• Review : Taptpadi
• Director : Sachin Baliram Nagargoje
• Producers : Sachin Baliram Nagargoje and Hemant Bhailal Bhavsar
• Writers : Rabindranath Tagore (original story) and Sachin Baliram Nagargoje
• Cast : Veena Jamkar, Kashyap Parulekar, Neena Kulkarni, Shruti Marathe, Ambarish Deshpande
• Music : Sumeet Bellari and Rohit Nagbhide
• Genre : Drama
• By : Keyur Seta

Rating : **½

Story Outline :

Based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, the film is set during the pre-independence era in Maharashtra. Meera has been staying with her aunt (Ashwini Ekbote) and uncle (Sharad Ponkshe) ever since her mother passed away when she was six years old. Over there, Meera develops a close bond with her cousin Madhav.

As they grow up (as Veena Jamkar and Kashyap Parulekar), their friendship slowly blossoms into love. When Madhav is studying to become a doctor, they get married. The couple is enjoying their marital bond until Meera has a miscarriage. There’s further agony in store for her when she becomes disabled. This results in another woman Sunanda (Shruti Marathe) entering Madhav’s life. Will Madhav betray Meera by marrying Sunanda?

Review :

Adapting Rabindranath Tagore’s story on celluloid in a different cultural setting and that too in your first film is no mean task. Debutant Sachin Baliram Nagargoje does show signs of maturity in his adaptation of the legendary writer’s tale in his Marathi filmTaptapadi. However, few problem areas stop the film from being superlative. Nevertheless, it is worth watching once due to Veena Jamkar’s outstanding act.

Although the story takes place in the very olden days of the pre-independence era, it is shot and narrated in a completely new age manner. As a writer, Nagargoje has used simple yet smart techniques to connect scenes and take the story forward. The important and delicate issue of Meera’s disability too is introduced and developed intelligently. Santosh Suvarnakar’s artistic camerawork is also something that makes the film a visual treat.

However, all is not hunky dory for Taptapadi. The film loses pace after a point in the second half. But there are two other questionable aspects that hurt the most. Firstly, the change of heart of an important character doesn’t appear convincing. You can’t ignore this point since it is an important development in the story. Lastly, although the twist at the very end takes you by surprise and appears pleasurable, it is incomplete and lacks proper logic. It also brings back memories of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Parineeta.

Sumeet Bellari and Rohit Nagbhide composed songs are soulful and apt for the situations but a couple of songs affect the narration. The background score is as per the need.

Talking about the performances, it is Veena Jamkar all the way! She gets into the skin of a difficult character and produces a performance that is worthy of all the applause. In fact, this will be one of the talked about acts of her career. Kashyap Parulekar too plays his part perfectly. It’s just that he doesn’t appear a college student on few occasions.

The post Review : Taptapadi (2014) appeared first on MarathiStars.

India has always been a predominant society that sticks to its Culture and Social values. The India that Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore portrayed in his Short Story “Drushtidaan” tells the tales of love, devotion and sacrifice. Inspired by “Drushtidaan” Director Sachin Baliram Nagargoje is bringing us “Taptapadi” the story of Madhav, Meera and Sunanda.

This period drama is based on the pre independence era and has been one of the most anticipated big budget Marathi Cinema this year. The age old culture, values and human intricacies of society that were in practice during the Britishraaj have been minutely marked and executed in the film under the meticulous workings of the director.

The film portrays Kashyap Parulekar (Madhav), Veena Jamkar (Meera), Shruti Marathe(Sunanda) in lead characters which also sees the strong impact of characters played by Neena Kulkarni, Sharad Ponkshe, Ambarish Deshpande, Ashwini Ekbote among others.

Taptapadi is slated to release on March 28th.

The post Marathi Movie ‘Taptapadi’ Inspired by Ravindranath Tagore’s ‘Drushtidaan’ appeared first on MarathiStars.