2018 has been a splendid year for Marathi cinema! The great cinema was made last year too, but the audiences didn’t quite respond towards it! This year the audiences have wholeheartedly loved Marathi cinema & the box-office has boomed tremendously especially in the second half of 2018! So here’s our list of top 10 Marathi films of the year! Films that are high on quality as well have clicked with the audiences!

10. Mumbai Pune Mumbai 3
Our Rating: 3.5/5

The third part of the franchise mixed up the best of the previous two films very skillfully! It had the lighthearted fun tone of the first film & the serious dramatic undertone from the second film. Swapnil Joshi & Mukta Barve both had flawless chemistry as always!

Read our full review here

9. Redu
Our Rating: 3.5/5

Editor turned director Sagar Vanjari re-introduced the sweetness of ‘Malvani’ language & culture to the audiences, throughout enthralling us by the simplicity of this film. The film ended on such an unexpected yet beautiful point that it redefined the whole film & made us think after the film for a long time!

8. Aapla Manus
Our Rating: 4/5

The second Satish Rajwade film in our list after MPM 3! Nana Patekar’s surprise double role, the performances of the rest of the solid cast that included Sumit Raghavan & Irawati Harshe & the overall strength of the story made ‘Aapla Manus’ one of the most exciting films of the year! The idea of a suspense thriller was pushed to its limits rewarding the audiences in the end with an altogether unexpected twist.

Read our full review here

7. Pimpal
Our Rating: 4/5

Gajendra Ahire’s most simplistically beautiful film of all time! Dilip Prabhawalkar’s heartfelt performance connects us with the film almost instantly & we feel like we know this old man in real life. The film was a beautiful love letter to loneliness & how old age makes any stiff man become tender about his memories & the people who were most dear to him!

Read our full review here

6. Nude
Our Rating: 4/5

Ravi Jadhav’s magnum opus! Every frame of this film was like a painting! Probably the most visually stunning film made in Marathi ever! At the same time the film dealt with a very deep subject that dealt with the tragedy of a single uneducated mother fighting against the world. ‘Nude’ also had a philosophical subtext regarding ‘art’ & how it’s perceived by society.

Read our full review here

5. Maska
Our Rating: 4.5/5

Priyadarshan Jadhav’s debut film as a director was the most unexpectedly entertaining film of the year! Never have we ever seen a better ‘genre’ comedy in Marathi cinema. The performances of the cast that included Aniket Vishwasrao, Shashank Shende, Prarthana Behere, Pranav Raorane & Chinmay Mandlekar were equally brilliant & brought life into the quirky fun script! In years to come ‘Maska’ is destined to be an iconic Marathi film that will be enjoyed by the audiences repeatedly!

Read our full review here

4. Gulabjaam
Our Rating: 4.5/5

Sachin Kundalkar’s passion for food was seen in ‘Vazandar’ before but in ‘Gulabjaam’ he glamorized Maharashtrian food like never before! But beyond that the film’s strength was it’s emotional core & the chemistry between the characters played by Sonali Kulkarni & Siddharth Chandekar. ‘Gulabjaam’ had the right blend of Kundalkar’s avant-garde sensibilities & his love for ‘youthful’ mainstream cinema!

Read our full review here

3. Lathe Joshi
Our Rating: 4.5/5

A subtle masterpiece by debutant director Mangesh Joshi. A film that demands patience from the audiences & in return it rewards them with a completely original cinematic experience. A film that garnered praise all around the world at different festivals but didn’t quite receive a similar response upon its theatrical release here. Hopefully ,the film will pass the test of time & slowly the audiences would re-discover it some way.

Read our full review here

2. Chumbak
Our Rating: 5/5

A film presented by super star Akshay Kumar! He was so much in love with the film after watching it that that he wanted to be associated with it without expecting any returns! The film took the children film genre to an altogether new level in Marathi cinema. Popular lyricist & singer Swanand Kirkire gave a performance of a lifetime in this film & was equally supported by the rest of the teenage cast.

Read our full review here

1. Naal
Our Rating: 5/5

The Nagraj Manjule magic again worked! This time as producer & actor! However ,the real star of the film was the little kid Shrinivas Pokhale who gave the performance of the year! The audiences were throughout at the edge of the seat while watching this emotional journey of a little boy who discovers the meaning of the motherhood through it. Director Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti explored the larger meaning of birth & death too in a very organic & non-pretentious yet artistic way!

Read our full review here

Honourable Mentions:
Farzand – 3.5/5
Amhi Doghi – 3.5/5
Take Care Good Night – 3/5
Ani..Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar – 3/5
Mulshi Pattern – 3/5
Cycle – 3/5
Mantra – 3/5
Youngraad – 3/5

The post Top 10 Marathi Films of 2018 appeared first on MarathiStars.

• Review : Aapla Manus (2018)
• Producer : Watergate Marathi Motion Pictures, Nana Patekar & Arun Kupte
• Studio : Ajay Devgan FFilms, Watergate Marathi Motion Pictures, Shree Gajanan Chitra, Viacom Motion Pictures
• Director : Satish Rajwade
• Star Cast : Nana Patekar, Irawati Harshe & Sumeet Raghavan
• Story & Screenplay : Vivek Bele
• Review By : Abhay Salvi

Rating : 4/5

Aapla Manus Marathi Movie Review:

One of the most essential qualities of theatre is the freedom of being a set up; a game and henceforth called a ‘play’. The characters are participants in a game & not necessarily as completely relatable humans. So many a times a game has its own set of rules which shouldn’t be thought of in a literal sense by the audiences. Vivek Bele the writer of ‘Aapla Manus’ has created such a game in the original play ‘Katkon Trikon’ (from which this film is adapted) & also in ‘Aapla Manus’. Nana Patekar’s Inspector Maruti Nagargoje is one such ‘game’ defining character who shouldn’t be analysed in the literal logical sense. His conflicts, interests & purpose are all artificially created to serve a bigger purpose in the story & the things the film wishes to say.

Nana Patekar plays a double role in the film, one that is revealed from the very beginning (& hence not a spoiler!). An exact opposite of Inspector Nagargoje; in terms of the social-economical background, this character of an old man is the subject of the ‘game’ while Nagargoje is the most important player of the game. Now Nana Patekar has smoothly gone under the skin of Inspector Nagargoje; a character he literally owns throughout! But the other character which also has a lot of screen time doesn’t go well with Nana. Imagine Dr. Shreeram Lagoo playing A.K. Hangal but more animated & hysterical. However after some time we get used to Nana’s antics here, also because we never see him constantly in that character. As any regular murder mystery drama that explores different perspectives of the same incident in bits & parts we keep meeting the old Nana alternately.

Both Irawati Harshe & Sumeet Raghavan are perfectly casted in their parts & they match (& sometimes even overshadow) Nana throughout. Especially Irawati Harshe who plays an extremely delicate character which could’ve easily been a stereotype, but she makes her human. A modern day woman who doesn’t believe that confronting your elders is a sin. A maths teacher by profession & a Mathematics gold medal winner in her past who brings her theory of ‘Katkon Trikon’ (Right Angled Triangle) as an analogy to explain the relations between her, her husband & her father-in-law. The play was titled ‘Katkon Trikon’ based on this very theory, however ‘Aapla Manus’ is a more suitable title of the film as it represents the larger film defining theory or philosophy.

Nana’s Nagargoje does something really important throughout the tensed, serious & dramatic moments in the film. His tongue-in-cheek humour keeps lightening up the film throughout. In parts such as these the film’s dialogues are sharp & effective but some other times they are really bland. However the second half gets our complete attention & we don’t really notice the dialogues. We are too much in the narrative of the film. The narrative keeps playing with our emotions like an orchestra master who keeps controlling the instrument players constantly.

‘Aapla Manus’ ends on a morally important note, that might appear preachy to some. But after what we’ve gone through it makes complete sense. Yes there are logical flaws at a few instances if one tries to analyse the incidents, behaviours in a literal-logical way. But if one perceives this as a ‘game’ that was played for a purpose, both the ‘game’ & the purpose makes a powerful emotional connect. However the omnipresent flaws in every Satish Rajwade directorial are present here too. Whether it’s serial like blocking, framing, the make-up of artists & the production design all of it. But somehow they don’t pollute the film mainly because this film belongs more to the writer, & the actors than the director.

Overall:

‘Aapla Manus’ is perfect family entertainment that will hold the audiences throughout & would emotionally satisfy them, extending the feeling for hours after watching the film.

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Nana Patekar’s next film ‘Aapla Manus’ has been awaited as the biggest Marathi film of 2018! Produced by none other than Ajay Devgn & directed by ‘Ti Saddhya Kay Karte’ fame Satish Rajwade ‘Aapla Manus’ is a suspense thriller that also stars Sumeet Raghvan & Irawati Harshe alongside Nana.

Nana Patekar has don many hats as an actor playing different characters for many years in both Hindi & Marathi film, but still his ‘Crime Branch Inspector Maruti Nagargoje’ looks completely new & Nana also adopts different mannerism for this role which we have never seen before!

Satish Rajwade the director of this film is mostly known for his romantic entertainers like ‘Mumbai Pune Mumbai’ series, ‘Premachi Goshta’ & ‘Ti Saddhya Kay Karte’. But he has also directed a thriller film called ‘Gair’ & suspense serials like ‘Agnihotra’ & ‘Asambhav’. Another interesting aspect about the film is its title ‘Aapla Manus’! What exactly does the title mean? In terms of the murder mystery in the film, will be fun to explore in theatres.

The post Aapla Manus Teaser: Nana Patekar in a Never Seen Before Role! appeared first on MarathiStars.

Many Hindi actors have produced & even acted in Marathi films in recent times. Ajay Devgn too is one of them now! Few months back this film was announced & now with a special video through his official Facebook handle Superstar Ajay Devgn has even announced the release date of the film which is 9^th February 2018!

The film stars Nana Patekar, Sumeet Raghavan & Iravati Harshe in important roles. The film is directed by ‘Ti Saddhya Kay Karte’ fame director Satish Rajwade. It would be interesting to see what would be the subject & theme of the film! Moreover we can also expect a special appearance from Ajay Devgn himself in the film.

Ajay Devgan is married to Kajol & Kajol is a Maharashtrian from her mother’s side. Her mother ‘Tanuja’ was a leading actress of yesteryears & has also acted in Marathi films. So it’s good to see Ajay Devgn exploring the ‘Marathi’ influence on him & that too by producing a Marathi film.

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• Movie : Aapla Manus (2018) | आपला माणूस
• Producer : Watergate Marathi Motion Pictures, Nana Patekar & Arun Kupte
• Director : Satish Rajwade
• Studio : Ajay Devgan FFilms, Watergate Marathi Motion Pictures, Shree Gajanan Chitra, Viacom Motion Pictures
• Presented By : Sudhanshu Vats, Ajit Andhare & Nikhil Sane
• Star Cast :
  • Nana Patekar
  • Sumeet Raghavan
  • Iravati Harshe
  • Ajay Devgn in Special Apperance
• Story : Vivek Bele
• Screenplay :  Vivek Bele
• Dialogues : Vivek Bele
• Sound Design : Sunil Agarwal
• Background Music : Sameer Phaterpekar
• Cinematography (DOP) : Suhas Gujrati
• Editor : Rahul Bhatnakar
• Art Director : AparnaRaina
• Costumes : Pallavi Rajwade
• Co – Producers : Abhinav Shuklaa, Manish Mishra, Govind Goyal & Rohit Chaudhary (Bahul)
• Vizual Promotion : Just Right Studios
• Executive Producer : Ashish Chauhan, Kanchan Marathe
• Genre : Drama
• Release Date :  9^th February 2018

Synopsis : A young couple, living with the man’s father, already struggles to draw a balance between the pressures of urban life and the complexity of relationships when an unexpected incident makes them re-evaluate their beliefs about their life and family.

Aapla Manus Marathi Movie Photos, Poster :

Aapala Manus Marathi Movie Trailer:

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