Keyur Seta
Mumbai, 31 Mar 2017 14:39 IST
The Upendra Limaye starrer continues the trend of duds in Marathi cinema.
Last week saw the release of Manus Ek Maati. The film continued the trend of duds, which are being churned out by the Marathi film industry in the recent past. Director Deepak Kadam’s Nagarsevak Ek Nayak is another addition to the list. It is yet another film that makes you wonder on what basis are producers agreeing to finance scripts these days.
What is presented as a story can be summed up in the following manner. Malhar Shinde (Upendra Limaye) relocates to Mumbai from his village to live with his uncle. His political activities in the village force his uncle to bring him to Mumbai so that he can find gainful employment.
Malhar is a brave lad who cannot tolerate injustice against anyone. He beats up the brother of a political goon (Ganesh Yadav) after seeing him eve-teasing a girl. But the man is unable to take revenge, as Malhar becomes a close friend of another party worker.
Slowly, Malhar rises among the ranks in the party and finds favour with senior party leader (Sayaji Shinde). Simultaneously, he falls in love with Komal (Neha Pendse), a girl from his locality. Malhar slowly gains popularity throughout Mumbai due to his good deeds. But will his political journey continue without obstacles?
It is generally believed that bad or even terrible films aren’t made intentionally. But films like Nagarsevak make us think otherwise. Just like Manus Ek Maati, there is not a single moment that satisfies you cinematically and you start laughing unintentionally from the very start. There are a large number of characters, regular twists, romance, fight sequences, item numbers and dialoguebaazi. But the film lacks basic ingredients like conviction and sensibility. In fact, it’s miles away from these two qualities.
If one tries listing down the fallacies, one might end up writing a book. But here are the few notable points:
- A woman is so impressed by the way a man is beating up the baddies that she introduces herself to him, desperately takes his number, clicks his picture and shakes his hand asking, “Friends?” There is no other interaction. But the very next time they meet they are shown to be in love.
- A man visits a woman and asks for her daughter’s hand in marriage despite knowing that the girl hates him. The lady instantly agrees. Her daughter suddenly has a change of heart and she falls in love with him.
- The film has one of the most juvenile portrayals of television journalists. The side actors playing news reporters ham their way through even while uttering a simple sentence.
- When the protagonist loses his uncle (the only member of his family), he is neither shown grieving nor performing the last rites.
- A cop shoots a man from behind. But the bullet hits him on his hip as if it was shot from his left side.
- A man sets himself on fire. Even after enduring it for some time, his clothes remain white.
- Sayaji Shinde’s sidekick is shown as an impersonator of the late Balasaheb Thackeray for unknown reasons. He is present throughout the film but doesn’t utter a word.
- Malhar catches his sidekick double-crossing him. But in the next sequence, he is back with Malhar. He even hangs out with Malhar’s enemy! In fact, in the second half, you're literally confused trying to figure who is on whose side.
The performances are a reflection of the content. Yadav isn’t good but is still the best of all. Limaye is somewhat likeable. But it is difficult to see him in this film after watching him in gems like Tuhya Dharma Koncha? (2013) and Yellow (2014). Shinde is once again stereotyped. Pendse suffers due to silly characterisation. There is nothing to write about the rest of the actors.
Overall, Nagarsevak Ek Nayak makes a mockery of every aspect of filmmaking.
Note: Our rating system doesn't allow less than one star.
Reviewed by Keyur Seta