Fandry: Expression of Deep Distress

Praveen Lulekar The first chunk of Yellow is a fine example of what technology can do to story-telling. Craftily edited flashbacks tell you the story of tension mounted in a husband-wife after they discover that their daughter, their only child, is suffering with Down syndrome. Close camera movements,...

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Dhag: Heart and Honesty

Praveen Lulekar A story can be narrated in a number of ways. Most familiar among them – implied and direct. What we saw a few weeks ago, in Fandry, was a film that told everything quietly, through its camera angles, the silence between characters and a host of symbolisms. What we see in Dhag...

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Coffee Ani Barach Kahi: Simplicity and Charm

Praveen Lulekar Finally they get it right! Marathi films have been struggling with this so-called genre of romantic films for almost two years now. They tried the costumes of the 70s, cheesy dialogues, slowmo songs, long pallus, transparent shirts, bizarre interpretations of the complexities of...

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Duniyadari: A Mix of Flavours

Praveen Lulekar Many of us learn the way of the world…the Duniyadari in that age of romanticism, transition and spontaneity. The shell we lived in all these years is broken, the board exams are history and we are exposed t a new world – college. But college is just a platform. The real teacher...

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Astu: The Ephemeral Identity

Praveen Lulekar Where does art meet reality? Where do the ends of our lives meet? Is there an ultimate truth? How deeply is individual identity weaved in the larger nothingness? Astu is not a lesson in philosophy. It is a story that emerges from everyday reality, with all its minutes. It...

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Anvatt: Elusive Fear

Praveen Lulekar Some films are just directors’ experiments to explore something new. So the focus is on doing the basics right – appropriate camera angles true to the genre, contextual background music, getting minimal but exact expressions out of the actors etc. With Gajendra Ahire, you always...

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Dr. Prakash Baba Amte: A Representational Biography

Praveen Lulekar Every generation has its heroes. And each group of followers follows two broad streams – those of revolution and of service. In the post-independence era, we have mostly been influenced by charismatic political leaders that adhered to the aggressive mode. Conservators of the second...

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Baji: A forgettable Superhero

Neha Ghatpande It was nice to sit in a theatre packed to its full capacity to watch a Marathi film. But that was a momentary pleasure. It was extremely disheartening to see the film drive audience to react harshly after a point. Well, Baji, the first Marathi superhero, has not only failed...

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Candle March: An Effective Statement

Praveen Lulekar Last week, we discussed Happy Journey where the sole purpose of the director was story-telling. There were no statements or claims to be made. Candle March is a film that is made with a completely opposite sensibility. It has a social issue at its core and the story is constructed...

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Vitti Dandu: On a Nationalistic Note...

Praveen Lulekar What was our freedom struggle? Was it a bunch of British-haters fighting to save their culture? Or was it a deep rooted humiliation which infected every individual? Our understanding of India’s fight for independence has been dominated by two key perspectives (amongst several significant...

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Kaakan: A Drab Saga

Praveen Lulekar So Kranti Redkar decides to direct a film! We know the lady for the song Kombdi Palaali…(film Jatra). Some people thought her expressions in the song were comic as well as sensual. One of them was probably Mahesh Manjrekar, who went on to cast her in Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho,...

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Rama Madhav: Romancing History

Praveen Lulekar Period Films, with all its sub-categories, is probably the most difficult genre of films. Take any episode of any great dynasty, and you will see a complex labyrinth of sub-plots. When narrated as stories, the writer has to choose one prime theme and surround it with the happenings...

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Elizabeth Ekadashi: Where Science Meets Devotion

Praveen Luekar Je jaeel, te parat yeil…gurutvakarshan hawa… (What goes, comes back…if there’s gravity) Paresh Mokashi’s Elizabeth Ekadashi is where Newton meets Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram. It is a film through which, we can probably discuss the whole stream of sensible cinema in Marathi – its...

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In Search of Nishikant Kamat

Praveen Lulekar  Dear Nishikant Kamat, The world might have gone to theatres to see Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh, but I swear to any damn thing that it was for you that I saw Lai Bhaari. And not as a pseudo-intellectual reviewer, but as an ardent fan of your work. Not that I was expecting a...

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