Rating: na Presentor: Different Strokes Communications Pvt Ltd Director: Kshitij Zarapkar Music: Milind Joshi Camera: Vijay Deshmukh Art: Swapnil Keny Cast: Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Dr. Neha Deshpande, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Satish Shah, Prashant Damle, Sanjay Narvekar, Subodh Bhave, Avinash Narkar, Mukta Barve, Bhargavi Chirmule, Prasad Oak, Anand Ingle, Pushkar Shotri, Sharad Ponkshe, Vijay Kadam… Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Many years ago, P.L. Deshpande ( Popularly known as Pu.La.) composed music for a children’s song ‘Nach Re Mora’ for an album and Asha Bhosale rendered her voice to add melody to this beautiful song, which is still fresh in the memory of every Maharashtrian household. Even otherwise, unforgettable Pu.La. has always been the most popular writer from Maharashtra for his humour. To make a feature film on the life and stories of this prolific writer, itself is a big news. Filmmaker Kshitij Zarapkar attempted this unusual experiment through his latest film ‘Golaberij’,which is almost like paying tributes to the renowned writer.

The film opens in a typical style of a Marathi play with a ringing of bell and the red curtain raising up and soon we peep into Pu La’s childhood, in a true theatrical style; as we notice Manoj Joshi as a story-teller in a theatre, addressing the capacity filled audience, enjoying every moment. Slowly, he unfolds every important moment in the life of Pu La, right from his childhood. Be it, his family, friends from the school, teacher and then we get the glimpse of some of his popular characters penned through his stories coming live.

Pu La’s youth days have been well captured with Nikhil Ratnaparakhi playing his role with ease. His association with Chitale master ( Played by Dr. Mohan Agashe) other friends like Sonya Bagalkar ( Prasad Oak) , Antya kulkarni ( Pushkar Shrotri), Nanda Pradhan( Subodh Bhave) Nanda’s girl friend ( Bhargavi Chirmule) have been well presented in this cinematic format. Pu. La’s grand daughter- Dr. Neha Deshpande- Kamat plays the important character of Sunitatai, Pu.La’s wife with confidence and that helps to make some of the scenes coming live.

Pu.La’s stay in Ratnagiri and his interaction with famous character Antu Barva ( played by Dilip Prabhavalkar) makes the film more interesting. His shifting to Belgaum and his association with Raosaheb – the theatre owner of Ritz Cinema ( Played by Khsitij Zarapkar himself) goes on to explain, how flexible he was, to fulfill his desire as a story writer of plays and perform as an actor in films. One cannot forget the humour filled train journey incident in the company of Pestankaka a parsi gentleman ( Played by Satish
Shah). Very cleverly, the director posts an interval after this scene and reopens the film with a typical announcement of credits as seen in Marathi dramas, which is something unique.

In the film, you also find the characters of Namu Parit ( Sharad Ponkhe), Hari Tatya ( Avinash Narkar), Sakharam Gatne(Dushyant Wagh), Nandini ( Mukta Barve), Kulkarni ( Prashant Damle), Babadu ( Sanjay Narvekar) Narayan ( Anand Ingale) coming live through their limited but effective performances. Especially, his scene with Babadu, on his return to Mumbai is something special. At the same time Abhijit Chavan and Shrirang Deshmukh get an opportunity to play the famous personalities like G.D. Madgulkar and Ram Gabale respectively, who were close to him. But, unfortunately, due to omission of the scenes based on ‘Mhais’ ( to avoid legal complications) some other talented artistes have been deprived of their appearance. But, luckily Hemangi Kavi Dumal, who is in the scene related to ‘Mhais’ finds herself in title song ‘Nach Re Mora’.

Music that plays an important part of this film with fresh look provided by Milind Joshi to the original songs, goes well with the script. Nach Re Mora being the title song is mesmerizing, while the picturisation of Ethech Taka Tambu has avoided glamour and paid more attention on its lyrics to remind the old version. Thanks to producer Dr. Devdatt kapadia and director Khsitij Zarapkar for this offering, which has turned out to be a feast for Pu La’s fans.