Keyur Seta
Mumbai, 07 Apr 2018 3:20 IST
The Sushrut Bhagwat directorial, however, includes a terrific romantic number, 'Bhetate Ti Ashi'.
Like every other form of art, cinema has also gone through many changes. The arrival of the new millennium saw novel, unconventional and bold subjects being tried, not just in Hindi but also in regional cinema. However, the usual, tried-and-tested subjects also continue to be made and appreciated. Romance is one such genre that refuses to grow old.
It is necessary, however, to add novelty to cliched subjects to make them appealing to people of the new era. Sushrut Bhagwat’s Marathi movie Asehi Ekda Vhave has some newness, but, sadly, it fails at the level of execution.
Asehi Ekda Vhave revolves around Siddharth (Umesh Kamat) who hails from Pune. He and elder sister Revati (Sharvani Pillai) have taken their father’s food products business to the pinnacle of success. The fact that Siddharth is visually challenged does not stop him from leading a normal, happy life. He starts listening to RJ (radio jockey) Kiran (Tejashri Pradhan) and falls in love with her voice.
After Kiran interviews Revati on her show, Siddharth decides to rope in the RJ to give her voice to their radio advertisements. This makes their friendship grow and it starts blossoming into love. But an incident related to Siddharth’s life becomes a thorn in their path.
Asehi Ekda Vhave follows the usual template used in romantic films where a guy and girl meet unexpectedly and fall for each other before some hitch arises. But the makers should be lauded for adding novelty in the form of the visually challenged man. It’s a pleasant surprise that they have managed to hide it completely from the promos, at a time when a lot of films disclose almost everything in the trailer.
Love stories, however, depend heavily on the conflict factor for success. Unfortunately, this is the weakest point of the film. The issue between the couple is nothing more than a trifle. At best it might have worked as a minor subplot. To make matters worse, the way it is resolved in the end is unconvincing.
The absence of a tight script also hurts Asahi Ekda Vhave. The screenplay lacks the kind of moments that move or entertain you. The idea of conversations with an RJ has a lot of scope for entertainment. But that part fails to impress you because Pradhan’s character is unnecessarily screaming into the microphone. After a point, it starts bothering you.
The camerawork is decent. But the creative shots that are added seem forced. You hardly notice the background score, which is good. Otherwise, there are innumerable examples of films where loud sounds are added to the soundtrack to create a sense of drama.
There seems to be some issue with the editing, however, particularly when making the transition from one scene to the next.
Umesh Kamat is convincing as the visually challenged young businessman. He successfully avoids the trap of overdoing the blind act. His change from happy to angry is also natural. Tejashri Pradhan isn’t bad, but her loudness as an RJ hurts her overall performance.
Sharvani Pillai as Siddharth’s sister Revati is sincere. The supporting cast of Narayan Jadhav, Ajit Bhure, Kavita Lad and Chirag Patil (son of former India cricketer Sandeep Patil) are passable.
The biggest plus point of Asehi Ekda Vhave is the song ‘Bhetate Ti Ashi.’ Avadhoot Gupte’s soulful vocals and simple music and Vaibhav Joshi’s innocent lyrics result in one of the best romantic tracks in Marathi cinema in recent years.