Marathi Bana

Hey this is really not a political blog. Infact surprisingly it’s a film review .Got you’ll there huh. Before getting to the review I must let you all know what transpired before.
I got tickets for the marathi film “Kadachit” which has been getting good reviews. I was looking forward to watching a marathi movie after a long time. My mom, myself and a friend went to the cinema. The show was to start at 1030hrs. The doors remained closed at 1030…. Same story at 1045. As is normal for a regional film, there were hardly about 15-20 of us. We started getting restless and asked the doorman what the matter was. He told us that the print had not come. We were surprised to say the least as the movie had been running at this particular cinema hall (Gossip) for more than two weeks.
He told us that one print was sent from one cinema hall to the other across Mumbai. This morning they had still not got the print back from whichever cinema it had gone to. He said they were trying and at about 1100 he told to go in an be seated. Well, hardly had the derriere come in contact with the seat, the doorman came in and told us the show was cancelled. By now we were really irritated. There were quite a few old people for this show. Some had come from places like Borivali to see the movie. We were told that our tickets would be refunded.
We told the cinema management that the money wasn’t important. People had made time to come to the cinema at 1030 in the morning which is an extremely odd time, so that they could watch the film. No go. He told us, it was late to start the show as the other shows would get affected.
By other shows he meant the hindi movie which was the next show. The manager told us we could come back for that. Well why should we? We had gone there specifically to watch the marathi movie. For him obviously the hindi movies were his bread and butter so he didn’t want anything to mess up that schedule.
There was a couple who were extremely angry about the shoddy treatment we were dealt with as they had come from far. They refused to get the refund.they also requested us to join them. Another man told us that it is mandatory for the cinema to show the marathi movie as otherwise if a complaint was made their license could be cancelled. I wasn’t aware of this rule. Since he was so confidant we said yes we will also fight along with him. By that time some people had left after getting their refunds. About a dozen of us waited and told the manager if he cancelled this show we will contact the offices of Samna (the mouthpiece of shivsena) and also the offices of MNS. We could see that the manager was sweating. He could well do without such publicity. In exactly 5mins the print was brought to the cinema. He told us that he couldn’t have the show in the same movie hall. We told him, we were interested in the movie and not the hall. So he told us to go to a different hall (Gem) and we watched the movie.
There was a sense of victory and we did really enjoy the movie.
The movie itself was good. Ashwini Bhave is the main protagonist Gayatri. She’s a neurosurgeon. Her husband is an anaesthetist. She has a daughter. They are a happy family. Due a pathbreaking operation she becomes famous overnight and her pictures are in the news. Her father Prahlad,who’s just out of jail sees the picture and gives her a visit. The father has been put behind bars as he’s killed his wife (the protagonist’s mom) and this girl has been a witness. Her statement has put him behind bars. When he was sent to jail she’s been brought up in a girls institution. She prefers to look upon the man who looks after the institution as her father rather than her own. She hates him.
She gets a shock when she sees her father has been released. Her husband calls the police. The police take away the father but they can’t keep him in lockup as he provides proof that he’s the father. The husband has to get the father back home. The father tells Gayatri that he hasn’t killed her mother. It was true that she wanted to divorce him and they had their fights but he didn’t kill her. This totally shatters her faith in her memory. She was hardly a 10yr old at the time. He tells her that her perception was wrong. She looses her confidence and starts doubting her every decision. Matters come to a head when she is diagnosed with major mood disorder syndrome. She becomes depressive and od’s on a whole strip of anti depressants. Her whole career is in a mess. Her husband requests Prahlad to tell her that she was right when she saw him kill her mother, so that she can get her confidence back. He refuses.
During this time her guardian is diagnosed with brain tumour. He wants Gayatri to operate. Her husband finally tells him that she has been put in a mental institution.
How she finally puts her life back on track is the climax of this film, and gives meaning to the title.
The film has all good/leading marathi actors. Ashwini Bhave, Sachin Khedekar, Sadashiv Amrapurkar (as Prahlad…. He is too good… one can really hate this man… he gets under the skin of the character), Tushar Dalvi (as the psychiatrist). The movie is produced by Ashwini’s mom…. Directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni. It’s really worth a look. I loved the movie.
Well I would say Ms. Dixit Nene should take a page out of Ashwini’s book and do some good cinema instead of still doing movies which require more from the bosom and derriere than actual histrionics. Take a bow Ashwini!