Gachchi review: An experimental film with mass appeal

Director Nachiket Samant’s Gachchi is not limited to one genre. The film has dark humour, light entertainment, tragedy, slice-of-life moments as well as the elements of a thriller. But such variety in genre gives plenty of scope for things to go wrong, since maintaining the balance is not everybody’s cup of tea.

Thankfully, nothing of the sort happens with Gachchi and the film has turned out to be a sensitive, mature feature. 

The story mostly revolves around Shriram (Abhay Mahajan), who stays in a chawl in Mumbai with his mother (Asha Shelar). He works as a salesman and does not earn much. But his troubles are bigger. He has to repay Rs16 lakh to a moneylender goon (Anant Jog) in a few hours, or else he and his mother will be thrown out of their house.

As Shriram is running from pillar to post to arrange for the money, he casually looks up while having tea on the road. He is shocked to see Keerti (Priya Bapat) about to commit suicide from the terrace of a building. Shriram rushes up to stop her, which angers her. Will he succeed in saving Keerti? Why does she want to kill herself?

What you have read so far may give you the sense that Gachchi has a serious tale, which it does. But the narrative focuses on being funny for most of the duration. Although Shriram’s story is terrible, it is presented in a way that you would constantly laugh, despite feeling deeply for him. The naive manner in which he looks at every situation is what evokes humour. At times, the laughter comes in unexpected situations, more so if you haven’t seen the trailers. 

The film takes a different form once the story moves to the terrace (hence the title Gachchi) and stays there for pretty much the entire duration. Based mostly on the terrace, the narrative could have lost grip, but, along with the humour, you are presented with intriguing and thrilling moments. 

There is more to Gachchi’s goodness. It’s a finely crafted film with some good contributions from the entire technical department. You can’t help but notice the skill of cinematographer Riju Das. On a few occasion, the camerawork is also used to tell the story. This ensures that the film does not appear like a play. 

Thankfully, the background score isn’t guilty of adding loud sounds to create thrills, like in a few other Marathi films of late. The film is smartly edited too. 

Among such goodness, there is one loophole. It’s a situational error related to the lack of battery power in the phone of Shriram’s friend. There are a few other questionable aspects. The most prominent one is the director's failure to give enough footage to Keerti’s backstory. 

Normally, one wouldn’t find any scope for music in such a film. But the ‘Angai’ song suits the situation perfectly and the lyrics are moving too. 

The casting of the film needs to be applauded. Priya Bapat and Abhay Mahajan share an unusual bond, which was the need here. Bapat, who usually plays the chirpy young woman, effortlessly plays a serious character who is easily irked. Her expressions display her pain perfectly. 

Abhay Mahajan is thoroughly believable as the sad and vulnerable guy. He succeeds in the difficult task of encouraging others and at the same time is as helpless as one can get. This is the first time he ia playing a lead role and he does justice to it. 

Anant Jog has been typecast as the bad, ruthless man in both Marathi and Hindi cinema — remember ‘Nonsense’ from Singham (2011)? Here, for a change, he shows a different side to the bad guy and does not appear repetitive. His entry in the film, where he tries to drown a rat, will leave you in splits. Asha Shelar, as Shriram’s mother, and a few other actors are decent in their supporting acts. 

Overall, Gachchi is an experimental film which has mass appeal.