Ventilator [2016] (Marathi) - Comic as well as touching, pure family entertainment

A prominent director is about to host a screening for the famous celebrity Priyanka Chopra when the bad news comes in. His favourite Gajya Kaka (uncle) suffered a sudden brain hemorrhage and has been put on Ventilator. He hastes to the hospital. Turns out he is not the only family member to do so... The hospital waiting area soon fills up with near and distant relative. Some who care. Some who have their own ulterior agendas. News travels to the native village and a retinue of relatives leave from there posthaste. Some are concerned about the Ganapati festival that's right round the corner. Some are concerned about property disputes that would erupt post Gaju Kaka's death... Hardly anyone gives a thought as to why Gaju Kala was put on the ventilator in the first place. Its been a long time since our famous and busy protagonist has been amidst all these relatives together. Meeting all these quirky characters is a bit overwhelming. Gaju Kaka's son is too busy frying fish for his own career in politics. The fact that all wasn't well between him and Gaju kaka doesn't help. And there is the friction with his own father that the protagonist has to contend with... Will Gaju kaka ever get well?

The first half of the movie is a nonstop ride of fun and frolic as we are treated to a host of weirdest and zaniest characters from Gaju Kaka's nearest to the most distant relatives. A collection of quirky characters that make up almost every big family in the world... Exasperating, endearing individuals who are difficult to live with and maybe even more difficult to live without... The movie captures their quirks and presents them to us in a refreshingly comic fashion, without overdoing it... The underlying satire of people being their usual selves even in the backdrop of a grave emergency in the family makes it both funny as well as a social commentary about us humans. It portrays all these characters in a perfect mix of love, care and greed - the three emotions that define us all most...

In the second half the movie takes a serious turn. While they wait for the neuro-surgeon, observing and interacting with all the near and distant relatives and friends is an eye-opening and humbling experience for our protagonist. The ties that bind a father and a son are not always straight and simple. They are sometimes full of kinks and knots. While he watches these kinks straighten and knots unravel between Gaju kaka and his son, the protagonist slowly begins to understand and appreciate the fragility of the ties under all those knots... And this helps him reconcile his differences with his own father...

This movie is a pure tear-jerker - i.e. It will make you cry with laughter. And at the same time it will also make you shed a tear or two as you begin to empathize and relate with the characters therein.

Most of the actors have acted quite well. Which was to be expected when the movie boasts of a mammoth ensemble of some of the best Marathi actors - including stalwarts like Viju Khote, Usha Nadkarni, Sukanya Kulkarni-Mone, Shashank Shende, etc. The lead protagonist - through whose eyes we see the saga unfold - is played by Ashutosh Gowarikar. And while I will maintain that Ashutosh is a much better director than he is an actor (which he himself agreed in an interview), I would also state that - to be fair, returning to acting after such a huge gap, he has performed quite well. Jitendra Joshi, who plays the role of Gaju Kaka's son has also performed quite well.

Special appearances by Priyanka Chopra and Boman Irani adds some bollywood zing to the movie - not necessary, but good to have...

Marathi contemporary cinema is known to shy away from the usual bullshit that we come across nowadays in bollywood movies. The same can be said about this one. While some of the comic scenes appear farfetched, they are still much better than the lame comedy that bollywood comes up with nowadays. The story touches the heart, mainly because one can relate to it. Its realistic and does not venture into the usual over-dramatic bollywood masala crap. There is not a single dull moment, and the story never ever once loses its momentum. Its a fun and heart-touching ride all the way.

Certainly worth watching at least once, this is a pure family entertainer that can be enjoyed by everyone in the family - from grandchildren to grandparents.

My Rating:3

Killa (the fort) [2015] (Marathi) - a beautifully shot coming of age movie

There are events that change us. For better or for worse. Force us to grow up, whether we like it or not. Growing up can be painful, but who has escaped this necessary transition in life? This is a story about growing up.

Chinmay, a 11 year old boy, arrives with his mother to a picturesque town in Konkan. His mother, a widow, and a government servant, recently got transferred from Pune. Such a transition can be very difficult for a kid. Especially someone who has lost his father recently. What such a kid needs at such times are friends. Chinmay manages to make friends with a few kids in his new school. One day they visit a nearby sea-fort. And something happens there that will eventually push Chinmay to grow up.

This is a very simple but touching coming-of-age story which succeeds to entertain in more than one ways.

The movie tenderly and beautifully captures the life of a kid, in school and outside it. (I was reminded of "Stanley ka Dabba", another movie that captured and portrayed the life of kids so beautifully). Chinmay and his new friends in school are so charming, it forms a major part of the entertainment value of the movie. It reminded me of my childhood days.

But let that not deceive you. This is no simple tale about kids in school. Its a beautifully crafted art-piece that portrays the beauty of Konkan like no other movie I have seen before. Kudos to Director and Cinematographer Avinash Arun for making magic with the camera and capturing the essence of the greenery and the coastal beauty of Konkan region. The scenes at the beach, on the boat, and at the fort are absolute eye candy.

The script is so simple and yet so effectively conveys the emotions of all the charaters. Especially the strained yet tender relationship between Chinmay and his mother. The story throws at us some very memorable characters. Bandya (Chinmay's friend), and the fisherman are the ones I liked most. The script does not flinch to depict kids swearing really nasty swearwords. Most movies depict kids as sweet and innocent. Not so with this one. And that makes the story even more realistic.

The pace of the movie can be a bit slow, especially after the interval, when things start going wrong. The Killa - which means a Fort, on which the movie title is based, does not feature in the movie until the interval. And though the events at the fort play a pivotal role in the movie, the fort itself features in the movie only for a few minutes.

The performances of most of the actors was extremely good. I especially liked the roles of Parth Bhalerao who plays Bandya, Amruta Subhash, who plays Chinmay's mother and Archit Deodhar who plays Chinmay.

This was one really good movie experience for me...

My Ratings: 4

City of Gold [2010] (Hindi): An untold tale of the City of Mumbai

They say that one should not bite the hand that feeds. Very True. But what happens if the hand that feeds, itself becomes the hand that kills?

Parallelly released in Marathi language under the title Lalbaug Parel, it is directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. If you have seen Vaastav and Astitva, need I say anything more? But I feel I do need to say more... For this is a unique movie, about the city I was born and brought up in. The city I love, like so many others. And hate, like so many others too. And I feel it needs to be told...

Truly speaking, this is the story of a standard lower middle class mill-worker's family, one of the many millions of similar families that formed the cogs in the machinery of this City till the 80's... Till the mills were shut down, to make way for Shopping Malls and sky-scrapers. A family of six living in a 10 x 10 feet room in one of the many chawls that formed the landscape of Mumbai during that time.

The father, who used to work in one of the textile mills, has taken retirement. He is waiting for the gratuity amount promised him post-retirement - but the mills are yet to settle the dues of all the retired workers. One son is a struggling writer whose plays don't ever get sold. Another one, Mohan, works in a bank. The third son roams around being a "bhai" - a local goon. And the only daughter works in a beauty parlour. Somehow they are all trying to make ends meet.

The Mills are shutting down one department after another, claiming loss in business. The workers go on strike. While this drama unfolds, the family faces one problem after another. And they are not the only ones. The mill workers have not been paid for months. How are they to feed their families, pay the school fees, the rents?

And in the backdrop of their tribulations, unfolds the untold story of Mumbai, currently one of the costliest cities in India, maybe in the world too. How this City of the working class turned into a City of Gold. I think each city is like a person. It has a unique personality, a unique past, present and future. If I have to describe the personality of the city of Mumbai, I would describe it as that of a worker. For it is the city of the working class. A city born out of economic necessity, build and developed out of economic progress. Everything in Mumbai is economy driven.

One of the major trades in Mumbai post-independence, was the Textile Mills. Millions of mill workers worked in these mills, which worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in three daily shifts. All these workers mostly stayed in chawls near the mills itself, in the area around Parel, which came to be known in the local slang as the "Giran Gaon" - the village/town of the mills. Hence the name of the Marathi version Lalbaug, Parel. At the end of every shift, the iconic Siren would go off, indicating the end of one shift, and beaconing the workers who would toil and shed their sweat and blood in the next one. They would work one or two shifts a day and make ends meet.

But all this changed when the mill owners began to shut down parts of the mill, claiming losses. The mills might not be profitable, but the abundant land on which they stood, could gain the owners a lot of money. This was what they secretly desired. The untapped development potential of the land on which the mills stood. The land, so the movie claims was not owned by the owners themselves, but was given to them on lease for 99 years by the Government. And so, they began to make things difficult for the workers. The movie depicts this very nicely.

It depicts the hunger and desperation of the common mill worker and his family. Some commit suicide. The kids of some turn to crime and violence, driven by the most basic need to feed the fire within their hungry stomachs. It is sad and horrible indeed.

The movie also depicts the machinations that go on behind the closed doors of the mill owners' offices. The corruption and the under-handed deals would make anyone's blood boil.

All the major characters are quite well-sketched. All the actors, most of them from Marathi film industry, have played their part extremely well.

The directorial talent of Mahesh Manjrekar is evident in the brilliant portrayal of the harsh life of the mill workers, before "they became extinct, like dinosaurs" (to borrow a dialog from the movie itself). The story does not flinch to depict illicit love affairs or violence, in the same way it unflinchingly depicts the desperation and the sad state of the mill-workers' families after the mills shut down. The life in the chawl is portrayed very realistically - life in small 10x10 rooms, where there is no space for personal privacy, but lots of space for humanity, and neighbourly love and care. 

As far as I know, the Marathi version - Lalbaug Parel - became more famous than the original Hindi one. One of the reasons probably was that the Marathi speaking localites could identify with its content. And second reason being that, the Hindi audience, who were looking out for mere entertainment, probably found nothing new in this movie. For Mahesh Manjrekar has already explored similar concepts (like common man turning into a criminal) in his previous movies like Vaastav. If that is the case, then I think they missed the point entirely...

Because this is an important movie for anyone who wishes to understand the events that triggered the transformation of this city of mills and chawls, into a city of skyscrapers, huge corporate offices and shopping malls. A city where people who own a piece of it's land, need not really work for a living. And ironically, a city where a hard working common man can no longer afford to buy a home of his own. A City of Gold...

My Rating: 3.5