Film: Party
Cast: Suvrat Joshi, Prajakta Mali, Akshay Tanksale, Manjiri Vijay Pupala
Director: Sachin Darekar
Rating: * * ½
A ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ of sorts for the Marathi audience, this bromantic comedy that decries rampant alcoholism has its heart in the right place even if the technique is a little too mass conscious. The narrative introduces us to four friends who like all new adults want to have fun in their life – girlfriends, booze, dancing et al. But while doing so they also keep getting into trouble. There’s drum-beat music, orchestra type song flourishes, clandestine dating, heartbreak, successes and tragedy in store for the four.
A decade later the four friends unite and take stock of their lives. The fun and games are obviously over. Their lives have taken an upward swing except for one friend Omi (Suvrat Joshi) whose tragic entanglement with a girl implicated in a financial scam leaves him distressed and heart-broken – an alcoholic who has nowhere to go but downhill. The tragedy helps the friends realize the value of keeping in touch and helping one another through difficult times. Prajakta Mali’s performance as the woman inadvertently caught-up in a financial scam is particularly noteworthy for it’s gritty and evocative tone. There’s a lesson here, obviously, but it’s told in a loud, effusive forcefulness that’s not exactly ameliorating!