Yet another fantastic Marathi movie! In the last few months, I have enjoyed some really good movies, and MSBB just ups the bar one more level.
Dinkar Rao Bhonsale is a middle aged, middle class Marathi manoos. He wears white formal shirts and trousers, travels by bus, and works in a bank. He buys Bombay Duck (and not the Pomfret) and waits for his arrears to come so he can buy a new shirt. His son is desperate for admission to Engineering college, but Bhonsale cannot afford the donation fees. His daughter wants to change her name to B Kala and then to a Chopra, because she finds Shashikala Bhonsale very down market. He loves to be called Baba, but the kids prefer Dad. And every South Indian and North Indian in Mumbai despises him for being a Ghaati. A typical Marathi manoos, lost in every day life, and incapable of moving in tandem with the fast moving "outsiders" in his own city.
He owns a palatial old bungalow in suburban Mumbai... When a builder eyes it, and offers Dinkar Rao an alternate bungalow in Badlapur, he refuses to move out. He wants to stay here, and he wants an apartment in the complex being built on his land. How can you non-veg fish-eating Ghaati stay in the midst of the rich vegeterian clientele, asks the builder? But Dinkar Rao is adamant. And that's when his troubles start.
From harassment by the BMC to threats and attempts on the lives of his children, will Dinkar Rao be able to fight back? Yes, he will! Because he has the support of the apparition of Shivaji and his loyal followers, who inspire and guide him to fight back, as a true Marathi manoos.
The production quality is pretty good, and for most past, doesn't feel like a movie shot on videocam (except some of the scenes of Shivaji on the horse in the city). Some of the camera angles are shots are pretty outstanding. There're a lot of laughs sprinkled around throughout the movie. The cast is perfect - every character an absolute perfect caricature of people you will meet and interact with every day. Sachin Khedekar does a fantastic job. Mahesh Manjrekar is good as Shivaji, though on close ups, he looks a little drunk and sleep deprived. Makarand Anaspure is fast proving himself to be the king of comedy in Mollywood. And as the daughter, Priya Bapat does a great job, and also lights up the screen whenever she's there!
The movie is a perfect rebuke to the antics of the MNS and other self-styled champions of the Marathi manoos. It has a serious social message, and yet, provides all the thrills and the entertainment of typical comemrcial cinema. One particular scene packs a lot of punch - when Dinkar Rao complains to Shivaji about outsiders, Shivaji retorts back, "Who asked you not to open hotels? Who asked you not to send your kids to IAS? Why do you take so much pride saying "amchi kuthech shakha nahin"?".
Should definitely make some people think...
I'm not a Marathi manoos, and I have no opinions to offer about them (at least not on this blog :)), but I enjoyed the movie, and I would highly recommend it to everyone else... as long as you can understand a bit of Marathi!
2 comments:
First off, I must say that the movie really shook my notions about Regional Cinema - overall production quality was superb.. no less than a Munna Bhai..
Coming to the story and the concept of the movie, I think that the script made a very interesting shift from "marathi manoos" to being a "Maharashtra resident", thus staying very diplomatic, however not compromising on its core message.. I wont get into that though. I think you've explained it pretty well in your post.
I must add however, towards the end I think the movie turned a little dramatic, with talwars and the killings.. Worth a watch though.. Surprisingly interesting..
The movie considers any1 living in Maharashtra as Maharashtrian- but provided that such person is loyal to Maharashtra, is respecting Maharashtrian culture and language and is well-versed in the same, and ofcourse- is NOT supporting vote bank politics of Lalu-Mulayam-Amar Singh types.
So even by this movie's criteria, most of the bhaiyyas migrated to Maharashtra will not qualify as Maharashtrians :)
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