Rating: na Presenter: Big Cinemas Production: Sarth Director: Amol Palekar Story- Screenplay: Sandhya Gokhale Cast: Amol Palekar, Sharmila Tagore, Samir Dharmadhikari, Radhika Apate, Ashwarya Narkar, Vandana Gupte, Makarand Deshpade, Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Both Amol Palekar and Sharmila Tagore are intense performers, when it comes to playing multi layered characters filled with varied range of emotions. Over the years they have proved their class through their respective performances in different films. And, when you would like to see them working together almost after thirty years, the script has to be equally strong like two parallel lines to equate their characters. Story- screenplay and dialogue writer Sandhya Gokhale has done exactly that when she wrote the script of new Marathi film ‘samaantar’, where you will find the duo together playing opposite each other. Amol Palekar , who has himself directed this film, has been honest enough to offer Sharmila Tagore enough of scope to do justice to her character of Kshama in the film.

‘samaantar’ talks about a simple lost and found tale of a man and a woman, but in an artistic manner. Keshav Vaze( Amol Palekar) a sixty year old successful industrialist expresses his desire to retire from business, when he feels that as a guardian of his brother’s children, he has done his duty and has now reached a stage to retire from his life too. Keshav, who as a youngster is a mute witness to a major tragedy at his village with the death of his near and dear ones, takes up the responsibility to support his brother’s children, sacrificing his own life.

‘samaantar’ unfolds the mystery behind his decision of calling for early declaration from life, when he visits Kolkutta on an invitation from a medical foundation, where he has donated a huge sum for construction of a Hospital. He meets Kshama,( Sharmila Tagore) his long lost beloved, who has been living a silent life along with her son, who is a Psychiatrist. Kshama is living like a patient still under trauma, who does not talk to anyone but does her job as a sculptor. Even her son, with whom she converses very little, is not able to understand the reason behind such a behaviour.

‘samaantar’ does not bring out the past relationship between the two in their first meeting after years, but unfolds the same in the very next meeting, when Vaze’s adopted daughter Rewa brings him to Kolkatta , for a change, after noticing his withdrawal symptoms from the family members. It is at this stage, the script reveals the background of the relationship between the two. Amol Palekar as a director has very cleverly shot the flashback scenes with images and dialogues. His intelligence in shifting the scenes is remarkable. Any other director would have opted for airport scenes or the flight taking off or landing to show the journey between Mumbai and Kolkatta. But, Amol has just been indicative through dialogues. He has focused more on the individuality of every character. All the sequences have been shot with a lot of study paying more attention on ambience and art, whether it was an indoor scene or an outdoor location with the backdrop of River Ganges.

The film also has supporting performers like Samir Dharmadhikari, Aishwarya Narkar, Radhika Apte, Sandip Mehta, Rishi Deshpane, Makarand Deshpande and Vandana Gupte doing justice to their respective roles. Music by Anand Modak is appealing with singers like Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal adding elegance into it. The background ‘Majhi’ style song ‘Navika Re Haati Tujhya’ rendered by Sudesh Bhosale reminds you of legendary S.D. Burman. In all, Amol Palekar as a film maker has very effectively mixed the Bengali culture into this neatly made Marathi film. Both Amol Palekar and Sharmila Tagore have given splendid performances. The film is a worth watch