Rating: ★★★½ Genres: Family Drama Censor: U Duration: 130 min. Studio/presenter: Zee Studios, Purple Pebble Pictures, Magij Pictures Producer(s): Priyanka Chopra, Dr. Madhu Chopra Director: Rajesh Mapuskar Music: Rohan Rohan Writer: Rajesh Mapuskar Cinematographer (DOP): Savita Singh Cast: Ashutosh Gowariker, Jitendra Joshi, Sulbha Arya, Sukanya Kulkarni-Mone, Satish Aalekar, Swati Chitnis, Usha Nadkarni, Rahul Solapurkar Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has turned a Producer of Marathi films, with her debut production ‘Ventilator‘. She might have selected the subject of the film, perhaps to pay tribute to her father. ‘Ventilator‘ which is also a debut Marathi film for Bollywood writer and director Rajesh Mapuskar , who has directed this film, besides writing its script.

The film revolves around Kamerkar family, scattered at different places, but all the members make it a point to visit their native place to celebrate Ganapati festival every year.

However, this year, little before the arrival of Ganapati fest, the doyen of the family Gajju kaka is admitted to the hospital after suffering brain stroke. As he goes into Coma, his son Prasanna (Jitendra Joshi) takes a decision to keep him on Ventilator in ICU, to enable him to impress his Political leader( Shashank Shende) , being his right hand in all the party work during Ganapati fest. He however, admits him in the best hospital using his political influence. His mother( Sulbha Arya) and sister (Sukanya Mone) turn by turn keep a watch outside the ICU, hoping for the old man’s recovery.

As the news about Gajju kaka’s health condition spreads to the relatives in Mumbai and village, they start pouring in the hospital. There are also some of his old colleagues from the chawl, where he lived earlier. But, the most important person who finds time to visit his uncle is Raja Kamerkar alias RK( Ashutosh Gowarikar) as he is indebted to him, for having supported him, when he first arrived in Mumbai. RK has turned to be a Bollywood film director and therefore his visit to hospital becomes a special event. Like Prasanna, RK too has differences with his father( Satish Alekar) on certain issues and the film’s story focuses on this emotional cord, while presenting some humorous happenings, even in that situation.

As a writer-director Rajesh Mapuskar has cleverly handled the film till the interval, with many humor filled scenes and making the screenplay interesting with the introduction of about 100+ characters , most of whom are relatives of Kamerkar family. And therefore, in the post interval session, we find a huge gathering of people in the hospital’s waiting room , as if it is a gathering of people for a family function. And, in this crowd, you don’t notice any other relatives of patients, as if Gajju kaka is the only patient admitted there.

Due to well written dialogues and perfect timing of comedy maintained by the big group of experienced talented artistes, the film moves to the thought provoking climax, raising the curiosity of the audience. The inclusion of artistes like Usha Nadkarni, Deepak Shirke, Achyut Potdar , Viju Khote, Abhijit Chavan, Nikhil Ratnaparakhi, Bhushan Telang, Rahul Solapurkar, Namrata Awate, Nilesh Divekar and many others has enabled the director to show the attitude of every individual, even at such a situation. Producer Priyanka Chopra has two scenes in this film, as she plays her own self, uttering few words in Marathi. In the role of a Surgeon Boman Irani has tried to generate humour very naturally . Though it is a good team work, Jitendra Joshi, Ashutosh Gowarikar & Satish Alekar invite all the attention with their superb performances. Music doesn’t have much scope in this film, but the song played in background is impressive. The female version of the song has now been dubbed in the voice of Priyanka Chopra, which may help in film’s promotion on television and social networking sites. Savita Singh’s cinematography has perfectly captured the close up expressions of all these versatile artistes.

All in all, ‘Ventilator‘ is a family drama which offers humour mixed with emotions. In short, the film has paid tribute to all Dads in the world, indicating how strong is the relationship between a father and a son.