivers a baby boy who turns out to be black. Suddenly, all people around her behave very strangely with her, except the Grandfather and the housemaid. Even her parents do not allow her to come to their place with the baby, fearing comments from the neighbors and visitors. Initially, Shounak suspects his wife having an affair with her friend and goes in serach of the truth . After being convinced, he later doubts her boss. Then, as suggested by his lawyer friend, he tries to do DNA test of father and son to remove all doubts. In the process, he gets caught and the relationship between the husband and wife is further strained. Finally, the director decides to conclude the film in his own style, leaving the audience guessing, what option does the wife have ?
Does she go to her parents for sometime or leaves the house forever? Only, the Boss knows it.

The film does have a good theme but not enough to entertain the audience for two hours. The screenplay which runs for about 105 minutes, offers gentle entertainment, but keeps on revolving around the same plot in the pre interval stage. The clever director has therefore used the clippings of the Goa honeymoon trip of the couple with two songs knitted into it. It is only post interval, some dramatic scenes take place to keep the audience engaged. The film ends suddenly, with unpredictable end, keeping the audience guessing. ‘Adgula Madgula’ is no doubt a sincere effort from the makers, but it could have been more interesting with insertion of more laughter scenes arising out of misunderstandings.
The kind of theme used looks good for a stage play, due to its limited locations. But, the wonderful cinematography by Suresh Suvarna has certainly brought some life into the film. Shailebdra Barve’s music too is well used in the few songs suited for the occasion. Both Subodh Bhave and Girija Oak have given their best through their respective roles. Their intimate scenes look very natural. Smita Talwalkar has enough scope to play a typical selfish mother-in-law. Uday Tikekar playing a undecided father –in-law and Sandeep Mehta as girl’s confused father have limited scope. However, Nagesh Bhosale as the girl’s boss in office, has maximum three to four scenes, but he impresses through them. The other supporting cast is good, but it was a pleasure to watch Yakub Saeed after a long time in the role of a sensible grandfather lost in his own world of music. He did display his ability at this progressing age.