Movie Review “Lalbaug Parel – Zali Mumbai Sonyachi” (2010)
Genre: Drama
Director: Mahesh Manjarekar
Language: Marathi
Star Cast: Shashank Shende, Seema Biswas, Ankush Chaudhary, Vinit Kumar, Karan Patel, Veena Jamkar, Siddharth Jadhav, Sachin Khedekar, Vinay Apate, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Satish Kaushik, Kashmira Shah, and others
LALBAUG PAREL is a movie based on Marathi play “ADHANTAR”. I had seen this play and this play was shocked me terribly. The story and acting performances by Sanjay Narvekar, Bharat Jadhav and others made me feel helpless; feel angry and I felt like crying. I could feel the anguish of the characters in my heart; I was so moved by this play. I knew the facts of mills strike and read a lot about it before watching this play; but I felt their pain only after watching this play. So I was very happy and excited as well as very circumspect before watching this movie. Will the movie able to do the justice to the brilliant play?
Film is much bigger canvas than theatre so the director Mahesh Manjarekar made some changes and obviously he won’t have made it a copy of play. He also had to make sure it will look contemporary. But I am not impressed with his casting of Narya, just because he was making this movie in Hindi also, he casted non Marathi actor. He has been given voice by Santosh Juvekar in Marathi Version. And listening to him throughout the film I wondered why he was not casted. He could have given the passion and aggression needed for the role which the other actor lacked.
The movie turned out very well but wasn’t up to the mark compared to the play. Play was lot better. Director of Mahesh Manjarekar’s caliber should have able to do lot better with it. As for acting everyone did well but Vina Jamkar and Siddharth Jadhav gave amazing performances. They stood tall out in this big cast. If I have to rate this movie I will give it 7 out of 10. This movie is also released in Hindi with the name “CITY OF GOLD”
“Mi Shivajiraje Bhosale Bolatoy” was most awaited and anticipated Marathi movie in long, long time. I wanted to watch the first day first show on Friday but I couldn’t as show was houseful till Sunday evening at Movie Time, Goregaon. So it tells that not only but many others were eager to watch the movie. And it was also due to the fact there were only 2 shows per day at Movie Time multiplex. As usual Marathi movies don’t get enough screens as multiplex or theatre owners claim that not many people turn up for Marathi movies. But after looking at this movie and its collection they should get assurance that Marathi movie has their own viewers.
As for the movie it is a must watch movie for not only Marathi people but also for non-Marathi people. As issue of non Marathi verses Marathi is really hot in Maharashtra today. This movie is able to give exact assessment of what Marathi common man is going through and what does he thinks about this issue. There is anger and uneasiness among Marathi people, they are feeling down, they are feeling outcast in their own homeland; but at the same time they understand that they can’t just beat people up and ask them to leave the state. They know this is not the solution but anger is still there and they don’t know what to do with it? This movie tells people what and how to do it through the medium of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
This movie answered many questions for common Marathi man. But also ask many questions which Marathi people were shying away from. As all Marathi people complains that all the business and all the top post are captured by non Marathi people. This question is answered in the movie with another question like who stopped Marathi people doing the same. Movie has bulk of social relevant message for Marathi people. And as it has Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s character in it, people automatically get inspirations, motivations.
Movie has lot of resemblance to “Lage raho Munnabhai”. As protagonist of this movie is using Shivaji Maharaj’s ideology instead of Mahatma Gandhi’s to get away through his troubled life. But it also has its own Marathi Tadka. Although it is not a cinematically genius movie it is still a must watch movie. There are many reasons for it first would be that it is highly entertaining as well as inspiring movie. But most important reason will be performance of Sachin Khedekar. He is outstanding in this movie. If anyone wants to know what is acting watch this movie this is what acting is all about. Lot of actors claim to be a perfectionist, but watch the performance of Sachin Khedekar as ‘Dinkar Bhosale’ and find out what actually perfection is. He shows that just saying your given lines while facing the camera or only showing some emotions on face is not acting. Acting also involves body language. He has tremendous sense of delivering dialogues that has to make impact on people.
All the other actors also did their job very well but Sachin Khedekar outsmarts them in many ways. Mahesh Manjarkar was very good but he could have been far better, it may be because I grown watching actors like Suryakant, Chandrkant as Shivaji Maharaj in many movies. And anyone else does not look proper fit now. Suchitra bandekar and priya bapat did great job; Siddharth Jadhav was in pure villain’s role first time. But what happens with him is that you keep anticipating that he might do some comic act any time. Makarand Anaraspure is able to create magic in his very small role.
I will suggest everyone must watch this movie at least once. If I have to rate this movie I will give 8 out of 10.
“Galgale Nighale” is one of the biggest Marathi movie released this year. It had everything needed for any Marathi movie to be successful. To start with it is a comedy movie. Movie starred the two biggest comedy actors Bharat Jadhav and Siddharth Jadhav in Marathi cinema. Both of them are sure shot crowd puller. Bharat Jadhav’s Character ‘Galgale’ is lifted from a popular play “Sahi re Sahi” played by Bharat himself. This play and character Galgale is among the all time top in the popularity chart. So there was much more curiosity in people how will character Galgale is going to progress. Then this is Kedar shinde’s movie, who had brilliant past record. Then Siddharth Jadhav is in negative role first time in his career. Then the movie is presented by Zee Talkies. This one is there third movie after “Sade Made Tin”, and “De Dhakka”. Like these two movie Zee talkies made sure ‘Galgale’ will release in maximum theatres in Maharashtra, which is biggest task for any Marathi film makers. So this movie supposed to have everything in it to be successful entertaining movie.
All these factors do help to pull the crowd to theatres. But it could not fulfill their expectation. Frankly movie has been dragged unnecessarily so many occasions in the film you feel where this movie is going. After Sahi Re Sahi the character Galgale was adored by many people including me but it has been blown out of proportion in the movie so much so that it keep sour taste in the end. I sincerely hope that Kedar shinde won’t have touched it. In the opening introduction scene of Galgale only he was unbearable. There were some good moments but nothing new. I couldn’t see properly developed story. Of course Marathi movie never needed story what it needs is good screenplay and dialogues. And there is not much to rave about in these departments.
“Galgale Nighale” is a story of a insurance agent Galgale who has habit of to speaking to himself but in loud which he thinks no one else can listen. And this habit of his put him and peoples around him various strange situations. He falls in love with a girl played by Ketaki Thatte, who is from a gangster family. Then there is siddharth jadhav’s character who’s love for the Ketaki Thatte’s character is one sided and he goes all the notorious ways to win her love. Then there is a murder mystery in the movie.
Frankly there is nothing much to rave about this movie. Although there was some scope for the director and actors to create some hilarious moments but they fail to achive that. For the music part only one song was good and which had been used for promotion of the film. It was nice to see senior actor like Ramesh Deo and senior artist Shahir Sable being part of the film. It was also refreshing to hear some koli language in the movie; I am all in favor of using different flavors of Marathi language.
Overall I hope Kedar Shinde will come out of his bad form quickly and come back to his best. And I hope Bharat Jadhav will decide to come out of his image and will try something different next time, he is brilliant actors and much more potential to stick in one image. For the movie if I have to rate it I will give the movie 5 out of 10.
Cast: Bharat Jadhav, Makarand Anaraspure, Ankush Choudhary, Siddharth Jadhav, Madhura Velankar, Aaditi Sarangdhar, Subodh Barve and Others.
Gener: Comedy
Music: Ajay Atul
The Marathi movie industry follows for success is either makes multi-starrer comedy film or makes an emotional family saga. And for many years now they are following the same trend except some movies like “Shwas”, “Tingya”, “Dombivali Fast” and others. This Movie “Uladhal” follows the same trend. Director – Producer Vishwas sarpotdar chose safest route for his first film by making comedy film that too with biggest names in Marthi Film Industry.
The movie revolved around ‘Dhaal’ (Shield) of gold which is considered to be of high exclusive heritage and so of very high value. It is belongs to Sayajirao (Makarand Anaraspure) and his prestigious family. This is the story about how this shield gets stolen and in the end how it has been recovered.
Movie is as funny as it supposed to be, very much entertaining. And it assures you good quality family time. All the actors are in there usual roles so they were very much comfortable doing their roles and doing it really well. Bharat Jadhav as usual comes with good performance with his immaculate comic timing. Siddharth Jadhav as usual does his mad character act very well but I feel like he could have been utilized little bit more. Ankush Choudhary, Aaditi Sarangdhar, Madhura Velankar does their respective roles as expected. Subodh Barve is getting too predictable in his negative role, it seems there is nothing more he can offer. He need to think about this hard before accepting negative roles as he is getting monotonous.
All this is good, but there is big blunder in casting Makarand Anaraspure as Sayajirao. I can understand the psychology of first time director – producer to cast biggest stars in his movies. So he can bring people to theatres. It is said that Makarand Anaraspure wanted to change his image in films so he accepted this role. This was big challenge for him; but he was never suited for this role in first place. He couldn’t pull it off although he is a brilliant actor and entertainer.
The movie was good but there was scope for to make it even better. Technically Marathi cinema is improving. Actors were always been top class. Movie is shot in Goa so it was pleasant to watch but they could have used it for their advantage more. Music of the film is so – so nothing great. Movie starts with a great song which was popular even when movie was in pipeline. So Music directors Ajay – Atul raise the hope but could not sustain it. In the end movie was good family entertainment it even seems to have budget for costumes because costumes of both the actress were considerably good.
