Director : Mahesh Manjrekar
Genre : Biopic
Language : Marathi
Starring : Sagar Deshmukh, Iravati Harshe, Sachin Khedekar
Released : 2018
My Rating : 7 out of 10
As the movie opens, there is a very short voiceover by Sunitabai Deshpande. She mentions, in a companionship of 54 years, there would naturally be ups and downs. As beautiful as that voiceover is, that is also true about this movie. There are ups and downs.
This is the first installment of the biopic on the life of the greatest Marathi cultural icon ever, Pu. La. Deshpande. There is absolutely no need for me to write anything about his greatness. Every Marathi speaking person knows everything (or should know), and if you are not a Maharashtrian, it is very hard to convey the full scope of his enormous impact on Marathi ethos. So let’s just look at this purely as a movie.
This installment covers the life of Pu.La., as we all call him, (or Bhai as he was referred to in his social circle) from his childhood in Mumbai to his stint as a professor in Belgaum. The movie is at its strongest, when it depicts the family interactions. The main characters, Pu. La (Sagar Deshmukh), and his wife Sunitabai (Iravati Harshe) have been developed fairly well. Even with limited screen time, the characters of his parents have been reasonably sketched out. Throughout their interactions, it’s clear that the movie does not want to put Pu.La. on a pedestal like God, which is a correct decision. There are many memorable scenes in this part, be it the hilarious marriage scene, or the emotional scene of a difficult decision by Sunitabai. Such parts of the movie will remain in our memories.
That was the up part. Unfortunately there is very little depth in the scenes covering Pu.La.’s artistic achievements. These parts of the movie seem more like a nostalgic documentary rather than a powerful drama. To some, the nostalgia it generates is perhaps strong enough to overlook the flatness. But so many personalities have been hemmed in such a way, that it feels, it’s done just for the sake of it. Now, the addition of the famous characters on which many essays in “Vyakti aani Valli” are based on, is indeed a nice touch, and a small positive in this. The big exception to the flatness, is the song on which the movie ends. A pure treat to ears, and the picturization of that whole scene is memorable.
The pleasant surprise to me was the casting. Not only is the acting really good, but the actors also resemble the real life characters. Even if they hadn’t announced the names, it would have been very easy to guess. Sagar Deshmukh has a very difficult role to play here. Everyone in Maharashtra is going to critically evaluate every nuance of his performance. I was happy with his portrayal.
The best thing about the movie is of course Iravati Harshe. She was able to bring forth the personality of Sunitabai exactly as I had expected. Many details must have been picked from her book “Aahe Manohar Tari …”, especially the detail about the pomegranate. If you haven’t read that book, you need to correct that mistake real fast. Every scene that has Iravati Harshe in it has a spark that’s often missing from other scenes.
Mahesh Manjrekar is perhaps the most capable director in Marathi movies today. After movies like Kaksparsh and Natsamrat, I had high expectations from this movie. It’s a good movie, just not a great movie. I definitely recommend it. The decision to release it in two parts could have been made with an eye towards box office revenue, but it’s also true that Pu.La.’s achievements are too numerous to cover. Even if they had released it in three parts, I would have still paid to watch all the parts.
