Rating: ★★½ Genres: Drama Censor: U Duration: 120 min. Studio/presenter: Landmarc Films Producer(s):  Vidhi Kasliwal Director: Sachin Kundalkar Music: Avinash-Vishwajeet Writer: Sachin Kundalkar Cinematographer (DOP): Milind Jog Cast: Sai Tamhankar, Priya Bapat, Siddharth Chandekar, Chirag Patil, Chetan Chitnis, Gaurav Ghatnekar Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Weight gain has always been a problem for young women, whether married or about to get married. Latest Marathi film ‘Vazandar‘ tries to deal with this issue to generate light humour. Actually, the film doesn’t have an interesting plot to appeal all. Prior to its release, this film had already created a lot of hype through its promotion, banking on the two top actresses from Marathi films coming together for the first time. So, obviously, there were big expectations from this film. But, it has turned out to be a casual entertainer with light humour, offered especially to young women, who are the target audience.

‘Vazandar‘ is a narrative by mesomorph body type happy go lucky girl Pooja( Priya Bapat) who is born and brought up at Pachgani by her mother, who works as a Hotel Manager. Pooja is a computer Engineer who is trying to migrate to USA. She lives a happy life in the company of her friend Kaveri ( Sai Tamhankar), who is recently married to Omkar Jadhav( Chirag Patil) son of a owner of a big Strawberry garden . Kaveri has some restrictions at home. So, to fulfill her desire to dance at a local Pub, she accompanies Pooja, when her family members are away.

When both Pooja and Kaveri go high, dancing on the table to get noticed, the table breaks and both of them fall down. This embarrassing moment is captured on a video by someone present there and the clip goes viral on youtube. They are named as dancing aunties , being out of shape. Pooja turns furious and goes to lodge a police complaint. She also decides to trace the person who uploaded this video. In the meanwhile, she becomes friendly with Alok Dixit ( Siddharth Chandekar) who poses himself as an expert trekker rather than a tour guide. In the company of Alok Pooja develops a complex and decides to reduce her extra fat. While she attempts those widely advertised Slim fit methods of consuming pills for fat loss, she further goes to the extent of attempting a bariatric surgery. At the same time, her friend Kaveri without the knowledge of her husband and family visits a Gymnasium to shape herself for a zero figure.

How their methods help them in their respective lives, is all that ‘Vazandar‘ has tried to show in this 2 hour length film. The film does succeed in creating the right environment for fitness lovers with the selection of right locations, such as morning walks, Gymnasium, health Spa and the natural indoor hotel atmosphere of a hill station, with the suitable sound and art designs , but it lacks crispy dialogues, required to create spontaneous laughter. The first half the film does generate some interest; but, in the second half it fails to hold the grip on its screenplay. First of all, the plot of this film itself is not so appealing, as uploading the video clip showing the fall of two overweight girls from a table while dancing in a Pub, is itself a non sensational happening. This is also endorsed in the screenplay of this film by the Police Inspector on duty, who advises them to approach the Cyber cell, to decide the seriousness of such an act.

Moreover, after the Video clip going viral , Kaveri and Pooja are recognized by local schoolchildren and even vegetable vendors , but still, no one from Kaveri’s family comes to know about it, through external sources, which is surprising. Simply showing that Kaveri’s husband has stopped using PC doesn’t convince the audience. Except for few humor filled happenings, director Sachin Kundalkar couldn’t develop the story of this film, the way he did through his previous films. But still, ‘Vazandar‘ offers good performances from the lead characters played by Priya Bapat and Sai Tamhankar.

Being a women oriented film, there is less scope for the lead hero Siddharth Chhandekar. But, he has played his part well. Good support comes from other characters like Mike Sir the Gym Instructor played by Sameer Dharmadhikari, Sai’s husband played by Chirag Patil, Family Doctor of Jadhav family, played by Gaurav Ghatnekar , Police Inspector played by Umesh Jagtap, Chetan Chitnis as Pooja’s childhood friend and others. Avinash-Vishwajeet’s music just good enough to fit into the much needed requirement of space for songs in this film. But, the Photography by Milind Jog and dress design by Amit Divekar are worth appreciating.