Rating: ★★★ Screenplay: Khitij Zarapkar Producer: Sachin Pilgaonkar Director: Sachin Pilgaonkar Music: Jitendra Kulkarni Cast: Sachin Pilgaonkar, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Ashok Saraf, Koshori Shahane, Sidharth Memon, Nirmiti Sawant. Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Every film maker has his own style of presenting the film, especially when it is his own story. Actor- Producer-Director Sachin Pilgaonkar must have written this story to present his daughter Shriya in her debut film. Making it as his family affair, besides his good friends around, his new film ‘Ekulti Ek’ is also being offered on the day of golden day of completion of 50 years, for winning his first award as a child artiste.

For the past few days, Sachin was campaigning for this film, by becoming part of almost all popular Marathi Television programmes, raising expectations of the film lovers. But, the film has turned out to be more of a serious emotional drama between father and his daughter, rather than entertaining the audience, which his previous films did. Though there is good exchange of dialogues between father and daughter, contrary to the expectation, the screenplay of the film is not very impressive. The story of the film with limited contents, revolves around a popular singer Arun Deshpande, played by Sachin himself. Suffering from Insomnia, in spite of the name and fame; one fine day, he comes across his grown up daughter Swara (Shriya Pilgaonkar) , who visits him after 18 years, since he deserted her mother, when she was just 4 years old. The father pursues his singing career, but, is not willing for changing his singing style to suit the taste of new generation. It is at this time, his daughter arrives to remind him about the desired change in his attitude.

Knowing well about her father’s ego problems, the daughter tries her best to change him, with the help of his secretary Mehta( Ashok Saraf) and her boyfriend. In the meanwhile, Arun Deshpande encounters his wife Nandini( Supriya Pilgaonkar), who happens to be the person interviewing him for a Radio Channel. The discussion becomes too personal and Arun leaves the Radion station in a disturbed state of mind. Back home, he however, tries to help his daughter, to find a role in films; as per her wish. But now, the daughter has plans to marry her boyfriend. She says Good bye to her father, to return to her mother, who is preparing for her wedding. The film concludes with happy ending, as predicted. Only surprise given at the end is revealing the daughter’s real profession.

Only good part of the film are the dialogues and performances by the artistes. Both Sachin and his daughter Shriya have performed very well. Shriya in particular has worked very hard, to present herself in all the scenes. But, it is Supriya Pilgaonkar in those limited scenes to her share, invites all the attention. She is simply superb, in the Radio interview session. Surprisingly, humour finds very limited space in this film. It is only the presence of Ashok Saraf in few scenes, helps to generate spontaneous laughter. Only other humour filled scene is the Police station scene.

Kishori Shahane Vij has limited scope in the film, playing as Sachin’s close friend in the music industry. Siddharth Menon is just fine. Swapnil Joshi and Nirmiti Sawant have just one scene each for them in guest appearance. Same is the case with Vinay Yedekar. Music by Jitendra Kulkarni has limited scope in the film. Sonu Nigam’s promotional title song appears after the end of the film, when people walk out of the cinema hall. But, the cinematography by Rahul Jadhav is fine.

As a director, Sachin Pilgaonkar has made a sincere effort to present his story and has given more importance to father and daughter conflict. However, he has avoided the scenes leading to husband and wife separation. He has also avoided the scenes between mother and daughter, except for the one at the end. This clearly indicated that the director wanted to give more prominence to his daughter, to exploit her potential. But, in the process, these scenes have been stretched too long, making this film little more than two hours in length. There is nothing very special about this film, except for fine performances, suitable background music and fine photography.