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’.