Rating: ★★★ Producer: Aanil Joshi Director: Milind Kawade Writer:  Milind Kavade, Ashok Jhagde and Prakash Bhagwat Dialogues: Sagar Wankhede and Deepak Thube Director of Photography:  Santonio Terzio Music: Varun Likhate, Rohan-Rohan Genres: Comedy, Drama Censor: U/A Duration: 129 Min. Cast: Ajinkya Deo, Kishori Shahane, Gurleen Chopra, Yatin Karyekar, Vijay Patkar, Sanskruti Balgude, Ananda Karekar, Anshuman Vichare, Ganesh Yadav, Saurabh Gokhale, Arun Kadam, Abhijeet Chauhan, Digambar Naik, Ashish Pawar, Jaywant Wadkar, Nisha Parulekar Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Shooting of a film, in a film,  is not new to Marathi cinema. In the past we have seen this happen in the film ‘Pipani’ and very recently, we saw it happen in the film ‘Mungala‘. Now, film maker Milind Arun Kavade has presented one such theme, through his latest released Marathi film ‘Shinma’. Produced by Aanil Joshi, the film presents the shooting of a film, at a village in Maharashtra in drought affected district.

Director K.Vasu( Ajinkya Deo) , whose real name is Keshav Vasudev Bhosale, takes up a commercial project, with the help of his production manager( Vijay Patkar) , only to raise money for his wife’s ( Nisha Parulekar) operation; who is in coma, after meeting with a road accident. To please the  producer couple Mr. & Mrs. Ganda ( Yatin Karyekar and Kishori Shahane), they plan to make a remake of ‘Sholay’ in Marathi. Accordingly, they move to a village location, which is already facing water scarcity problem, due to drought in that region. But, with the support of a social worker Navin( Ganesh Yadav) and Sarpanch of the village (Digambar Naik) they begin the shooting of their film, with all their important characters played by Jai(Ashish Pawar), Veeru(Arun kadam), Basanti(Gurleen Chopra) and others.

But, soon at the request of social activist Navin and his sister ( Sanskruti Balgude)they agree to‘In-film branding’ into their film, to highlight the water scarcity problem in the village, in spite of the help assured by the Government. So, besides the humor filled happenings noticed during the shooting, we also find K.Vasu’s assistant director ( Saurabh Gokhale) and Navin Sister’s (Sanskruti  Balgude) love affair progressing side by side, on the outskirts of  the village. After watching all the incidents,  that we see happen in the film industry, over the issues arising out of delay in shooting and threats issued by artistes , finally we see a surprise in the climax.

The film has a very big team of artistes, including film artistes and the villagers and therefore, except for the character of film director played by Ajinkya Deo, there is limited scope to all others. In the film, we notice two lengthy scenes of Ajinkya Deo, trying to converse with his wife lying in Coma in the hospital, over phone. But, they have not even shown the ailing mother of  actress Gurleen Chopra, whose is also undergoing treatment in hospital. More than the film artistes Gurleen Chopra, Ashish Pawar & Arun kadam shown in this film, there is more scope given to the so called production manager played by Vijay Patkar and the so called producer Ganda, played by Yatin karyekar.  The latter has also  been given scenes, flirting  with the actress Gurleen in swimming pool, perhaps to highlight the casting couch mentality in the film industry.

All the artistes selected in the film, have given their best. But, there is very less scope for Sanskruti Balgude in the film. In comparison, Gurleen Chopra finds better scope and she has played her character very well. In short, her debut in Marathi films, has been good. What is worth praising is that, she has tried to speak most of her dialogues in Marathi, unlike other non Marathi actresses noticed in Marathi films, in the recent past. It is understood that she has herself  dubbed for her own dialogues in Marathi. With her fit and slim looks, this beautiful Punjabi actress has also performed the dance very well, in the company of choreographer Ganesh Acharya.  Music does not appeal much, except for one song; but, Santanio Terezio has impressed with his beautiful cinematography, most of which  has been shot in the outdoors.

All in all, Director Milind Kavade has tried to create awareness about wastage of water by people living in city and Government’s apathy to provide relief to drought affected villages, in spite of sanctioning huge amount for water conservation schemes. In short, he has used this medium of entertainment well, to pass on this social message skillfully , through this film.