Critics Rating 3.0 User Rating 1.5 (2 votes) Sending

Genres:  Drama Censor: U Duration: 102 min. Studio / Presenter: Green Tree Producers: Dhondiba Balu Karande Director:  Dhondiba Balu Karande Writer:  Dhondiba Balu Karande DOP:  Sandip Jangam Sound:  Mayur Sakat Cast:  Shivani Ghatge, Kiran Dhane, Rahul Belapurkar, Rahul Magdum, Tejpal Wagh Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Sports based subjects are not new to Marathi films. The uniqueness depends on how the subject has been dealt with. And this makes latest released Marathi film ‘Palshichi PT’ look different from others. Set on the backdrop of a village Palshi from Satara district, the film revolves around teenager Bhagi (Kiran Dhane) who is a daughter of a Shepherd who grazes his goats on the outskirts of village . Bhagi assists her mother in household work besides attending the school. Being always late for school, she gets punished and is made to run on the school ground. So, we find an athlete produced by compulsion.

When it is time to send the school’s entry for the Taluka level sports meet, Bhagi becomes an automatic choice of the PT teacher. However, not much of interest is taken in her participation and therefore One handicapped drawing teacher Bidkar Sir (Rahul Belapurkar) is sent along with Bhagi and other school girl for this competition, in which Bhagi tops and bags a prize. So, it is time for sending her entry for the State level meet. With no support from school authrities, finally, with the support coming from the drawing teacher, Bhagi is able to participate in state meet and sets a new national record in 400 mts run.

This new record brings her name and fame. As she is all set to participate at the national level, Bhagi receives an arranged marriage proposal from a newly recruited Police Hawaldar Vikas ( Rahul Magdum) . To keep with the village tradition, it is time for her marriage. On the other hand Bhagi does not want to live life like her elder sisters who are married and living in misery. Her well wisher and coach Bidkar Sir tries to persuade Bhagi’s father.

What finally happens, is what film maker Dhondiba Balu Karande has shown skilfully in the concluding part of his film. Getting inspired by the progress made by village level athletes Kavita Raut and Lalita Babar , he has tried to highlight the hurdles faced by such sportspersons who come from poor background. PT is the name given to her ironically by her critics.

Very systematically the director has shown the mindset of the parents and also attitude of school authorities from district places towards sports. At the same time, he has touched upon the most important aspect of coaching, where the real coach who trains the budding athlete is left behind and the selfish and powerful people take the credit of their success. This selfish attitude can be seen through the characters like school principal, PT teacher and the politician and trustee of the school.

The film has a very good subject and the director has handled it well, but with limited script, he has tried to wrap up the film in just little over 100 mins. Being a low budget film, the technical support to this film fails to create the desired impact of the theme. Nevertheless, the efforts of the film maker to present this subject and the performances of the lead artistes have to be appreciated. The lead actress of the film Kiran Dhane is today a popular TV star among home viewers with ongoing hit serial ‘Ek Hoti Rajkanya’. Her popularity should have been used to promote this film. But, that didn’t happen. The film has been released in very few theatres without any advertisement in newspapers and this will deprive the real sports lovers from watching this sensible sports based subject.