Praveen Lulekar
Comedies stand on two concrete pillars – writing and acting. Unlike serious cinema, the
director’s role gets a little limited here. There are no symbolisms, the visuals can be pretty plain
and yet, the magic can be created by what is spoken and how it is spoken. So nuances like
dialogues, situations and of course actors’ timing play a huge role. Marathi cinema’s popular
comedies have limped in the writing section traditionally. But performers, right from Dada
Kondake to Ashok Saraf and Laxmikant Berde to Makarand Anaspure, have made films work on
sheer talent.
Timepass 2, with fresh writers and a fresher lead pair, scores better than its prequel in both the
areas. But just a little bit. It is a directionless extension whose sense of humour is hampered. As
for the continuation of the story, the writers indulge more in the background stories of the
characters. Somehow, Madhavrao Lele (Vaibhav Mangale) emerges as a more solid protagonist
in this Dagadu-Prajakta love story.
As the film begins, we are told through an animation that Dagadu (Priyadarshan Jadhav) has
grown to become sort of a Munnabhai. His younger self started studying after Prajakata left the
city in the first part’s end. But after his sister is cheated in marriage, he is pretty disappointed
with the white collar business. So he’s now a gali ka dada with a golden heart. On the other side,
the Leles have moved to village in Konkan. Madhavrao’s wife is dead, his son is in America and
Prajakta (Priya Bapat) lives in Mumbai. She is supposedly working on sangeet rangabhumi
(musical theatre) there.
The film is intentionally about how Dagadu tries to first convince Madhavrao and then how fate
makes the lovers meet. It actually becomes about how the lonely Madhavrao is disappointed by
everyone in his life and his unique relation with Dagadu.
The first half is consumed by Dagadu meeting Madhavrao. He lies to him about his identity and
his status. But the old man opens up to our hero. The writers (Ravi Jadhav, Priyadarshan Jadhav
and Kshitij Patwardhan) do have a fascination for back-stories and they construct Madhavrao’s
plight quite beautifully. The greatest asset director Ravi Jadhav has is Mangale. The actor comes
up with an outstanding performance. The character has grown old and lonely. Mangale brings
out the physical limitations, his vulnerabilities and his disappointments quite superbly. You
sympathise with him every time, even during the comic scenes.
But Timepass is not about Madhavrao; at least not prominently about him. With all this
background, it could still have been about Dagadu-Prajakta. But nor the first part nor this one,
knows what exactly their love is about. If it was an adolescent enthusiasm, how is it still intact?
If it is so divine, how does it never cross the routine of shallow beach songs? Their interactions
do not give you any clue as to what are the aspects of their relationship. Love is not an arbitrary
emotion. It is different for everyone (even in commercial comedies). But we do not find any
individuality to their love-story.
Bapat and Priyadarshan Jadhav try hard. Bapat is quite natural throughout and should be the real
crowd puller. Jadhav does seem impressive. But nothing can really be concluded from his
performance. Sandeep Pathak (as Malaria, Dagadu’s friend) must be specially mentioned for his
comic timing. He does light up a few moments. But the writers have not paid attention to these
important parts. The actors have solely produced moments based on their talent. The comic
elements are basically fat women, speech problems (all of Dagadu’s friends have them) and
rhyming dialogues. If these crack you up, this is your movie.
I know such films should be taken in the lighter vein. Even I’m not a fan of over-analysis. But
the larger question is how long are we going to do this? Conventional stories, typical images and
sexy songs...does only that earn you commercial success? When Ravi Jadhav himself makes a
Mitraa, does he not bother that films like TP are making people fall back on the same old
elements for ‘entertainment’? How long will we blame ‘audiences’ taste’ for producing such
films? When will start developing it by making and marketing good films? Ravi sir, over to
you...
m4m says: Watch at your Own Risk
director’s role gets a little limited here. There are no symbolisms, the visuals can be pretty plain
and yet, the magic can be created by what is spoken and how it is spoken. So nuances like
dialogues, situations and of course actors’ timing play a huge role. Marathi cinema’s popular
comedies have limped in the writing section traditionally. But performers, right from Dada
Kondake to Ashok Saraf and Laxmikant Berde to Makarand Anaspure, have made films work on
sheer talent.
Timepass 2, with fresh writers and a fresher lead pair, scores better than its prequel in both the
areas. But just a little bit. It is a directionless extension whose sense of humour is hampered. As
for the continuation of the story, the writers indulge more in the background stories of the
characters. Somehow, Madhavrao Lele (Vaibhav Mangale) emerges as a more solid protagonist
in this Dagadu-Prajakta love story.
As the film begins, we are told through an animation that Dagadu (Priyadarshan Jadhav) has
grown to become sort of a Munnabhai. His younger self started studying after Prajakata left the
city in the first part’s end. But after his sister is cheated in marriage, he is pretty disappointed
with the white collar business. So he’s now a gali ka dada with a golden heart. On the other side,
the Leles have moved to village in Konkan. Madhavrao’s wife is dead, his son is in America and
Prajakta (Priya Bapat) lives in Mumbai. She is supposedly working on sangeet rangabhumi
(musical theatre) there.
The film is intentionally about how Dagadu tries to first convince Madhavrao and then how fate
makes the lovers meet. It actually becomes about how the lonely Madhavrao is disappointed by
everyone in his life and his unique relation with Dagadu.
The first half is consumed by Dagadu meeting Madhavrao. He lies to him about his identity and
his status. But the old man opens up to our hero. The writers (Ravi Jadhav, Priyadarshan Jadhav
and Kshitij Patwardhan) do have a fascination for back-stories and they construct Madhavrao’s
plight quite beautifully. The greatest asset director Ravi Jadhav has is Mangale. The actor comes
up with an outstanding performance. The character has grown old and lonely. Mangale brings
out the physical limitations, his vulnerabilities and his disappointments quite superbly. You
sympathise with him every time, even during the comic scenes.
But Timepass is not about Madhavrao; at least not prominently about him. With all this
background, it could still have been about Dagadu-Prajakta. But nor the first part nor this one,
knows what exactly their love is about. If it was an adolescent enthusiasm, how is it still intact?
If it is so divine, how does it never cross the routine of shallow beach songs? Their interactions
do not give you any clue as to what are the aspects of their relationship. Love is not an arbitrary
emotion. It is different for everyone (even in commercial comedies). But we do not find any
individuality to their love-story.
Bapat and Priyadarshan Jadhav try hard. Bapat is quite natural throughout and should be the real
crowd puller. Jadhav does seem impressive. But nothing can really be concluded from his
performance. Sandeep Pathak (as Malaria, Dagadu’s friend) must be specially mentioned for his
comic timing. He does light up a few moments. But the writers have not paid attention to these
important parts. The actors have solely produced moments based on their talent. The comic
elements are basically fat women, speech problems (all of Dagadu’s friends have them) and
rhyming dialogues. If these crack you up, this is your movie.
I know such films should be taken in the lighter vein. Even I’m not a fan of over-analysis. But
the larger question is how long are we going to do this? Conventional stories, typical images and
sexy songs...does only that earn you commercial success? When Ravi Jadhav himself makes a
Mitraa, does he not bother that films like TP are making people fall back on the same old
elements for ‘entertainment’? How long will we blame ‘audiences’ taste’ for producing such
films? When will start developing it by making and marketing good films? Ravi sir, over to
you...
m4m says: Watch at your Own Risk
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