MMW Rating 4.0 User Rating 5 (1 vote) Sending

Genres:  Drama Censor: UA Duration: 115 min. Studio / Presenter: Wishberry Films, INK Tales, Arbhaat Films Producer: Sumitlal Shah DOP: Swapnil Sonawane Director: Nipun Dharmadhikari Cast:  Girish Kulkarni, Irawati Harshe, Sunil Barve, Umesh Jagtap, Mrinmayee Godbole, Deepali Borkar, Sharavi Kulkarni, Shrihari Abhyankar, Sharav Wadhawekar, Akash Kamble Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke.

Today’s children will be responsible citizens of tomorrow. And therefore their proper grooming is very important. Besides learning the right things from school it is necessary for the children to find good company in the neighborhood to socialize in a right manner. For this, they need to take active part in extra curricular activities, instead of getting addicted to mobiles and computer games. Writer Girish Kulkarni who is also producer of new Marathi film ‘Dhappa‘ with the help of director Nipun Dharmadhikari has offered a sensible film on this subject, which revolves around a group of children living in a housing society in the city of Pune.

Though some of the children are mischievous and are involved in their regular fights over petty issues, they have strong bonding developed among them, with the efforts taken by one of the resident Anuradha Deodhar (Vrushali Kulkarni) whose little daughter is also part of this group of children. The children call her Anuradha tai . There are also two mature children namely Surhud (Aakash Kamble) who is suffering from neuromuscular disease and Sharvi ( Sharvi Kulkarni) who sorts out all their problems and keeps them together. Surhud who rides an automatic wheel chair is respected by the children and is addressed by them as Hawkya( Short name of Well Known British Physicist Stephen Hawking).

The story of this film begins when Anu tai plans to present a play of these children based on human evolution and environment during the community Ganapati festival and they begin their planning. Initially, some children are reluctant to perform because of the subject instead of their favourite mythology. But, the creative Anu tai with the help of Surhud and Sharvi incorporate such characters to make it more interesting from their point of view but without changing the theme. When the news about their play reaches the leader of a political party of their area through one of the residents, he with the help of his goons threatens Anu tai and the children, to keep away from performing this play. How these children face this challenge and how they unite to show their strength is what the second part of this 1 hour 55 minute long film is all about.

Writer Girish Kulkarni and director Nipun Dharmadhikari have really worked hard to counter the existing social terrorism which comes in the way of National Integration. Very cleverly they have selected little children to convey this timely message to the society in an entertaining way. Watch the code language used by the children while communicating among themselves to maintain secrecy, which is the best part of the film. Every scene in this film is well planned and the entire team seems to have worked hard in its management. Also each and every character has a special significance in the screenplay, including the children of society watchman who are treated on par with other children by sensible society residents. The inclusion of characters like Soman kaka( Chandrakant Kale) and Mohite Aaji ( Jyoti Subhash) generate a lot of humour with their presence through few scenes.

Besides the group of talented children, there are few other versatile artistes like Sunil Barve, Irawati Harshe, Shrikant Yadav, Umesh Jagtap, Chhaya Kadam, Girish Kulkarni and others, who have contributed sincerely towards an excellent presentation of this timely subject. Suitable Music by Gandhaar, fine cinematography by Swapnil Sonavane and apt editing by Suchitra Sathe are the other plus points of this creative film. Don’t look at this film as a children’s film. All in all It is a worth watch film for all.