Movie: Bhay Rating: ★★★ Genres: Drama Censor: UA Duration: 128 min. Studio / Presenter: 5G International Producer: Sachin Katarnawre DOP: Rajesh Rathore Director: Rahul Bhatankar Cast:  Abhijeet Khandkekar, Smita Gondkar, Satish Rajwade, Vineet Sharma, Sanskruti Balgude, Siddharth Bodke, Uday Tikekar Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Psychological thrillers are favourite subjects of many film lovers. But, they need a gripping screenplay to capture the attention of audience. Till now, in Marathi we have seen conventional psycho thrillers, which were influenced by some of our old bollywood films on these subjects, though very few have offered out of the box themes. Latest released Marathi film ‘Bhay‘ falls in the category of conventional style subjects, where we see Gokul Joshi ( Abhijit Khandkekar) the hero of this film suffering from Schizophrenia.

Having phobia of so many things like boarding an elevator , vehicles running on the street etc. He keeps on changing his residence to suit his convenience. Instead of driving his own car, he travels by public transport bus. But, that does not stop his disturbance. One day, after noticing a shoot out incidence on the road, he rushes back home and even Knocks down his wife Meera ( Smita Gondkar) , who is in the initial stage of pregnancy. Gokul is not the only eye witness to the murder of a Builder, who has been attacked by a sharp shooter Bharat ( Vinit Sharma) and his men, on the instructions of a minister –Jagtap( Uday Tikekar) . The other eye witnesses are Praful ( Siddharth Kulkarni), his girlfriend Taniya ( Sanskruti Balgude) and few others, including a senior citizen.
In comes a special investigating police officer Inspector Vishwas Zurunge (Satish Rajwade) who not only investigates the murder and people behind it, but also finishes off the gangsters. Director Atul Bhatankar, who is an editing expert, having made his debut as a director through ‘Time Bara Vait‘ in 2015, has incorporated some interesting happenings in the screenplay of the film; but that gives a conventional look to this film. There is nothing extra ordinary happening in the first part of the film. Instead, he could have made this part more gripping with the help of other characters played by Sanskruti Balgude and others. In the film, Sanskruti has been used just like a character artiste, except for a dream song picturisation in Dubai , in which she looks stunning with designer costumes.

Abhijit Khandkekar does justice to his character of Gokul with good performance, while Smita Gondkar has very little to offer in the first part of the film. The character of sharp shooter played by Vinit Sharma, has been given more than required importance, only to show that people like them are used and exploited by the politicians for their selfish gains. Uday Tikekar has very little to do as a selfish politician, but he has played his part well. Rajesh Rathore’s camera work, background score by Sameer Phaterpekar, costumes by Swapnil Kamble and editing work by the director himself are worth appreciating.

Those who love to watch psychological thrillers, this film will not disappoint them, as it is a conventional style psychological action thriller.