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

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• Review : Lathe Joshi (2018)
• Producer : Sonali Joshi and Mangesh Joshi
• Presenter : Amol Kagne Studios, Laxman Eknathrao Kagne and Amol Laxman Kagne
• Director : Mangesh Joshi
• Screenplay : Mangesh Joshi
• Star Cast : Chittaranjan Giri, Ashwini Giri, Om Bhutkar, Seva Chauhan & Shrikant Yadav
• Review by : Abhay Salvi

Rating : 4.5/5

Lathe Joshi Review (Marathi Movie):

Lathe Joshi starts with a pin drop silence introducing Mr. Joshi & his ‘Lathe’ machine at work. Joshi’s boss calls for him & in the next scene we see Joshi & his fellow lathe workers sitting calmly, without discussing a bit about what happened in the boss’s cabin. Yet the message reaches us clearly. Their skill isn’t required any longer. Almost without a word spoken ‘Lathe Joshi’ tells what the film is all about & how it will approach the subject throughout the film.

‘Lathe Joshi’ lies strongly on it’s title character. His characteristics also define the treatment of the film. Mr. Joshi isn’t keen on confrontations, sometimes he seems to exist on such minimalist scale that the surroundings over power his existence. There are many scenes in the film where we see other characters not even noticing that he is there in the same space. Chittaranjan Giri’s performance is as unconventionally plain as it can get! A conventional actor with a conventional performance would have taken away much of the uniqueness from the film. One needs to understand that Joshi represents the subject of the film in & out, but the film still doesn’t exploit the character for the subject’s purpose, it makes us believe in Joshi throughout.

The film deals with the changing (or rather changed) times. Times that are scrapping out human skill, craft as redundant in the today’s highly productive & business oriented world. Every one of us has experienced this change. The idea of having an individual impact in your work place is dying out. In the larger context it applies to every employee who went through this change. We see a younger colleague of Joshi, Mr. Shinde (Shrikant Yadav) who has managed to change with the changing times leaving behind Joshi & others who couldn’t.

In Joshi’s own family his son Dinu (Om Bhutkar) & his wife (Ashwini Giri) represent this change. And Joshi’s old blind mother represents the further transition Joshi himself would go through if he doesn’t change! The change required has very little to do with learning a newer skill which could suit the new age (as Joshi’s son repairs computers) it has more to do with the principles behind the work. Joshi’s work was his identity, his old bedridden boss proudly calls him an artist. Joshi worked for that, for his boss to embrace his skill, his art! His son represents a completely different work ethic. So does his wife (who works as a small time caterer).

Both Joshi’s son & wife are working for the outcomes alone. Eating at a fancy restaurant, buying a car, & so on. Their work is just a mean to reach new destinations every day. Unlike Joshi who’s journey & destination both were in his work. As plain as all this might sound, throughout in ‘Lathe Joshi’ there are countless humorous moments! Mainly involving Joshi’s old mother & her obsession with Television (she can’t see but she can hear!). Television too is a tool of this new world. Filled with advertisements & shows that would inspire you to keep copping up with the constantly evolving world! Dinu (Joshi’s son) keeps creating small quarrels between his grandmother & mother to keep his grandmother ‘interested’. That’s all there’s left in an old person’s life who isn’t part of the rat race in today’s world! This also is Joshi’s own future.

Mangesh Joshi the director of the film deserves credit for actualizing this film without any compromises. And of course for it’s inception in the first place too! His entire technical team too deserves credit. And of course the actors! One can’t stop but mention Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘Court’, that was the last Marathi film that truly explored the art of subtlety to it’s fullest, ‘Lathe Joshi’ too does that with great focus.

Overall:

‘Lathe Joshi’ is a film that would work for an audience who wishes to be served ‘quality’ over the ‘quantity’ of usual idea of ‘entertainment’. It’s a film that is destined be talked about for years to come, for how rare the subject it chose to the treatment & the perfection it achieved in it’s execution!

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• Movie : Lathe Joshi (2018) | लेथ जोशी
• Producer : Sonali Joshi and Mangesh Joshi
• Director : Mangesh Joshi
• Studio : Pravah Nirmitee Production and Dawn Studios
• Star Cast :
  • Chittaranjan Giri as Lathe Joshi
  • Ashwini Giri as Wife
  • Seva Chauhan as Mother
  • Om Bhutkar as Son
• Writer : Mangesh Joshi
• Sound Design : Piyush Shah
• Background Music: Sarang Kulkarni
• Cinematography (DOP) : Satyajeet Shobha Shriram
• Editor : Makrand Dambhare
• Art Director : Prashant Bidkar
• Costume : Seema Arolkar
• Presenter : Amol Kagne Studios, Laxman Eknathrao Kagne and Amol Laxman Kagne
• Associate Producer : Narendra Bhide, Nitin Vaidya and Leela Talkies
• Executive Producer : Mandar Deshpande and Nitin Ambale
• Distributor : Ankit Chandiramani
• Digital Marketing : Loki’s Studio
• Visual Promotion : Sameer Shaikh and Akash Gawli
• Publicity Stills : Shashank Bhalerao
• Publicity Design : Milind Matkar
• Chief Assistant Director : Pradeepkishor Shruti
• Genre : Drama
• Release Date : 13th July 2018

Synopsis : Machines making workers obsolete may still look like a futuristic concept, but comes true in Joshi’s life. Joshi, known as Lathe Joshi for his skilled work on lathe machine, is left jobless when the owner of the workshop has to close the business as it is incurring the loss. Lathe Joshi finds losing lathe work as losing his identity & refuses to give in to the changing times of globalization in the form of automation. But he comes to face it, even in his home, with his wife doing a catering business, his son running an electronic repair shop in the house & even with his mother, who resolves to chant 500,000 times using a chant machine. The numbers become significant over the skills. Joshi finds himself as a mere witness of the coming time when a skilled worker might become a museum exhibit.

Lathe Joshi Marathi Movie Poster/Still Photos :

Lathe Joshi Marathi Movie Trailer :

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Mangesh Joshi directorial & presented by Amol Kagne Studios, ‘Lathe Joshi‘ is an award-winning Marathi film that has impressed the audiences worldwide in different film festivals. Now it’s set to release in theaters on 13th of July. The trailer of the film is now out & gives a nice idea about the film’s subject.

In today’s continuously changing world ‘Lathe Joshi‘ tells the tale of an ordinary Lathe Machine worker ‘Joshi’ who struggles to keep up with the changing times. His mind is still invested in an old machine like ‘Lathe’. The world has moved on, it doesn’t need such old Lathe machines & neither does it need a Lathe worker.

Joshi’s son & wife have readily adapted to the change, but Joshi himself finds ‘upgrading’ difficult. He seems dumbfounded & clueless. Even spirituality has adapted to changing times, as we see Joshi’s mother taking the blessing of a distant goddess through the internet. Joshi’s boss looks at Joshi as an artist, & not just a worker. Joshi feels good about it. Maybe this implies that in the race of ‘upgrading’ we’ve lost the ‘art’ in our life!

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The modernization & technical advancement of today’s times also has affected the worker class around the world. Along with that every skill & the attachment with the tools that these workers used are all disappearing in time. This is a constant process. Mangesh Joshi directorial ‘Lathe Joshi’ tells the story of one such worker who is at the center of this change.

Amol Kagne & Lakshman Kagne are presenting this film under their banner ‘Amol Kagne Studios’ & the film is produced by ‘Pravah Productions’ & ‘Don Studios’. The film stars Chittaranjan Giri, Ashwini Giri, Uttara Baokar, Om Bhutkar in lead roles. The poster of the film was recently revealed & since then the excitement for the film among serious filmgoers is on the peak!

‘Lathe Joshi’ has been a part of around 20 International film festivals & has won 12 International awards at these festivals. The audiences have been awaiting this film from a long time ever since the positive reactions came out from Maharashtra’s premiere film festivals MAMI & PIFF. The film releases on 13^th July at a theatre near you!

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2 years ago at MAMI festival a film called “Court” was screened. It later created history. This time Lathe Joshi is a new Marathi film that is all set to premiere at this prestigious festival.

The trailer of Lathe Joshi is out & it is excitingly real. It reminds us of Court in many ways. The film has a world which revolves around the lower middle class of a worker. Mumbai city has a huge history of workers & it only makes perfect sense for such a film to be screened at Mumbai’s very own film festival “MAMI”.

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