Rating: ★★★ Studio: Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Moving Pictures Producer: Adinath Kothare Director: Mahesh Kothare Music: Avdhoot Gupte Cast: Adinath Kothare, Mahesh Kothare, Sonalee Kulkarni, Sai Tamhankar, Makrand Anaspur Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Known for offering something new through his films, for the past few years, Mahesh kothare has offered more technicalities through his every film, as a director. He has brought a number of innovations, which included first cinemascope film in Marathi through ‘Dhadakebaaz’ followed by Dolby Digital Sound through ‘Chimni Pakhare’ , Computer generated effects through ‘Pachadlela’, Marathi’s first Sci- fi through ‘Zabardast’ and now 3D, Animatronics and state of the art Computer Graphics in the current sequel of his 1993 super hit film ‘Zapatlela’. Therefore, there were high expectations from his new film.

‘Zapatlela 2′ has thus turned out to be more of fantasy than a scary film, as predicted. This time, the stylish actor turned director seemed to have paid more attention on his favourite puppet ‘Tatya Vinchoo’ and the situation arising after his resuscitation in the beginning of the film. In this second part, we find Kubadya Khavis (Abhijit Chavan) visiting a museum in search of this puppet and after finding it, takes it Baba Chamatkar (Raghvendra Kadkol) to revive him, as the puppet lies lifeless for years, after being shot by Police Officer Mahesh Jadhav in the prequel. He succeeds in doing it; and tries to finish Baba Chamatkar but in the process he dies. Baba Chamatkar goes into Coma.
In the meanwhile, Tatya Vinchoo learning about Lakshya’s death, comes to know that he can enter the soul of his son Adi (Adinath Kothare) who lives with his Grandmother (Madhu Kambikar) in Shrirangpur. It’s time for annual fair at Shrirangpur and there are people like Champa Satarkar (Vishakha Subhedar) camping with her Lavani in a tent house and famous ventriloquist Makarand Watvate (Makarand Anaspure) performing his shows. Adi meets Champa Satarkar’s mod daughter Megha (Sonalee Kulkarni) who studies in Fergusson College and is with her mother for vacation. It’s love at first sight for both. On the other side, Makarand falls in love with visiting TV Journalist (Saie Tamhankar). Adi is also attracted to the art of Makarand, as his father once practiced this profession.

In the film, Tatya Vinchoo’s journey towards his target begins with his first interaction with Saie Tamhankar, followed by Makarand Anaspure and finally reaching Adi through the Guard and Sonalee. The director shoots his climax in traditional style at the Giant wheel in the fair. As predicted, we see the end of Tatya Vinchoo, but certainly giving a clue that he would return again. Will there be ‘Zapatlela 3′ ? Let us wait for the announcement.

‘Zapatlela 2′ is a technically sound film, with good use of 3D and special effects, which are attempted for the first time in Marathi; but, the absence of Lakshya Berde is certainly felt. This does not mean that Adinath hasn’t done well. In fact, he has done his level best in that role, in his own style. The otherwise young chocolate Marathi hero, who has given fine performances in films like ‘Dubhang’ and ‘Satarangee Re’ did try to look different with a simple ‘Boy next door’ image; but, frankly speaking, he did not match up with the character he played.

It was felt that to carry forward the humour created by Lakshya, the director should have opted for an actor well versed with comedy. He could have thought of anyone from among ace comedians like Makarand Anaspure, Sanjay Narvekar or even Siddharth Jadhav or Nilesh Sable, if he needed someone young like Adi, to play Lakshya’s son . And the role of Makya could have easily suited Adi, who is shown as the son of late Lakshya (a ventriloquist) in the film.

Very wisely the director has used other characters, including his own character of Mahesh Jadhav ,which was shown as turning Police Chief now, after a gap of 20 years. As a director, he has given enough scope to Sonalee, to exploit her glamour through all those scenes to her share. Makarand’s character should have been developed more, considering its importance in the film. Saie Tamhankar’s character in the film is just namesake, to create a girlfriend for Makarand. In one sequence, she just remains an observer, watching Makrand perform his tricks during the show. Madhu Kambikar as Grandmother, Vishakha Subhedar as Champa Satarkar, Vijay Chavan as Hawaldar promoted as Inspector and Deepak Shirke as the Guard on duty at Makarand’s tent, have performed well.

Production designer Nitin Desai has created fine sets suited to different situations and the superb cinematography of Suresh Deshmane makes the film more presentable besides the 3D effect. Avadhoot Gupte’s music is just fine on the lyrics of Guru Thakur.The sound effects have been used well. The work Umesh Jadhav & Phulwa Khamkar as choreographers is clearly noticed, in the Lavani performance by Sonalee. So are the Visual Effects by Enrik Kriyado. The hard work put in by Ramdas Padhye and his son in making of ‘Tatya Vinchoo’ is also to be appreciated.

The film cannot be compared with its prequel; but, is a clean family entertainer for its fantasy part, if viewed in 3D format. Don’t try to find logic in some of the sequences involving the Puppet. After all, it’s the first Marathi film in 3D form and to be appreciated for the effort. The kids would love it, as it is not so scary, as expected. It is certainly better than Bollywood’s ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana -2′ released simultaneously, on the same day.