Keyur Seta
Mumbai, 21 Apr 2017 18:03 IST
The film starring Bhushan Pradhan and Sanskruti Balgude doesn't live up to the promise of being a quirky entertainer.
Formulaic films revolving around a dashing hero, beautiful heroine from conservative family, and a villain have been done to death. Such subjects were routine in Hindi cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. But there is no harm in trying the formula again, provided it is done with conviction and a good supply of entertainment.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen with Sakar Raut’s Marathi movie, Ti Dete To Deto Te Detaat Saglech Detaat – Shivya. The film also doesn’t justify the title.
Shivya, which translates to curses, revolves around Raghav (Bhushan Pradhan). He is an honest, fearless youngster from an urban upper-middle-class family. He owns a garage where he often has to tolerate hooligans. It is because of his good qualities that Sharvari (Sanskruti Balgude) falls in love with him and wants to marry him.
But Raghav has a bad habit of cussing. He had picked it up as a child from his father (Vidyadhar Joshi). Despite being at the receiving end from his parents and Sharvari, he is unable to control his tongue. All hell breaks loose when his bad habit makes Sharvari’s parents reject him as their son-in-law. To make matters worse, he gets involved in a tussle with a ruffian (Piyush Ranade) who doesn’t show his real side often. Raghav has no idea that the man will become the biggest thorn in his path.
The initial trouble with Shivya is that its title isn't justified. After reading the synopsis above, you might think the protagonist uses filthy abuses regularly. However, that is far from the case. Raghav isn’t seen using many cuss words. Therefore, to see him get into trouble owing to his bad habit isn’t believable. You are anyway getting an Adults certificate for using objectionable language on a few occasions. So why not go full throttle and at least justify the storyline?
Funnily enough, this point doesn’t matter after the interval because the subject of abuses gets hardly given any footage. The film is transformed into a tried and tested formulaic saga. In other words, what started off with a quirky subject ends up becoming an age-old film with a predictable outcome. To make matters worse, the treatment is amateurish.
The positive aspect here is the runtime of just 98 minutes and a fast narrative. This ensures that the film doesn’t become a tedious watch. With such a short length, there is scope for only two songs. The title track is the more impressive.
The pairing of Pradhan and Balgude was appreciated in the Marathi television serial, Pinjara. Their impressive chemistry is seen here, too. Pradhan shows that he possesses talent but needs to work on his action sequences. Balgude fits the image of a young woman torn between her modernism and her family’s conservatism.
In the role of the bad guy, Ranade isn’t bad. Shubhangi Latkar, as Raghav’s mother, makes an impact with her mature act. Vidyadhar Joshi gets into the skin of a father with a guilty conscience. Uday Sabnis, who plays Sharvari’s father, is a little over-the-top. The actor playing her brother is average.
Overall, Shivya is a letdown more on account of the treatment than the subject. Marathi cinema’s search for an impressive flick after Ti Sadhya Kay Karte continues.
Reviewed by Keyur Seta