‘Baji’ is a well presented film; but, too lengthy
Director Nikhil Mahajan who made his debut as a director through a detective Marathi film ‘Pune 52′, now offers an action & mystery filled film ‘Baji’. The film is also a grand comeback for Shreyas Talpade into Marathi films after 8 years. But, as far as the screenplay of the film is concerned, it seems to be inspired by few Bollywood films like ‘Kaho na pyaar hai’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Ajooba’, ‘Shahenshah’ and ‘Krrish’. Writer- Director Nikhil Mahajan has paid more attention on making this film a technically superior film in Marathi.
The story of this film is set on the backdrop of a small village Shrirangpur in Maharashtra, which is supposed to be created by a king in 11th century. So, it’s all about the ‘hidden treasure’ in the village and a Superhero ‘Baji’, protecting the same from going into the hands of wrong people. Baji also comes to the rescue of villagers, whenever anybody is in trouble. There is a mystery behind this character of ‘Baji’, as he hasn’t appeared in the village for a long time. And that’s how the film begins, raising curiosity of the audience.
Dipu ( Shreyas Talpade) , who runs a grocery shop, keeps hearing the bravery acts of ‘Baji’ from his girlfriend Gouri ( Amruta Khanvilkar), who has been saved from a mishap by Baji. She is the only person from the village, who believes that Baji would return. Another young man from village, Martand ( Jitendra Joshi), turns greedy and tries to secretly search the hidden treasure. When Dipu comes to know about his plans, he opposes him; but, in the process, he is himself beaten up by Martand.
At the stroke of interval, we notice a twist in the screenplay. Post interval, we see a simple looking Dipu turning a brave man, thus coming to the rescue of villagers, who are used as slaves, by Martand to trace the hidden treasure in the village. So, it’s a straight fight between Martand v/s Dipu. But, Dipu’s mother( Ila Bhate) knows some secrets. The screenplay proceeds with action filled suspense, to see the end of wicked Martand, after a thrilling climax, shot on a running goods train.
In ‘Baji’ it is Shreyas & Shreyas all the way. With his variety of acting skills, he is impressive, from beginning till end. Amruta Khanvilkar has supported him well, as his leading lady in the film. In the entire film, she appears without make up, perhaps to meet the requirement of her village girl image. Jitendra Joshi as Martand, commits all heinous acts, in the post interval session. But, his character is shown cruel only through violence filled acts. There isn’t much scope for acting for him. In comparison, his portrayal of villain in recently released ‘Premasathi Coming Soon’ was much better.
The first half an hour of the film fails to take off with the story. A lot of time has been wasted in showing the friendship and intimacy among Shreyas, Amruta and child artiste Pushkar Lonarkar ( ‘Elizabeth Ekadashi’ fame).But, once the film’s story takes off, it keeps the audience engaged, till the end. The new concept of showing the shadow fight has been used well, in one of the action scenes. The climax has been shot well, but for that the credit goes to action director Stunt Silva and the excellent camera work by Vasu Rane. There is one stunt scene performed by Shreyas to rescue a puppy dog from the roof top. He keeps calling him with the name of a top hero of Marathi film. And, this certainly was in a bad taste.
The sound design and background music is appealing enough, to create suitable ambience during important scenes. The fiery dialogues are appropriate; but, they haven’t been used well, to show the conflict between Dipu and Martand. However, the two folk songs are picturised well, with good music composition by Atif Afzal. In special appearance, Shruti Marathe does well, with her sizzling dance performance, in one of the songs. Nagraj Manjule is surprisingly endearing in the role of a Police officer. Good support comes from Priyadarshan Jadhav, Pushakar Lonarkar, Sandesh Kulkarni , Ila Bhate and others.
Produced by a big group of producers, comprising of Arun Rangachari, Vivek Rangachari , Amit Ahirrao, Suhrud Godbole, Deepti Talpade, Hrishikesh Kulkarni, & Nikhil Mahajan, ‘Baji’ is a well presented film, but is too extensive, in its 170 mins length. However, one can still enjoy this film, without any preconceived notion.
Golmaal ( गोलमाल )
Genres: Comedy
Rating: na
Censor: U
Duration: 130 min.
Studio/presenter: A.V.Telefllms Pvt.Ltd
Producers: Ashvin-Hema
Executive Producer: P.R.Raorane
Director: Dnyanesh Bhalekar
Writer: Dnyanesh Bhalekar, Sachin Darekar
ScreenPlay: Dnyanesh Bhalekar, Sachin Darekar
Dialogues: Sachin Darekar
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Cast & Crew
Executive Producer: P.R.Raorane
Director: Dnyanesh Bhalekar
Assistant Director: na
Writer: Dnyanesh Bhalekar, Sachin Darekar
ScreenPlay: Dnyanesh Bhalekar, Sachin Darekar
Dialogues: Sachin Darekar
Lyrics: Guru Thakur
Music: Avadhoot Gupte
Playback Singer: Vaishali Samant, Awadhoot Gupte & Swapnil Bandodkar
Cinematographer (DOP): Raja Satankar, Rahul Jadhav
Editor: Vidyadhar Pathare
Starcast: Jitendra Joshi, Amruta Khanvilkar, Sunil Tawade, Rahul Gore, Bharat Jadhav, Atul Parchure, Savita Malpekar, Dr.Vilas Ujavane
Costumes: Jayesh Gohil
Makeup: Sher Bahaddur singh, Manoj Varekar
Sound : Pradeep Deshpande
Background Score: Sachin Sanghavi, Jigar Saraiya
Choreographer: na
DI, VFX: na
D.I. Colourist: na
Promos: na
Music Label: na
Publicity Designs: na
P.R.O.: na
Distributor : na
Synopsis
‘Golmaal’ : na
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Review
Dance based ‘Aayna Ka Bayana’ is a Dream seller
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Rating: na
Banner: LFS Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Im Shanti Universal Producer: Akshara Film Division Director: Sameet Kakkad Music: Ajit Sameer Choreography: Umesh Jadhav Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Amruta Khanvilkar, Rakesh Bapat, Ganesh Yadav, Siddhesh Pai, Sanket Farad, Praveen Nair, Rahul Kulkarni, Dinesh Kamble, Amit Rokade Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke |
Dance and Music based reality shows on small screen have created an opportunity for many talented youngsters including kids. Watching the popularity of such dance based reality shows, film maker Sameet kakkad has this time offered a dream seller in the form of ‘Aayna Ka Bayana’ a rock Music based Marathi film. The film targets all those young dance lovers, who have dream in their eyes to turn pop star one day. No wonder, the film is a tribute to Pop star Michael Jackson, who has been clearly mentioned, besides playing his dance video in one of the most important scenes in this film.
Aayna Ka Bayna, Dance‘Aaynaa Ka Bayana’ with a tagline ‘Ghetlyashivay Jayana’ clearly speaks about the struggle of 9 young boys from a remand home, who show keen interest in dance, when their Counselor cum dance teacher( Amruta Khanvilkar) turns them into experts in all forms of western dances. But, the warden of the Remand home Mr. Sathe( Sachin Khedekar) is very much opposed to such a practice inside his campus. For him, all inmates are criminals and not entitled for such liberties. But, Amruta who plays a protagonist in this film, dares to challenge the warden, who is a former Police Officer.
With the help of her choreographer friend ( Rakesh Vashishta) she offers these boys a platform, after they escape from the remand home, experiencing mayhem at that place. But, their participation at the competition is full of hurdles, as the warden with the help of police is after their arrest. In the meanwhile, the audience is shown the past life of few boys in the group, to give an idea under what circumstances they had committed a crime and landed at the remand home. ‘If there’s a will, there’s a way’. And, the group of these young dancers, finally succeed in achieving their goals, with happy ending.
The film does have a story to narrate, besides offering western style music composed by Ajit Sameer, to suit the theme of the film. But, the story part is not much, as the director is clever enough to narrate the scenes of few youngsters in quick flashbacks, focusing his attention more on dance and music. In the initial stages, he has picturised the dance based songs at different famous locations of Mumbai, on the choreography of Umesh Jadhav. But, it is the superb cinematography of Sanjay Jadhav, which make all such moments more appealing. The dances in the concluding part, including the climax have been over stretched in a typical melodramatic style; in this nearing 100 minute long film.
The nine boys with extra ordinary dance skills, who have been picked up on the basis of their performance in TV reality shows, have also acted well, besides displaying their dance skills. Sachin Khedekar is impressive in the role of a warden. He has also given a surprise through a song picturised on him displaying his flexibility through few dance steps. It was nice to see veteran actress Sulbha Arya, in a small role of a mother of one of the inmates from the remand home. Others in the supporting cast have done their jobs well. But, it is Amruta khanvilkar, who puts up an astounding emotion filled performance in the role of Dance teacher cum counselor. Her concern for the society is clearly noticed through her body language and spontaneous expressions. Santosh Juvekar makes a special appearance as a show anchor, in the concluding part of the film, in his own style.
Director Sameet Kakkad has paid more attention on western dance and music; but, has also passed a social message, through few emotion filled scenes and hard hitting dialogues at appropriate places in the film. Though targeted at youngsters, the film does pass a social message.
‘Zhakaas’ situation based comedy
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Rating: na
Presenter: Zee Talkies Producer: 20-20 Entertainment Director: Ankush Chaudhary Story: Deepak Naidu Music: Abhijeet Kavthalkar Camera: Sanjay Jadhav Cast: Ankush Chaudhary, Amruta Khanvilkar, Pooja Sawant, Sai Tamhankar, Jitendra Joshi, Pushkar Shrotri, Sanjal Khapre, Vikas Samudre and Atul Parchure Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke |
Situation based comedy is back again into Marathi films. Zee Talkies, who presented their last film ‘Mast Chalalay Aamcha’ in this fashion, are back again with another production in the name of ‘Zhakaas’ directed by Ankush Choudhary, who besides acting has also penned the dialogues of this film along with Nitin Dixit. In the beginning of the film, the director does not hide anything from the viewers and gives a clear hint that the three different characters Subhanya, Sandy and Suhas are played by one person ( Ankush Choudhary) in different get ups. You may call him an imposter or Bluff master; but, he flirts with three different girls Manjula ( Amruta Khanvilkar) , Neha (Saie Tamhankar) and Ashwini( Pooja Sawant) at different times.
That reminds us of Prashant Damle plays or TV serials on a similar subjects, but in this film Ankush Choudhary’s character is not married playing double parts but a bachelor 3 in 1 , as indicated through the script. Whenever the hero is in trouble and about to be caught, he seeks help from his loyal friend ( Jitendra Joshi) . All the three girls have their well wishers ( Pushakar Shrotri, Sanjay Khapre and Vikas Samudre) around them, who are deeply in love with them and do not approve their love for Subhnya alias Sandy alias Suhas. They play all their gimmicks to keep the girls away from this Bluff master. But, our hero plays his trick to fool all the three men at a time, posing himself as CBI officer, on a mission.
Till interval, viewers having left their brains at home to watch such a situation based comedy are happy with the plot. But, in the post interval session they find the film moving in Priyadarshan style, without much of hold . Some of the scenes have been well captured; but for that one should thank Cinematographer Sanjay Jadhav and the team involved in expert editing and special effects. Finally, you find the film concluding the way the actor- director felt right. There is no explanation, as to why the hero of the film played this act. We can just assume it that it was just for fun.
Whether the plot convinces the viewers or it taxes them, ‘Zhakaas’ has succeeded in inviting a sizable crowd to multiplexes with half filled halls on this weekend.
It has also succeeded in creating that laughter among the audience through many scenes; but it has failed to hold the audience to their seats, with non stop laughter; the way ‘Mast Chalalay Aamcha’ managed it. The manner in which the three girls have been presented in different get ups is to be appreciated. While the character of Neha played by Saie Tamhankar is shown as an independent girl doing photography, Pooja Sawant plays an ad agency owner wearing Indian style of dresses with matured looks. However, it is Amruta kahnvilkar in that typical village type but glamorous looks, invites all the attention. Her perfect accent suited to that character of Manjula has brought liveliness in every scene that she appears.
Ankush Choudhary, the tall and handsome hero of Marathi films, suits in that character but he has not used any extra ordinary skills in presenting three different roles, except for changing his get ups. But, all the four men in supporting roles namely Pushkar Shrotri, Sanjay Khapre, Vikas Samudre and Jitendra Joshi have played their respective roles with total sincerity and they matched well with their perfect timing to create those humour filled scenes . Even Atul Parchure is good in that small but effective role of an inspector. The characters of a Liftman and the Policeman blowing whistle, have been used well. The film does not have much scope for music and hence the work of Abhijeet Kavthalkar could not be noticed much in the film, except for the title music. The way the film has concluded, it gives an impression that this bluff master is going to return soon. Looking at the strengths and few weaknesses of this film, it has turned out to be a fun filled average family entertainer, mainly because of the fine performances by the artistes.
Sensational ‘Arjun’ turns an eye opener
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Rating: na
Presentor: Cinematics Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. Producer: Majit Burondkar, F. M. Ilyas Director: F. M. Ilyas Story: F. M. Ilyas Music: Lalit Sen Camera: Ajib Khan Cast: Sachit Patil, Amruta Khanvilkar, Vidyadhar Joshi, Varsha Usgaonkar, Vinay Apte, Arun Nalawade, Uday Tikekar, Snigdha Sabnis, Kamalesh Sawant, Uday Sabnis, Anant Jog, Mamata Soni Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke |
A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits today. At this juncture, when we witness lakhs of youths in Maharashtra unemployed, with no drive among them to enter into business, here comes a new Marathi film ‘Arjun’ with a timely message to inspire all the Marathi youths, in particular. ‘Arjun’ produced by Majid Burondkar and F.M. Ilyas, is written and directed by F.M. Ilays. Based on his real life experiences of struggle to set up his own business during his young days, the writer has presented a gripping story of a well educated protagonist who is exploited by a leading businessman who wants to rule over Mumbai.
Mr. Ilyas presents this sensational story of Arjun Pawar (Sachit Patil) a young boy from middle class family, who after completing his MBA opts for business and is exploited by a shrewd businessman- Ratan Shah (Vidyadhar Joshi) and his agent- Mr. Mahajan (Arun Tikekar) in a busines deal. Arjun is in love with Anushka (Amruta Khanvilakr) who is Mahajan’s daughter; and both want to get married soon. After Amruta proceeds to Australia for an advanced short term course in Management, Mr. Mahajan plays his dirty game with the support of Ratan Shah and uses the project and name of Arjun, while finalising a land deal with Jay Thackeray a businessman and an investor in land.
Interestingly, the character of Jay Thackeray (Vinay Apte) who is strongly in favour of selling his land to a Maharashtrian, refuses to sell it to Ratan Shah, who in turn uses Arjun as a prospective buyer ,with an assurance to finance his project. Jai Thackeray’s wife Maya (Varsha Usgaonkar) also favours Arjun and Jay Thackeray sings a deal.
Arjun is later trapped by Ratan Shah with the help of his agent Mahajan and is sent to jail, implicating him in a serious offence. Arjun learns a lesson from this horrible experience and vows to accomplish his mission. At a time, when his mother dies in an accident he receives timely help from a lawyer and financial backing from a person already known to him. His first target becomes Ratan Shah and his business. With his quick thinking, he goes in search of a person well versed with the tricks of stock trading. He finds one in the form of Bajirao Satpute. Bajirao helps him gain control over stock market, the main source of finance for Ratan Shah. He defeats him step by step and also wipes out the charges on him for an offence with the timely help from a honest police officer.
The sequences in the film are not something we haven’t heard of; but, for Marathi audience the script of this film certainly inspires. Through the character of Arjun, the writer-director Illays has tried to build confidence in Marathi youths to enter business in a city like Mumbai, which is a good step. He also shows the way to success. Though there are few scenes moving very fast towards the end , it is the sincerity of the director that shows his commitment towards the issue. He has rightly used Hutatma Chowk during two important sequences, i.e. when Arjun vows to teach a leson to the lobby of businessmen and later during the climax scene.
Perfromances of all the artistes are good. Sachit Patil does well to present the new angry young man of Marathi films. His looks and his spontaneity in important scenes were worth noticing. Amruta Khanvilkar supports him well in this male dominated film. She does well when she confronts with her father after returning from Australia. Uday Tikekar, Vinay Apte, Kamalesh Sawant (as Police officer), Varsha Usgaonkar, Uday Sabnis (Advocate), Dr. Vilas Ujawane (Politician), Arun Nalawade (frustrated but perfect Stock market analyst), Snigdha Sabnis( Mother), Anant Jog(Income tax officer) and Dr. Vilas Ujavane (Politician) perform their limited roles with ease. But, it is the shrewd businessman Ratan Shah played by Vidyadhar Joshi, impresses the most. He has established himself as the new villain of Marathi film industry with his proficiency as a complete actor in this film.
Strong dialogues by Sachin Darekar and punch lines by F.M. Ilyas create that desired impact during forceful confrontations . Music by Lalit Sen is good but one of the four songs was irrelevant and breaks the rhythm of the screenplay. The climax where the hero chases the villain has been shot on the lines of popular Bollywood- hit revenge based films. However, the picturisation of songs and the action scenes are well captured through the lenses of Najib Khan. The finest locations and action sequences, never before seen in Marathi films are the added attractions of the film. Editing work of Faisal and Imran Mahadik is good to give that required pace to this action packed film. There is one more good thing about the film’s script and that is Arjun’s character in the film. He is not shown selfish and concerned about his own progress but, moves ahead with his sincere desire to help other deserving Marathi youths to enter business. And that makes the film stand apart with a sensible message of ‘Unity is Strength’.
Fakta Ladh Mhana ( फक्त लढ म्हणा )
Genres: Drama
Rating: na
Censor: U
Duration: 130 min.
Studio/presenter: Great Maratha Entertainment Company Pvt Ltd
Producer(s): Mahesh Manjrekar
Executive Producer: Umesh Shinde
Director: Sanjay Jadhav
Writer: Mahesh Manjrekar
ScreenPlay: Mahesh Manjrekar
Dialogues: Mahesh Manjrekar, Gopi Puthran
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Cast & Crew
Executive Producer: Umesh Shinde
Director: Sanjay Jadhav
Assistant Director: Chandrakant Kanse
Writer: Mahesh Manjrekar
ScreenPlay: Mahesh Manjrekar
Dialogues: Mahesh Manjrekar, Gopi Puthran
Lyrics: Guru Thakur, Jitendra Joshi, Kaushal Inamdar, Pravin Kuwar
Music: Ajit – Sameer
Playback Singer: Dr Neha Rajpal, Swapnil Bandodkar, Avdhoot Gupte, Urmila Dhangar, Ajit Parab, Mahesh Manjrekar
Cinematographer (DOP): Sanjay Jadhav
Editor: Rahul Bhatankar
Starcast: Sachin Khedekar, Sanjay Narvekar, Bharat Jadhav, Siddharth Jadhav, Aniket VIshwasrao, Saksham Kulkarni, Manava Naik, Kranti Redkar, Santosh Juvekar, Vaibhav Mangle, Amruta Khanvilkar, Nagesh Bhosale, Hemangi Kavi, Bhalchandra Kadam
Costumes: Lakshman yallappa Gollar
Makeup: Henri Martis
Sound : Manoj Mochemadkar
Background Score: na
Choreographer: Umesh Jadhav
DI, VFX: Piksyon
D.I. Colourist: na
Promos: na
Music Label: na
Publicity Designs: Abhijeet Borkar
P.R.O.: Ganesh Gargote
Distributor : na
Synopsis
‘Fakta Ladh Mhana’ : na
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News / Article / Interview
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Review
Sulochana Chavan launches ‘Natarang’ Music
Popular Lavani singer of yesteryear- Sulochana Chavan was invited as the chief guest to release the Music CD of Zee Talkies’ film ‘Natarang‘ which is due for release shortly. While speaking on the occasion she said that it was a happy moment for her to revive the popularity of Maharashtra’s most popular folk art through the music of this film. Music directors Ajay-Atul have given a new look to the traditional Tamasha art, by almost recreating it with their modern beats of technology.
The film’s hero Atul Kulkarni was also present on the occasion along with other artistes Bela Shende, Sonali, Priya Berde, Vibhavari Deshpande, Amruta Khanvilkar. The film is directed by Ravi Jadhav .
‘Gaiir’ is a well presented movie
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Rating: 3/5
Presenter: Sanjay Ghodawat Groups Production: Kruti Films Director: Satish Rajwade Story- Screenplay: Parag Kulkarni, Shirish Rajwade Cast: Sandeep Kulkarni, Ankush Chaudhary, Amruta Khanvilkar, Tejaswini Pandit, Uday Tikekar, Vidyadhar Joshi, Ila Bhate, Amita Khopkar, Sandeep Pathak, Mahesh Joshi Movie Review by: Saurabh Karnik |
Ferrari, Lexis, Chopper, lavish sets, and stunning outdoor locations… hey, I am not talking about any big budget Hindi film. These are some of the specific characteristics of latest Marathi movie – ‘Gaiir’. But still these are not the most attractive features, which would make the audiences appreciate this movie. There is a tight script, mind-boggling dialog, dazzling acting, excellent camera and technical work that makes the movie presentable . In short, it’s a perfect movie not just because of its big budget but also because of dedication and efforts put in by cast and crew of the movie.
As indicated in the promos it is a suspense thriller movie. Sameer Shroff (Sandeep Kulkarni) is a corporate giant. Smart, young, good looking and dashing personality. He marries an NRI’s daughter – Neha (Amrtuta Khanwilkar). Just like other newly married couples, they have a dream of pleasant future ahead. Suddenly, Neha and some other friends and colleagues of Samir realise that Samir’s duplicate exists in the same city. Samir’s duplicate targets Neha and tries to disturb his personal as well as professional life. Inspector Avinash Sardesai (Ankush Chaudhari) helps Sameer to solve the issue. Finally, movie ends with shocking end, certainly worth watching on the big screen.
The movie has good star cast including Sandeep Kulkarni, Amruta Khanwilkar, Ankush Chaudhari, Ila Bhate, Uday Tikekar and everybody has given superb performance. But still there is only one award for man of the match and it is none other than Sandeep Kulkarni. We had seen him in Shwaas, Dombiwli Fast, Made in China – all movies were based upon some social issues. But the way he has changed his body language, facial expressions, looks to present a legendary businessman, is simply amazing. Ankush’s performance was great as usual but Marathi film industry has got another talented actress in the form of Amruta and she is proving it with her every film. Uday Tikekar, Ila Bhate and Tejaswini Pandit’s performances were pleasant and increased the flavor of the movie. Vandana Gupte and Chinmay Mandlekar’s short but sweet appearances were also pleasing.
What makes a movie great from good is perfect combination of on screen and off screen (technical) performance and Gair is an ideal example of it. Parag Kulkarni has written a fantastic story, Satish Rajvade has given golden touch with good screenplay and Satish and Parag have made it even better with hard hitting dialogs. We have seen Satish’s talent in his previous movie – Ek daav Dhobipachad.. Background music has played major role in enrichment of the movie and due credit has to be given. The movie catches the attraction even with the effective use of background score. Even post production method is beautifully handled. Extra cuts, misbalancing effects are used beautifully. Atul Shidhaye has given useful contribution in styling of the movie. But movie loses it’s hold over audiences for last 5-7 minutes, also the idea of using romantic ‘Hindi’ song in Marathi movie is not acceptable.