Rating: ★★★ Genres: Romantic, Thriller Censor: U Duration: 120 min. Studio/presenter: Bhansali Productions Producer(s): Sanjay Leela Bhansali Director: Swapna Waghmare Joshi Writer: Amit Khan Music: Amitraj Sawant, Nilesh Moharir Cinematographer (DOP): Prasad Bhende Cast: Swwapnil Joshi, Anjana Sukhani, Jaywant Wadkar, Priya Berde, Kamlesh Sawant‎, Samidha Guru‬, ‎Piyush Ranade,‬ ‎Sneha Chavan‬, ‎Milind Gavali‬‬, Yshashri Masurkar, Uday Nene, Farzil Perdiwala Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Finally, the much awaited first Marathi film of Sanjay Leela Bhansali is releasing on this Friday. But, frankly speaking though the film has all those ingredients to offer a suspense filled plot supported by good music and best performances, it lacks the touch of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film.

Set on the backdrop of a holiday resort close to a popular hill station near Mumbai, we notice a troupe of Marathi drama arriving there, for their rehearsal. While lead pair of the drama Yash Patwardhan( Swwapnil Joshi) his co-star Shreya ( Sneha Chavan) and director Potdar( Jaywant Wadkar) arrive in a car, the rest of the artistes along with production manager arrive in a tourist bus.

On their arrival itself, the hero of this film Yash falls in love with the young beautiful Resort Manager Janhavi ( Anjana Sukhani) and then begins a real life drama in their life. Director Potdar, known for his arrogance and who is in a habit of insulting all the artistes, fires Shreya, during the rehearsal on the very first day and that annoys Yash, who decides to walk out from the drama group. In the meanwhile, Potdar catches Yash and Janhavi together red handed and he threatens them that he would inform about the same, to the owner of the resort Guru Patil( Milind Gavali) , who is engaged to Janhavi.

Soon, we find Potdar being murdered and the Police team led by Sr. Inspector Randive ( Kamalesh Sawant ) and his deputy Nandini ( Samidha Guru ) arriving at the resort, to interrogate two main suspects, Yash and Janhavi separately . But, as their detection progresses, we find two more murders taking place . During the process of interrogation, we also find Nandini falling in love with her Boss, appreciating his efforts. Finally, both succeed in solving the multiple murder case.

Though the film ‘Laal Ishq‘ belongs to Swwapnil Joshi and Anjana Sukhani, for their good performances, director Swapna Waghmare Joshi has given enough scope to the two police officers, played by Kamlesh & Samidha. In fact, all the other important artistes in this film, namely Jaywant Wadkar, Sneha Chavan, Milind Gavali, Piyush Ranade have found prominent roles. Good support also comes from Uday Nene & Yashasvi Masurkar. However, senior artiste like Priya Berde has been wasted in this film.

One can understand the skills of the director to unfold the mystery, by showing all the important happenings through flashback, during the police interrogation; but still you find something missing. The reason is simple. All the happenings take place at one place, i.e. at the resort in the indoors. But, still Prasad Bhende’s cinematography is worth appreciating and so is the music by Amitraj and Nilesh Moharir, through those two good songs. The other two areas of appreciation are costumes and art direction.

All in all, though ‘Laal Ishq‘ offers a stereotype suspense filled drama with good music and fine performances, this two hour long film, fails to create the desired impact, as expected from a celebrity Bollywood film maker like Sanjay Leela Bhansali known for his majesty and Swapna Waghmare Joshi , who offered us a hit Marathi film like ‘Mitwa‘.