Pitruroon, Marathi film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Marathi Film review

Johnson Thomas

Interesting story riddled by shoddy technique

Film: Pitruroon

Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Tanuja, Sujas Joshi, Ketaki Palav, Omkar Kulkarni, Madhavi Soman, Poorvi Bhave, Om Bhutkar, Chandrasekhar Kulkarni, Uma Sardeshmukh  

Director: Nitish Bharadwaj

Rating: *  *  1/2

This film directed by Nitish Bharadwaj and based on a  story in Kannada titled ‘Rhun ‘by Sudha Murthy, had a good buzz surrounding it’s release. Unfortunately, other than veteran actress Tanuja’s imposing presence( on the Marathi screen after 33 years) , this film had very little of worth  to contribute to the cause of Marathi cinema. Sudha Murthy’s earlier novel ‘Dollar Sose’ had been converted into a TV series , so she was not new to the vagaries of the visual medium. Sudha Murthy has publicly claimed satisfaction with the manner in which the film has turned out but for the viewer may not necessarily follow through as a happy camper. The reason for this is that though the premise of a person finding his dopple-ganger and being curious about his origins thereafter, is pretty interesting, the treatment by Bharadwaj is not really as satisfying. Also the script does take a convoluted route to tell it’s story and there’s a lot of heavy melodrama inherent that things don’t look realistic at all. Take for example the widow Bhagyashree (Tanuja) who tonsures her head and leads a Spartan life thereafter following the death of her husband who had previously abandoned her claiming she had an illicit relationship with her cousin. The plotting looks a little too convenient to be believable here. Bhagyashree on being abandoned sets out to commit suicide along with her newborn baby but survives due to the largesse of a fisherman and gets to start a new life far away from her earlier home, Her wishy-washy husband who did not take a stand when his mother insisted that Bhagyashree’s character was suspect, suddenly decides to come back from the dead  and claim her as his wife. Of course he is too late by then and later on enters into another marriage. The legalities of the second marriage or the plight of the second wife are never explored fully. When Venkatesh ( Sachin Khedekar) the archaeologist meets Venkatesh( Sachin Khedekar  , again) the farmer it’s a shock but gradually curiosity takes over and the mystery starts unraveling.

The major problem with the unraveling is the unconvincing curves of each character graph and the manner in which the conversations ensue. The production values are also not up to the mark. The music and songs are also not up-to-the-mark.  

The film does have it’s touching handerchief drenching moments but they are a little too slap-dash and un-riveting to a thinking mind. Tanuja does justice to her role which is pretty much half-baked- though pivotal to the story. The rest of the actors including another veteran  Daya Dongre, who plays the second wife is competent but the narrative’s lack of tension and inability to create empathy is too galling for the experience to be completely satisfactory. Watch this, only for Tanuja!

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