5: New Marathi Movies

-
This is the first of my '5' posts, which will list 5 'top' objects in the topic of the post. 

 In this case, they are the new Marathi movies. 


Marathi cinema has come of age from the turn of the century, and it is all too apparent in these 5 movies that movies that present the slice of the decade:

1. Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai

Is it any wonder that my favorite Marathi movie tops the list?

Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai, starring Mukta Barve and Swapnil Joshi, is a series of twists and turns on a single day in Pune.


Love the two songs : Kadhi tu and Ka Kalena.







Best song:

Kadhi tu



2. Natrang


Atul Kulkarni is one of the most prolific actors that I have ever seen. In this movie, he takes on two diametrically opposite roles, playing the lead character in two very different stages in life and his mad passion for 'tamasha'. If not for anything else, it is a must watch for Atul Kulkarni.



Best song:

Apsara ali


3. Harishchandrachi Factory

How did cinema come to India?

This movie is the answer.






At some point, you expect the angst, but when it doesn't come, it makes you feel so satisfied and happy. A bright take on the life of Dadasaheb Phalke and the origin of the film industry in India.

Background score is truly beautiful!



 4. Deool

Director: Umesh Kulkarni

I've met him only once in my life and it was an experience in treasure. (For his reference, I was the girl in the hospitality team with her mouth open the entire time she was by his side when he came to a program in her college)

I haven't watched Vihir, but after watching this movie and Valu, I'm convinced of his prowess and genius. And he's pretty cute. Those curls and all. So, yeah.



How does a village change? What happens when devotion is lost in the clamour of commercialization? Village politics, religion and devotion mix in this rural drama.




Best song:

Deva tula shodhu kutha


 5. Pak Pak Pakaak

A village boy, Chiklu, whose presence is the synonym for trouble, his spinster friend (more of a harridan than a spinster), a mysterious presence in the nearby jungle.

Pak Pak Pakaak brings out the elements of village life and its humour. It is simply a delight.


Nana Patekar as awesome as always, the beautiful, dusky Narayani Shasti (wherever did she go?) and the child actor Saksham Mone make a superb trio in this comedy.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tess of D'Urbervilles

-
Image
It has been a long while since a book has tortured me. Pride and Prejudice evokes the same warmth in me as the sight of an old friend and the well-read first line of the book, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife"  makes me smile. I have empathised with Lizzy Bennet and I often identify myself with her. But I have never felt tortured by the ebb and fall of her emotions. I like to think that I share her scintillating wit (:D) and become Elizabeth at times, and never do I feel that I am outsider in her world. I live in Meryton, I take tea at Pemberly and I'm a fly on the wall - or a bee in the bonnet as the case maybe - in Pride and Prejudice. I began reading Tess of D'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) precisely two days ago. Between the compulsory breaks for sleep, lunch, dinner (my mother abhors the sight of a book on my lap as I try to shovel food down so I may read unhindered) an...
read more>>

This year's colours

-
Rangapanchmi just passed me by. This year, I was one of those sad, desolate faces hanging around by the window, spying on the people playing colours in the street below. I got up as usual, and dragged my economics text book on the table, and spent ten solid minutes looking up at the sky. And then there were shouts and giggles, and of course I had to investigate the source (rather than accept the inevitable and read about Planning in India). There was a small group of people in varying shades of maroon, blue, green and yellow on the street and were shrieking with laughter as they drenched each other and threw colours. I will not deny it. I felt a twinge of jealousy. Was it really so bad, that I was cooped up in the house on a glorious March morning, while all my friends from school and my sister were off gallivanting with their friends from college. It is understandable, really, and I do want to be all mature and grown up about it, but sometimes, I feel like an outsider. They go ...
read more>>

Arbhaat short film club: 11th session

-
Image
Having missed the last two sessions of Arbhaat, I was quite eager to head over to NFAI last Thursday. The theme was 'Sound and music'. I have begun to love the first Thursday of every month. It is a much welcome break from the monotony, and to some extent, decides what I will be immersed in the rest of the month. In almost every session I have been struck by some of the films that are screened - so poignant, so simple yet of such breathtaking complexity, films that tell the truth and the films that lie almost lovingly.  I do not claim a deeper understanding of this visual medium - indeed, it is words that I string around myself - but over the past year, I have come to realize the advantages and shortcomings of both the media. I cannot ever forget Telephone, a film by Shabnam Chopra, which had been screened at the 9th session. Based on a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, the film was a psychological thriller which held me spellbound and terrified me to my very core. When...
read more>>