Struggler sala ep 1 & 2 – Hilarious inside look at struggling actors

Webseries seems like the new ‘in’ thing these days. In Marathi it all began with NipunDharmadhikari and AmeyWagh starrer ‘Casting Couch’. Another web series that has come out is struggler sala. It is about struggling actors in the marathi film industry. The episode one has been out for a couple of weeks now. This is what happens in the first episode:

The episode begins with us seeing a person opening a door. In comes actor Santosh Juvekar into what looks like the office of a filmmaker. A curly haired portly fellow is shown sitting and reading a newspaper on the sofa. Santosh recognizes the man as his fellow actorKushalBadrike and the both get talking. The actors are playing themselves in the episode and the conversation between the two begins with generous dose of some self-depreciating humour. They both take digs at each other with Kushal mentioning that AvdhootGupte has started a film but doesn’t seem to have cast Santosh Juvekar in it. The conversation carries on in the same line. Both them feign that they have been invited by the filmmaker VijuMane( it is his office) themselves. Kushal in the meanwhile takes out a pack of Parle G biscuits and offers it to Santosh and both reminisce about how they used to dip the biscuit in water and relish it. Meanwhile, Viju Mane comes outfrom his meeting and is a bit surprised to see both of them in his office. The bluffs of Santosh and Kushal get caught. The strugglers try to speak to Viju about creating a web series, but he doesn’t give them much attention. Santosh Juvekar then confides in Kushal that he is going to another director AbhijitPanse’s office to look for some work and Kushal requests Santosh to tag along and with that the episode ends.

In the second episode we see that the struggling actors Santosh Juvekar and Kushal Badrike are taling some rest underneath a tree while they are on their way to AbhijitPanse’s(Director of REge office. They start talking generally and the topic of Prasad Oak’s film Kachcha Limbu comes up. It is a big budget film launched with much fanfare. But Kushal says he doesn’t like the title of the film. It sounds awkward. He also makes fun of a film directed by Prasad Oak in the recent past as it did not make any money at all. Santosh, however, restrains himself from saying anything negative about Prasad Oak or his films. Just when discussing the subject, Santosh’s phone rings and it’s none other than Prasad Oak himself. Santosh and Prasad get chatting about Kacha Limbu. On hearing that directors like Ravi Jadahv are acting in the film, Santosh can’t help express his frustration of this trend of casting directors in Marathi films, but only to himself. His spirits rise as Prasad says that he is looking to cast a muscular and handsome actor in the lead role. Santosh is kind of certain that he is going to be offered the role but feels disappointed when he realises that Prasad has already casted someone else in the role – Aniket Vishwasrao of all people!

Santosh finishes the call and comes back to the tree but does not find Kushal there. He goes in the search of Kushal and is surprised to find him talking to Prasad Oak himself. When he had spoken ill of Kacha Limbu and had even mentioned that he won’t do a role even if he is given one, now Santosh is shocked and disgusted to find Kushal soliciting for a role in Kacha Limbu!