Film: Bhai – Vyakti Ki Valli
Cast Sagar Deshmukh, Vijay Kenkre, Saksham Kulkarni, Irawati Harshe Mayadev, Satish Alekar, Ashwini Giri, Sachin Khedekar, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Kiran Yadnopavit, Sunil Ranade, Prabhakar More, Abhijeet Chavan, Ganesh Yadav, Medha Manjrekar, Sanjay Khapre, Neena Kulkarni, Madhura Velankar, Swanand Kirkire, Ajay Purkar, Sagar Talashikar, Sunil Barve, Rajan Bhise, Deepti Lele, Veena Jamkar, Sujay Dahake, Hrishikesh Joshi, Umesh Jagtap, Bharat Ganeshpure, Vidyadhar Joshi, Sagar Karande, Vikas Patil, Shubhangi Damle, Pratibha Bhagat, Sarang Sathe, Shailesh Datar, Padmanabh Bind, Radhika Harshe
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar, Prashant Rane
Rating: * * ½
Director Mahesh Manjrekar’s attempt to pay tribute to the iconic brilliance of Purushottam Laxman (Pu La) Deshpande doesn’t quite take-off in the way in which the screenwriter, playwright, humourist, singer, actor, director’s career did in the real world. With a title that hearkens to the thespian’s own work ‘Vyakti Ani Valli,’ the narrative plots a course that goes back and forth in time, attempting to piece together a life and career without delving too deep into the mindset behind it all. This film is, in fact, the first part of a planned two-part biopic, the second of which is slated to release in February.
The narrative opens with P.L Deshpande (Vijay Kenkre as the older version) in the ICU of a hospital in Pune with Dr. Jabbar Patel (Sunil Barve) and Pu La’s second wife in attendance. Typically, the press has got wind of his illness and are thronging the hospital steps ready to catch the stream of celebrities trundling in to pay their respects to a talent so luminous that it cast its shadows on every creative aspect of Marathi film, television, music, and theatre industry. The narrative then flashes back into the past, presenting snippets from his life as a young irreverent,capturing the crucial moments from his young life in the early 1920s to 1940s, who had completed his LLB, learns, albeit a trifle late in life, that his talent lies in finding humor in drama. His unflagging ability to earn chortles from the fierce-hearted wins him fans and work in abundance.
Manjrekar’s narrative loses out on drama and depth as it breezes through Pu La’s childhood, youth (Played by Sagar Deshmukh), untimely death of his father (Sachin Khedekar), marriage to Sundar (Mrinmayee), her subsequent death from typhoid a week after their nuptials, and his courtship and eventual marriage to fellow school teacher Sunita Thakur(Irawati Harshe). Focussing more on his struggle with familial responsibility than on the many highlights of his young career, the narrative presents him more as a cherubic innocent devoid of guile- even when adult. His interactions with Bal Thackeray and several other well-known figures are well documented here.
The writing and dialogues by Ganesh and Ratnakar Matkari fail to deliver a steady vein of humor to the life essay though. There’s not much tempo to the telling and the wit doesn’t come through as cleverly as in Pu La’s works. The performances are in keeping with the low-key nature of this presentation. Devoid of hysterics or great drama the narrative trudges along self-consciously in its efforts to shed light on Pu La’s greatness. While this first part may have been intentionally short-shifted, it doesn’t quite make for a completely inveigling foray. The narrative only picks up pace and affect when Pu La and friends( including Bhimsein Joshi, Vasant Thakur, Kumar Gandharva ) engage in an impromptu jugalbandi at Champa Bai’s – singing Ga Di Madgulkar’s ‘Kanada Raja Pandharicha’ to passion rousing effect – a final flourish designed to rouse the appetite for what is to come next!