Except for Good music, ‘Ek Taraa’ disappoints
 Rating: ★★★
Genres: Drama Censor: U/A Duration: 130 min Studio/presenter: Raiees Lashkaria Productions Producer: Raiees Lashkaria Productions Director: Avadhoot Gupte Writer: Avadhoot Gupte, Sachin Darekar Lyrics: Guru Thakur, Avadhoot Gupte Music: Avadhoot Gupte Cinematographer (DOP): Amalendu Chauhdari Cast: Santosh Juvekar, Mangesh Desai, Urmila Nimbalkar, Sagar Karande, Tejaswini Pandit, Abhedya Gupte Movie Review by: Jitendra R More |
Known for his films on social issues like, Politicians exploiting their party workers, the politics behind community festivals and inspiring Marathi youth to start business in other states; Avadhoot Gupte hasn’t offered much , through his latest film ‘Ek Taraa’. As a story writer, lyricist, singer and above all, the director of this film, Avadhoot dosen’t seem to have paid attention on restricting the length of the film. The only plus point of the film is its music, which offers variety.
Alandi seems to be the new destination for the lead characters of our Marathi films. So, in ‘Ek Taara’ we find another ‘Mauli’, who is not a protagonist, but a singer. The story of ‘Ek Taraa’ revolves around this local singer Dnyaneshwar Lokhande , who is popularly known as ‘Mauli'( Santosh Juvekar). Mauli sings devotional songs in his village, to carry forward the legacy of his father ( Mangesh Desai).
The film begins with an All India Music contest, with Mauli as one of the finalists. From there, the film goes into flashback, where we see Mauli preparing himself to take part in a reality singing contest in Mumbai. During the final round, we find his fiancée Chatura( Urmila Nimbalkar) and close friend Vithu( Sagar Karande) also joining him, to boost his morale. Undoubtedly, Mauli wins this contest and carries home a big booty .
Mauli marries Chatura and comes back to Mumbai. He signs a big contract with a channel, through a foreign returned E.P. of that channel Urja( Tejaswini Pandit). The business tactics of this channel are exposed in the film. Mauli also slips and falls into the trap of ‘wine and woman’. He frequently insults his wife and close friend and dares to share the bed with Urja in his own house. Both Chatura and Vithu after facing humiliation, return to their village.
In the post interval session, we see the film trailing , with Mauli falling into the trap of underworld. The director has not justified the behavior of two important characters of Mauli and Urja. How can a person with proper upbringing, change all of a sudden, to sleep with another woman, by asking his wife to sleep in a guest room ? How can he join the underworld group ? Also, how can a well educated big executive stoop so low, as noticed through some of her acts ? The concluding scenes in the film, are done hurriedly , i.e. to conclude with Mauli’s reunion with his family, after few years and his little son Omkar (Abhedya Gupte ) also acquiring singing talent. At the end of the film, we even see a complete devotional song picturised on him.
Santosh Juvekar has done a good job playing different shades, through his character. He finds good support coming from his co star Tejaswini, but, their chemistry doesn’t work well, as throughout the film, the audience develop a soft corner towards Chatura, who finds a better role this time in Marathi, after her debut through a cameo ‘Dum Dum Diga ..’. few years ago. Popular small screen comedian Sagar karande, finds a good role, to express his emotions well. Others in the cast, like Producer Raees Lashkaria as the channel head, Sunil Tawde as village Sarpanch, Amol Gupte as underworld Don and few others are just fine. Amalendu Chaudhari’s cinematography and Avadhoot Gupte’s music are the only plus points of this film, besides good performances by the artistes.
‘Zenda’ sends a strong message to fanatical party workers
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Rating: na
Presenter: Black Gold Films, A square Entertainments Director: Awadhoot Gupte Story : Awadhoot Gupte Dialogues, Screenplay: Sachin Darekar Cinematographer: Rahul Jadhav Music: Awadhoot Gupte Cast: Pushkar Shotri, Rajesh Shrungarpure, Santosh Juvekar, Sidharth Chandekar, Sachit Patil, Chinmay Mandlekar, Tejashree Pradhan, Neha Joshi, Shubhangi Gokhale, Ujwala Jog.. Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke |
You may be a dedicated worker of any political party having blind faith in your leader, but when your leaders take you for granted; the day is not far when your conscience will not permit you to continue with them further. With this theme, Avadhoot Gupte’s much awaited political thriller ‘Zenda’ is all set to release on 8th January 2009. Set on the backdrop of the situation that had arisen in Maharashtra, due to split in a regional party over the issue of their chief handing over the leadership to his own son. Rather than glorifying the party leadership and the internal family affairs, the film maker has tried to emphasize on the impact of such political crisis on the dedicated party workers.
Surprisingly, the film which has uncovered the selfish motives of two leaders trying to show their strength at the cost of their fanatical followers; hasn’t received much opposition prior to its release, except for a delegation belonging to one upcoming party, lodging their protest over few scenes. It is very difficult to predict the success of this well presented film, but one thing is clear that Marathi cinema has taken up a bolder and sensible theme to create that required impact on the target audience affected by blind faith in their leaders.
‘Zenda’ does not openly show the senior political leader and founder of the party in this film, but only his shivering hands holding the Rudraksha string, indicate his presence in few scenes. The entire screenplay tests the patience of three fanatical youths who are affected by the changing political scenario in the state politics with the change in stance by their leaders. On the other hand, how the fourth youth who is a shrewd consultant of an Event Management company benefits out of this political battle, has been cleverly shown through this film.
Director Avadhoot Gupte has tried to touch upon so many other relevant issues covered by the story and screenplay writer Sachin Darekar. One of them is obviously the selfish attitude of the leaders,
while playing the hand in glove game with opposition party leaders to protect each other’s interest; and the other being the modus operandi behind the postings of corrupt police officers to mobilize the funds for the party. Very clearly the film goes on to show how a Home minister of a ruling party is in touch with his opposition party leader to derive maximum benefits for him and his party. In the climax, the director has shown as to how the change in stance by their leaders at the last minute, make them lose their dedicated workers. And at the same time, it is shown as to who ultimately benefits.
‘Zenda’ is an action packed thriller based on a serious issue that ultimately affects today’s youth; but it is a more a serious tale rather than an entertaining film. It is altogether a different cinema showing the dark side of Maharashtra’s politics and how the local Maharashtrians ultimately suffer. Those who love to watch films on realistic subjects, will surely like ‘Zenda’. Besides good music, excellent photography at outdoor locations; the other plus points of the film are good editing and performances of the artistes, who look so natural. Watch Santosh Juvekar as a college drop-out and fanatic party worker. His body language and spontaneous reactions speaks a lot about the dilemma of all those who fall into his category. On the other hand, Siddharth Chandekar, who plays his close friend and his sister’s boy friend; has a different image of a well educated young man, who takes his decisions as per his conscience. He too has played his character with authority. Chinmany Mandlekar, the young party worker from Kolhapur perfectly fits into his character of an educated youth who is very ambitious of making it big in Politics, step by step.
Among others in the cast, Pushkar Shroti and Rajesh Shringarpure fit perfectly into their respective characters, well supported by Sachit Patil, Tejashree Pradhan, Neha Joshi, Shubhangi Gokhale and Ujwala Jog.