Review: Bhaai – Vyakti Ki Valli (Part 2)
Cast: Sagar Deshmukh, Irawati Harshe, Shubhangi Damle, Vijay Kenkre, Swanand Kirkire, Ajay Purkar, Padmanabh Bind, Veena Jamkar, Sarang Sathaye, Vikram Gaikwad, Girish Kulkarni, Sunil Barve, Neena Kulkarni, Deepti Lele & others.
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Screenplay: Ganesh Matkari
Dialogues: Ratnakar Matkari

Quick Viewpoint: Bhaai Part 2 maintains a similar tone to the first part & overall feels like a soothing emotionally subtle take on the journey of Maharashtra’s most loved writer & a great icon.

What Works? 

• Just like in the first part Sagar Deshmukh & Irawati Harshe excel in their parts as Pu La & Sunita Bai respectively. But the standout performer of this film is Shubhangi Damle who plays the older version of Sunita Bai. She doesn’t simply look very similar to the real Sunita Bai but also creates a direct emotional connect through her subtle performance. Of course some credit in her performance also goes to Irawati Harshe as her voice has been used throughout for Sunita Bai’s character.
• The cameos are less here compared to the first part but they are even more long lasting in our mind. The most effective ones being of Neena Kulkarni as Vijaya Mehta & Vikram Gaikwad as Vijay Tendulkar. Vijay Tendulkar being an equally great writer, his sensibilities were completely opposite to that of Pu La’s & yet the film manages to understand & respect both the sides without making a competition out of it!
• Pu La’s equation with Baba Amte & his work tells us who Pu La really was as a human being. In one of the crucial moments of the film we see Sunita Bai arguing with Pu La on her decision of not having a child. The film uses the already established traits of Pu La’s character to join dots in this scene, to make us understand Pu La & Sunita Bai in an emotionally logical way!
• The musical ‘Maiphil’ that was the highlight of the first part also has a beautiful rendition in this part. Kumar Gandharva played by Swanand Kirkire is the main element in this ‘Maiphil’ & Swanand Kirkire manages to make us believe that Kumar Ji has become weaker in his old age & yet in spirit has the same passion for music & his friends.
• Balasaheb Thackeray’s ‘dictatorial’ persona has been carry forwarded from his biopic to this film! But the film knowingly presents Pu La’s side to the actual incident that happened between the two (when Pu La was awarded Maharashtra Bhushan). This & another incident with another politician visiting Pu La has been used effectively to show why Pu La was considered a socially aware writer who called a spade a spade!
• The flow of the film is again very smooth as the first part. The film shouldn’t be judged as a story oriented film because it’s more about the little moments that the film displays & while doing so it paints a very believable picture of Pu La Deshpande & the life he lived.

What Fails? 

• Girish Kulkarni’s cameo as ‘Barkya’ a character similar to ‘Babdu’ from Pu La’s ‘Vyakti Ani Valli’ just doesn’t make the necessary emotional connect with a character that originally had a very powerful & disturbing impact. Girish Kulkarni usually a very brilliant actor, here seems to be caricaturing his own self seen in some of his recent roles in films like ‘Jaundya Na Balasaheb’, ‘Faster Fene’ or the cameo in ‘Boys 2’.

Final Verdict: ‘Bhaai – Vyakti Ki Valli’ part 1 & 2 altogether stand out in the crowd of many biopic films in both Hindi & Marathi for it’s light hearted & emotionally subtle approach that both entertains & enthrals the audiences.

Rating: 4/5

The post Bhaai – Vyakti Ki Valli (Part 2) Review: Emotionally Subtle yet Impactful appeared first on MarathiStars.

• Review: Dhappa (2019)
• Cast: Akash Kamble, Sharavi Kulkarni, Akshay Yadav, Sharv Vadhavekar, Shrihari Abhyankar, Dipali Borkar, Abhijit Shinde, Neel Deshpande, Vrushali Kulkarni, Iravati Harshe, Sunil Barve, Girish Kulkarni, Shrikant Yadav, Umesh Jagtap, Jyoti Subhash & Chandrakant Kale.
• Director: Nipun Dharmadhikari
• Writer: Girish Kulkarni

Quick Viewpoint: On Paper ‘Dhappa’ might sound like a bland message driven film. While in reality too the film has a very vital message to give, but beyond that it has built it’s own little world so beautifully & playfully that we are throughout hooked with it’s sweetness that lasts longer even after the film is over.

What Works? 

• Nipun Dharmadhikari the director of the film, whose first released film was ‘Baapjanma‘ actually made his debut as a film director with ‘Dhappa’. He has been directing plays for many years & that experience must have certainly shaped even the film director in him. The reason for pointing out all of this is the fact that the whole ensemble of children in this film are so masterfully directed! None of the kids ever appear fake on camera even for a moment! Even the adult renown actors in the film are functioning at a different wavelength here than their usual performances, a wavelength which matches the tone of the film which doesn’t believe in any extremities!
• As said earlier the film succeeds mainly because of it’s world, which is so directly connected to the real world & yet it is distant from it. In a way it thinks a bit wishfully while dealing with real world conflicts! This approach is what sets this film apart from films that could be similar in structure.
• In ‘Baapjanma’ there was a major sequence of an dying old man capturing moments from his son & daughter living in his house through secretly fitted hidden cameras. Here you see someone documenting the little moments that happen when children & their teacher set up a play & perform in front of their colony. The point is that Nipun’s fascination with capturing life in an unassumingly unpolished yet intimate way is evident! There’s something so positively unartistic about it in a non-pretentious way that makes us call it ‘simplistic’!
• Girish Kulkarni’s writing is also totally different from other films produced under the banner of ‘Arbhaat’. Many a times Girish Kulkarni & Umesh Kulkarni’s films can be slightly inaccessible to the general audiences. ‘Dhappa‘ isn’t that film! It would appeal to varied audiences in an equally effective way!
• Finally last but not the least the message! The message doesn’t separate itself like the ‘moral’ of the story is easily separated from a children’s story. The film can’t happen without the message being underlined & that defines how it is essentially the film itself! But what exactly is it? I would recommend you watch the film for it! But yes I could say the message is extremely timely when thought about our current social & political situation.

What Fails?

• Nothing really fails in ‘Dhappa’ but either consciously or unconsciously the structure of the film is similar to ‘Chillar Party’. But then one can say even Chillar Party’s structure wasn’t completely original.

Final Verdict: ‘Dhappa‘ won a national award for the best film on ‘National Integration’ a value that has been slightly on the backseat in our society & in our mainstream films! For rediscovering that alone, ‘Dhappa’ is a must watch!

Rating: 4/5

The post Dhappa Movie Review: A Simplistic Beautiful Film Delivering A Timely Message! appeared first on MarathiStars.

The first part of the Pu La Deshpande biopic ‘Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli‘ entertained the audiences thoroughly! Giving them a fun light-hearted entertainer! The second part that releases on 8th February seems more emotional as it seems to cover many serious events that happened in Pu La’s life.

The trailer also puts light on how Pu La became familiar with theatre in a big way. This was the phase where Pu La changed the history of Marathi theatre with his one man show! He is also known to be the first stand up comedian in Marathi! Though his style of stand up comedy was different than what we see now.

Along with the many legends that Pu La met in his life as shown in the first film. Here too we are introduced to many such legends like the great writer Vijay Tendulkar (Vikram Gaikwad), Bhakti Barve (Deepti Lele) & Vijaya Mehta (Madhura Velankar-Satam). Just like the first part this film too has beautiful music! Along with Sagar Deshmukh & Irawati Harshe Pu La & Sunita Bai are also played by Vijay Kendre & Shubhangi Damle in the final act of their life!

The post Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Part 2 Trailer: More Eventful & More Emotional! appeared first on MarathiStars.

Review: Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli (Purvardh)
Cast: Sagar Deshmukh, Irawati Harshe, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Padmanabh Bind, Ajay Purkar, Swanand Kirkire, Veena Jamkar, Sunil Barve, Satish Alekar, Sarang Sathaye, Deepti Lele, Sagar Talashikar, Vidyadhar Joshi & Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Writer: Ganesh Matkari & Ratnakar Matkari

Quick Viewpoint: Bhaai – Purvardh is a refreshingly simplistic biopic. It needs to be judged in totality after the second part comes out, but as of now the first part makes us fall in love with Pu La – the human being all over again!

What Works?

• It doesn’t follow a set pattern of the three act structure & hence it ends up being very unique on narrative level. It strongly believes that no artificially added drama is required for this film, & designs itself considering the full of life personality of Pu La!
• Sagar Deshmukh is perfectly casted as Pu La & his natural sweetness makes the performance even more authentic & lovable. Irawati Harshe as Sunita Bai too is equally perfect! The actual age difference between the two actors is never evident on screen.
• Even if there isn’t any artificially created drama, there’s one emotionally solid sequence in the film that humanizes (to errr is human) the character of Bhaai as seen from Sunita Bai’s perspective.
• Mahesh Manjrekar is a brand of its own. His films usually have certain traits that have his directorial style imprinted on it. But in ‘Bhaai’ the director is invisible in a good way. The content seems to dictate the style of the film more than the director imposing his own style.
• ‘Bhaai’ has a sweet light hearted romance (of course between Pu La and Sunita Bai) like the way we used to see in the old Hrishikesh Mukherjee – Basu Chatterjee movies!
• ‘Bhaai’ focuses less on the professional career of Pu La as a writer & artist & more on his personal life & the people in his life, hence for those unfamiliar (say the non-regional audiences) with Pu La’s works it might not work as a informative film about the writer! Yet the viewer would instantly connect with the character & get interested in his antics!

What Fails?

• Not really a failure but there’s a long song where we see Kumar Gandharva (played by Swanand Kirkire), Vasantrao Deshpande (Padmanabh Bind), Bhimsen Joshi (Ajay Purkar) & Pu La performing ‘Savare Ay Jaiyyo’ & ‘Kanada Raja Pandharicha’ in an intimate personal ‘Mehfil’. This song comes by the end of the film. As audiences we are completely blown away by it, it feels like a real concert & hence it makes the narrative (before in the second half) slightly fade away from our memory. We forget we were watching a film!

Final Verdict: The second part of the film releases in February, which seems to capture the phenomenon of Pu La the famous ‘artist’ more specifically, this first part is more about Pu La – the human & his way of life. The film captures his human essence exactly in the way his humor used to be, full of life loving sweetness!

Rating: 4/5 

The post Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli (Purvardh) Review: A Biopic Overflowing with Sweetness! appeared first on MarathiStars.

• Movie : Dhappa (2019) | धप्पा
• Producer : Sumatilal Shah
• Director : Nipun Dharmadhikari
• Studio : Wishberry Films and Ink Tales
• Star Cast :
  • Akash Kamble as Suhrad Sharangpani
  • Sharavi Kulkarni as Sharavi
  • Akshay Yadav as Chetan Patil
  • Sharv Vadhavekar as Mihir
  • Shrihari Abhyankar as Rutvik
  • Dipali Borkar as Dipali
  • Abhijit Shinde as Dasharath Suryvanshi
  • Neel Deshpande as Aditya
  • Vrushali Kulkarni as Anuradha Devdhar
  • Iravati Harshe as Vrunda Sharangpani
  • Sunil Barve as Makarand Devdhar
  • Girish Kulkarni as Prabhakar Sharangpani
  • Shrikant Yadav as Patil
  • Umesh Jagtap as Bhau
  • Jyoti Subhash as Mohite Aaji
  • Chadrakant Kale as Soman Kaka
• Story : Girish Pandurang Kulkarni
• Screenplay and Dialogues :
• Singers : Avani Bhat, Rugvaed Inamdar, SHalmali Kholgade and Lakshya Bhatanagar
• Lyrics : Vaibhav Joshi
• Sound Recordist : Anil Radhakrishnan
• Sound Design : Anthony B Jayaruban
• Music : Gandhaar
• Background Music : Gandhaar
• Cinematography (DOP) : Swapnil Sonawane
• Editor : Suchitra Sathe
• Costume : Kalyani Kulkarni-Gugle
• Presenter : Arbhaat Films
• Production Design : Satyajit Deshpande
• Co-Producer : Girish Pandurang Kulkarni and Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
• Visual Promotions : Just Right Studioz NX
• Stills : Abhijeet Chaudhari
• Genre : Drama
• Release Date : 1st February 2019

Synopsis : A motley bunch of children living in an urban housing society join hands to rise beyond discrimination and religious bigotry to do what is right. Winner of the National Award for Best Film on National Integration, Dhappa is an uplifting tale that is of great relevance in contemporary times.

Dhappa Marathi Movie Poster/Photos :

Dhappa Marathi Movie Trailer :

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• Movie : Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli (2019) | भाई – व्यक्ती की वल्ली
• Producer : Mahesh Manjrekar, Avinash Ahaley, Vaibhav Pandit, Mahesh Patel and Virendra Upadhye
• Directer : Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar
• Studio :Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Mahesh Manjrekar Movies
• Star Cast :
  • Sagar Deshmukh as Pu La Deshpande
  • Iravati Harshe
  • Mrunmayee Deshpande
  • Sachin Khedekar
  • Deepti Lele
  • Dalip Tahil
  • Saksham Kulkarni
• Story : NA
• Screenplay : Ganesh Matkari
• Dialogues : Ratnakar Matkari
• Music : Ajit Parab
• Lyrics : NA
• Singers : NA
• Background Music : Sameer Mhatre
• Cinematography (DOP) : Karan B. Rawat
• Editor : Abhijeet Deshpande
• Art Director : Prashant Rane
• Action Director : NA
• Costume : Prutha Manjrekar
• Make-Up : Vikram Gaikwad
• Choreography : NA
• DI and Sound : Vikrant Studios Pvt Ltd
• Mixing Engineer (Vikrant Studios) : S. K. Agarwal
• DI Colorist (Vikrant Studios) : Nirmal Sharma
• Visual Promotion : Just Right Studioz NX
• Creative Producer : Amol Parchure
• Associate Director : Sudesh Manjrekar
• Group CEO and Managing Director (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Sudhanshu Vats
• COO (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Ajit Andhare
• Business Head (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Nikhil Sane
• Sales and Distribution (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Neeraj Goswamy
• Revenues International (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Gayatri Gulati
• Executive Producer (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Vishakha Joshi
• Marketing (Viacom18 Motion Pictures) : Kishor Varma, Sneha Shrikant
• Genre  : Drama
• Release Date : 4th January 2019

Synopsis : The film is based on the life of Purushottam Lakshman Deshpande popularly known by his initials “Pu. La.” or as P. L. Deshpande, a Marathi writer and humorist from Maharashtra, India. The film chronicles the multifaceted life of the stalwart Marathi writer with unparalleled talent and ability to connect with the common man through his narrative style Katha Kathan.

Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Marathi Movie Poster / Still Photos

Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Marathi Movie Teaser 1 :

Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Marathi Movie Teaser 2 :

Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Marathi Movie Trailer :

The post Bhai – Vyakti Ki Valli (2019) – Marathi Movie appeared first on MarathiStars.

Bhai – Vyakti Kee Valli, the Pu La Deshpande biopic directed by Mahesh Manjrekar has created a new record even before hitting the theatres! While we have had sequels in Marathi cinema, but it’s the first time in Marathi cinema that a film will be releasing in two parts in the same time period. The first part of ‘Bhai – Vyakti Kee Valli’ – Purvardh will be releasing on 4th January 2019 & the next part will release after a month on 8th February!

Popular film critic turned screenwriter Ganesh Matkari who has written the screenplay of ‘Bhaai..’ revealed that it wasn’t decided from the beginning that the film will release in two parts but they had the idea that the length of the film would be longer. Later the decision of releasing the film in two parts was taken by the team of the film that also includes the production house ‘Viacom 18 Motion Pictures’ who are presenting the film.

Interestingly the last Indian film that was released in two parts ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ was also presented by ‘Viacom 18 Motion Pictures’! The makers took this decision as they didn’t want to omit any chapter from Pu La’s life! Pu La fans too will be treated with two films on Pu La that too back to back within the period of one month!

Along with that ‘Bhaai..’ is also the first Indian ‘biopic’ film to be released in two parts! With this decision one thing can be said about Marathi cinema that it believes in it’s content so much that it can break general norms associated with the genre of that film! Sagar Deshmukh will be seen playing Pu La in the film & there are many other actors in important roles in the film.

The post Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli is the First Marathi Film to Release in Two Parts appeared first on MarathiStars.

Maharashtra’s most loved writer, a cultural icon Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, aka Pu La Deshpande aka P.L. Deshpande aka Bhaai will soon be re-appearing on the silver screen! Just like his so many names Pu La had many talents! From being a writer, humorist, actor, dramatist, musician & beyond all an individual full of joy who brought joy to everyone who came in contact with him!

The Pu La Deshpande biopic is now all set to hit theatres this new year in 2019 on 4th Jan! Written by Ratnakar Matkari & Ganesh Matkari, directed by Mahesh Manjrekar & starring Sagar Deshmukh as Pu La along with a brigade of 70 other actors from Iravati Harshe, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Sachin Khedekar, Deepti Lele, Dalip Tahil, Saksham Kulkarni & others.

The interesting news is that this biopic will be released in two parts! The first part ‘Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli – Purvardh‘ is releasing on 4th of Jan 2019 & the second part will be releasing on 8th February! The trailer of the first part suggests us that the journey from Pu La’s childhood, to his younger days & the time when he got married would be covered in this!

The highlight of this trailer is the relationship between Pu La & Sunita Bai! While Sunita Bai is known as the lifelong partner of Pu La, there’s some complexity in Pu La’s married life as evident in the trailer! Not many people must be knowing about it & hence it would be interesting to see it unfold in the film!

The post Bhaai – Vyakti Kee Valli Trailer: A Joyful Life that Brought Joy to All appeared first on MarathiStars.

If Maharashtra ever had to decide on one essential icon to represent our culture & art, I doubt if any other name other than Purushottam Laxman Deshpande would come up! Such is his everlasting impact on us! Today we are celebrating Pula’s 100th Birthday just as we celebrated when he existed among us, but doesn’t he still exist among us? This year we are being gifted by a special gift & that is a biopic on Pu La Deshpande!

‘Bhai – Vyakti Ki Valii’ is the title of the film which is directed by Mahesh Manjrekar & the screenplay of the film is written by popular film critic turned writer Ganesh Matkari & the dialogues are written by senior writer Ratnakar Matkari who had worked on Pula’s writings many times in theatre! Everyone was excited to see who plays the role of Pula in this biopic. Sagar Deshmukh of ‘YZ’ fame seems to fit the part perfectly as evident from the teaser. Moreover, the film also stars a brigade of stars that include Iravati Harshe, Hrishikesh Joshi, Deepti Lele & others.

‘Bhai – Vyakti Ki Valli’ is set to release on 4th Jan! The film is produced by Mahesh Manjrekar Movies & Phalke’s Factory & is being presented by ‘Viacom 18 Motion Pictures’. The teaser of the film was also released with Viacom’s big Diwali release ‘Ani..Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar’ today in theatres & reports have come that the teaser has got the tremendous response from the live theatre audiences!

The post Bhai Vyakti Ki Valli Teaser: A Gift For Pula Fans on his 100th Birthday appeared first on MarathiStars.

• Review : Take Care Good Night (Tc Gn)
• Producer : Mahesh Manjrekar & Himanshu Patil
• Director : Girish Joshi
• Screenplay : Girish Joshi
• Star Cast : Sachin Khedekar, Iravati Harshe, Adinath Kothare, Perna Pethe & Mahesh Manjrekar
• Review by : Abhay Salvi

Rating : 3/5

Take Care Good Night Review (Marathi Movie):

There are quite a few issues with Girish Joshi’s ‘Take Care Good Night’, some of them affect the film more adversely while some don’t but altogether ‘Take Care Good Night’ is a good film that deals with modern day parenting & the world of cyber crime.

Our recent films involving youth have made genuine efforts to figure out how exactly should we portray teenage-early 20s youth in our films. The communication gap between these youth & their parents has been a common theme of some recent Marathi films & successfully these films have managed to make their points. Take Care Good Night too belongs to this type. It succeeds in cracking the ‘gap’ part & the perspective of the parents but when it comes figuring out the youth, it only scratches the surface & nothing from beneath comes out.

The film builds up the conflict very effectively (even with the errors) in the first half & continues even better in the beginning of the second half, but at a sudden point we are welcomed by some interesting humour. We don’t mind it. Mahesh Manjrekar as the cyber cell cop is adorable from the word go & the tongue & cheek humour goes well with his character. The problem arises when the film itself deals with the conflict in a casual manner disregarding the seriousness it maintained from the beginning. This sudden change of tone & the abrupt conflict resolution affects the overall film adversely. The well known ‘second half syndrome’ most of the times concerns the conflict resolution as it does in this case.

However there are lots of things that work in favour of the film & are new to our audiences. The film has great potential to work with the modern day urban families as it will be extremely relatable, both from the lifestyle, cultural identification factor to the idea of a sudden financial crisis. The casualness or ease with which the conflict is resolved & the way it is looked at in hindsight by the characters harms the film. If that issue wasn’t there ‘Take Care Good Night’ could have been one of the must watch Marathi films of the year.

Girish Joshi is one of the seasoned & respected Marathi writers around. His direction too is smooth. There was certainly more scope to portray the youth characters in more depth & breaking the shackles that they are put in usually by our films. The performances are fine from the ensemble cast. After having a terrific 2017, Sachin Khedekar has created an aura around him of being exceptionally good & subtly perfect. This performance might not stand out as one of his bests but still he is very good. In the beginning we don’t find his performance believable but quickly he convinces us that this person exists. Irawati Harshe has a lot of screen time but doesn’t really get moments to shine, her character remains slightly lesser important. Mahesh Manjrekar & Perna Pethe stand out as the real performers who impress! Manjrekar was last seen as a cop in ‘Rege’, here he is equally effective yet completely different! Adinath Kothare too fits the character & does good job.

Overall:

‘Take Care Good Night’ definitely deserves one watch from our audiences most importantly for understanding what the film has to say. Today’s parents have to understand the need of communication & so does today’s youth & of course for the cyber crime issue.

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