Rating: ★★★ ½ Studio / Presenter: Landmarc Production Writer: Parag Kulkarni Director: Satish Rajwade DOP: Suhas Gujarathi Music: Avinash-Vishwajit Cast: Sachin Pilgaonkar, Bhau Kadam, Vaibhav Mangle, Pooja Sawant, Sanskruti Balgude Genre: Drama Movie Review by: Keerti Kadam

Landmarc Production’s new Marathi film ‘Sangto Aika’ (which Sachin claims as his comeback film), has hit the theatres on 2nd Oct ’14. The background of this film is that, Kambalwadi’s beloved leader Annasaheb Thorat’s statue is to be unveiled. But some miscreants put a garland of shoes on it ; which sparks a big trouble.
Annasaheb’s two unscrupulous sons, (Jaggannath Nivangune, Milind Shinde) who don’t see eye to eye with each other, try to seize this opportunity, to gather political mileage out of it. A newly appointed sub inspector ( Bhau Kadam) announces that within 24 hours the culprit will be booked, else he, along with his senior constable, (Vaibhav Mangle) is prepared for a donkey ride in birthday suit.

To save their face, they catch hold of an innocent person, ‘Aambat’, ( Sachin Pilgaonkar) who most of the time is in inebriated state, but is die hard performer, comedian, a ‘Songadya’, and also a part time ventriloquist by profession. To fulfil individual political ambitions, both the sons try to manipulate ‘Aambat’. In the process ‘Aambat’ loses the trust of his wife (Sanskruti Balgude) and doting six year old son, (Shubham Parab), who says ‘ You are no longer my hero’.

His son being his weakness, ‘Aambat decides to get himself exonerated, by using his presence of mind and wit. Does ‘Aambat, manage to tackle two warring brothers who are after his throat, and whether he is successful in emerging as a hero in his son’s eyes? To find the answers, please watch the film ‘Sanngto Aika’.

Putative director Satish Rajwade ( Eka Premachi Goshta, Mumbai Pune Mumbai fame) has presented a different genre, i.e. comedy with drama, this time and is succinct in storytelling. He is successful in maintaining the pace with interwoven emotions and not letting the comic moments go out of hand. Debutant producer Vidhi Kasliwal, being associated with renowned ‘Rajashri Production’ earlier, has infused high production values, so as not to lag behind any Hindi film. Story and screenplay (Parag Kulkarni) gets a strong boost with the dialogues, (Sanjay Pawar) which are hard hitting as well as witty. DOP Suhas Gujarathi camerawork is noteworthy. Music director duo Avinash-Vishwajit’s music is already a chart buster. Songs by Sachin and Urmila Dhangar stand out.

Vijay Chavan, Jaggannath Nivangune, Madhav Abhyankar, Pooja Sawant (she has good screen presence), have done their jobs as per the requirement of the script. Shubham Parab, though has very little screen space, wins hearts with his expressive face. Milind Shinde justifies his character and is very good in a scene before TV camera. Vaibhav Mangle scores in his scenes with his witty dialogues. Bhau Kadam is hilarious with his innocent face along with his typical (person not good in but want to talk in English) English dialogues/accent. Sanskruti Balgude is being introduced in this movie. She is a marvelous dancer and emotes well. And last but not the least, evergreen Sachin Pilgaonkar, has marveled as a performer. Singing beautifully, dancing gracefully, acting effervescently, everything he does with flair and his pairing with Sanskruti’s does look good on screen, not mismatching at all. It’s laudable that a person can be so enthusiastic even after spending half a century on screen.

All in all this socio-political-satirical-comedy film is a good watch. It’s highly advised to listen to Sachin in ‘Sangto Aika’.