MMW Rating 3.5 User Rating 4 (5 votes) Sending

Genres: Drama Censor: UA Duration: 130 min. Studio / Presenter: Phantom Producer: Vitthal Patil, Goutam Gupta, Gourav Gupta, Madhu Mantena. DOP: Hari Nair Director: Makrand Mane Cast:  Chaitanya Deore, Saurabh Padvi, Shiv Wagh, Jeevan Karalkar, Sharad Kelkar, Savita Prabbhune, Shireen Patil, Monika Chaudhari, Shashank Shende, Vitthal Patil and Shantanu Gangane. Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Writer director Makarand Mane who made his debut in Marathi films through his 2015 film ‘Ringan‘, went on to win the National award for the best Marathi film at the 63^rd National Film Awards. Now, his new film ‘Youngraad‘ has been released this Friday. Once again highlighting another social issue on the importance of education, very cleverly the director has shown how a group of four teenagers from a district place like Nashik move on the wrong track, only to realize their mistake later . Actually, Youngraad is a slang used for young wanderers, which is predominantly used in Nashik.

‘Youngraad’ revolves around a teenager Vikas Chavan alias Vickya ( Chaitanya Deore)around 17 years of age, who comes across three other boys Monya, Antya & Bappa almost of his age group, who have only one common interest to bunk classes and get involved into all mischievous activities. Watching the guts of Vickya while interacting with him, the local goon turned politician Ballal Surve( Vitthal Patil) employs him and his team as recovery agents in the market. When Vickya falls in love with a lady Vendor’s daughter Teju ( Shireen Patil) , he feels ashamed of his work and leaves this work. But, he and his friends are trapped by Ballal in a murder case committed by his own people.

It is at this stage, the creative director has shown the selfish attitude of the parents of his friends, who manage to get bail for their children. Vickya has to go through jail sentence with the well planned trap by the politician showing him as major. How he comes out of the jail and what he learns in this process , has been shown by the writer director very realistically. And, this makes ‘Youngraad’ stand apart from rest of the films on this subject. Special mention for those scenes, where the Mother of Teju tries to convince Vickya about his mistake of falling in love with her daughter without completing his education and not knowing his responsibilities in life and Vickya reuniting with his father after undergoing jail sentence.

The performances of the four youngsters namely Chaitanya Deore, Jeevan Karalkar, Saurabh Padvi & Shiv Wagh are very natural and all four of them have surely fulfilled the expectations from their intelligent director. Shashank Shende who was in director’s debut film ‘Ringan’ plays Vickya’s helpless father with total conviction. There is not much in the film for young actress Shireen Patil in the role of Teju, whom Vickya loves, but she has played her role convincingly. Good support comes from Monika Chaudhari, who has played Teju’s friend and also from Vithal Surve, Shantanu Gangne and Sharad kelkar who surprises with a different type of character undergoing jail sentence and uttering all his dialogues in Hindi.

Besides good direction the enthralling screenplay by the trio comprising of Makarand Mane, Shashank Shende & Aziz Madari present a thought provoking subject in an entertaining manner. Good music by Hriday Gattani – Gandhaar( ARZ) , suitable background music by Manan Munjal and fine cinematography by Hari Nair are the other plus points of this film.