Actor Sagar Deshmukh known for Mahesh Manjrekar’s ‘Bhaai – Vyakti Ki Valli’ and Hindi film ‘Hunterr’ has joined the cast of Mohit Takalkar’s ‘Medium Spicy’. The film produced by Vidhi Kasliwal of Landmarc Films also stars Sai Tamhankar, Lalit Prabhakar and Parna Pethe.

This is the fourth film that Sagar is doing with Sai Tamhankar after Hunterrr, YZ and Girlfriend. Confirmed Producer Vidhi, “Yes, Sagar is part of the Medium Spicy ensemble and we are so happy to have him on board. Medium Spicy has a mélange of many interesting characters and Sagar’s character is an integral part of the story.”

After playing writer P L Deshpande in Manjrekar’s film, Sagar is currently seen playing the titular role of Babasaheb Ambedkar in a TV series based on Dr. Ambedkar’s life. Medium Spicy is touted to be an urban tale of relationships and the shooting of the film is almost complete. While Mohit Takalkar is known for his award-winning works in theatre, Vidhi Kasliwal is known for producing commercial films with strong content. The coming together of these two surely makes Medium Spicy one of the films to look forward to.

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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

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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!

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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 

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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 :

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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.

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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!

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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!

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12th of June is remembered as a sad day in Maharashtra’s history. Today is the day when Maharashtra’s most celebrated cultural icon, the great writer-actor-humorist-musician-playwright-director & more importantly a great human being Pu La Deshpande left this world. Yesterday the announcement of a Pu La Deshpande biopic was made at an event in Worli, Mumbai!

While the names of the artists & actors associated with the film were kept under wraps before the event, the news was disclosed at the event slowly! The film is a joint venture between Great Maratha Entertainment, Mahesh Manjrekar Movies & Phalke’s Factory & is to be directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The film was officially announced by MNS Chief Raj Thackeray who was present at the event as the guest of honor.

Mahesh Manjrekar revealed the entire team of the film starting from the writers; senior writer Ratnakar Matkari as the dialogue writer, Ratnakar Matkari’s son film critic & writer Ganesh Matkari as the screenplay writer & music director Ajit Parab. While the lead cast of the film was also revealed at the event in the same get up of the characters they would portray in the film.

Actor Sagar Deshmukh (known for his lead performance in ‘YZ’) will be portraying Pu La Deshpande in the film! And he looked perfect for the part in that get up designed by the popular makeup artist Vikram Gaikwad. The role of Sunita Deshpande wife of Pu La, is being played by the ‘Aapla Manus’ fame actress Iravati Harshe! She too looked perfect in her part. The rest of the cast includes Sachin Khedekar, Sagar Karande, Deepti Lele, Pravin Tarde, Sarang Sathaye, Vidyadhar Joshi, Chittaranjan Giri, Ashwini Giri, Padmanabh Bind, Ajay Purkar & others.

Senior writer Ratnakar Matkari & Raj Thackeray both talked about their memories connected to Pu La & how they felt blessed to have known him & met him in person. For all the Pu La fans this film promises to give us a new perspective about Pu La the human being more than the writer he was or the characters he created as this film will be focusing on his actual life unknown to many!

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In 2016 we have had some hardcore emotional performances by young-old men! The definition of a ‘Man’ has been modified in recent times & many Marathi actors have portrayed this change in perspective & sensibilities effectively on the silver screen.

Sagar Deshmukh (YZ)

YZ was a complex film that talked on passion, friendship, romance, life & everything in between. Sagar Deshmukh as ‘Gajanan’ was a genuinely out of the box protagonist. First of all a lot of credit goes to the makers of ‘YZ’ who perfectly casted Sagar in this role. Throughout the film Sagar is natural & carries the whole film on his shoulders with ease. We would definitely want to see him more often in Marathi films now!

Prashant Damle (Bho Bho)

It’s a said rule that usually popular stage actors are not suited in films. But the king of Marathi theatre for over 2 decades, Prashant Damle proved this rule wrong. He was just as great on the screen as he is on the stage. He scores in the comic, eccentric part of the film but he is even better in the emotional scenes. His character ‘Detective Vyankatesh Bhonde’ has a fondness for dogs & has many heart touching scenes were Prashant Sir is seen taking care of them, talking with them & also saving their life!

Jitendra joshi (Ventilator)

Jitu Joshi is an actor who gives his 200% to every role that comes his way. And his role of ‘Prasanna’ from ‘Ventilator’ was perfectly tailor-made for him. A struggling political activist whose father is on ‘Ventilator’ & he has been put into a position to choose whether his father should stay on the ‘Ventialtor’ or not. It’s the most difficult choice for a son to make, even if he wasn’t his father’s favorite child. This conflict & moral confusion has been portrayed by Jitu with real panache! His eyes emote everything that goes on in Prasanna’s mind throughout the film!

Nana Patekar (Natsamrat)

The most loved acting performance of 2016 by all audiences. Nana played a sharp, satirical but equally theatrical version of Dr. Lagoo’s ‘Ganpat Belwalkar’. Many have written about all those beautiful philosophical, theatrical & poetic dialogues that Nana recites in the film, but we felt Nana is actually more fantastic in those normal scenes. He simply seems to be enjoying living this mythical celebrated role. Those scenes where he ridicules his son-in-law’s boss about plays & playwrights or those when he enters drunk at the party or his satirical conversations with friend & ex-competitor Vikram Gokhale!

Dr. Mohan Agashe (Astu)

Dr. Mohan Agashe is one of India’s most underrated actors. He has worked in countless great films in different languages & he has been actively part of theatre as well. His role of a Sanskrit scholar who slowly & steadily gets affected by Alzheimer’s disease in ‘Astu’ is one of his most accomplished performances ever. The transition of an intelligent, learned man into a child who has no memory & no understanding of ‘life as we know it’ is played with subtle brilliance by Agashe Sir. It’s sad that a film like ‘Astu’ & a performance like Agashe Sir’s had to be crowd funded to manage a release in theatres. Nevertheless, it’s a film that will stay forever as a film that questioned, analyzed our purpose & meaning of existence.

Honorable Mentions:

• Vikram Gokhale (Natsamrat)
• Satish Alekar (Ventilator)
• Dilip Prabhawalkar (Family Katta)
• Makarand Anaspure (Ranga Patanga)
• Aniket Vishwasrao (Poshter Girl)

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