Anuradha, Hindi Bollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: *

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Anuradha(Hindi) Rating: * Making a virtue out of stupidity and naivete. This antiquated telly-tricked drama would have been a reject even in the 1940’s.

Hindi Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Film Review : Anuradha:  Dying for a reality Check!

Cast: Disha, Raju Mavani, Sachin Khedekar, Shagun, Smita Jayakar,  Aakash Sharma, Hrishita Bhatt, Kishori Sahane, Manoj Joshi, Prashant, Rahul Jain
Director: Raju Mavani

Rating: *

Hrishikesh Miukherjee’s 1960’s movie top-lining Balraj Sahni and the stunningly ethereal Leela Naidu with the same title, was a resounding treatise on society-way ahead of it’s times. This Raju Mavani directed ‘Anuradha’ while having no connection to the original, tries to be yet another febrile platitude to gender bias, and is way behind today’s times.

The story is something straight out of a sixties melodrama where the evil mother-in-law and sister-in-law combine to make life hell for the sweet, non-reactive, dutiful daughter-in-law. 

Rudra(Manoj Joshi) is a lion heart away from home but inside his house, he has absolutely no voice. Yet he decides on the comely daughter ,Anuradha (Disha), of his friend, Masterji(Sachin Khedekar), as the suitable bride for his son Avinash, from his dearly departed first wife. His second wife(Kishori Shahane) makes it clear in no uncertain terms that she will be the one to decide as before their marriage, he had committed to allow her free reign in every decision concerning their lives. Their daughter(Hrishita Bhatt) is allowed to go wild without any check on her.

Avinash decides to marry Anuradha and promises to be her bulwark but tragedy in the form of an accident makes Anuradha rather helpless. Her mother dies from the shock and Anuradha is given the reins of her in-laws property and money. A few outings with her childhood friend help label her a loose women. The rest of the film concentrates on nullifying that massive nlack mark on her pure as snow character!

This is a ludicrous story- one that will leave you wondering how anyone in this day and age could come up with such incredulous circumstance. It’s of course meant to be a social entertainer with a message. But the film has neither believable characters, plotline or engaging treatment to salvage it. The script is hopelessly out-dated and would not have found favor even in the 1940’s. The treatment(Raju Mavani’s helming) is so un-enticing that you feel completely enervated by the end of it all. The TV soap styled narration, the unpleasantly rendered music and the stiff as cardboard performances add more woes to the experience. There’s really no silver lining in this dark cloud!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

 

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!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Picks and Piques/Special Edition Snippet Film Review 6th Dec2013/Johnson Thomas

Picks and Piques/Special Edition Snippet Film Review 6th Dec2013/Johnson Thomas



Pitruroon(Marathi): Rating:  * * 1/2  It has an interesting enough premise but the treatment is well short of becoming! Tanuja’s presence is the film’s biggest draw. Performances are just about Ok!