Reviewed by Praveen Lulekar
There is a certain category of films that goes very
near to journalism. There is a neat story, carefully constructed incidents,
characters that are representatives of an ideology in the society (hence,
typecast) and most importantly, there is a stark realism that makes you feel
helpless. Madhur Bhandarkar did some fine experiments in this arena before he
got trapped in his own formula. Ratnakar
Matkari’s film Investment is a fine
piece of this variety of art. Its actors and writers bring about peculiarities
that do not allow it to become a Corporate
or a Heroine. Moreover, the
subject here is extremely delicate, focused and probably even unobservable to
the naked eye.
The one line story of the film is an incident of a
juvenile crime and the subsequent court case. Right from the nature of the
crime to the result of the court case, nothing is surprising. But Matkari has
an indulgence only a literary figure of his stature could enjoy. He designs
details that are so exhaustive that you get goose-bumps while watching the most
predictable twists.
A family background is created that makes the birth
of an abnormal mindset in a child obvious. The Ghorpades are beer sipping,
upper middle class, pampering parents with an attitude to win the world without
caring about the means. This also makes it inevitable that these tendencies in
their boy (Praharsh Naik) will remain hidden. Matkari however keeps the
conscience of this class alive with the value-stressing grandmother (the
effortless Sulabha Dehspande) and a guilt conscious but timid father (Tushar
Dalvi). The mother (Supriya Vinod), protective and ambitious at the same time
for her child, gets annoying like her boy but that is the intent and rightly
so. The only problem is the English pronunciations of the actors.
Stealing the show is Sanjay Mone as the lawyer of
the Ghorpades. He is habitually corrupt, cunning by profession and yet has a
conscious soul that has adjusted with the contradicting ambience. Mone
brilliantly portrays all these nuances. Though Sahil confesses the crime in
police investigation, Matkari reserves the actual visual confession for his
scene with Mone. With sheer reactions, Mone makes the already riveting scene
extremely acute. The timely revelation also underlines the neat editing (Sagar
Vanjari) of the film. No scene is unnecessary and the organization of the story
– timely becoming linear and non-linear, creeps on you with its characters and
situations perfectly mirroring the reality (screenplay by Matkari).
The drunkard character of Gangan played by Sandeep
Pathak depicts the other side of middle class and has the potential going over
the top. Pathak, however, keeps this in check with his sad eyes and yet a
dignified posture.
All the indulgence infuses the only and the biggest
drawback of the film – lack of pace. Those turned off by the title; wait for
the scenes where its relevance is revealed. This is not fast paced
entertainment. In fact, this is not entertainment in the conventional sense of
the term. It is a shocking account of our society. Some obvious facts we miss
and some unforgivable (but forgotten) compromises we have made with our souls. Cinema
is rarely used for this purpose.
m4m Rating : One time watch
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