Rating: ★★★ ½ Genres: Science Fiction, Romantic Comedy Censor: U/A Duration: 132 Min. Studio/presenter: Eros International, Spice Studios & Entertainment pvt. ltd., V.Patke films Producer(s): Krishika Lulla Director, Writer: Sujay S. Dahake Music: Rishikesh Datar, Jasraj Joshi, Saurabh Bhalerao Cinematographer (DOP): Archana Borhade Cast:  Ketaki Mategaonkar, Madan Deodhar, Shivani Rangole, Ruturaj Shinde, Shivraj Waichal, Anshuman Joshi, Rohit Nikam Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Known for offering unique subjects, Marathi films have already made progress at the national and international level. Now, they have gone one step ahead, offering a science fiction, using the latest technology. Film maker Sujay Dahake, who gave us films like ‘Shala‘ and ‘Ajoba‘ has tried this experiment through his latest released film ‘Phuntroo‘. Actually, ‘Phuntroo‘ is the name of the unusual  science project handled by a young Engineering student Veera( Madan Deodhar) who prepares the hologram of  a girl Ananya ( Ketaki Mategaonkar) from his college, whom he loves from his heart.

Ananya is not the kind of girl, who would easily fall in love with a boy like Veera, as she treats him like her other friends from college comprising of  Shruti ( Shivani Rangole), Nano ( Shivraj Waichal), Online (Ruturaj Shinde) & Galla ( Rohit Nikam). When Veera fails in all his attempts to please Ananya, he tries to put life into his ‘Phuntroo‘, to make her emotional, instead of behaving like a Robot. In the process, there are many such happenings, where a boy from their opposition camp Prakashan( Anshuman) tries to spoil the project of Nano, Ananya and their group. But, using his intelligence, Veera solves it. Soon, Nano comes to know about Veera’s experiment and he feels jealous, as he is very possessive about Ananya. He tries to expose him in front of the group. But, all goes well in the concluding part of the film, to show Veera and Ananya coming closer.

Director Sujay Dahake has handled this interesting subject very well. But, his film actually picks up only little before the interval and then manages to generate curiosity, till the end. Both Ketaki and Madan have given wonderful performances in this film. For ketaki, this is the best and well suited role, while Madan has really worked hard to display his frustration and emotions. Both have found good support from Shivani Rangole, Shivraj Waichal , Rutturaj, Rohit, Anshuman and others. Shivraj & Shivani in particular show promise.

However, some of the scenes in the film, especially in the first session, have been overstretched. Moreover, Veera  in particular, has been shown smoking excessively, with the warning ‘Smoking Kills’, displayed on the screen every time. In one of the scenes, when Veera meets Ananya for the first time, he offers her a cigarette, which looks very odd. There is also one scene, when Veera asks for a cigarette from his friend. In this scene,  a cigarette brand has been openly advertised. Therefore, simply issuing statutory warning on the screen, serves no purpose.

Some of the film’s dialogues are well written, to create humor, which is well suited to the language of engineering students. Two songs have been used well, with suitable music. But, the background music is more appealing. Even the photography  by Archana Borhade is good. All in all ‘Phuntroo‘ is a good entertainer.