Movie: Gachchi Rating: ★★★ Genres: Drama Censor: U Duration: 120 min. Studio / Presenter: Landmarc Films, Nitin Vaidya Productions Producer: Nitin Prakash Vaidya, Vidhi Kasliwal DOP: Riju Das Director: Nachiket Samant Cast:  Priya Bapat, Abhay Mahajan, Anant Jog, Asha Shelar, Mayureshwar Kale, Saiddhant Samant, Swapnaneel Jaykar, Tushar Tengale Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

‘Gachchi‘ which actually means terrace is defined in different ways in English language. Some call it a patio, while others call it an open area in front of the house. It could also be a sitting area next to the building. But, in Mumbai, where there is shortage of space in front of the house or in the backyard, it indicates open space on top of the building or bungalow. Now, this so called ‘Gachchi‘ could be used for various purpose. Though students living in crowded chawls, have used this place to prepare for their exams, some love stories have also taken birth at this place. For others, it is a place for breathing fresh air. At the same time, there are cases of suicides noticed at this place.

Perhaps, based on such happenings, Producer Nitin Vaidya and director Nachiket Samant thought of making a film on the backdrop of this place, which is presented by Vidhi Kasliwal. The story of this film ‘Gachchi‘ takes off, when we see young Shreeram(Abhay Mahajan) desperately trying to repay the debt to a money lender Jagtap( Anant Jog) who is trying to take charge of his small house in South Mumbai, mortgaged to him. With the help of his friend and a well wisher, who agrees to market the home products prepared by his mother ( Asha Shelar), he manages to repay part payment to Jagtap. But Jagtap puts a deadline till evening only to repay the entire amount.

In a disturbed condition he walks out of Jagtap’s building to sip a cup of tea without sugar( as he is diabetic),when he notices a young woman standing at the edge of the terrace of that building. Suspecting a suicide attempt he goes to the terrace top and finds Keerti Sharda( Priya Bapat) a classical singer by profession, also in a disturbed mood. Initially, both of them don’t like each other; but as the time progresses, these two strangers start understanding each other. Writer Yogesh Vinayak Joshi and director Nachiket Samant have very creatively developed the an unusual happening during that particular day, into an interesting feature film of about two hours. The writer & director have also tried to show the connect between two elements of nature- Earth and Aakash through Gachchi ( terrace) the backdrop of this film.

There are not too many main characters except the few mentioned above, but still you don’t feel the monotony while watching the screenplay of this film on the screen, with the lead pair wearing the same clothes from morning till evening. Almost 90% of the film has been shot on the terrace of a multi storey building in Lalbaug area, which has now grown into a posh township with high rise residential towers and office premises. But still, DOP Riju Das, has made good use of his camera to capture every corner of the terrace and surroundings skillfully. There is not much scope for music by Murugan Mohan in this film, except for one song played in the background. Good support comes from technical team. There are very few errors noticed in this film, but looking at the ability of the writer director to make a film, arising out of such a situation, these few errors can be ignored.

Priya Bapat has played the lead role of Keerti very convincingly to display her disturbed state of mind, while Abhay Mahajan who after doing a successful web series, makes a confident looking debut in the lead role of Shreeram. There is not much scope for Asha Shelar, except for performing in few scenes, as a kind hearted mother of Shreeram. Similarly Anant Jog does well in hardly two scenes to his share. All in all, ‘Gachchi‘ is good film to watch.