Last year Amber Hadap’s Marathi Play ‘BP’ was staged in Inter Collegiate competition and it received a good response, for its good presentation of the subject ; which dealt with need of proper sex education to adolescents. According to Omkar , an Event manager from Vile Parle, it was a wonderful presentation by M.L. Dahanukar College. Now, we find the new Marathi film ‘Balak Palak’, based on this play; but expanding it in cinematic format, under the direction of versatile director Ravi Jadhav. Marathi Movie World, spoke to few viewers after the show at Sun City , Vile Parle, which is a Marathi cultural hub of Mumbai and where three shows of this film are being screened.

“ It is a very good film offering a message to young children and their parents. Direction is good and script is different. I liked the film,” said Tushar Vaidya, a Jr College student. The girl accompanying him, refused to comment. But, 16 year old Aditya Sutar from Andheri, was little critical about the film. “ Though it has a good subject with a good comedy, there are more than required songs. In this little less than 2 hour film, almost half an hour is wasted in songs and instrumental music,” he said. A girl who identified herself as Neha, said that ‘Shala’ was a better film than this one. Akhil Khade, an Engineering student liked this film, for the manner in which the relevant subject was handled; but felt that the film dragged in the post interval session. A miidle aged couple Mr. & Ms. Randive from Parle, said that the film was more like a commercial cinema, though it had a good script. You cannot call this as a class film on the lines of ‘Balgandharva’ and ‘Natarang’.

Reports coming from our Pune Correspondent,who attended the so called ‘Virtual premiere show’ of this film; was possible with the help of satellite; are not very good. The actual show, which was supposed to start at 6 pm , began 90 minutes late; as there was a Live Video Conference shown on the screen, testing the patience of the audience present in Prabhat theatre. This had almost taken away the interest of the audience present, who preferred to sit outside the theatre, till the actual film was screened.Those present inside, made a big noise,suggesting the theatre management to start the film.

However, it is understood that the film has been distributed in 150+ theatres that too with English subtitles in some of the theatres; which is a good sign for Marathi cinema. This being the first Marathi film for the new year 2013, this is considered as a good beginning. Moreover, this is the first Marathi film co- produced by Riteish Deshmukh and also debut film in Marathi for Bollywood Music Directors Vishal Shekhar.