Keyur Seta
13 Jan 2018 12:27 IST
The narrative doesn’t grip you in any way, while the story develops at a leisurely pace.
After appearing for his 12th standard exams, the protagonist of the film scores a first class. But the report card of the film fares much worse. It shows that Barayan doesn’t even score passing marks due to various reasons. One feels bad for this since this film, directed by Deepak Patil, gives an important and relevant message related to education.
Barayan revolves around Aniruddha (Anurag Worlikar), who stays with his family in a Konkan town. He is under tremendous pressure from his parents, relatives and neighbours to score high marks in the board exams so he can pursue medicine. Nobody has asked him what he wants to be. He is passionate about the history of Shivaji Maharaj and also worships the Maratha hero.
But Aniruddha doesn’t score the kind of marks needed to enter the medical field. His parents and relatives decide to get him enrolled into an engineering course. However, Aniruddha struggles there too. What will he do eventually?
In India, parents take pride in pushing their children to pursue either medicine or engineering, despite the latter's reservations. There are also cases where if a youngster is unable to become a doctor, he is forced to become an engineer, even though both the fields are vastly different. There have been films showing how students are forced to become engineers (2009 film 3 Idiots is a prime example). But Barayan explores the less explored formula of ‘if not doctor then engineer,’ which is a good idea.
But a good concept doesn’t stand out if the film lags behind in execution and this is exactly what happens with Barayan. The screenplay and dialogues are to be blamed. The narrative doesn’t grip you in any way, while the story develops at a leisurely pace. There was no point in dragging the film for 151 minutes. A lot of conversations and the jokes born out of them appear lame and forced. They, instead, turn out to provide unintentional humour.
Barayan also falls in the trap of adding unnecessarily loud sounds to create drama when nothing substantial is taking place. The unimpressive music adds to the length. The ‘Baravi Anthem’ could have been a quirky take on 12th standard board exams, but it tries too hard.
The final conclusion, although predictable, does give a positive message. It’s just that it doesn’t leave much of an impact because of whatever you experienced before.
Anurag Worlikar is a good choice as the main character of Aniruddh. He has the right vulnerability, needed for the character. He only struggles with his expressions during songs. Nandu Madhav is known for his stellar act in India’s Oscar nominated Harishchandrachi Factory (2010). He delivers a mature act. But it is sad to see him involved here. Prateeksha Lonkar provides decent support to him as his wife.
Child artist Swarangi Sane shows fine acting skills at a young age. She is more intelligent than most grown-ups around her. Om Bhutkar shows the perfect attitude as the bully in the engineering college. Vandana Gupte plays Aniruddh’s proud and nagging aunt to the T.
Sanjay Mone’s character has a large share in the forced humour in the first half. His ‘Jai Ayurved’ antics are anything but funny. The writing is at fault over here though. There’s a character of a professor played by Sameer Chowgule. He succeeds in instilling fear instantly. But the way he goes out of his character later on spoils it.
A dialogue by a character goes like, “If you don’t have faith in it, leave... leave... leave.” This seem to be the hidden message.