Rating: ★★ ½ Studio: Great Maratha Entertainment, Star Pravah Producer: Aniruddha Deshpande, Medha Manjrekar Director: Mahesh Waman Manjrekar Music: Akshay Hariharan Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Upendra Limaye, Jitendra Joshi, Sonali Kulkarni, Rohan Talawarkar, Vidhyadhar Joshi, Vaidehi Parshurami Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Mahesh Manjrekar’s new film ‘Kokanastha’ had created a controversy among section of people, when the poster of this film carried the lead hero dressed up as a RSS volunteer. Even the tagline of the film ‘Taath kana Hach Banaa’ (An erect spine defines your character) had raised the hopes of the audience, expecting the film to be another dose of inspiration for Marathi manoos.

Though the shrewd film maker had defended himself, stating that he was going by the script; he has almost fooled all his critics and supporters. After watching this film, it has come to notice that the get up of the protagonist as a typical RSS volunteer, is just limited to the concluding scene, a little before the climax of the film.. In fact, ‘Kokanastha’ is just a remake of 2005 Hindi film ‘Viruddh’ produced by Nitin Manmohan and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar himself, on his own story.

We are already watching Sachin Khedekar in the role of a programme host of TV show ‘Kaun Hoil Marathi Karodpati’ a reality TV show run on the lines of KBC hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. In ‘Kokanastha’, he plays the character played by the superstar, by only changing his surname from Vidyadhar Patwardhan to Ramachandra Gokhale, a retired man living with his wife also a retired professor (played by Sonali Kulkarni). As per the original story, their only son Rohan ( played by Rohan Talwalkar) returns home from Switzerland after studying his Hotel management there. He comes with his girl friend turned wife (Vaidehi Parshurami) giving a surprise to his parents.

Rohan gets involved into a fight between the Home Minister’s son and his dancer girlfriend. When Rohan is on his way to the party of his friend at a hotel, he witnesses this Politician’s son killing his girlfriend point blank. He tries to stop him; but his bodyguards beat him up and the Minister’s son shoots him. Being a Home Minister’s son; the Police initially refuse to lodge FIR. But, Ramachandra succeeds in making a strong case against the Minister’s son. In the court, it is proved that Minister’s son was away in Nashik at the time of this incidence and the only witness who is a close friend of Rohan turning hostile, during cross examination.

As per the original script, the film goes on to show the nexus between both the lawyers and also shows the Police department’s apathy in investigating the case and falsely implicating Rohan’s wife in a drug trafficking case along with her late husband; obviously due to the political pressure from Home Minister. Finally, we see Marathi’s Amitabh Bachchan fighting his lone battle, to teach a lesson to the Minister , settling the scores.

‘Kokanastha’ has therefore turned out to be a predictable film, having seen the Hindi version. Even otherwise, audience from Maharashtra don’t miss Big B’s films. And, ‘Viruddh’ was released just 8 years ago. But, for those, who haven’t seen the original film, this film is a worth watch. Ajit Reddy’s cinematography is good and so is the superb sound effects. The use of VFX has certainly helped the film, in some of the sequences. Both Sachin khedekar and Sonali kulkarni have played their roles with complete understanding of the situation. But, it was unnecessary to show a song picturised on them in the pre interval session. Even during the post interval session, when the film takes a firm grip on court proceeding, the couple is shown in unwanted discussion, while at home.

Newcomer Rohan Talwalkar gives a satisfying performance. It was a good choice to select him for the role played by John Abraham in ‘Viruddh’, as his character did not require a big name. Vaidehi Parshurami (who made her debut through ‘Ved lavi Jeeva), suits well in the role of Rohan’s wife. In the supporting cast, Upendra Limaye does a good job as a Motor garage owner – Pagare, in the neighbourhood. As a protagonist from Dalit family, he has very cleverly shown his aggression against injustice, while helping Mr. Gokhale. In the original film, this role was performed by Sanjay Dutt. But, Upendra has played this character in his own style successfully. However, the talented artistes like Vaibhav Mangale and Bhalachandra kadam are just name sake in this film.

‘Kokanastha’ is a well presented film; but, after all it’s a remake of a Hindi film made by the same director, which is slightly disappointing!