Rating:★★★ ½ Studio / Presenter: 4fs Chitra Producer: Sudarshan Warale,Mahesh Rajmane Director: Sudarshan Warale, Mahesh Rajmane Dialogues: Mahesh Rajmane Cinematographer: Rajendra, Kumar, Mahesh Music: Yugandhar Deshmukh Cast: Niyati Ghate, Yogesh Shinde, Swaraj Kadam, Prakash Dhotre, Yashwant Barve, Ankush Kane, Devyani More Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

New film makers are entering Marathi cinema, with their unique themes. Director duo Sudarshan Warale and Mahesh Rajmane are the new entrants in this category. The US returned software engineers, who quit their well paying jobs, to make this film ‘Mukkam Post Dhanori'; have offered their unusual creation on debut. And their experiment has been successful to a great extent ,for the manner in which the film has been presented.

Pooja (Niyati Ghate) is an archaeology student, haunting her past, to make her mother happy, for all that research done by her. With the help of her two friends Raghu and Sameer (Yogesh Shinde & Swaraj Kadam), she travels all the way, to a remote village Dhanori, in search of ancient hidden treasure. On the way, her team comes across a young couple Ganu & Phulwa (Ankush Kane & Devyani More) ; who flee from their village for their secret marriage. To escape from the villagers, they join Pooja’s group, to assist them in their mission.

When five of them reach village Dhanori, they come across all such people, who try to scare them and prevent them from undertaking their mission; in spite of their holding proper permission for the study. By the way, Pooja’s father is a collector of one of the district places. But, regardless of their good contacts, the team faces resistance from strangers. In every scene that follows their actual work, the director duo have very effectively unfolded the mystery.

Baring few scenes like a baithak lavani by Priyanka at landlord’s place and few over stretched conversations between Pooja and the landlord- Balasaheb (Prakash Dhotre), and Balasaheb with Priyanka, the film has been able to keep the audience engaged with the new developments in the screenplay. There are only two songs besides the title song in this film ,rendered by popular singers like Bela Shende, Jasraj Joshi, Priyanka Barve & Mangesh Borgaonkar. Don’t know the reason for using good lyrics and music in title song at the end of the film; as hardly anyone notices the same, after film’s completion. But, Yugandhar Deshmukh’s background music in this film, is more impressive. Making their debut in cinematography too, the director duo have tried their best to capture some action moments well, besides the facial expressions of important characters. But, the effective special effects done in post production and brilliant sound design, are more striking features.

There are all newcomers in this film, whose selection was done after six month long auditions. No wonder, they have all given satisfactory performances. Special mention for Niyati Ghate, who has given a remarkable debut performance. She is the lead character in this film. If there is any award for best female on debut, it should go to her, provided, there is no other competitor, by end of this year. Besides her realistic acting, her expertise in taekwondo has been used well in this film. Another important character of a landlord- Balasaheb, has been effectively performed by Prakash Dhotre. Good support comes from other artistes of the film, namely Yogesh Shinde, Swaraj kadam, Yashwant Barve, Ankush Kane, Devyani More and others .

The sincere effort put in by the director duo is certainly to be applauded, besides complimenting the equally good performances coming from main artistes. ‘Mukkam Post Dhanori’ has surely turned out to be a different psycho thriller, with brilliant adventures in the screenplay, supported by excellent post production work. No wonder, the film’s remake is to be made in tamil, as per the latest news. Though targeted at young audience, the film can be enjoyed by real film lovers.