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Review: Dholki

A man who produces dholki notes with his bare hands? This film has an interesting story marred by boring execution.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Dholki, directed by Raju and Vishal Desai, is a comedy drama set in a village in Maharashtra. The film starts with a bhajan in a temple where villagers from different sections have come together. Lalya (Siddharth Jadhav) who has come with his mother (Jyoti Chandekar) is seen sleeping in the temple premises; however villagers rouse him. He prays to God and tells to forgive the villagers, since they have awakened him and God. Lalya is a lazy man, often referred to as ‘Kumbhakaran’ by the villagers; however he is also honest and straightforward. His mother tells the villagers that he has no job at hand, so she doesn’t mind if he sleeps all the time.

Wealthy Patil (Sayaji Shinde) of the village tries to get Lalya a job in the school. The head master of the school tells Lalya to produce his education certificate so that he can give him a job. While searching for the certificate at his home, he accidentally finds a dholki that belonged to his late father. Initially, he is puzzled to see the dholki, however he enjoys playing it. On hearing the sound, his mother intervenes and makes him promise never to touch it again.

 

After this, Lalya becomes aware of a special power in his hands – when he hits a surface, one can hear a dholki play in lavani style. On his mother’s advice, he starts practicing on the dholki for bhajans; however the moment his hands touch it, the dholki produces lavani notes. At this juncture, the good looking Lalibai (Manasi Naik) who owns a tamasha group is impressed by Lalya’s talent and gets him to join their shows.

The first half of the film is paced well, but the second half falls flat. Redeeming factors are the music by Tubby Parikh and cinematography by Rahul Jadhav. Siddharth Jadhav does an excellent job and carries the film on his shoulders. Other than these, there is little to recommend in this film.

(Picture courtesy www.marathidhamaal.com)

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Review: Kaun Kitney Paani Mein

An excellent premise – the concept of ‘water wars’ in the near future – is waylaid by lazy, inconsistent storytelling.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Kaun Kitney Paani Mein, directed by Nila Madhab Panda, is a satire based on the issue of water scarcity and how the power equation shifts with it. Set in Odisha, the audiences are introduced to two villages – Upri and Bairi – having a history of shared differences and which are separated by a wall.

Upri is a village housing wealthy people, while’s Bairi residents are poor. Most of the latter have been working for the former. However, a massive drought hits the area and this changes the power equation between the two villages. Upri has exhausted its water sources and does not have an alternative, while Bairi has been using its water wisely and also creating storage facilities for it.

 

In Upri, the once well-to-do Braj Singh Deo (Saurabh Shukla), the raja of the village is now penniless, however, he still has a servant who helps him dress and adjust his fake moustache. He wants to sell his drought-affected village, but there are no takers because there is no water there. Meanwhile, Bairi is prospering under aspiring politician Kharu Pahelwan (Gulshan Grover) where the land is fertile and where there is a good supply of water. Braj Singh Deo devises a plan to get hold of the water from Bairi which involves his son Raj (Kunal Kapoor) trapping Paro (Radhika Apte), daughter of Kharu Phelwan, in love.

The first half of the film is a bit boring, but the pace picks up in the second half. With an excellent premise, director Panda injects the story with humour and empathy. The dialogues by Rahul Singh are top notch, as are a few stray scenes, most of which feature Saurabh Shukla, who carries his character very well. Radhika Apte and Gulshan Grover are good, too. This is a one-time watch only, especially for its performances and the wonderfully choreographed ‘Rangapati’.

(Picture courtesy www.ibnlive.com)

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Film

Review: Dhinchak Enterprise

A good storyline and decent performances cannot save this slipshod, inconsistent film which does not do justice to the plot.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 2 out of 5

Dhinchak Enterprise, written and directed by Nishant Devidas Sapkale, is the story of Vishal Patil (Bhushan Pradhan) who works as a salesman in a company called Zarco which produces slimming tablets. He starts his own venture named Dhinchak Enterprise. The film starts with Jignesh (Khurshed Lawyer) meeting a producer (Anant Jog) at his residence to narrate an interesting story based on reality.

Vishal gets the ‘Employee of the Month’ award and Jignesh is one of his colleagues and best buddy. A new batch of trainees joins the company and Vishal gets excited since he gets Meera Tandel (Manavi Naik) to work with him; however Meera’s feelings towards him are the exact opposite. They go together for field work so that Meera can learn how to sell the products. When Vishal tries to flirt with Meera, she tells him to focus on the job at hand. But soon, the two fall in love.

 

One day, Vishal is fired from the job because he was absent from a client meeting to help a road accident victim. Vishal soon starts his own company – Dhinchak Enterprise – with help from Meera and Jignesh. But the success of the company turns everything sour.

Just before the interval, you are introduced to the formation of the new company. All the twists and turns are thrown pell mell into the story in the second half. The pace of the movie does not gel with the plot, which has been treated shoddily. Save for Bhushan Pradhan’s performance and a few funny scenes, there is very little to recommend in this film.

(Picture courtesy www.justmarathi.com)

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Review: The Gift

Lovers of suspense and psychological thriller stories will find themselves hooked right from start to finish of this great little film.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

At long last, a good suspense thriller has hit the theatres.

The Gift is the story of Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn Callen (Rebecca Hall), a married couple living in California. They leave Chicago and their miseries to start a new life. While purchasing things for their new home, they meet Gordo (Joel Edgerton), Simon’s former high school classmate. Simon is unable to recall Gordo from school. Gordo starts visiting the couple’s place, mostly when Simon is at work, leaving gifts such as a wine bottle, glass cleaner, koi fish.

He then invites the couple to his home. Within few minutes of their arrival, Gordo gets a phone call and he drives off saying that he will back within five minutes. In Gordo’s absence, Simon makes fun of him and explores the house with Robyn. When Gordo returns, he tells the couple that his wife left him along with children. Simon ends his friendship with Gordo and tells him to not visit their home.

 

Next day, the couple’s dog is missing and koi fish in their pond are mysteriously dead, which makes Simon suspicious of Gordo. He goes to Gordo’s home and finds out that the latter has never lived there. He then involves the police; however there is no evidence of any wrongdoing. Slowly the couple realizes that most of the things Gordo told them were untrue Robyn starts suspecting that she is not living alone in her home when Simon is at work.

The pace of the movie is well maintained by Edgerton, who is the writer and director as well. The camerawork by Eduard Grau is top notch, and sounds have been used to great effect throughout the film. The climax of the movie is well done, backed by Gordon’s mysterious gifts. Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton deliver great performances in their respective roles.

If you like chills and thrills, this is a must-watch.

(Picture courtesy variety.com)

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Film

Review: Double Seat

This week’s release is about choosing between a home in Mumbai or the idea of a family; explored in sensitive detail.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 4 out of 5

Double Seat directed by Sameer Vidwans is the story of newly married middle class couple – Amit Naik (Ankush Chaudhari) and Manjiri Naik (Mukta Barve) – who live in a small house with Amit’s parents (Vandana Gupte and Vidyadhar Joshi) and brother (Shubhankar Tawade) with the determination to buy a new home in the city.

The couple comes back from its honeymoon to their chawl based in Lalbaug, Mumbai. Manjiri works as an Insurance agent hailing from small town, living in Mumbai for the first time in her life, while Amit works in a courier company. She quickly settles into Mumbai’s pace of life and also learns how to ride a two-wheeler and catch the local trains. But the couple struggles to find privacy. There are moments when they resort to sending each other text messages to express their emotions.

 

As the days pass by, Amit tells Manjiri that it’s time to have their own home. They start their home hunt, Amit likes a house and pays a token amount for it. The couple is about to go ahead with their plans when Manjiri announces that she is pregnant. They now have to decide if they should buy the house or have a child, since they cannot afford the expense of both. This causes a rift between them.

The direction is excellent in terms of connecting the storyline realistically. The dialogues are good, too, as is the music by Jasraj, Saurabh and Hrishikesh.

Ultimately, the film rests on the performances by Ankush Chaudhari, Mukta Barve, Vandana Gupte and Vidyadhar Joshi, who are excellent in this film. Double Seat is a must-watch film for all Mumbaikars who struggle to find homes, love and meaning in the city.

(Picture courtesy www.megamarathi.com)

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Film

Review: Gurukul

Langourous and tedious by turns, the Marathi film ‘Gurukul’ does not do justice to the plot with its slow pace.
by Ravi Shet

Rating: 2 out of 5

Written and directed by Rommel Rodrigues, Gurukul is a social drama that centres on ‘Gurukul’ an educational institution in a town named Ranjangaon. Its head, Nanasaheb Vishwanath Gokhale (Nagesh Bhosle), is fondly referred to as Guruji. The film starts with a party thrown for Ravi Thakur, one of Gurukul’s ex-students, who has won the CEO of the Year award. His friends Rishi and Rajeev also meet in the party along with their spouses. The three couples have been ex-students of Gurukul, and they plan to take some time out of their busy schedules to visit their college and Guruji.

During their road trip to Ranjangaon, they remember their good times at Gurukul and the film goes into flashback. The story starts from the day they enter the premises of Gurukul for the first time. One day, Rishi sees the news item of a Lavani show and plans to go with Ravi, Rajeev and another classmate. They cautiously leave from the hostel and reach the place; however they are not able to find the place where the show is happening; instead, the person guiding them takes them to bar where they play cards.

The bar is raided and everyone is arrested, however once Rishi and his friends say they are students of Gurukul, the police inspector takes them directly to Guruji. On hearing the incident, Guruji reacts in a very gentle manner towards the four students.

 

By the end of first half, these three couples are shown to graduate from Gurukul. It is in the second half of the movie, that the audiences realise that the existing Gurukul is different from the past one and also Guruji is no longer serving there due to local politician Girishbhau Velangekar (Vidyadhar Joshi) who has taken over Gurukul by fraudulent means.

Only the Lavani number sung by Asha Bhosale and the film’s plot can entice you into watching this film. The pace of the film is patchy and the first half is really boring. Watch at your own peril.

(Picture courtesy timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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